SBC Voices

I’ve had this article rolling around in my head for several months now.  I wanted to write it months ago, but I didn’t want to sound as if I was suggesting that someone should run against Steve Gaines for SBC President this year.  My goal was to get it up in the small window of time between this year’s election and the time that people begin to talk about next year’s election.  But it seems that SBC presidential politics are a bit like national presidential politics.  The talk of “who’s next?” begins immediately after the current year’s election is over. Of course, the unusual circumstances … [Read more...] about SBC Presidential Politics: Let Them Run

Several years ago I sat in an associational meeting where a trio of pastors sang "In Christ Alone."  It's a wonderful hymn, and I was excited to hear it sung in our meeting.  That is until they got to the end of the second verse where the song—as written by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty—says, "'Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied."  I knew the song and was familiar with the lyrics.  So you can imagine my shock when instead these three pastors sang, "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified."  Of course there is nothing wrong with saying that … [Read more...] about Another Reminder of the Necessity of the Conservative Resurgence

A lot could be said about the effects of social media on the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.  But my purpose here is to focus on one particular dynamic that I find interesting.  I'm interested to know your thoughts concerning how social media has affected our meetings in this way. Our convention meetings over the last two years have both included contested votes.  In 2016 it was the presidential election.  We started with three candidates.  No candidate received a majority of the vote.  One candidate was thus eliminated and the top two vote getters went head to head. … [Read more...] about Social Media and our SBC Annual Meeting

So recently the Southern Baptist Convention met in its annual meeting. And there was some hubbub about the SBC’s position on what is commonly called the Alt-Right.  As someone unenthusiastic about the the state of religious journalism in general I suspect all this sound and fury was created by uninformed religion writers from the few newspapers still staffing such positions but who really have no relationship to the subject matter they cover (here’s a pretty solid exception to my general skepticism if you want to read more on what went down). But I digress. Ultimately the messengers … [Read more...] about Southern Baptists, the Alt-Right, and Doug Wilson (Jeff Wright)

In the blockbuster Broadway musical Hamilton, Aaron Burr sings about a deal struck between political rivals Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison concerning where the permanent capital of the United States should be located. Burr laments that, “no one else was in the room where it happened.” Of course, Burr harbors some significant political ambitions himself, so before the song ends, he switches to singing, “I’ve gotta be in the room where it happens!” The message is that you have to actually be there to really understand what is going on. Last week, the Southern Baptist … [Read more...] about Southern Baptists and the Alt-Right: On Being in the Room Where it Happened (by Nathan Finn)

The SBC Annual Convention just happened in Phoenix, and I'm sad I missed it. One that that is always discussed at the convention is the lack of evangelism that unfortunately is happening. Our friends at Lifeway report in an article entitled "Churchgoers Believe in Sharing Faith, Most Never Do" that 61% never share their faith and half never invite a person to attend church. We know that across the board in evangelical churches, the numbers are even lower. This has some pretty real ramifications for churches and church growth, planting and kingdom expansion. I am an educator and a life … [Read more...] about Passing The Evangelism Test