SBC Voices

Every morning, as I scan through over a hundred articles on Feedly, almost without fail there will be an article or two that has something to do with doubt. (I’ve even written a few myself). These are gritty and honest recollections of a not so smooth relationship with the living God. Some of them are more hopeful than the others—but at the end of the day the message is about the same, “We’ve all got doubts, man, it’s cool if you have them too”. If a thing like blogging existed some 40 years ago I doubt our feed readers would be filled with articles about doubt. Doubt wasn’t cool. It was … [Read more...] about Doubt: A Sexy Virtue

William Thornton is the SBC Plodder. The SBC Executive Committee has closed the books on the fiscal year 2013-2014 and Baptist Press reports that "The Southern Baptist Convention ended its fiscal year 0.76% below last year's contributions and missed its Cooperative Program allocation budgeted projection of $191.5 million by 2.58%..." Here are the relevant figures as compared to the last fiscal year. These are for monies received by the SBC Executive Committee for distribution to the SBC entities IMB, NAMB, the seminaries, ERLC, and EC itself. The figures, in millions of dollars, do not … [Read more...] about Designated giving UP; Cooperative Program giving DOWN for 2013-2014 (William Thornton)

It doesn't make sense how much I love Rich Mullins. I am, probably—for the preponderance of our population in the way that they use the word—a fundamentalist. No, the folks over in the Independent, Fundamental Baptist world certainly wouldn't call me a fundamentalist, and I admit that the word is used probably with too much variance in meaning for it to be helpful. I don't introduce myself to people by saying, "Hi. I'm Bart Barber. I'm a fundamentalist." Dave Miller introduces me to people that way, but I don't introduce myself that way. But what's important for this post is simply this: … [Read more...] about A Ragamuffin Fundamentalist

 Luke Holmes blogs at "A Copernican Revolution"  and is pastor of First Baptist Church of Tishomingo, OK.  “Mr. President, Mr. President!” Three voices spoke almost as one. “Mr. President, do I have the floor?” The president’s gavel hammered vigorously. “The Chair recognizes Brother Stealey.” “Mr. President, we must settle this evolution issue at once,” Clarence Stealey said. “Let the messengers to this annual session of the Southern Baptist Convention vote now. It’s the most pressing matter before us in 1925. Brother Burts’s money report can come later.” “Mr. President!” shouted … [Read more...] about Overlooking the Cooperative Program (Luke Holmes)

Steven Schenewerk is pastor of Winston's Community Baptist Church in Winston, Oregon. He blogs at WCBCpastor's Blog.  I have seen countless articles encouraging young adults to consider serving urban poor populations. That is wonderful. But what I haven’t seen are many articles or encouragements for young adults to consider serving rural poor. Serving in a rural, poor community certainly is not glamorous and it is certainly not economically advantageous. However, there are several reasons I believe we need to encourage young college and seminary students to consider serving in rural … [Read more...] about A Call to Rural Communities (Steven Schenewerk)

Sometimes, by refusing to speak, you can shout pretty loudly. In what seems to be to many a surprise, the Supreme Court has refused to even consider appeals by states that had bans against homosexual marriage against court rulings that declared them unconstitutional. This, in effect, makes homosexual marriage the constitutionally-approved law of the land. I'm not a lawyer, a legal scholar or an expert on the matters such as this. However, it seems to me that this is pretty much the end of the discussion. For years, public opinion has been slowly turning. In his first election campaign … [Read more...] about Get Used to Gay Marriage: The Supreme Court Hath Spoken

Yesterday, Jared Moore submitted a post called, "Do You Desire Revenge or Repentance?' focusing on a phenomenon I have seen often in blogging. As Jared admitted, there is a biblical place for correction and calls to repentance, but I've seen that go way overboard - and often. I've observed "discernment bloggers" go postal on those they believe are in sin, leading me to believe that they want the destruction of the other side more than they want true repentance leading to restoration. I realize that this is a personal observation and opinion, but it is one I've observed and strongly believe to … [Read more...] about C’mon, Man, Name Some Names! Should We Blog Generally or Specifically?

Your reaction to the title might be, "OF COURSE we own the Cooperative Program. What'd you think, that we had sold it to the Methodists?" Or, perhaps, you might react by saying, "The Cooperative Program is not a THING to be owned. We own the entities. We own the assets. Nobody owns the Cooperative Program." But I'm using that word in another sense altogether. When President Obama first entered office, every problem with the economy in every speech that he gave he blamed on the Bush administration. But now, all these years into his presidency, that's a lot more difficult for him to do. … [Read more...] about We Own the CP

NOTE: I publish this as a newsworthy story about a Georgia Baptist College. This is not a springboard for a foodfight about the president of the college or others who work there. The focus is the accreditation of BPC and nothing else. Eyes on the ball, folks.  On June 19. 2014, the Board of Trustees of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) voted to strip Brewton-Parker College of its membership in the organization. Sometime in the last few weeks, BPC went before the Appeals Committee to present new evidence that they were bringing the college into … [Read more...] about Brewton-Parker Gains Rehearing of Accreditation