SBC Issues

I am currently on a social media hiatus. You could call it a detox. I realize that may sound strange since I am writing this article. I know blogging is a form of social media. But it's really just Facebook and Twitter that I am breaking from for a while. Let me explain. I have wanted to do this for a while, but there have been a couple of legitimate things that have kept me from taking the plunge. The first is that social media is the way I stay in contact with some of my friends. I participate in a discussion group on Facebook Messenger that is an encouragement to my soul. That group has … [Read more...] about Some thoughts about social media

I do not deal with comments nearly as much as I used to, for several reasons - some noble and others not so much. In the "not so much" category, I find myself tiring of answering the same questions and responding to the same criticisms over and over again. So, I am putting together a post answering some of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) or Frequently Made Criticisms (FMCs) with my answers. I may make this a permanent page and then I can just link people to it, or copy/paste answers. I know, first of all, that I am sometimes impatient with people. You may be making a criticism or … [Read more...] about SBC Voices is BIASED: Some FAQ (FMC?) about SBC Voices

Friday, August 2, 2019, a friend of mine, one I had never met in real life but had grown to love through online contacts, found out what S.M. Lockridge meant when he said, "Sunday's Coming." It is a bit weird, but many of my best friends are people that I met through blogging. One of those, a man I have known since my earliest days of commenting on other people's blogs, is Dr. C.B. Scott. His hard-headedness matches the strength of his convictions and his integrity. I think I have argued more passionately (I'd call it angrily, but...) with him than just about anyone else in the blogging … [Read more...] about It’s Friday, Sunday’s Coming: In Memory of Karen Scott

My first writings here on SBC Voices was a matched pair of articles on Calvinists in the SBC: What I like about Calvinists and Why I'm wary of Calvinists. Those were in the summer of 2011 and, as I recall, each had hundreds of comments. What made me wary then was (1) Calvinists can be, well, rather arrogant, (2) I’ve been around too many churches that have been wrecked by Calvinists, (3) Calvinists have been known to be less than forthcoming with search committees. It looks to me like Calvinists, having grown considerably in stature, acceptance, and influence in the SBC, have moved from … [Read more...] about In the span of 15 months implosions of both Traditionalists and Calvinists

I have been preaching a long series on Sunday mornings on the Holy Spirit and am currently going through 1 Corinthians 12. As a part of my Sunday message on verses 4-6, I ended up in Hebrews 11, don't ask me how. I took my people through a favorite section of the "Hall of Faith" and showed them one of those passages of Scripture I call, "Verses We Don't Really Believe." We believe the whole Bible, of course, but we don't REALLY believe those verses about loving our enemies, returning good for evil, giving thanks for everything, and a host of others - you get me? In Hebrews 11, we read about … [Read more...] about Failing by Faith: Verses We Baptists Don’t REALLY Believe

With that succinct sentence a church member issued a severe indictment of the man who was their pastor and preacher. I'd heard it before. The line is a standard complaint of some church members who aren't enamored with their current pastor. I may signify something more serious, that  members have arrived at the conclusion that their pastor is totally inadequate in performing pastoral duties. In the case at hand the member was expressing frustration that the pastor didn't relate well to most of the members, didn't make sufficient effort to build relationships, and, perhaps, performed minimal … [Read more...] about “We don’t have a pastor, just a preacher”

RICHMOND, Va.—Dear white evangelicals: It’s decision time. You can’t pretend any longer that President Trump is not a racist. Evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. Any number of examples going back years should have tipped you off. Like when Trump launched his political career by falsely claiming that Barack Obama wasn’t born in America. Or when he said many of the Mexican migrants coming across the border rapists and drug dealers. Or demanded the closing of U.S. borders to all Muslims, regardless of their countries of origin. Or said some of the white supremacists who rampaged … [Read more...] about Letter to white evangelicals: decision time (Erich Bridges)