SBC Voices

1) I am amazed that I am not required to show any form of ID to vote. Every election there are accusations of massive fraud and yet we still allow people to vote without the simple requirement that I demonstrate that I am David Miller from 4330 Old Lakeport Road and I am duly registered and qualified to vote. Is there any legitimate reason NOT to require people to show proof of their identity before voting other than the desire to keep open the option to engage in electoral fraud? 2) Has there ever been an election with as many moral and spiritual quandaries as this one? The evangelical … [Read more...] about Observations on the Democrat Process in This Republic

I voted today…  for Tim Pawlenty. I know a lot of you, after reading that, have already decided that I am an idiot. Perhaps I am. From what I understand, in the state of Tennessee, where I live and where I voted, the votes of those whose names were not on the ballot were not even tallied. And Pawlenty’s name was not on the ballot. That means, from the perspective of some, that my vote meant absolutely nothing. I have taken that into consideration, and thought long and hard about it, but at the end of day came to the conclusion that, at least, by way of this blog, and by Facebook, and Twitter, … [Read more...] about I Voted Today… for Tim Pawlenty

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?