SBC Voices

Alan Cross blogs at Downshore Drift. Today marks the 50th Anniversary of one of the most important speeches in American history, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech given on the Washington Mall on August 28, 1963. It marked a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement and it had such galvanizing power because it called America back to who we claimed to really be. It lifted up our nation to what we were supposed to be - to what we could be together. An excerpt: I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will … [Read more...] about Is Dr. King’s Dream Dead? (by Alan Cross)

Joel Rainey is the Director of Missions at Mid-Maryland Baptist Association, an adjunct professor at Capital Bible Seminary and blogs at Themelios. This post was originally published at his site. Much is being written of late about the milennial generation (b. 1978-circa 2000) and the profound effect they are already having on our culture, including the western church.  Since two members of that generation live in the same house as me, I have a front-row seat to how their perceptions, choices, and preferences are driving everything from marketing and education to social policy and perceptions … [Read more...] about The Promise and Peril of Young Evangelicals: Passion, Politics, and Idolatry (by Joel Rainey)

A few weeks ago, someone raised a question in a comment regarding church discipline. I don't remember exactly how it was phrased or who raised it. What I recall as the essence of the question was this: What is church discipline, specifically in a Baptist context? Which is, of course, a great question. I would attempt to give you a blog-length answer, and I will start at the end and work backwards. The first point to consider is this: What is a "Baptist context?" What is it about Baptists that makes this question different? Here are some key truths regarding Baptists that matter for … [Read more...] about Church Discipline

Fearless leader Dave hath lamented, again, that we contributors are not contributing as abundantly as we need. He's right. I would plead busy but in truth, I have to plead hesitant. I'm working, offline, on a few thoughts on issues raised around here, but I'm just not sure I'm up for minding that comment stream. I do, though, have this to say. Recently, I read a book to review for Kregel Ministry. It was One Year to Better Preaching. This little volume contained more than 52 exercises to strengthen your preaching skills. I'm not going to give you a full review of the text here, because I … [Read more...] about Continuous Improvement

Joel Rainey is the Director of Missions at Mid-Maryland Baptist Association, an adjunct professor at Capital Bible Seminary and blogs at Themelios. This post, the second in a series, was originally published at his site. Here is the introductory post and the first post. There is much talk these days among organizations of all stripes about "de-centralization."  For most, this term simply means a spreading of a still-centralized bureaucracy to more than one location.  But the essence of whether an organization is truly de-centralized surrounds the location of three things:  power, personnel, … [Read more...] about The Future of the Baptist Association: Spreading our Influence (by Joel Rainey)

William Thornton is the SBC Plodder. Perhaps I am in the wrong churches to evaluate the state of congregational singing in the Southern Baptist Convention but I rarely find a church where it appears that there is much concern about the congregation, rather than soloists or the choir, doing any serious singing in worship. The whole assembly was worshiping, singing the song, and blowing the trumpets...   2 Chronicles 29:28a There is always music planned for worship that is called congregational singing but not much singing seems to occur. The choir, praise team, music leader, platform … [Read more...] about The Death of Congregational Singing (by William Thornton)

 Ben Simpson is the pastor of West Main Baptist Church in Alexandria, TN and his blog is part of that church's site.  Helen Keller once said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched—they must be felt with the heart.”  We certainly live in a culture and day where the heart has been elevated to preeminence.  How many times have we heard someone give the advice, “Just follow your heart!”?  That’s the wisdom of the age, but it’s not just isolated to secular communities.  You very well might just as easily hear that from folks who claim to follow Jesus … [Read more...] about Bless Your Heart: A Biblical Look at the Heart of Man (by Ben Simpson)

I was recently reading one of the prayers in Valley of Vision, page 336, as I do each morning with my Scripture reading. This was on the Monday after I had preached twice at our church the previous day. As I read this particular Puritan prayer, he gave some areas that he fell into. It appears that he might have often struggled with these. As I read them, I identified with all four. I was struck by the clarity with which they came off the page. I immediately thought through my last 10 years of ministry, and how each of these “evils” has been a part of my life. Below are the evils he said … [Read more...] about The Evils that Befall our Ministry

Do you think it is a sense of personal inadequacy that leads young whippersnappers to focus so much of their personal identity on their facial hair?   … [Read more...] about Young Whippersnappers and their Facial Hair