It has been a weird week. I headed down to Florida planning to do some painting, yard work, and general handyman stuff on my parents' home and as we headed down the specter of a tropical storm named Dorian was raised. At first, it looked like it might be a minor hurricane but it began to grow and pretty soon it was being talked about as the biggest Atlantic hurricane ever with a sharply defined eye headed straight for the Ft. Pierce/Vero Beach area where my parents lived. We fastened the storm shutters and got ready, and we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Dorian decided to … [Read more...] about Does God Love Florida More than the Bahamas?
SBC Issues
Brother, lay Spurgeon aside and quote Whittier…
I get, brethren and sistren, that my day has passed. No one preaches sermons with three points and a poem anymore but literature and poetry are a pretty good source of material for sermons. Way back in the day, I had a set of Spurgeon's sermons and would occasionally sally forth into them and, um, borrow some material. I started preaching 89 years after the great man died. The texts remained the same but language and styles had changed. It makes me cringe to run across some of the vocabulary I lifted from those books of sermons. Nothing wrong with old Chuck and our Midwestern seminary puts … [Read more...] about Brother, lay Spurgeon aside and quote Whittier…
Prayers for IMB September 4, 2019
Good morning. I trust everyone is having a good week. Here are some prayer requests from our IMB Team in Japan, and some from our teams in Europe as well. There are more requests at Prayers for IMB Thank you for lifting up our missionaries in prayer. Pray for the 2 Korean Hands-on student volunteers as they extend another 6 months and for the 2 new Korean Hands-On 6-month volunteer students who will join them and the Kobe Team this month. Pray that they will be able to reach many Japanese for Christ. Pray for the Rokko Island house churches’ September BBQ, that it will be a good time … [Read more...] about Prayers for IMB September 4, 2019
Not to belabor Labor Day but…
Best Labor Day sermon: "How to be a Christian at Work" by Adrian Rogers. Four point outline: Don't Brag, Don't Sag, Don't Lag, Don't Nag. Best rhyming, alliterative outline ever. Nah, I don't recall the text. You can start with the title and outline and then find a text, huh? You've got 364 days to come up with something. How much I got paid for my first job: $1.00/hr. Carried a chain for a surveyor, an old guy (so I thought). Spend all day Saturdays and the old guy would wear me out tromping through the woods staking out roads and lots. Highest Paid Southern Baptist employee: Well, … [Read more...] about Not to belabor Labor Day but…
What’s up with this #FillTheTank Challenge from President Greear?
On August 12th our SBC President, JD Greear issued a challenge to our convention of churches. Although the genesis of this emphasis is nothing new to old-school SBC’ers, this renewed initiative might be new to the younger guys and gals involved in our cooperative effort. No doubt, from the time Adam skinned his first rabbit to fashion extra bloomers for he and Eve, the Southern Baptist Convention has had a “Baptism Sunday” chiseled onto its annual Calendar of Activities. Baptism (the mode, the methodology and the meaning) is important to us low-church Protestants in a way that not much else … [Read more...] about What’s up with this #FillTheTank Challenge from President Greear?
This is NO Way to Welcome a Guest
As I mentioned in my last post, I am in Florida working my mom and dad's home. Today, I fixed up a bathroom and did a little puttering around the place. Nothing major. Then, about noon, my sister called. She lives about 45 minutes south of here in northern Palm Beach County and she'd been cavalier about tropical storm Dorian that was headed this way. She's lived here most of her life and has seen hurricanes come and go. Today, when she called, the cavalier attitude was gone. Dorian has strengthened and is now expected to be a Category 4 hurricane when it hits us. For those of you with SEC … [Read more...] about This is NO Way to Welcome a Guest
Autonomy is still in the driver’s seat re: SBC clergy/church abuse
The preferred solution to any problem in the SBC, our 174 year-old convention of churches, is to create a high-profile national conference, program, or plan. In a way, that is the best solution available, since of the 47,456 SBC churches counted in the latest statistical report, every single one of them is an autonomous, independent actor, free from the least directive from Nashville. Add to that another 3,759 "church-type missions" and we're over fifty thousand. Every single one of these churches hires their own clergy, supervises their staff, fires their staff, decides what to pay their … [Read more...] about Autonomy is still in the driver’s seat re: SBC clergy/church abuse
On the Downhill Run
I remember having a light-hearted discussion with a lady during my first ministry as a youth pastor in Tequesta, Florida. She was chiding me about something and I was pleading my youth and inexperience as an excuse. I remember her words. "Pretty soon, that excuse will no longer fly." I am in a plane right now on my way to meet my wife in Raleigh. The logistics are complicated but she was in Cincinnati helping our youngest daughter and her husband move into their new home. My little baby now owns a house. Wow. From Raleigh, we are heading to Florida to visit my parents. Dad just turned … [Read more...] about On the Downhill Run
Seminaries agree to drop the MDiv degree
Compiled from very high, executive level seminary leaders: "We've agreed to drop the old gold standard ministerial training degree for a host of good reasons. It's a Gospel issue and we wanted to be out in front of the churches and the convention on this." "We've decided to replace the MDiv with a cutting edge, ahead-of-the-curve program of education and training that will give students a degree in consultancy. The market is ripe for all manner of church consultants and we believe we can attract more students to this field than the traditional training for the pastorate. After all, most … [Read more...] about Seminaries agree to drop the MDiv degree
Donald Trump, Evangelicals, and Blasphemy
When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but the one who controls his lips is prudent. Proverbs 10:19 probably should be my "life verse." I have not committed a lot of physical sins in my life - no adultery, violence, no bank robberies - but I have not avoided the sins of the tongue. One of my siblings asked me once, half in jest and half in exasperation, "Don't you ever just shut up?" Jenni gets frustrated at my tendency to engage strangers in conversation while waiting in line at the grocery. I am a talker. I haven't always learned the wisdom of not talking (insert your joke … [Read more...] about Donald Trump, Evangelicals, and Blasphemy