SBC Voices

My heart has been breaking over the scenes that have come out of Houston and the surrounding areas in Southeast Texas from Hurricane Harvey. I've kept up with friends there on social media and have prayed as flood waters have risen around their neighborhoods. I praise God for the thousands of rescuers, volunteers, and regular citizens who are helping their neighbors. And, I am incredibly grateful for those who responded quickly to people in need and didn't pontificate over whether or not Hurricane Harvey was God's judgment on Texas. I remember standing in front of a crowd of tired, hot, … [Read more...] about Natural Disasters, God’s Judgment, and Our Response

"I KNEW it!" she crowed, as if she had found a discarded scrap of paper containing coded instructions from LBJ to Lee Harvey Oswald. She was, by all appearances, a lovely lady. Tall and slender, dressed beautifully, with a meticulously groomed head of white hair framing a face befitting that woman in your home town who retired from a successful career and then quickly segued into the presidency of the local library board, she sat in the shade on a park bench in the Ahuntsic neighborhood of Montreal, talking with a team of our volunteers. What nefarious plot had she uncovered? What deep … [Read more...] about Blinded

I attend a smaller SBC church. Up until recently, I was pastoring a smaller membership church. Throughout my time in ministry, though, I’ve found myself being an apologist for the large churches in the areas where I serve. In Northwest Indiana, where I live now, there are a number of large, bible-believing, gospel-preaching churches of different denominations that are healthy and impacting the community in various ways. Most of them, too, are “kingdom” minded and there is a great unity among the evangelical community here. Still, my ministry has been in small churches and to members of small … [Read more...] about False Criticisms of Large Churches

Did you read the Baptist Press story on the survey of local Baptist associations?  Survey Weighs Value of Baptist Associations. Perhaps the most salient quote coming out of this recent study might be this one, "When asked to describe the most exciting aspect of their local Baptist association, the most popular answer among church leaders was 'nothing,'" said Jason Lowe, a Kentucky director of missions who led the study that looked into attitudes about the work of local Baptist associations. "Nothing." How's that for a succinct evaluation of the work of our most historic cooperative … [Read more...] about Baptist associations and the struggle with irrelevance

Once again, I heard disturbing news today. Immigrant Dreamers (those brought here illegally as children who have previously had certain protections under the DACA program) are going to lose their protections in the near future and become susceptible to deportation. But, even more than that, I've heard directly from the offices of Republican Senators and Congressmen who are asking Evangelical pastors and churches to speak up on behalf of Dreamers and help give them the moral backing to pass legislation to protect these young people. They want to do what is right, but they need support from the … [Read more...] about Biblical Justice Demands Evangelicals/Southern Baptists to Speak on Behalf of Immigrant Dreamers

I hear it all the time. During the election, when I expressed my angst or my disgust about the actions of my former political party, the GOP (technically, due to laziness, I haven't taken the time to officially change my registration), I would immediately and consistently be met with a chorus of, "but what about Hillary?" responses. I was asked why I didn't confront her and condemn her more regularly. That has continued in several different forms but has come to a head recently in the Alt-right, KKK, White supremacist issues that have arisen in our land, especially the one that happened in … [Read more...] about Why I Devote Little Time to “Calling Out” Left Wing People and Groups