You figure it was coming – some guidance, explanation, advice about how to count attendance during this time of cancelled physical services. My church’s last in-the-building service was March 15th. Since then we have had some variety of online services each Sunday and two drive-in services. Our plan is to have drive-in services each Sunday […]
National Day of Prayer Livestream with SBC Leaders Tomorrow, 2:30pm
Baptist press reports that a National Day of Prayer gathering will be taking place tomorrow, May 7, at 2:30 Eastern. J.D. Greear, SBC Vice President Marshall Ausberry, SBC Second Vice President Noe Garcia, as well as other SBC pastors and leaders will be leading the prayer time. Would you join tomorrow? Would you ask your […]
So, who’s getting Uncle Sam to pay your clergy salaries?
I wouldn’t expect all to admit to it, frankly. This is the strangest of strange occurrences: government guaranteed loans paying the salaries of pastors and other church and church related workers. If you’re applying or have received the loan and want to explain your church’s thinking, feel free. I doubt that there will be a […]
Open Letter to R. Albert Mohler, President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Rev. Joel A. Bowman, Sr.)
When Shall We Resume Public Worship?
I have been posting about our church’s efforts to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, and I thought I would bring you up to date. We ended public worship on March 22nd. We’ve webcast our worship services now for six weeks, and more people have viewed our services online than came to public worship. We observed […]
The Final Nails in My Coff…er..Theses
This is the final in my series of three posts about politics. I am not endorsing a candidate or telling anyone else for whom they should or shouldn’t vote. My purpose is to attempt to define biblical principles for political engagement. Part 1 Part 2 Here’s part 3, in which I put the final nails […]
A Pandemic of SBC Controversy
The last couple of weeks have been momentous in the life of our beloved convention. Southwestern Seminary is still dealing with financial issues, exacerbated by the COVID-19 shutdown. Departments were reorganized and we understand there were some personnel reductions. Of course, the biggest news was their dealings with the fraudulent Dead Sea Scrolls scraps purchased […]
Let’s have a conversation about Ridgecrest being sold
Our flagship conference center, Ridgecrest, is for sale trustees have decided. Just 21 months ago I wrote on this site What’s the reason for the Ridgecrest renaissance? I’ve always been relatively close to Ridgecrest while living and serving in South Carolina and Georgia. I would estimate I’ve stayed there a couple of dozen times. My kids […]
Our little SBC world – upside down now.
One might think that our six seminaries are the safest and most secure of all SBC entities. The combined revenue streams of tuition, Cooperative Program, private gifts and other income sources would insulate the schools from disaster. After all, no hurricane would reach Louisville. Now, the pandemic has shut off tuition revenue. Southern seminary announced […]
The SBC, Pastors, and Politics: Nailing My Theses – Part II
The first set of ten was more background and these get a little more specific, and possibly more offensive to some. I am not hopeful anyone will follow this, but we’ve had a couple of posts recently where we discussed political things. I would love it if we stuck to these points for our discussion. […]
Some COVID-19 vignettes from the hinterlands
In my part of Georgia we’ve been locked down for weeks. The last in-person church service I attended was March 15th. Here are a few things I’ve noticed. You can add yours in a comment. If you think about it, it’s absolutely amazing that the populace has responded quickly and cooperatively to the crisis. Almost […]
There’s a new, independent database for Baptist clergy abusers and alleged abusers
The longtime goal of some abuse victims and their advocates is for the SBC to fund and manage a database of convicted, confessed, and credibly accused clergy abusers. The Executive Committee of the SBC has long declined to take this step. The concrete proposals I have seen call for the Executive Committee to create and […]