For many reasons it appears so, and has for some time. Check the graph recently compiled by the SBC Executive Committee comparing various congregation types over the 1990-2018 period. You may find this and other data in Ronnie Floyd’s recent excellent and informative article: A statistical analysis of growth in SBC congregations by race and […]
The IMB Takes Great Care of Our Missionaries
I’m glad to report that the International Mission Board takes good care of its 3,600 missionaries. In this post I’ll explain the many ways in which the IMB does this. Again, if you did not read my profile, my wife and I served with the IMB in Southeast Asia for 24 years. We retired from […]
A Plea to Minority Brothers and Sisters in the SBC
Recent developments in the SBC have provoked a strongly negative reaction among many Black pastors and other minorities, and many who are currently affiliated with the SBC are considering leaving our fellowship. When they express their frustrations and lament the racial situations in the SBC, they are rebuked, chastised, corrected, and labeled by some. Recent […]
On Rescinding Resolutions
I’m seeing a strange suggestion being floated around social media of late and it concerns me. Most recently in the form of a tweet from the Conservative Baptist Network. On December 3rd 2020 someone from the organization posted… The post states, in part, “Furthermore, we look forward expectantly to the presidents’ cooperation with us in […]
Why I Have Never Preached Against CRT
In 1 Peter 5:2 we are encouraged to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you.” That text has driven me through many hills and valleys within my years of pastoral ministry. I’ve found this observation from Jared Wilson particularly helpful: “We frequently find ourselves trying to shepherd the flock of God that we […]
Report from ground zero in the existential struggle to save America
It’s “bombs away” on Pearl Harbor Day in America in the two Georgia senatorial runoff races. I’m being bombed by political mail. To date, I have received a single, lonely Christmas card and a dozen or more giant, colorful postcards about the Republican candidates, David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler. So far the Democrats have AI […]
Baptists You Should Know: Bertha Smith
In 1887 the famous missionary Lottie Moon was struggling on the mission field in China. She knew that the harvest was great and she was doing her best to reap the harvest. But she also knew that more workers were needed. In that year Moon wrote a letter requesting funds for help on the field. […]
In Praise of SBC Missions Funding
My wife and I served as FMB/IMB missionaries for twenty-four years, and I’ve taught missions at three SBC seminaries. You can mark me down as a fan of the Southern Baptist Convention’s method of funding missions. The International Mission Board (formerly Foreign Mission Board) receives 55% of its funds from the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering […]
Famous Baptist Sermons: Payday Someday by RG Lee
Over the history of the Southern Baptist Convention there have been many gifted preachers. Those men have been used by God to provide timely and prophetic sermons that have guided, shaped, and corrected the course of individuals, churches, and the SBC. In this series we will look at some of those sermons. Even though most […]
Lottie Moon! Eschew the shoeboxes. Money puts people on the mission fields.
Here’s what ya do: Get the checkbook out. Sit down. Write a big check for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. The 2020 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® goal is $175 million. That number is significant because 2020 marks the 175 th anniversary of Southern Baptists sending workers to the nations. The annual offering makes up almost 60% […]
Perspectives in a Pandemic
My granddaughter is inconsolable today, crying her 7-year-old eyes out. She came out to check on her bunny and found that it had gone to bunny glory. She’d had it for less than a year and to be honest, since she moved to the country recently and got a couple of cats, she’d spent less […]
“Christ-Active” Thanksgiving
Seventy-one percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water and I have gone swimming, diving, or snorkeling in as much of it as I have been able. I spent a lot of time in the Atlantic, a little in the Pacific, and have dipped my toe in the Indian Ocean. Never made it to […]