SBC Voices

For those attending #SBC24, here's a notable event you may want to attend. The Baptist Review will host a Presidential Forum on Monday, June 10 at 9 p.m. at the Indiana Convention Center (Hall B) with all six candidates immediately following the Pastor's Conference. This is a free event but registration is required and available at this link. The presidential candidates are Seminary Professor David Allen, Pastor Bruce Frank, Pastor Mike Keahbone, Pastor Jared Moore, Pastor Clint Pressley, and Pastor Dan Spencer. The event is formatted as a forum. Candidates will answer questions related to … [Read more...] about SBC President Candidate Forum at #SBC24, Monday, 9pm

The seminary students went out in teams of two with a local believing interpreter to share Christ in a large Asian city.  They were essentially following the model of Matthew 10 where Jesus sent the disciples out; the students were a bit nervous because they had never done this before.  One team of three hired a taxi to take them to a neighborhood and when they arrived, the taxi driver asked to go with them and drive them all day.  They were invited into several homes that day, given tea and cookies, and after brief introductions shared the gospel in each home, usually for an hour or more.  … [Read more...] about Finding Direction, Part 2 – Humanitarian Work and the Gospel Message

Don Dent is an Emeritus IMB missionary and Senior Professor of Missions at Gateway Seminary. He studied at Mississippi College, GGBTS with Baker James Cauthen, and Malaysia Baptist Theo. Seminary where he earned the Doctor of Missiology with Mark Terry. His daughter, Chesed, and son, Rob, both work to extend missions to the nations. He is the author of The Ongoing Role of Apostles in Missions and the recently published Finding Direction to Redeem the Nations. Don loves reading non-fiction, hunting, and since moving in 2023 to MS from CA is looking for an alternative to kayak shark fishing in … [Read more...] about Finding Direction, Part 1 (Don Dent)

During my first trip to Africa,  a teaching trip to Tanzania in 1988, before most of you whippersnappers were born, the IMB missionary we worked with told of a problem in the churches. Chiefs in the villages had great privilege and the people served the chiefs. He told us that pastors tended to act like church chiefs, lording it over the congregation and expecting to be honored for their exalted position. Fortunately that never happens in American churches! I am currently on my 15th trip to the Casamance in Southern Senegal and I ran into a problem with one chief in one of our 7 … [Read more...] about Servant Leadership in an African Village

In Part Two, I included an item about Southwestern Seminary, but I failed to include an important development at the seminary. Dr. Mark McClellan leads the Spanish language program at Southwestern, and it has grown tremendously. This is good for the seminary and great for the SBC. The number of Spanish-speaking folks in the USA is increasing rapidly, so this is important. Mark told me that he and his colleagues are developing a Portuguese program, also, and that will have a big impact overseas. My good friend, Dr. Matt Queen, has resigned as Professor of Evangelism at Southwestern to become … [Read more...] about Varied and Vacuous Observations and Opinions, Part Three

I hear the world is coming to an end this afternoon. Something about an eclipse? During my life, there have been a series of prognostications of impending apocalyptic events, none of which have, to this point, panned out. The most disappointing to me was the failure of Ed Whisenant's book "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988." He set the date for my birthday (September 13) that year. It came and went and no trumpets sounded. Harold Camping set dates and any number of false prophets have arisen. There have been Red Heifers in Israel, blood moons, and myriad "signs of the times" that … [Read more...] about The Eclipse: Has the End Come?

Christa Brown (attorney, abuse victim, advocate for abuse victims, and critic of the SBC Executive Committee) has written two opinion pieces for Baptist News Global about the SBC sex abuse crisis. She wrote in both that the Executive Committee’s efforts, as well as the SBC’s, have been totally futile, a waste of time and money. Now, I’ll grant that the EC’s efforts in regard to addressing the crisis have been ineffectual, at least so far. It always seems like one step forward, two steps back. Still, I disagree with Christa Brown that the whole effort has been a waste. We have seen good come … [Read more...] about Varied and Vacuous Opinions and Observations (Part 2)