SBC Voices

Most southerners my generation go back four or five generations to get to their ancestors who served in the Civil War. With a half century of genealogy as a hobby, I can say with some confidence that most Americans would be at a loss to name even a single great-great grandparent much less convey any knowledge of their involvement in the bloody conflict. I would list seven of eight family lines in the service of the Confederate States of America. The eighth family was a transplanted Yankee who made a stop in Mississippi, didn't like it, and settled in Georgia. My service-aged ancestor in the … [Read more...] about Nostalgia, celebration, and those troublesome Confederate reminders

We had a discussion today on our private “editorial board forum.”  That's a fancy term for our private Facebook group that started out as our Pastors’ Conference advisory board. Now it's where we gather to solve the world's problems, talk about sports, and discuss issues related to this blog. "Brain trust" might be a generous term at times, but it's the closest thing SBC Voices has. Today our attention turned to our recent discussions of race. Our contributors here have a wide range of view on many subjects, but on issues related to racial reconciliation, we tend to operate from the … [Read more...] about Frustration, Irritation, and the Race Issue: Confessions from the SBC Voices “Brain Trust”

A team of archaeologists recently unearthed a new scroll containing 2 Samuel 12. It is now being dubbed the King David Version, as it presents the king as not incurring all the guilt for his murderous affair with Bathsheba. Randy Hogan, chairman of the Super Convenient Archaeology Team (SCAT), remarked that this finding came at a “tremendously helpful and opportune time for our nation.” They were shocked to find, hidden in an ancient refrigerator, an unscathed manuscript of the prophet Nathan’s confrontation of King David. After the discovery a crack team of Hebrew professors quickly worked … [Read more...] about King David Bible Uncovered

Conservatism is not Christianity. Pursuing the kingdom of God and His righteousness includes both conserving what is good and progressing in what is lacking. When it comes to politics, we religious conservatives are quick to point out that much of what the world calls “progress” is neither good nor pleasing to God and in terms of pursuing God’s kingdom, is not progress at all. We have fought hard, and rightly so, for the right to life at every stage, for the preservation of traditional marriage, and for religious liberty of all people. At the same time, not all about our history should be … [Read more...] about Beyond Conservatism and Toward God’s Kingdom

I will never ever understand why people can’t condemn white supremacy as is, without having to give qualifiers regarding black people. No black person ran over an alt-white racist today. White supremacy kills. It murders, rapes, pillages, destroys, and damns. Yes, black people can be racist. But the image of racist hate over the past 24 hours has not been black, it’s been white. To me, white people should be able to condemn white supremacy outright. Condemning white supremacy shouldn’t have to be wedded to the condemnation of black racism. You know, I’ll say it. It is a miracle in America … [Read more...] about Black People Are Not Responsible for White Supremacy (Kyle James Howard)

We Southern Baptists are back in the news this week, and it isn’t for our gospel efforts. A few days ago, in a statement to the Brody File, Robert Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas, made this statement. When it comes to how we should deal with evil doers, the Bible, in the book of Romans, is very clear: God has endowed rulers full power to use whatever means necessary — including war — to stop evil. In the case of North Korea, God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong-Un. I’m heartened to see that our president — contrary to what we’ve seen with past … [Read more...] about Robert Jeffress and Romans 13: Troubling Comments

Tony Jones is pastor of the First Baptist Church of Rich Hill, MO. This post first appeared on his blog. Thom Rainer at www.evangelismrenewal.com is encouraging its churches to have more gospel conversations this year. They have set a goal of one million gospel conversations this year. There are, as of 2016, 47,272 Southern Baptist Churches in the United States. If every SBC church participated in the one million gospel conversations goal, they would have to average 22 gospel conversations for the year. If we take the parable of the sower in Matthew 13 as an example of effectiveness, that … [Read more...] about Attitudes About Evangelism (by Tony Jones)

Here are a few items that have accumulated regarding our venerable Cooperative Program. CP receipts by the Executive Committee through July are up. About $1.9 million more than for the same period last fiscal year. With two months to go in the fiscal year it's almost certain that the Executive Committee will be able to show an increase in CP receipts. This figure only includes CP received in Nashville. The Executive Committee also reports receipts of designated funds (mostly Lottie and Annie). This figure is down from last year about $13.8 million. Most of the decline is due to last year's … [Read more...] about Cooperative Program Dog Days of Summer Round-Up