SBC Voices

This past year has proved trying for everyone, especially those in the ministry. We’ve dealt with sickness and dying on a scale beyond our experience. Circumstances have forced us to serve in ways that are unfamiliar. (I still don’t like preaching to a camera instead of people!). We’ve had to learn new things and temporarily […]

I asked a close acquaintance, ministry colleague, if they liked Ravi Zacharias. “Not any more,” was the quick and laconic reply Dave Miller’s article of last week lumped the whole sordid matter under “The Ravi Zacharias Problem” and I’ll presume that readers are familiar with that squalid and deplorable mess. One aspect of it that […]

The evidence is in. Ravi denied it and his friends supported him and attacked those who made accusations, but now there is incontrovertible, undeniable, factual evidence that Ravi Zacharias was a sexual predator – a despicable man who leveraged his ministry position for sexual favors from women. It is an ugly story. A friend asked […]

Over the last few days, both houses of Virginia’s legislature have passed bills that would end the practice of capital punishment in the Commonwealth. Sen. Scott Surovell (D) of Fairfax as well as Sen. Bill Stanley (R) of Franklin sponsored this bipartisan bill. For me, this is a sign of hope on many levels. There […]

Last Monday I posted a letter I received from John V. Rutledge, that was clearly racist and expressed low regard for the intellectual capacities and Christian understanding and commitment to the biblical faith. A common response to the Rutledge letter from some Southern Baptists (SB) was that he was not representative of the SBC, and […]

Adam Greenway and SWBTS announced today that there has been a settlement in the lawsuit that they and Baylor University brought against the trustees of the Harold E. Riley Foundation (HERF) over their attempt to take control of the foundation and redirect its assets. Mr. Riley was a longtime benefactor of SWBTS and Baylor, and […]

If there is a bias in SBC life it is in favor of larger churches. Not that denominational leaders and employees deliberately discriminate against average churches (median attendance, 70; average attendance around 120), or their pastors; it’s just that most of the revenue, most of the trustees, all of the leadership, all of the elected […]

There are two main targets in SBC life these days, Russell Moore and the ERLC and Kevin Ezell and the North American Mission Board. In regard to the latter, NAMB is incessantly criticized for their spending policies. A few observations: NAMB designed and manages successful national SBC programs in the area of church planting and […]

Over the history of the Southern Baptist Convention, there have been many gifted preachers. Those men have been used by God to provide timely and prophetic sermons that have guided, shaped, and corrected the course of individuals, churches, and the SBC. In this series, we will look at some of those sermons. Even though most […]

To all that this may concern, Normally I would begin a letter such as this with a greeting that clearly explains my hope and prayer that the reader is doing well, encouraged, and in good spirits. In such an instance I would further go on to explain my purpose of the letter to the reader […]

Last year, Thom Rainer predicted that the pandemic would cause the deaths of many churches. I did not disbelieve him, but I hoped his prediction would not come true. Sadly, at least in our association, several churches have died or soon will.  I serve on the Mission Team of the Kauf-Van Baptist Association, which includes […]

When the SBC was formed in 1845, it started with two main entities, the “Board of Domestic Missions”  and the Foreign Mission Board, later to become NAMB and the IMB.  Over time the entity list has grown to include 6 seminaries, Guidestone, Lifeway, and the ERLC. Most of these institutions have easily understood purposes, such […]