SBC Voices

It’s Friday night. It’s Fall. It’s Football season. You load your family up in the minivan to support the local high-school football team. You scan the bleachers for a space large enough to contain your squirrely children. Up a few rows in the bleachers you find a spot and unpack the house and set up camp with your kiddos. No more than five minutes into the game you begin regretting your choice of seats. Your children and their virgin ears are being treated to a litany of new words. “F” this and “F” that. And the poor ref has already been called things that even you have to look up on … [Read more...] about What Did Jesus Mean When He Told Us Not to Judge?

This is the fewest posts we've had at SBC Voices in a week since I took over this site about a hundred years ago. I apologize for the lack of diligence. I have been both lazy and busy. I guess I'm going through my normal post-SBC burnout phase. It tends to happen. Evidently, my crack staff of writers are about as burned out as I am. Hopefully, we will all get inspired soon! I have two series of articles I want to write, but time is a problem there. We'll see. I hope next week will be more active than this last week was. … [Read more...] about No, We Have NOT Shut Down

If you have read my posts, you know I am a Sunday school guy.  Specifically, I am a fan of Lifeway Sunday school. I believe it works, and I think churches will grow if they use it correctly. Read David Francis' books on Sunday school. Download then free at Lifeway's website. There are simple things you can do that will help a great deal. Today, I want to challenge you to try one simple trick. One little thing that I've seen work over and over. Pastors, this ifs for you, and it needs to come from you. On Sunday morning when you stand up to preach, say something like this: "I hope you were … [Read more...] about Simple Things Work

David is a pastor and author of “Ancient Wine and the Bible.”  He writes at gulfcoastpastor.blogspot.com. Washington State has become the second state to legalize marijuana. Christians need to be prepared to speak to this issue.  Reasons to oppose marijuana are here given in the form of Questions and Answers. 1.  Marijuana is no more harmful than alcohol, and alcohol is legal. Alcohol is America’s number one drug problem.  Why should we now unleash another harmful drug on America? When marijuana has been legalized, it has led to an increase in crime and societal problems. Alcohol and … [Read more...] about Why Marijuana Should Remain Illegal (by David Brumbelow)

John Wylie is a pastor in Oklahoma and a frequent commenter here.  There is an ongoing debate in the SBC and in fact, many evangelical circles concerning the the superiority of expository sermons over topical messages.  There are a number of things to take into consideration, in my opinion, if one wants to have a productive discussion on this topic. 1.)  It's Important to have a cogent definition of the various classifications of sermons. The reason I say this is because you can look in various texts on homiletics and each one will vary slightly in its definition of the classes of … [Read more...] about EXPOSITORY VERSUS TOPICAL PREACHING? (by John Wylie)

I am finding that I am preaching fewer and fewer "holiday" sermons as the years wear on. I will preach a few Christmas-themed messages in December (it's foundational to the gospel story of Good Friday and Easter). I preach on Good Friday and Easter on the appropriate themes (which are pretty common for me the rest of the year as well). The Sunday before Turkey Day is likely to be Thanksgiving themed. But that is about it for me now. Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. The rest of the year I tend to give a brief homage to the particular holiday and then move on to whatever expositional series I … [Read more...] about Holiday Preaching – Something I’m Losing Interest In

If they ever did a "Best Speech Ever" contest, this and Gettysburg would be contenders. … [Read more...] about King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”