SBC Voices

All across America, freshmen are heading to college campuses and class for the first time.  They be getting their matriculation on!  They are bright-eyed, nervous, and excited about all they're going to experience and learn during the years ahead.  That's how I was back in 1998.  I was so eager for someone to fill my head with knowledge, but looking back, I really wish I knew then what I know now.  Here's what my 34-year-old self would tell my 18-year-old self. "Ben, college debt is dumb."  At that point in my life, I had almost no financial experience.  I had had a job for three summers … [Read more...] about What I Wish I Knew When I Went to College

It was only supposed to take a moment. I would walk across the street—change my shoes—and then get back to being Michaelangelo the ninja turtle. Just as I was putting on my left shoe, I heard the most terrible scream of pain coming from across the street. My compadre, Raphael the ninja turtle, had fallen from the rafters in his garage and hit the hard pavement. Game over. Shredder wins. My buddy gets hauled off to the hospital to fix his broken bone. I learned at an early age that when you stand next to a dude with a broken bone all you hear are screams. Playing his favorite song as he … [Read more...] about The Song of Broken Bones

Jus ad bellum is the Latin phrase used to describe that aspect of just-war theory dealing with how to know when your beef with someone is significant enough to justify going to war. With this post I hope to consider how to know when you are justified to sally forth to blogging warfare (or, to borrow the putative mafia-preferred idiom from "The Godfather," ready to "go to the mattresses"). Just authority: I think we're on firm biblical footing (Romans 12-13) to differentiate between vigilanteism on the one hand and formal police or military action on the other hand. There is a biblical … [Read more...] about When to Go to the Mattresses in Blogging

What defines a church?  What is a church and what isn't a church?  We have had this discussion a lot when it comes to church growth and church planting.  There are definitely some some distinctives that exist, or at least should in the church.  Things we welcome, things we tolerate and some things we shouldn't.  In some ways, we have forgotten which things to tolerate and what to not tolerate.  I want to share today what I see in scripture that we shouldn't tolerate. First, sexual immorality.  This one is an easy and obvious one, cause Paul said to throw the sexual immoral out.  I Corinthians … [Read more...] about Things We Shouldn’t Tolerate in the Church, and a Few We Should

Last night I was invited to speak at a small rally in Gary, Indiana in solidarity with the people of Ferguson, Missouri. The following are my remarks at that event:   If will allow me tonight, I want to speak both as a white man and as a pastor. A recent PEW research poll demonstrates that Whites have different views than African-Americans on whether or not the shooting raises important issues about race. I first heard about the shooting two Sunday mornings ago on facebook. While my white friends were talking about the deaths of a NASCAR driver and a famous comedian, my … [Read more...] about One more post about Ferguson — Why this event DOES raise important issues about race and why that matters to me

I've been a regular attender of an SBC church since 9 months before I was born. It's all I've known. I attended a Baptist-affiliated college, then after a brief and blessed stay at a conservative but non-denominational seminary, I graduated from SWBTS. I'm SBC born, SBC bred, and when I die I'll be SBC dead. In fact, one of the strongest moments of divine call I had in my life was when I sense God's leading to return to the SBC fold and move from Dallas to Southwestern, to invest my life in the SBC. My dad was lobbying for me to find another place to serve - his frustration with the SBC of the … [Read more...] about Maybe the SBC Isn’t for You?

“Watch the video,” The Five’s Greg Gutfeld tells the American public, in reference to ISIS’ video of the beheading of American journalist James Foley. For Gutfeld, watching the video is a justified act because it can arouse a better understanding of the terror ISIS pledges against our country. I can’t help but wonder, however, as an American with no National Security credentials, if watching a barbarous assassination of an innocuous life is the best way to confirm ISIS’ unbridled terrorism. Isn’t it enough to trust my officials and know that it happened? Or do I really need to watch a … [Read more...] about Should I Watch the James Foley Beheading Video?

I do not know precisely what happened that tragic day when Officer Darrell Wilson shot Michael Brown to death. I've read some reports and watched some video, and gone back and forth thinking, "This is unconscionable police brutality and murder" to "Wow, what else could the officer do?" I don't have all the facts, just press reports and some opinions and a lot more questions than answers. I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one left with some doubts, but most of the opinions I'm reading declaim with certainty and confidence that I just don't have. Those who opine seem assured that they … [Read more...] about Observations on the Ferguson Tragedy

“Whew,” says the relieved dad. He’s just discovered that his twelve year old boy had pulled Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition out of the mailbox and stuffed it under his bed. You might be wondering why dad is saying, “whew”. It’s because he’s actually relieved that his little boy has a swimsuit edition under his bed instead of a muscle magazine filled with half-naked fellas. Dad has been secretly nervous for years that his little boy might be gay. He had told himself that his sons propensity for flowers and playing dress up was just a phase. He kept telling himself that straight guys … [Read more...] about Celebrating a Hollow Victory In Your Child’s Sexuality