I wish I could go to the SBC. Alas, Orlando is a 3-week wagon journey from where I live and fording the rivers is tough this time of year. It would be fun to meet many of you who interact on this blog and authors of other blogs I check out through the awesome meta-feed going on in the directory page here. (I have to give Tony Kummer a lot of props for putting this whole thing together.) I even kind of like watching Robert's Rules of Order in action. But since I can't be there, I have a little assignment for those of you who will be. Meet a fellow blogger face-to-face. I would … [Read more...] about Assignment for Orlando…
A Cry From The Little Church
When we gather next week in Orlando for the annual Convention of Southern Baptists, I will be enthusiastically voting to elect Dr. Ted Traylor as the new President of our great convention. I believe he is the best servant to lead our denomination during this critical time. I have had the great honor of knowing this man for most of my life. I have found him to be a man of tremendous courage, conviction, and consistency. In the past years Dr. Traylor has led his church into a new outreach called The Ministry Village. This endeavor has led his church to live out the commands of Scripture to … [Read more...] about A Cry From The Little Church
Why I Will Vote for Leo Endel for SBC President
My vote for SBC President is going to go to the least known of all the candidates. Leo Endel is the Executive Director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention. After quite a bit of thought, I've decided to cast my vote for him. I'd like to tell you why. In the interests of full disclosure, I will tell you that Leo is a close friend of mine. We arrived in Iowa about the same time and spent a lot of quality time in the state office serving on the Iowa Executive Board. When Leo was elected president of the Baptist Convention of Iowa, I was elected first vice-president. Leo led … [Read more...] about Why I Will Vote for Leo Endel for SBC President
Dr. Morris Chapman weighs in on GCR Report
Over at Baptist Press, soon-to-retire SBC Executive Committee President and C.E.O. Dr. Morris Chapman has posted a lengthy almost 9,000 word response to the final report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. I highly encourage people to read it as it provides the perspective of someone who knows the ins-and-outs of SBC convention life and politics, serving in this particular role since 1992. It does seem unfortunate that with the GCR discussion dominating the heading into the convention, the SBC will miss a chance, perhaps, to give thanks and celebrate the outgoing Executive … [Read more...] about Dr. Morris Chapman weighs in on GCR Report
A Word to Young Southern Baptist Pastors
This is part of a post by J.D. Greear. The entire post can be found here. I want to address those of you who, like me, have a Baptist past but have often found yourself wondering, regarding the Southern Baptist Convention, “What is the point? Aren’t denominations a thing of the past?” I want to try and persuade you that this movement, the Great Commission Resurgence, is something of God, is valuable for the Kingdom, and worth the investment of your time. I do so simply as a pastor of a young Southern Baptist church, not as an official spokesperson of the Great Commission Resurgence Task … [Read more...] about A Word to Young Southern Baptist Pastors
What’s In Store for Orlando and Beyond
I find so much of what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes as utterly profound. His writings do not seem sad to me like I've heard others say they are to them. It's brilliant. The wisest man in Old Testament history comes to the conclusion that life is futile; "all is vain". Life is a continual repetition of things. Indeed, "what has a man left of all his labor and the striving and vexation of his heart...all his days are but pain and sorrows, and his work is vexation and grief; his mind takes no rest even at night..."(2:22,23) The wisdom in this passage is that man has nothing left of all his … [Read more...] about What’s In Store for Orlando and Beyond
When Preaching “Jumps the Shark”…
"Jumping the shark" is a phrased often used in the television industry to refer to the moment it's realized that a once-good program has begun a downward descent into mediocrity and eventually obscurity. It refers to a classic set of episodes from the program "Happy Days" where the character Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli (you may know him as "The Fonz") attempts to water ski over a section of ocean containing a shark. Since then, the phrase "jumping the shark" has become a popular reference to a desperate stunt or attempt to save something that is rapidly headed south. I don't view preaching … [Read more...] about When Preaching “Jumps the Shark”…
Why One State Convention President Supports the GCR
Why does the President of the West Virginia Baptist Convention support the GCR? 1) The GCR says out loud, what I have been thinking for a long time. The Southern Baptist Convention is losing ground in an increasingly lost culture. In the United States, we baptized 33,000 fewer people in 2008 than in 1950, and we have 17,000 more churches than we did then, while at the same time the population has effectively doubled. The demographics and population centers of North America have changed rapidly and we have not kept up. Two thirds of Cooperative Program dollars are remaining in states with … [Read more...] about Why One State Convention President Supports the GCR
Pentecost Sermon: Babel Revisited
Chuck Warnock On Pentecost, the community that was divided by God at the Tower of Babel is recreated in the miracle of communication at the coming of the Holy Spirit. Babel Revisited Acts 2:1-21 1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled … [Read more...] about Pentecost Sermon: Babel Revisited
Kevin DeYoung: Realities Indeed
The following is a post by Kevin DeYoung. A lot of our readers are pastors so I thought it would be good to post here. The gospel minister must help his people live well. But more importantly, he must prepare his people to die well. Those of us who are young and healthy can scarcely imagine what comfort the gospel of Jesus Christ provides for dear saints in their dying days. John Newton tells a story of visiting a young woman who died too soon from “a lingering consumption.” She was wise, but plain. She could read her Bible, but had read little else. Newton supposes she never traveled … [Read more...] about Kevin DeYoung: Realities Indeed