SBC Voices

Here are the two most important numbers for SBC financial statistics (2015-2016, the latest year available, as reported by Baptist Press): 5.16%     Cooperative Program gifts as a percentage of undesignated church offerings, 59.92%  Percentage of Cooperative Program gifts kept by the state conventions.    CP percentages In spite of as much promotion, giving increase programs, and other methods by which SBC and state convention leaders attempt to induce, encourage, and inspire local churches to increase their giving to the Cooperative Program the average continues to … [Read more...] about The two most important numbers in SBC financial statistics

My children have been attending the SBC Annual Meeting since they were born. I have a picture (somewhere) of Jim, my oldest, holding up a ballot in Phoenix, AZ, in 2003—just four months after he was born. He has missed one year. This is his fourteenth SBC Annual Meeting to attend. My wife's brother is a Southern Baptist pastor in Southaven, MS. His family attends the Annual Meeting as regularly as we do. With Matt's kids plus our two, we reach the critical mass of grandchildren that brings my in-laws—themselves faithful lifelong Southern Baptists who care very much about our convention—to … [Read more...] about More than a Business Meeting (But Not Less)

Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the SBC Voices Dinner at the Hotel San Carlos on Tuesday night.  The menu is pizza, salad, drink, and dessert.  The cost is $10.  You won't find a better deal for dinner Tuesday night.  We will be meeting in the Governor’s Room at the Hotel San Carlos on Tuesday, June 13 at 5pm. The meal is being catered by Fired Pie in Phoenix. Read more here. Register here. We will only order food for those who have registered and payed.  So don't miss the deadline of 7pm on Sunday! … [Read more...] about Voices Dinner at the SBC Reminder

For a people as tied to numbers as the Southern Baptist Convention, another statistical report such as the one we hear is coming in the next week here in Phoenix is inevitably going to lead to the rending of garments and great weeping and wailing, accompanied by gnashing of teeth on an enamel destroying level. And the lack of numbers should give us pause, at least. I have heard too many men point to their church's dwindling attendance as separating the sheep and the goats or somehow "purifying" the church. I've seen guys drive anyone who disagrees with them out of the church with smug … [Read more...] about The Numbers Conundrum – A Perspective on Our Numerical Slide

Not really, but to hear some leaders comment on the latest Annual Church Profile report you would think so. Baptisms are down. Membership is down. Average attendance is down. But, the number of churches is up. Giving is up. Calls for self-examination, prayer, more witnessing are issued. Here is a first look, with a wrinkle or two, on the latest SBC statistics. 1. We hate to admit it but biological growth has been a major driver of our numbers. American, Protestant, Baptists aren't much for having a lot of babies anymore. The megachurches of the 50s and 60s are tearing down their … [Read more...] about SBC 2016 stats: Add a chapter to Lamentations

This is a guest post from John Ambra, Director of Development, GuideStone Financial Resources _____ In 21 years of working with our Mission:Dignity ministry at GuideStone, I’ve gotten thousands of thank-you notes from the retired ministers, workers and their widows we assist through the program. Some of these have been typed, but many are written with a shaky hand made weak from old age and deteriorating health. As you can imagine, there are lots of reasons for these old soldiers of the cross to be grateful. In particular, living on low incomes after decades of sacrifice in small … [Read more...] about Loved and Not Forgotten