SBC Voices

The average church percentage of undesignated gifts to the Cooperative Program is well under five percent, headed towards four and a half soon. Averages have limited value and don’t measure some important things, like the fact that a good number of churches give very high percentages, above ten, more than double the average. These churches, […]

When men, mostly clergy, start opining on sex abuse in churches, almost always the discussion goes in a straight line to false accusations, presumably because we have all had friends or colleagues who were supposedly falsely accused and they suffered because of it. This flips the matter on it’s head and presumes the low single […]

I recently listened to a podcast discussion between two SBC pastors. The discussion caught my eye when I received an email about it. It was a discussion about the new curriculum put out by The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission called Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. I was interested to know what […]

Let’s start with “woke.” Stumble across this and you can guarantee that you’re in a conversation beyond reclamation. Used by hipster wannabe crotchety old codgers blogging in their basements or some Twitter idiot who thinks he’s an enfant terrible. I’ll update my opinion on this to note that one on the SBCV team has explained […]

Several weeks ago, Christian author Josh Harris publically renounced his faith.  Harris’ writings were incredibly popular with many in my Christian “bubble” when I was in college at a Southern Baptist College.  He spoke of the importance of staying sexually pure in relationships through exchanging a dating culture for a courting one.  In short, he […]

I knew I would be in for some interesting, and probably fruitless, conversations when a deacon strolled into church one Sunday morning with a hefty book under his arm. It wasn’t God’s Holy Word, large print with a thick, full grain leather cover. “Ah, Ayn Rand,” I said, “that depressing objectivist with a dystopian vision […]

Some years ago when I arrived at a new pastorate, I was handed a health care “bill” by the financial secretary. She didn’t know what it was and left it to me to figure out. Seems my predecessor made some kind of arrangement with one of the lay members to enroll the member in a […]