A friend gave me a coffee table book about church signs. I thought I might share some that caught my attention. Inspirational For Hope—Worship with Us; We Have a Real One Be a Fountain, Not a Drain There’s a Mighty Go in Gospel The Mind Grows by Taking in, But the Heart Grows by Giving Out God Grades on the Cross, Not the Curve If God Had a Refrigerator, Your Picture Would Be on It Clever Come Inside for Free Faith Lift God Wants Full Custody, Not Just a Weekend Visit Psalms Read Here Visitors Welcome—Members Expected God: Let’s Meet at My House … [Read more...] about Considering Church Signs!
A Pastor, A Christian Counselor, and an LBGTQ+ Affirming Advocate Come Upon a Hurting Survivor…
Trigger warning: sexual abuse A woman was journeying and fell among a youth pastor. He groomed her, making her feel special for one of the first times in her life. Eventually the special attention moved into sexual touch that culminated in intercourse. It was confusing to the young woman when he soon discarded her and then threatened her not to tell. Did he not love her? Was she not actually special? When all was said and done she felt stripped, beaten down, and left half dead. One day when she was a bit older, through a pastoral counseling session, she told some of her story. The pastor … [Read more...] about A Pastor, A Christian Counselor, and an LBGTQ+ Affirming Advocate Come Upon a Hurting Survivor…
Rick Warren, BFM2K Article 6, Women in Ministry, and the Future of the Southern Baptist Convention (Wm Dwight McKissic, Sr)
I am not sure of the final outcome of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) exploration to disfellowship Rick Warren for affirming women in ministry within biblical and BFM2K parameters without compromising male leadership. However, I am believing that history will remember Warren as a reformer having elevated the status of women in SBC life to be aligned with Scripture. The SBC may choose to make him a martyr, and that will be to the detriment of the health of the Convention. A discussion evolving around the role of women in ministry the parameters of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 … [Read more...] about Rick Warren, BFM2K Article 6, Women in Ministry, and the Future of the Southern Baptist Convention (Wm Dwight McKissic, Sr)
I am liberating myself from my redneck pick-up truck
Here in Georgia there are pick-up trucks and there are redneck pick-up trucks. I have driven one of the latter for a decade or so. You can drive a sparkling new Ford King Ranch, maybe $80-90,000 truck and turn it into a redneck truck if you fly a Confederate Flag. If you spend that much on a truck just to cruise around, you could fly an "I'm an idiot with too much money" flag. If you have a gun rack and a bunch of deer stickers on the back window, you got yourself a redneck truck no matter what kind or how new it is. Your humble hacker and plodder blogger came by his redneck pick-up … [Read more...] about I am liberating myself from my redneck pick-up truck
Substance is Worth It: Creating A Set List that is Above Reproach (by Quint Adkins)
The year was 2015. I just finished stringing up an old acoustic guitar I found in our church office with the hopes of learning to play so I could be on our church worship team. I had unknowingly ordered the wrong strings, but I put them on anyway. No sooner was the last string installed than I ran to my computer and looked up the chords and a tutorial on how to play “Lead Me to the Cross” by Hillsong. You see, I grew up in the "Passion era" which means that some of the most influential songs in my young Christian life couldn’t have been found in the ’56, ’75 or ’91 Baptist hymnals, but on the … [Read more...] about Substance is Worth It: Creating A Set List that is Above Reproach (by Quint Adkins)
What it was Like to Serve on the Committee on Nominations
For those who are interested I have written up a walkthrough of my experience on this year’s Committee on Nominations. It’s a little long but there are some things here that you might find interesting. I know I sure learned a lot in this process. I must say this was nothing like I assumed it would be. When I was asked by Robin Purdy and Criseida Gomez (Louisiana’s two members on the Committee on Committees) to serve alongside Larry Johnson as the 2 representatives from Louisiana on the Committee on Nominations (NomCom) I was excited and considered it an honor. I figured it would be a … [Read more...] about What it was Like to Serve on the Committee on Nominations
SCOTUS decision
Baptist Press general article ERLC: How to talk to your church about the SC decision ERCL explainers: Here, here, here Faith leaders divided... (includes quotes from Brent Leatherwood, ERLC) __________________ … [Read more...] about SCOTUS decision
Are SBC state conventions doomed and just surviving is the goal?
Well, I suppose I voted for the thing a couple of decades ago. The "thing" is the last remaining monument to the foolhardy faith of SBCers in an endlessly upward trend line; that is, we just expected more churches to give more money to the Cooperative Program year-after-year. Millions of new people were moving to my state, Georgia, and surely our several thousand churches would grow along with the influx of population. Our Georgia Baptist leaders sold our old headquarters building and built this new one: It's … [Read more...] about Are SBC state conventions doomed and just surviving is the goal?
Musings on the SBC Annual Meeting
My wife and I enjoyed attending the annual meeting in Anaheim. I’ve attended the SBC annual meetings since 1975, off and on. The off years were the years when we served overseas with the FMB/IMB. The following are my observations and reflections. Good Things The highlight of the convention for me was the Missionary Appointment Service. The IMB appointed 52 new missionaries. Praise the Lord! That’s our main things, folks. The best quote of the convention was spoken by Dr. Paul Chitwood, President of the IMB (and my former student). He declared, “Missions brought Southern Baptists … [Read more...] about Musings on the SBC Annual Meeting
Jay’s Top Ten from Anaheim
For the last few years, I have offered on this site what I would identify as my top 10 takeaways, favorite things or memorable events from the Annual Meeting. This year there were a few more than 10, but I’d like to try to keep my commentary to that number with this one caveat: Can we all agree that the real number one thing that happened in Anaheim was the passage of the Sexual Abuse Task Force Recommendations? With that surely being the unanimous decision, I will move on with “the rest” of that Top Ten. These are things that I personally witnessed. I will also say that Todd Benkert's … [Read more...] about Jay’s Top Ten from Anaheim