SBC Voices

Permit me to state some facts before I begin my rant. I am a lifelong teetotaler. My only experiences with alcohol have been medicinal or accidental. I have never purposely taken a drink. I was raised that way and I have no desire to live any other way. I am not a prohibitionist. I believe that efforts to classify wine in the Bible as grape juice border on the silly. People drank alcoholic beverages and the Bible does not call that sin. There are warnings in the Bible about choosing what is wise, about avoiding the consequences of alcohol abuse, and strict prohibitions against … [Read more...] about I Hate Alcohol

...and the poorer schools get no top level recruits; the smaller churches lose solid members. And ain't we got fun, so the song goes. Well, no we ain't got much fun if our team has little chance to win against one of the SEC rich powerhouses and, worse, it's no fun at all for the vast majority of SBC pastors who's average 100-or-so SBC church loses not just prospects but good members to the nearby megachurch. A friend told me with some concern that one of their church's best families were leaving and joining another nearby larger church. It's a conversation I have had repeatedly over the … [Read more...] about In both the SEC and the SBC the rich get richer…

In their latest article on abuse in the SBC the Houston Chronicle and their reporters John Tedesco and Robert Downen do a good job drilling down into details that are seldom touched on by secular reporters. Southern Baptist Convention claims no control over local churches. But new rules, lawsuit may test that argument  [You might have to have an account to read the entire article or access it from a different computer. It's worth reading.] A few quotes and observations: For decades, Southern Baptist lawyers have argued the convention has no oversight over any of the churches that … [Read more...] about Houston Chronicle’s long article on SBC autonomy: Can the SBC maintain it’s non-liability in abuse cases?

With one month to go on the Executive Committee's fiscal year, it's good to see that the national CP receipts are running about one million ahead of the same period last year. That's only about one half of one percent but up is up. This is the national portion of the CP. It remains to be seen if the total CP, including the bulk of revenues which stay with state conventions, will be up for 2019. The same Executive Committee report shows designated giving for the period as being $2.67 million behind last year which means that Lottie and Annie didn't do quite as well this year as in 2018. … [Read more...] about CP slightly up, IMB funding probably down, and what’s all this about immediate baptism?

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?

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…

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…