SBC Voices

When World Changers pulled out of several Midwestern cities (and other non-Southern areas), it became clear that if we wanted to have this wonderful ministry continue, we would have to do it as an independent partnership. So, we have formed a network of churches in Northwest Iowa to develop a new mission project called LifeChanger Missions.  It provides similar ministry opportunities to those World Changers used to provide, but with lower overhead and significantly lower cost to those who volunteer. Here are some highlights about this new ministry: Vision statement: Changing lives one house … [Read more...] about “LifeChanger Missions” – Reaching Out to the Forgotten Areas of the USA

 Dr. David W. Manner is the Associate Executive Director for the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists. He blogs at  http://kncsb.org/blogs/dmanner . You can follow him on Twitter:  @dwmanner.  A new lexicon has evolved in response to the advent of modern worship.  You may want to add some of these selections to your worship vocabulary: Worshipappens – Standard response to congregants who constantly complain about worship change. Worshapparition – The belief that what and how we sing or play it will determine if the Holy Spirit shows up. Worshapathy – for definition see:  … [Read more...] about Modern Worship Lexicon (by Dr. David Manner)

The election is here. Unless, of course, Dave doesn't post this for a couple of weeks. After trying to sort through all the nonsensical political rants this year trying to claim spiritual superiority for a specific candidate or view: JESUS IS NOT... Supportive of forced redistribution of wealth. Have you seen the picture of Jesus at the feeding of the 5000 being used as support for a welfare state? The caption goes something about how Jesus never said "Don't feed them, that will create a culture of dependency." Right. He did not. Neither, though, did He send the Apostles into the … [Read more...] about Jesus is Not…

 Next month I will be leading a marriage workshop here in Ecuador.  I haven't been the perfect husband, though, and I am concerned about running afoul of the whole speck/log notion.  Therefore, I am freely confessing to having made a few mistakes during my nearly 21 years of marriage.  Arranged thematically yet randomly, here are my most egregious errors. Anniversary Gaffe For our 10th anniversary, I bought Stacy a great camera.  I arranged for a surprise wedding vow renewal complete with a collage of photos and a cake decorated with an icing duplicate of one of our wedding photos. Tons of … [Read more...] about In the Interest of Full Disclosure…

What are the three greatest evils facing America today? Well, since baseball season is over and the Boston Red Sox have imploded, the answer to that has to be the Nebraska Cornshuckers, the Notre Dame Fighting Evils and the Alabama Crimson Crud. All men and women of goodwill join in denouncing that evil regardless of denominational or political affiliation. We know that in a fallen world, injustice often prevails and evil prospers. I'm used to that, especially in college football. I never believed the church would go through the Tribulation, but I think most scholars would agree that the … [Read more...] about Almost More Evil than I Can Bear….

There are only two reasons to use an apostrophe - a contracted word or a possessive noun. You don't need to use one any other time. Please stop. The "overuse" of "quotation marks" is both "rampant" and "annoying." There is no such word as irregardless. Their, there, and they're are three different words. Learn the difference. Same principle applies with to, too and two. Internet abbreviations (lol, etc) are as onerous as emoticons. The last book of the Bible is the Revelation-singular. One revelation of Jesus Christ, not many little Revelations. The word went should generally not be … [Read more...] about Dear Everyone….

How well do most Christians know the difference between what the Bible says and our commentary on what the Bible says?  When we teach and preach, are we clearly drawing distinctions between the text itself and our expansion on the text? _____________ Every Tuesday evening around 7:00, four Deaf men and one Deaf woman come by our home for a Bible study.  These five people have been Christians for varying lengths of time ranging from months to years.  Like most local Deaf residents, they are functionally illiterate, using print only when necessary; even then, reading is an awkward, … [Read more...] about “He Said” vs “We Said That He Said”

Yesterday, I listened to a talk from Steve Jobs from 1983.  I’d encourage you to at least play it in the background or give it a skim listen at some point: Did I mention that he gave this talk in 1983?!?!  In this hour he predicted the world that we live in today.  And he did it with passion and confidence.  It felt as if Steve Jobs had time travelled to the year 2000 and then went back to 1983 to tell people what he witnessed.  Amazing! As I listened to Jobs I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not churches ought to dream like Steve Jobs?  Jobs stood before these people and said, … [Read more...] about Should Churches Dream Like Steve Jobs?

Sometimes things just stink. Have you experienced that? Sometimes things go wrong, fights at home, income drops, kids are wild and your team loses and doesn't make it to the World Series. Sometimes life is just hard and you wonder why. I know I have spent many hours begging God for relief and deliverance. Often, I don't find it and it's for my benefit that I don't find it. I am not always in the situations that I want to be in, but I have found those situations are where I learn the most. It's approaching winter time, and the trees are bare, the grass in brown and what I see out the window … [Read more...] about Finding the Beauty and Purpose in Ashes

This article is a reflection on "Southern Baptist Identity: An Evangelical Denomination Faces the Future," edited by David S. Dockery. This post is based on the Introduction, "Southern Baptists in the 21st Century," also by David Dockery. The introduction to this series appeared yesterday. How important is your rear-view mirror? It is an important aid in driving, but you cannot make progress through busy streets if all you do is stare behind you! I've known a few Baptists who are trying to steer toward the future by gazing only in their rear-view mirrors! Every problem we face has … [Read more...] about Southern Baptist Identity: Southern Baptists in the 21st Century