SBC Voices

I wrote on this recently concerning the SBC’s statistical struggles, and have addressed the topic several times through the years. My thoughts are developing. As long as Baptists, the ACP, and the Annual Meeting exist, and I'm around, I'll likely keep thinking about this and perhaps reflecting on it. It is truly a Baptist topic! There can be little doubt that the New Testament was written by Baptists. The Apostles counted the crowds that Jesus fed with the loaves and fish and carefully quantified the leftovers. I am sure it was all duly reported on the ACP at the appropriate time. Luke … [Read more...] about Baptists and Numbers: “It’s Complicated”

We are community makers. I see this in my daughter all the time. The other day she had a group of friends, a flashlight, a cape, and their imagination. They’d only been playing for about five minutes and already formed a club—the Ghost Hunters. About ten minutes into this little charade community rules developed. They were having the time of their lives and plotting out their ideas for world domination….and then the whole thing blew up. We are community destroyers. I assume that somebody called someone else a doody head or tried to grab some power that wasn’t theirs and the whole … [Read more...] about A Community Built On Grievance Will Never Last

Is it my own limited observation or is the old SBC stand-by, Cooperative Program guilting or shaming on the wane? I don't know who coined the phrase but I'd guess that most SBC pastors know what is meant by Cooperative Program shaming or guilting. Many have experienced it. I've seen it for decades. Here's my informal definition: Cooperative Program shaming is the implied or stated criticism of a church and/or its pastor and members for giving too little to the Cooperative Program. It is often measured either by an arbitrary percentage (commonly 10 percent often labeled the … [Read more...] about Waning Cooperative Program shaming

Is it just to allow an innocent person to pay for the crime of a guilty person? Let’s try that out in story form. A wretched woman stands trial for murdering a husband and wife. The jury finds the woman guilty of all the heinous crimes she is accused of. It is now the day when sentencing will be handed down. The prosecuting attorney was going for the death penalty. The judge agrees that someone deserves to die for these crimes. But everyone in the court is shocked when instead of passing sentence on the guilty murderer the punishment is handed over to an innocent son of the … [Read more...] about Is It Just For the Innocent to Pay for the Sins of the Guilty?

In Romans 16:13, Paul said to the saints at Rome, “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been mother to me as well.” Many scholars believe that Rufus was the son of Simon of Cyrene (Mark 15:21). Cyrene was a North African city, located in Libya. Paul referred to Rufus’ mother as his own. Mark was the only gospel writer to record the names of Simon’s sons, Rufus and Alexander *Mark 15:21). Thomas C. Oden, in his groundbreaking book, “The African Memory of Mark” provides a compelling argument that Mark was an African Jew born also in Cyrene, and was personally familiar with … [Read more...] about Crossing Cultural Chasms: An Invitation to Hear Dr. H.B. Charles and Dr. Jerry Young

We are halfway through 2017, and from my personal readings for these six months, I have made my way through 15 non-fiction works and 8 fiction. Seven of those non-fiction books are part of a year and a half journey to reread the works of Francis Schaeffer who greatly influenced my spiritual growth while in college. Also to be found are a couple of commentaries. Instead of reading through the Bible as a whole in 2017, I decided to focus on four books, giving them three-months of attention each. Part of that is to read through a significant commentary for each book. January through June, I … [Read more...] about My Top Three Reads for the First Half of 2017

Our Southern Baptist pastor colleague Eric Hankins is the primary author of the kitchen table theological statement commonly known among us as the "Traditional Statement." I call it "kitchen table" because it is a private product, mostly by Hankins but with consultation with a few others. As of this writing, the TS has to my knowledge not been adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in annual session, by any of the 42 Southern Baptist state conventions, by any of the 1,139 Southern Baptist associations, nor by any individual church (although I suspect there may be some who have done so, in … [Read more...] about “Loyal opposition” and/or the opening shots of a new SBC war?

As we gathered in Phoenix for the 2017 Pastor’s Conference, we joined pastors dating back nearly nine decades who have gathered prior to the start of the annual meeting for a time of challenge and encouragement. This year, on the 500th year anniversary of the Reformation, I am reminded of Martin Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” In this classic, Luther references Scripture and the power of the Gospel as “That Word Above All Earthly Powers.”  With the many challenges we face in ministry, we do so with a conviction that the gospel remains the power of God unto salvation, and that … [Read more...] about That Word Above All Earthly Powers ( by James B. Law)

I'm not sure I've ever met anyone who would say that 2 Chronicles is his favorite book of the Bible.  Most of us only read through Chronicles when we are reading through the entire Bible.  The genealogies and head counts aren't exactly the kind of things that stir within us a hunger for more of God's Word.  With that being said,  I imagine that 2 Chronicles 7:14 was preached from quite a few American pulpits this past Sunday in preparation for Independence Day.  If not, there was a lot of Twitter debate going on this week for little reason. It seems to me that the debate included a lot of … [Read more...] about Bible Interpretation and 2 Chronicles 7:14