Kevin Sanders is a follower of Jesus, husband, pastor, blogger, and caffeine addict. He is the pastor of the Apollo Heights Baptist Church in El Paso, Texas. I led the church I currently pastor to make a significant change in our ministry programming: canceling our Sunday evening services. This happened back in January, but I decided it was best to see how things go before I posted anything about it. Allow me to share a little more about my own background before going any further: I jokingly tell people that I started attending a Southern Baptist church nine months before I was born. … [Read more...] about We Cancelled Our Evening Service (Kevin Sanders)
Record Annie Armstrong offering
So the NAMB announcement was reported by SBC This Week. NAMB President Kevin Ezell announced today that this year's AAEO was the highest on record at a whopping $59.6 million. This total eclipses the previous record of $59,463,281 given in 2007 as well as the 2016 amount of $58,860,553. This is one thing happening around the SBC. I would have predicted a slight decline. All SBC entities have their critics but this offering is a measure of support for NAMB's work. Glad to see it. _____ (not to distract from other topics here) … [Read more...] about Record Annie Armstrong offering
A Great Book that Shouldn’t Need to Be Written!
We arranged with Jews for Jesus to have a full seder at our church on the Wednesday night before Easter and they sent a man named Avi Snyder to lead us. Sometimes you hit it off with another and that is what happened that night. He showed up early and we talked. We arranged to go out for breakfast again in the morning and spent some more time fellowshipping together. He demonstrated that he is a man of wisdom and insight - we agreed on so many things! He told me he had a book coming out soon and promised to send it to me. I promised him I'd write a review of the book here. I am only about 12 … [Read more...] about A Great Book that Shouldn’t Need to Be Written!
Are Unhappy Christians a Poor Witness?
In a sense a depressed Christian is a contradiction in terms, and he is a very poor recommendation for the gospel. –Martyn LloydJones (Spiritual Depression) I’ve labored over this quote for quite some time. I battle depression. So when I read statements like this from a pastor I revere it causes me to be a bit unsettled. Even more so when he says things like, “such people are very poor representatives of the Christian faith”. Now it’s possible that what Lloyd-Jones means by “depression” is different than what I mean by depression. It is a bit difficult to pin down exactly what he means by … [Read more...] about Are Unhappy Christians a Poor Witness?
What Became of Luther’s German Church (A Book Review of Philipp Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria)
Pia Desideria. By Philipp Jacob Spener. Leipzig: Karl Franz Köhler, 1841. 211 pages. Philipp Jacob Spener was a Lutheran parish minister in Frankfurt on the Main, Germany. He was born near Strasburg in 1635. Devout from childhood, Spener devoured Puritan classics and lived a careful and strict life. He pursued an extensive education culminating in a Doctorate of Theology. His pastoral career was unanticipated: he had intended to teach. He is the father of German Pietism, and Pia Desideria is the chief exemplar of his spiritual program. Seventeenth-century Protestantism was a turbulent … [Read more...] about What Became of Luther’s German Church (A Book Review of Philipp Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria)
Talk Amongst Yourselves: What Is Going on in the SBC?
Would that it was not so, but controversy drives SBC blogs. We try to write on a variety of topics here. I am doing a series of posts on the Holy Spirit, which is not exactly breaking records - but I forge ahead! We write devotional posts, theological posts, political posts. We write about sports (if the Yankees come back against Houston, just wait to see how I blast Barber and Blosser. If it keeps going bad, sports will be banned). But when there is some kind of denominational brouhaha, our traffic explodes. We set records earlier this year due to some of the controversies going on in the … [Read more...] about Talk Amongst Yourselves: What Is Going on in the SBC?
Will (should) tax reform reform the clergy housing allowance?
Guarranteed to stir the clergy masses into paroxisms of righteous indignation would be if congress, as a part of a comprehensive tax reform, attempted to make changes to our Sacred Clergy Tax Break, the minister's housing allowance. It's a little early to speculate but, as pundits are want to do, there is speculation afoot: Tax Breaks Could Kill Tax Reform There are special tax breaks for ministers and veterans and life insurance companies and blind people and gamblers. If you're robbed or you have huge medical bills or you're in a shipwreck or you ride your bike to work, you get a tax … [Read more...] about Will (should) tax reform reform the clergy housing allowance?
Baptist in the Spirit, Part 4: Old Testament Pentecostal Power?
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Those were the last words Jesus spoke before he was taken up into heaven, a promise of power that was fulfilled ten days later at Pentecost when the Spirit baptized the church with the promised power and its Great Commission work commenced. We focus on certain words in Acts 1:8. Power. Witnesses. The Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth progression. But our focus here will be on two words in the first … [Read more...] about Baptist in the Spirit, Part 4: Old Testament Pentecostal Power?
A Greek guide for the book of Luke and a FREEBIE too!
How's your Greek? I've got a book review as well as a freebie that might peak your interest. Christmas will be here before you know it, and taking the effort to work through the Greek text of the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke might help kickstart a habit that will bless you and your ministry for years to come. And if you need a recommendation to get you started, look no further than the volume on Luke in the Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (EGGNT) series. In the interest of full disclosure, I asked Broadman and Holman to bring Christmas to me early this year by … [Read more...] about A Greek guide for the book of Luke and a FREEBIE too!
Are You Celebrating the Reformation?
Evidently, it's nearly 500 years since old Martin defaced the door at Wittenberg. A lot of Baptists are celebrating this anniversary of the Reformation. There have been conferences and symposiums (symposia?) honoring and studying and analyzing every aspect of the work of Luther, Calvin, and the rest of the bunch. From my social media feeds, I can tell you that Sola Sermon series are all the rage in Baptist pulpits across the land - five-week series of five-point messages, I would assume. (with tulips decorating the pulpit?). On the other hand, several have been questioning the … [Read more...] about Are You Celebrating the Reformation?