Only a few…I have to pace myself these days. And would you dour Calvinists kindly force yourselves to allow for sardonic humor?
Coffee is coffee. You effete javasseurs who sip the expensive lattes, frappes, and cappuexcretas are nothing more than affluent, status-seeking wannabes. Note that the decline of the country’s moral tenor tracks inversely with popularity of overpriced flavored water.
The Cooperative Program is a flawed system. It allows some organizations and some parts of organizations to be propped up when they have only marginal use. It also is addictive and prevents organizations from making it on their own if they are able. It is also a great system and I wish we would work harder to negate the flaws rather than just cheerlead the system.
Every search committee should embargo the phrase “God’s man.” Why would you even talk to anyone who is not “God’s man” anyway? Want to curse your choice, call him this.
Those who lead groups to do ministry in the Carribbean or Central America should be more discerning. Wake up to the reality that most every “partner” in these popular locales knows how to appeal to rich Americans for a never ending stream of support. Independence and autonomy should be the goal, not an endless stream of needy mission tourists.
Major league baseball is a complete waste of time until the playoffs. Frittering away three hours from April through September watching an entire game is near insanity.
Our seminaries are filled with wonderful staff who genuinely care about training Christian workers…but…the bottom line is always enrollment and leaders will market and finagle to get the numbers up.
A prospective pastor (and that’s a senior pastor) should understand that he is likely to be in small congregation much of his ministry, because that’s where most of the churches are. But, take heart, God will be there first.
The term “author” has been devalued to the point of meaninglessness. If you want to self-publish some online, so-called book and vitae it shame on you. Do something worth bragging about, or better, let other’s praise you. I’ll confess that putting “blogger” in your resume is about as bad.
The term “missionary” has been devalued to the point of meaninglessness. Look around and see who is so called and check where they are and what they do.
I defiantly read a newspaper. That’s a collection of thin sheets of paper with printing on them all very nicely folded up. I like to hold a newspaper in my hands and get ink on my fingers. It is emotionally satisfying to me to do that. But you peruse your cute device, look important, and believe that it conveys status on you if you wish.
The weakest part of our SBC system is the trustee system as we manage and implement it. The SBC has a dozen major entities. About half have had major problems within the last decade or so. Trustees are at fault.
No, we can’t all be megapastors. Any fool can see that. You aren’t one, so stop acting like one.
We’d all be a lot better off if every pastor would read the comic section first thing on Sunday mornings. Oh, you don’t read papers. A pity.
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Have a good Lord’s Day.
Hear! Hear! Way to go Thornton!
I knew William wrote this just by reading the title (and I knew I would enjoy reading it by the same).
Haha.
Very entertaining. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. So I did both. So am I a fence straddler?
William, you made my day. Your better than the comic section.
Perfect for a Monday morning!
Oh, William, I finally have to disagree with you. My kids have been making me the most awesome coffee and tea drinks. They are truly “heavenly.” 🙂 Now, I wouldn’t want to pay $5 for one, mind you. So I am still in agreement with you there. But you can make a lot of this stuff at home, and yes, I’m asking for a coffee grinder for my birthday!
Curmudgeons of the world unite! About coffee–I went into a Starbucks one day and confessed to the barista, “I don’t speak Starbucks.” The kind young woman replied, “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll translate.” The SBC seminaries receive money from the Cooperative Program, based on their “full time equivalence” (FTE) enrollment, not head count. So, the seminary administrators are eager to enhance those numbers any and every way they can. I remember sitting in a faculty meeting at Southern Seminary, and Dr. Mohler bemoaned the fact that while Southern’s head count was up, its FTE was down.” You are spot on that a pastor’s first church out of seminary is usually a small one, unless he joins the staff of a big church. What is happening now is that lots of men are graduating from seminary with a big student debt, usually left over from college. The salaries they receive at their first church is not enough to support their families and pay their student loans. This is a problem for missionary candidates. These days some are rejected because of their student loan debt. I had a missions student at Southern Seminary. He was a medical doctor, and he had come to seminary to get the 30 semester hours of seminary study the IMB requires. He told me that he was able to go the mission field because a foundation had agreed to pay the installments on his student debt from medical school as long as he served with the IMB. I agree that our trustee boards should be more involved–proactive, not just reactive.
