SBC Voices

I read about the cicada tsunami all winter and heard and saw my first of the red-eyed, hard shell devils back in April. Apparently, they have gone back underground. We can expect them again in 2037. I think my noisy friends will emerge after I'm dead, my life expectancy being a few years short of their 17 year cycle. The SBC has been dealing with the issue of abuse for years. Two grand task forces were created, one of which is still active. Multiple millions have been spent. The SBC and SBC Executive Committee have a bushelful of lawsuits to defend, including one from a former SBC … [Read more...] about Has the sex abuse database gone the way of the cicada, underground?

This is Part 5 of Don Dent's "Finding Direction" series on key issues in missions. Discussions about money often raise emotional responses. Take, for example. the case of a leader promising some citizens that they did not have to pay a large debt they chose to incur and contracted to pay back.  Because money was available to them, many made foolish choices in how to spend it.  The leader now wants those people to support him, so he cancels their debt by giving it to other citizens who choose not to take on such a debt.  On one hand, these citizens are incensed a leader could take the money … [Read more...] about In Missions, Money Is a Double-Edged Blade (Don Dent)

I teach the Legacy Builders Bible Fellowship Group (think old folks Sunday school class) at our church. Because we never sing a hymn in the worship service, we sing a hymn each week in class. Recently, we sang “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” and that opened floodgates of church memories for me. My earliest memory of church is standing beside my mother at the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, Texas. My father was the pastor, and the year would have been 1954. That memory prompted me to remember other things of the SBC past. Old timers reading this will nod and smile (I hope), and younger … [Read more...] about “Days Gone By” – SBC Memories

When I read of the news that Brent Leatherwood had been removed as president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the denomination I have been a member for my entire life, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), I was shocked as most of you were. After years of trying to best understand the role that the ERLC plays in denominational life, I could not believe what I was reading.  There have been multiple calls for reform, leadership change, accountability and even motions to defund and abolish the ERLC, seemingly culminating in Tom Ascol’s motion at the SBC annual meeting … [Read more...] about Why The SBC Needs the ERLC (by Jonathan Raffini)

There’s a preacher joke you might have heard before: Two young fish are swimming along when they pass an older fish. “How’s the water?” the older fish asks as he swims by. A few moments pass and then one young fish says to the other, “What’s water?” The point of this fishy parable is that when we are immersed in an environment, we don’t always see clearly what is happening around us. If you live in the water day after day and know nothing other than water, then what’s water? I have experienced this reality myself, and I’m sure you have too. I grew up in the Midwest. I never lived quite … [Read more...] about Why You Should Consider Hiring a Church Consultant

At the SBC Annual Meeting, the messengers elected Clint Pressley as the new president. I’m embarrassed to say that I had never heard of him. In fact, six candidates vied for the office, and I only knew two—David Allen and Michael Keahbone. I don’t know if that says more about me (my ignorance) or about the candidates. Last week, I wrote Bart Barber to thank him for serving as our SBC president. He did a good job in a difficult period, and he demonstrated that the pastor of a mid-sized church can serve as president. The common wisdom before was that only a candidate with a big church or … [Read more...] about Varied and Vacuous Observations, Part 4

This is Part 4 in Don Dent's "Finding Direction" Series We have painted ourselves into a corner with the idea that “everyone is a missionary.”   I first noticed this statement from SBC leaders in the early 2000s.  It has been repeated and advocated by so many on so many occasions since then that it is now considered a truism.  The idea gained popularity because we need to renew in our churches the emphasis that every believer is a witness, but this is the wrong way.  All believers should definitely be contributing to accomplishing the Great Commission, that does not make every believer a … [Read more...] about What Makes an Effective Missionary? (Don Dent)

One purpose of SBC Voices is to provide a forum for our readers to share their opinions. That’s what I’m requesting in this post. For some years I’ve pondered the question: How should we honor our parents as adults? We veterans of Sunday School learned the Ten Commandments, and the fifth states, 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Ex 20:12, ESV) When we teach this, we emphasize that minor children should obey their parents. Put another way, children honor their parents by obeying them. That is the way the … [Read more...] about Honor Your Father and Mother (for Adults)