SBC Voices

This week, a Latino community leader in a major Southern city told me about a white Christian woman in his city who contacted him asking for someone to help clean her house. He recommended a Mexican woman to her who went to her house daily, worked and cleaned faithfully. The white Christian woman paid the Mexican woman in cash under the table to no taxes were taken out and nothing was reported. The Mexican woman was then caught in an ICE raid and was detained and sent away for deportation. The Latino community leader was heartbroken about this and worried for her family left behind. He … [Read more...] about Breaking Through Blindess: The Second Commandment, Historic Racial Division, Biblical Justice, and Listening to One Another

The conversation goes on. And from the perspective of some among us, it goes on and on and on and on and on. “Why can’t we just let bygones be bygones? Why do we have to keep on dredging up the past and revisiting the same sins over and over again? Didn’t we already say we were sorry for that, anyway? What do we have to do or say to finally lay this thing to rest?” I believe this line of thinking, and different perspectives with regard to it, lies at the root of much of the current frustration regarding the ongoing discussion over racial reconciliation. Hopefully, what I have to say here … [Read more...] about “But we already said we’re sorry for that”

In my ministry, I’ve had the privilege of serving as an interim pastor at ten churches. Those churches varied from 75 in attendance to 750. Some of the churches were in good shape, while others were in great turmoil. An interim pastor serves as the regular preacher at a church between the tenures of two pastors. My friend, Dr. Bill Whitaker once said to me, “You are really the interim preacher, not the interim pastor.” At some churches that was true; about all I did was preach regularly. However, at some churches I did counseling, consulting with committees, and some visiting in the community … [Read more...] about The Role of an Interim Pastor

I have the great privilege to be a part of the network of churches that make up the New Orleans Baptist Association. We are so diverse from one another and yet there is such unity within our diversity. We have different traditions, ethnicities, broad soteriologies, differing worship styles, ecclesiological models, big churches, little churches, established churches and brand new church plants. Our "big church" pastors are just as involved with our association's work as are our "small church" pastors. All these differences and yet we love one another. We have wonderful times of fellowship with … [Read more...] about On Racism, MLK50, and SBC Churches: An Alternative Voice from Louisiana

Why wouldn't all of us be in favor of expanding participation for voting for the SBC Annual Meeting by having satellite meetings, perhaps at your local Baptist associational office, where folks who can't make the annual meeting in Dallas or Phoenix or Nashville or Indianapolis could cast their vote? It's tough to address some populist ideas because the presumption of greater participation always puts you on the defensive, having to explain why more people voting is a bad idea. Well, it is a bad idea but I offer a bit more about it. I have speculated about that as a way to increase … [Read more...] about More about satellite SBC annual meetings and remote voting: still a bad idea

The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention met in Nashville today for a special called meeting to elect a search committee to find the next President and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee.  This meeting was necessitated by the sudden resignation of Dr. Frank Page last month. The floor was opened for nominations, and according to SBC This Week, 18 members of the Executive Committee were nominated for the search committee. A ballot vote was held, and the following six were elected: Steven Swofford, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Rockwall, TX Joe Knott, Lawyer in … [Read more...] about BREAKING: SBC Executive Committee Forms Search Committee

The Cooperative Program is our main funding mechanism. It puts more dollars than any other source into SBC state conventions and their assorted ministries as well as the SBC level entities (one proviso on this, though, is that direct giving puts more dollars into SBC level entities than does CP). Perhaps more important than the dollars is that the CP is our method of uniting churches, state conventions, and SBC level entities in cooperative ministry. Almost all of us desire a strong CP and most of us would think an increasing CP dollar flow makes us a healthier convention. While it would be … [Read more...] about A thriving Cooperative Program needs all kinds of churches on board

...and I'm happy to help. Squirrels, those rats of the forest with long fluffy tails, are being brought back from the 'dead'. Rodent CPR. Why? Complaints are being noised that our ERLC leader can't get into the White House. But we do have a few megapastors who seem to get there and end up being photographed standing beside prosperity gospel superstar Paula White. God bless Russell Moore. Don't worry about the world ending a week from Monday, National Geographic sez. Instead, plan for the usual Global Warming catastrophes. Seems that there has long been a conspiracy theory (Nibiru, … [Read more...] about Things you probably need to know…