OK, I’m with you…as long as it’s a certified, organic, single source, guaranteed supply chain, sub-Saharan, medium roast with a hint of earthy Great Rift Valley flavor, served in a biodegradable, hand painted mug.
You forgot to add–made with a French press (whatever that is). I should have also commented on creating dependency in missions. Lots of SBC folks go on mission trips, and they are not emotionally prepared to deal with the poverty they encounter. They respond by financially “helping” the national churches and local workers. We used to host lots of American preachers who came to preach revival meetings in the southern Philippines. I always told them that it was ok to send money for a one-time gift (to put a new roof on the church) but not to send money monthly. Sending money regularly stiffles the development of stewardship in the churches. When I served in the Philippines, the church with the poorest stewardship was a church that received $20 each month from an SBC church in Mississippi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_press
Only two points of response:
A disagreement: I’ve seen this in your posts and comments before, but You seem to have an irrational aversion to calling someone a pastor who is not a SENIOR pastor. The rest of the SBC transitioned over to Plurality of Elders/Pastors over a decade ago…you need to catch up. If nothing else, for the sake of the self-esteem of Pastors of Technology everywhere.
An agreement: Newspapers are cool. You can’t copy comics and text from a screen with Silly Putty.
Very observant. I’ll die thinking of the senior pastor when the term is used. Modern Ecclesiastical life has passed me by…
“An agreement: Newspapers are cool. You can’t copy comics and text from a screen with Silly Putty.”
For sure.
LOL I remember that when I was in grade school. Thanks for the memories.
There is nothing like a cup of coffee perked in a pot on the stove. Well, a campfire actually does a better job but the gas burner on the stove is the next best thing. If you want to make a latte out of it, just pour in some extra cream, Land O’ Lakes brand if you can get it, or Eagle Brand canned concentrated milk. And yes, I also read the paper, and the baseball scores in the sports section is as close as I get to a game until the post season. Reading the paper and drinking the coffee is the best way to start the day, along with some bacon, eggs and hash browns.
Guess my age.
“Trustees are at fault.” Here, Here!
About the coffee: Do any of you grind your own coffee beans to make your coffee in the morning?
The coffee maker I use has a built in grinder with option to also turn off the grinder if needed. I’ve noticed a subtle but pleasant difference when I grind the beans than when I use already ground coffee.
Before my purchase of a Keurig, I ground my own coffee fresh every morning to make a pot. Still will grind whole beans when I make coffee at church.
It definitely tastes better when freshly ground.
Let me tell you how my Granny (from Cassville, Georgia BTW) made coffee: first she did not use “just” coffee, she used Luzianne Coffee with Chicory. She put it in a big old percolator, not an electric one, but one that sat on her wood cookstove. And it would perk and perk and perk, seemed like forever. But eventually she would move it off the “hot spot,” dump the grounds, put fresh grounds in, then perk through them! Although I was just a kid then and did not drink coffee, I still remember how good it smelt and how it was so black the bottom of a spoon disappeared as soon as it went in.
John Fariss,
That’s a wonderful story and a reminder of wood cookstoves and the smell of smoke, bacon, eggs fried in lard, cathead biscuits, syrup, and yes, the smell of coffee made on a wood stove.
Thanks for your comment.
I was an American Literature minor and was certified to teach literature and grammar in Alabama. Your description making coffee old school was most eloquent. Probably will copy and save.
I would like to request your permission to post this to Facebook.
I am flattered. Of course you have permission.
John
Enjoyed reading the passage as well as the comments. The senior pastor stuck out to me because of a new young pastor straight from seminary that took a job in a small church. Although the church had never had a senior pastor (just a pastor), he became the senior pastor. Oh by the way, he was an expensive coffee man too.
I look askance at clergy and their search for supplemental significance through new and impressive titles. Most SBC churches have a single FT minister, the pastor. That these churches of 70 or 100 or 125 now have a “senior” pastor or a “lead” pastor strikes me as silly, but then $5 coffee strikes me as silly. I pay $3 for a Sunday paper, about a dollar per pound.
Sigh…