We hear two voices in the Christian world today. One voice tells us to be faithful to our doctrine, to our denominational distinctives, to the sound teachings of the Word of God. It is a voice we cannot easily dismiss. God’s Word is given as a lamp for our feet and a light for our […]
Brick Walls and Picket Fences (Part 1): Maintaining Sound Doctrine without Sacrificing Unity
Chapter 1: Speaking the Truth in Love I was reading one of the discernment blogs recently – the kind of blog that catalogs the heresies prevalent in the Christian world today. I scanned through the listing of articles and saw one that addressed the theological errors of a well-known charismatic pastor, Francis Frangipane. Here’s the […]
How Does a Pastor Recover from Mental and Emotional Exhaustion? (by Brian Croft)
Editor: I’ve been there. How about you? Brian Croft is Senior Pastor of Auburndale Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Someone sent me a link to this article and I thought it was wonderful. Very helpful. Brian’s Blog “Practical Shepherding” is well worth reading contantly, pastors. I’ll let you know. In other words…I’m there. I’m not […]
The Mitosis Method of Church Planting: You Make the Call
Church Growth Confusion I’ve never been in a megachurch environment for more than a Sunday or two. My experience is all with smaller to mid-sized churches. I’ve noticed an interesting phenomena in these churches. Everybody says they want the church to grow. But they also say they like the smaller church feel. Kinda confused? Me, […]
“That’s My King!” (SM Lockridge) Best Preaching Ever?
You’ve probably all seen this, but its worth hearing again…and again…and again. There are several versions of this out there on youtube. I like this one the best. I thought that perhaps this powerful preaching might balance out the pain I inflicted with the “O Holy Night” travesty of yesterday. I get chills every time […]
A Christmas Blessing: Matt Svoboda Sings “O Holy Night”
The readers of Voices may not know that Matt Svoboda, who was the Editor of this blog until September is an accomplished singer. You might be blessed by his version of “O Holy Night” which is going to be on his upcoming album, “A Young Whippersnapper’s Christmas.”
Recommendation: Use the Excellent Lottie Moon Videos to Promote the LMCOIM
At my church, we work pretty hard to promote the Lottie Moon offering. Being in a new work state, I have about 2-3% of my members who have a Southern Baptist background. Until they joined SHBC, they had no idea who Lottie Moon was. We promote the offering pretty hard and our people are pretty […]
A “Helper” Suitable for Him: Gender Issues in Genesis 2
(This is part 3 in a series and is based on what has gone before. Read Part 1 here. Read Part 2 here.) A Shocking “Exegesis” of Scripture I apologize for what I am about to tell you – in advance. I used to have a book in my library that was written in the […]
Surviving Sexual Brokenness: What Grace Can Do
NOTE: My new book, Surviving Sexual Brokenness: What Grace Can Do has been published by WestBow Press, a Division of Thomas Nelson. I know it’s unusual to tout ones own book so openly, but I truly believe this is a book that could help Southern Baptist Churches grapple with the issue of how to help members […]
If You’ve Been Having Problems with the Site…
There seems to be a lot of that going around – not just here but on other sites as well. I’d tell you I was “working on the problem” except I know nothing about websites or programming or troubleshooting. My hope is just that the difficulties will disappear and all will be back to normal. […]
Bart Barber on Church Planting: A MUST-READ Blogpost!
Bart has just posted an article called, ” A Bloated Baptist Bureaucracy We Could Do Without.” Wow! You may love it like I did. You might get mad at it, as I am sure some will. But you ought to read it without question. I’m not going to have comments open here – follow the […]
NIV 2011: Yesterday’s NIV is now Today’s NIV: A Transformation of a Translation Reflecting Today’s Culture
(Editor’s Note: Si Cochran is a 2007 graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and currently serves as the youth pastor of Southern Hills Baptist Church in Sioux City, IA. That would make him my youth pastor! Si blogs at “Holiness, Justice and Grace.”) As the old Italian proverb goes, “Translation is treason.” The treasonous nature […]