SBC Voices

Of Coffee Mugs and Loaf Pans

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Some of our best discipleship and evangelism tools belong in the kitchen. Stacy is the family pastry chef, so to speak.  She whips up oatmeal cookies, an oddity in Ecuador, and churns out cinnamon bread and muffins.  Recently, she's been baking banana bread, also an unknown commodity down here.  I find it puzzling, this lack of banana bread, considering that there are so many acres of banana trees down by the coast that we have local banana barons who greatly influence local economies and politics. We own, as you can see in the photo, exactly two loaf pans; wedding presents, I believe, … [Read more...] about Of Coffee Mugs and Loaf Pans

SBC Cooperative Program Curmudgeons (Part 2)

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Yesterday morning I reflected on a sad picture that Jon Acuff posted.  I closed by promising to answer this question: If an entity no longer serves the local church should they continue giving to that entity?  That is admittedly, a sticky question, and one that I believe hinges on the meaning of the word “serves”.  It seems to me that the chief purpose of the entities is to serve the kingdom of Christ through serving and strengthening the local church.  We give to the CP to build the kingdom.  The beneficiaries of that giving then go about doing the work of the kingdom through this … [Read more...] about SBC Cooperative Program Curmudgeons (Part 2)

A Word of Warning about Change in Churches

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I was such a young whippersnapper when I went to seminary. I graduated from college at age 20 and from SWBTS (M.Div) at age 23, so I am really not kidding. I was a seminary grad before I could grow any significant facial hair. I had been active in churches and raised as a pastor's son, but I had very little practical knowledge of what it took to pastor a church. I learned a lot about theology, Greek and Hebrew and inductive Bible study (in my days at Dallas Seminary) and I got a lot of "practical" advice, most of which I had no frame of reference to judge. So, being the self-important young … [Read more...] about A Word of Warning about Change in Churches

SBC Cooperative Program Giving Curmudgeons (Part 1)

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Recently Jon Acuff, of Stuff Christians Like, posted this sad picture on his site: That is a photo of a voided check for $75.00.  It looks as if this curmudgeon was going to give 75 bucks to the church but decided that he’d void the check and keep his money because the drums were way too loud. This might be a reasonable response at a movie theater or some other form of entertainment, but this is absolutely unacceptable for a church.  You do not give money to your church to reward them for entertaining you, helping you, or pleasing you.  You give money to your church so that as a … [Read more...] about SBC Cooperative Program Giving Curmudgeons (Part 1)

Is Multi-Generational Worship Even Possible? (by Dr. David W. Manner)

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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.  In an effort to appease multi-generations and minimize conflict, leaders either attempt to seek stylistic and musical common ground or they divide themselves along age and preference lines.  Except in rare instances, it appears from both efforts that the worshiping community suffers and all generations lose.  The impasse is a result of trying to accommodate the musical tastes of a congregation … [Read more...] about Is Multi-Generational Worship Even Possible? (by Dr. David W. Manner)

Clarifying the Distinction between Stetzer and Land on Mormonism (by Wm. Dwight McKissic Sr.)

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Wm Dwight McKissic, Sr. is the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX. He blogs at Wm Dwight McKissic, Sr. This post is a clarification of his previous post which went up on Sunday. I recently published a Blog Post that inaccurately and unfairly conflated the published positions of Ed Stetzer and Richard Land as it relates to how these Southern Baptist Convention leading figures view Mormonism. The purpose of this writing is to briefly and accurately make the distinction between their beliefs crystal clear and to publically apologize to Ed for having done so. Here is my … [Read more...] about Clarifying the Distinction between Stetzer and Land on Mormonism (by Wm. Dwight McKissic Sr.)

The Zealot and the Traitor

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Have you ever stopped to think about the 12 guys Jesus stuck together? Some fisherman, craftsmen, farmers but there are two guys we sometimes miss.  The was Simon the Zealot, a political revolutionary who wanted to see Rome overthrown and kicked out of Israel. A Jew for the people. Then there was Matthew. He was a tax collector, a traitor to the Jewish people, collecting taxes for the enemy, the ruling Roman empire. I can't imagine these two guys were close friends. They probably didn't like each other at the beginning, but even after the death of Jesus, they were in the upper room … [Read more...] about The Zealot and the Traitor

The Jeffress-Graham Switch and the Black Vote by Wm. Dwight McKissic, Sr.

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Wm Dwight McKissic, Sr. is the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX. He blogs at Wm Dwight McKissic, Sr. While touring the Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit recently, at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with President Paige Patterson, Governor Rick Perry, and twenty other Dallas-Ft. Worth pastors and Christian leaders, I was privileged to meet for the first time the pastor of the First Baptist Church, Dallas, TX, Pastor Robert Jeffress. Recognizing who he was from television appearances and public photos—upon seeing Dr. Jeffress, I immediately extended my hand and said to him, … [Read more...] about The Jeffress-Graham Switch and the Black Vote by Wm. Dwight McKissic, Sr.

In Defense of a Christ-Centered Hermeneutic OR A Reply to Dr. Eric Hankins

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Yesterday, Dr. Eric Hankins wrote a piece for SBC Today concerning The Gospel Project (TGP) and Christ-centered homiletics.  Hankins, recently read the dissertation of Dr. Jason Allen.  Allen, is the new president of MBTS.  Hankins was intrigued because Allen’s dissertation was on contrasting human author-centered hermeneutics of Walter Kaiser with that of the Christ-centered homiletics of Edmund Clowney and Sidney Greidanus.  Hankins was actually surprised that Allen sided with Kaiser and “is calling into question the conventional wisdom of ‘Christ-centered’ hermeneutics”. The point of the … [Read more...] about In Defense of a Christ-Centered Hermeneutic OR A Reply to Dr. Eric Hankins