I'm typing this while watching Golden State vs. Portland in game 2, so please forgive me if an errant yessss!!!! finds its way into this post. It's been two months since I started this ministry with a Twitter feed. Since that time, I've been able to correspond with some awesome missionaries. One of those awesome missionaries (cue Jack Nicholson "Is there any other kind?") sent me some specific prayer requests this week. I'm withholding the country and the name to be extra cautious about security. Please pray for 2 sets of their neighbors. Both sets of their neighbors are … [Read more...] about Prayers for IMB May 17, 2019
Friendly Fire and Elephants
I have started, deleted, and restarted this post no less than 25 times. There is a war waging inside; it’s a war between being misunderstood versus the deep felt emotion that runs through my veins. It gives my stomach a bit of a sick feeling and a slight lump in my throat. It is a physical reminder of the investment, deep care, and tension that I feel. Have you ever felt like the elephant in the room? I remember being a young 20-something in the middle of my Bible college coffee shop, and like many days, a group of guys was debating whether or not babies went to heaven or hell. I remember … [Read more...] about Friendly Fire and Elephants
Things I Wish I Knew Before Going Into Ministry (Lee Faler)
Editor's Note: we are going to be including regular features of interest to Southern Baptists. There is a fine new blog called "Small Church Shepherds " and I invited them to share their posts here. I was ordained into the gospel ministry six year ago, and have been on staff as either a pastor or youth pastor for the better part of 12 years. To this day I will quickly and without hesitation say that there is nothing I would rather do than shepherd the flock of God. From time to time, however, there are things that make me think “I wish I had known that before I went into the … [Read more...] about Things I Wish I Knew Before Going Into Ministry (Lee Faler)
Cooperation and Complexity on the Question of Women Preaching
Especially over the past year or two, I believe we’ve moved in a healthy direction. We’ve started to see more clearly the giftedness of our sisters in Christ, how much we should be honoring their service to the church, and how valuable their contribution is. Not everyone has moved in this direction, but thankfully many of us have, myself included. The SBC is complementarian in its viewpoint. That’s not in dispute. Our confession of faith says that the role of pastor (elder) is limited to men. Men and women are of equal worth, value, intelligence, competence, ability AND God intends for men … [Read more...] about Cooperation and Complexity on the Question of Women Preaching
The Fall of All the Mall Walls: Definitions in the Age of Social Media (Dean Treloar)
Recently, I was talking to a friend about a mishap he had experienced on twitter. This friend of mine, a pastor, was defending a biblical view on social issues when, presumably due to the language used, was miscategorized by a reader as being an advocate for a trending political controversy. The misunderstanding of tweets as a result of language — in this case, language that happens be shared in hot-button topics in our current political bipartisan divide — is all too common. Consequently, my friend and I spent a great deal of time talking about the phrases we use and the words we select to … [Read more...] about The Fall of All the Mall Walls: Definitions in the Age of Social Media (Dean Treloar)
Prayers for IMB May 15, 2019
One of our missionaries has put together a prayer guide for Ramadan. This 30 day prayer guide details how we can pray for Muslim during one of their most holy periods. I'll share today's prayer guide, and if you'd like the entire document, email me at JonesTonyL@yahoo.com. For more IMB prayer requests go to Prayers for IMB Missiological Terminology: Animism Animism is the belief that personal spiritual beings and impersonal spiritual forces have power over human affairs and, consequently, that human beings must discover what beings and forces are influencing them in order to determine … [Read more...] about Prayers for IMB May 15, 2019
SBC Deep State Has Been Discovered … Join Now!
There's a whole thing going on with stained glass windows and Liberty University and Jerry Falwell and SWBTS and Jerry Vines that isn't of too much interest to me, but in the midst of all of that, Jerry Falwell, Jr., President of Liberty University and spiritual advisor to the President revealed "shocking" news. Apparently, there is an "SBC deep state regime" involving Russell Moore of the ERLC. I'm not sure if Dr. Moore is leading this effort, but yes, it does exist. And, I'm happy to admit that I'm a part of it. You might be too! By God’s Grace, there’s a large group of pastors, leaders, … [Read more...] about SBC Deep State Has Been Discovered … Join Now!
Complementarianism: Prioritizing our doctrinal disagreement
Much has been written about what Al Mohler has called theological triage. I guess that Mohler first used the term in print in a 2005 article at albertmohler.com. At least that's the earliest reference that my quick Google search turned up. In his article, Mohler identifies what he calls "three different levels of theological urgency." He argues that there are first-level, second-level, and third-level theological issues. Mohler defines first-level theological issues as those doctrines most central and essential to the Christian faith. Examples include doctrines such as the Trinity, the full … [Read more...] about Complementarianism: Prioritizing our doctrinal disagreement
Stained Glass and Shoddy History
Being on sabbatical has brought me blissful isolation from most things ongoing in the SBC. If it is big enough to hit my Google News feed, however, then it pops up into my field of view in the morning. Some of the news that comes my way is encouraging. Some of it is downright dismal. Most of the dismal news has been baseball-related, but for this unsavory tidbit ("Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Displays Stained-Glass Windows Recently Removed from Southwestern Seminary") the only connection to baseball I could discern was my imagination of what a Paul Goldschmidt line drive would do … [Read more...] about Stained Glass and Shoddy History
Senegal Bound
I am sitting in the Omaha airport waiting on my first flight of the day. Will head to Minneapolis then JFK, where I will meet up with a team from Bart's church (Bart remains in the Witness Protection Program). We fly overnight to Dakar then will make connections to Ziguinchor, Senegal before heading out to villages for a week of ministry with UUPGs. If all goes well we return on Thursday the 23rd. We have some posts set and the guys will manage things here. We have some new features. I asked Tony Jones to post "Prayer for IMB" snippets several times a week and the men from "Small … [Read more...] about Senegal Bound