As I type this, my wife is driving and we’re headed to Alabama from our home in Northern Indiana. It’s an annual ritual that I explained to some of my church friends is a combination of a business meeting, worship gathering, family reunion, and trade show. I’ve been attending the SBC Annual Meeting since 1999 and make it a point to actively participate as a messenger each year. A couple thoughts have been running through my mind over the last couple weeks that I wanted to share as we come together in Alabama this week. 1. What we are doing is … [Read more...] about The SBC Annual Meeting – Putting it in perspective
Carpe Diem…The Plan for Today
Headed over to hear David Platt at the PC, then several of us are going to the EC meeting, hoping not to get blocked by executive sessions. Lunch and more PC time will lead to our dinner at "The Southern" which begins at 4:30 and ends when we stop talking. I sat through all 3 sermons last night of the Pastors' Conference and I think it is going to be a good one this year. They are working through the Beatitudes and each message last night was a good treatment. Would love to meet you. One thing about bloggers - we are all nicer in person than online. Except for Blosser. He's the … [Read more...] about Carpe Diem…The Plan for Today
Set aside the obituary for the SBC annual meeting
"No one wants to go these days." "The crowds are shrinking." "Let's meet remotely, satellite locations, ballot by phone." "People can't afford to get there" The naysayers, whiners, and complainers with their doleful laments had the obit written for our grand SBC annual meeting. Better set that aside. Predictions of 10,000 are being tossed about. I'm here early. There's youth, energy, excitement, smiles, laughter, backslapping, and gaiety. Wine, I might note, is not being served. There's a different, positive, feel if I'm reading the tea leaves correctly and that with several … [Read more...] about Set aside the obituary for the SBC annual meeting
Ed Litton’s Powerful Pastors’ Conference Message
My first Pastors' Conference was in 1979, the year the Conservative Resurgence started. Electricity filled the air as man after man stood up, preached the word, upheld the perfection of that word, and planted the seed from which the CR grew. Tonight, I heard a sermon that could walk tall among the best PC messages I have heard. Ed Litton preached on "Blessed are those who mourn." The whole sermon is great, but it is the part that begins at minute 25 that was particularly powerful - directly addressing issues in the SBC. Ed Litton did not seem to have the support of everyone in … [Read more...] about Ed Litton’s Powerful Pastors’ Conference Message
SBC Voices Dinner Monday – 4:30 PM at “The Southern”
It was foreordained. Last night, Jenni and I walked the convention area with Scott Gordon and his often poorly behaved wife Rhonda checking for a place we could invite you to gather with us. We like to have an SBC Voices get together each year. In the end, the decision was made for us. We explored the local BBQ establishment known as Saws...you need to go but my living room is bigger. If 15 of us showed up we'd have to shut the doors. There's a make your own pizza place called "Your Pie" and we could have called it "Shut Your Pie Hole." Appropriate for a bloggers gathering, … [Read more...] about SBC Voices Dinner Monday – 4:30 PM at “The Southern”
Blessed by a Song by a Group I Disdain
Visiting a church in a church in Birmingham (well, Fultondale) thinking through some issues I am going through in my church. After 14 years there I haven't seen the progress I'd like to see. I get discouraged, angry down, frustrated. Sometimes it feels every day is a Monday. I sat...well, stood...in church and the praise team did a song I'd never heard. It was a moment. It was as if the words of the song were written to address precisely the situation I was going through. I am not going to be specific because I don't want this to be a discussion of the particular person or … [Read more...] about Blessed by a Song by a Group I Disdain
SBC Voices Contributors – Annual Meeting Rules Now Apply
It's convention time. Rule 1. Posts that aren't about the convention....save till Thursday. Rule 2. When you got em, post em.. We normally try to give 4 to 6 hours before we post. From now through Wednesday, post at will. Rule 3. Post your own. Just hit publish. If you need me to publish it for you, let me know. Keep it simple. I won't have time to format. Rule 4. If there's something going on I need to know about, dmille3098@gmail.com or @davemiller7 - contact me. Maybe Brent, Adam, William or others will add contact info. … [Read more...] about SBC Voices Contributors – Annual Meeting Rules Now Apply
#SBC19: Excellent Choices in Officer Elections (1 & 2 VP)
The leadup to #SBC19 hasn't focused much on officer elections. For the three roles of conventions president, first- and second vices presidents, only one nominee for each office has been announced to this point. J. D. Greear will, in all likelihood, be elected without opposition to serve a second year as SBC President. While many of us wished he had been elected back in 2016, it now seems providential that Greear was able to provide leadership for what the convention has faced over the past year and a half. Today's release of Caring Well: A Report from the SBC Sexual Abuse Advisory Group is … [Read more...] about #SBC19: Excellent Choices in Officer Elections (1 & 2 VP)
No database, no deal? Not this year but work continues on that and other aspects of abuse in churches
Did you gloss over this paragraph (emphasis is mine) of the SBC Caring Well Report? One final note: This report has required collaboration and cooperation from many Southern Baptists this year, and we pray that this first step will help Southern Baptists and Southern Baptist churches move forward. But we acknowledge that this report is a first step of many. Significant developments have occurred on a number of important items that are outside of the scope of this report to address, such as strengthening screening for abuse in the ordination process, potential enhancements to the Annual Church … [Read more...] about No database, no deal? Not this year but work continues on that and other aspects of abuse in churches
Birmingham Bound #SBC19
I. I seriously internally and externally debated about attending SBC ’19 Birmingham because SBC entities repeatedly refuse to hire minorities as president of one of the entities, even when they are highly qualified. There have been five entity head vacancies in the SBC over the past 18 months. Four of the five have been filled. No minorities have been hired to date. To say I am disappointed would be an understatement. II. The ten entity heads of the SBC assemble at least biannually, in a meeting known as the Great Commission Council. In a Convention comprised of 20% minorities—Asians, African … [Read more...] about Birmingham Bound #SBC19