We are in a unique time in SBC life. Have there ever been five entities in transition? We have been talking about minority leadership at an entity over the last few years. With nearly half of our entity leadership positions open, it is inevitable that this is a key moment in SBC history. Our trustees […]
How bright is the future for our beloved Cooperative Program?
October is Cooperative Program month. While serving as a pastor, I didn’t often have a special CP Sunday or emphasis although I regularly attempted to educate the congregation on our main channel of mission support. Of all our denominational efforts and enterprises, the CP is the one that needs the most explanation, education, and promotion. […]
#SBC19 Hotel Reservations Open Friday
The 2019 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention is still 8 months away, but online hotel registration will open on Friday, October 12 at 9am EST. Normally reservations open on October 1, but this year there have been some complications with renovations at the convention center. This led to the date for reservations being […]
#SBCPC19 Website Is Live
I haven’t seen an announcement in Baptist Press, but today I stumbled across the website for the 2019 SBC Pastors’ Conference in Birmingham, AL. The conference will be held June 9-10 at Legacy Arena just prior to the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. The conference president is Danny Wood, pastor of Shades […]
What Should I do: Thoughts on Political and Cultural Engagement
I’m struggling. I’m struggling with how to engage culture for God’s glory. The recent nomination fight over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh forced that struggle to the front of my conscience. There are five realities guiding my decisions on cultural engagement, and five action steps I’d like to take in the future. 5 Realities I […]
How to Increase Your Missions Offerings
We recently received good news from both the North American Mission Board regarding Annie Armstrong and the International Mission Board regarding Lottie Moon. Both offerings were up. The amount collected for the AAEO was the largest in the offering’s history. The amount collected for the LMCO did not quite meet the goal, but it was […]
Who Should Be the Next IMB President?
As I write this, I am in the Casamance region of Southern Senegal on my seventh mission trip attempting to bring the gospel to the Ehing people, a UUPG, and seeking to establish churches in the region. I came first with Bart Barber in 2015, came back in early 2016 and have done two trips […]
Lottie Moon up by about $6 million
Final total for 2017-2018: $158.9 million. That’s not a record. The record is $165.8 million in the year after the missionary personnel drawdown. This year’s is second highest. An increase of about $6 million but with a change in counting. IMB aligned their tally with the SBC fiscal year, October 1 to September 30, so […]
What’s in a Name [Mark Terry]
[This article was written by Mark Terry.] I’ve always been interested in church names. Some churches are named for a place, like Fisherville Baptist Church in Kentucky. Others are named for a road, like Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas. Some are named for people, like Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville, which is […]
Let’s call the CP up for the year just ended
The national Cooperative Program just ended a fiscal year and Baptist Press reports that the total received by the Executive Committee for distribution to the mission boards, seminaries, ERLC and a couple of other national entities was slightly less than the last fiscal year. National CP ends fiscal year 2.63% over goal The SBC received […]
The Missing Emphasis in SBC Life: Local Associations
Throughout the vast majority of my pastoral ministry, if I were to think about SBC life, I would first think about the local church and then the national entities. I’d think about the Annual Meeting, the notable pastors, the entity heads, denominational strategies, the Cooperative Program, Lottie, Annie, and all of this work that we […]
Choose Cooperation! – Reflection on being SBC on the local/state level
As we enter the Fall season, now is the time for Association and State Conventions to hold their annual meetings. While I enjoy engaging in Convention issues and participating on the national level, I find that the local association and state convention have been vitally important to my growth and development as a pastor and […]