SBC Voices

Ronnie Floyd threw a bunch of tables and graphics at us in his relaunch of the Vision 2025 message to the Executive Committee. You can view the message here. I'm picking a single item, the last one, number five from his list of five strategic actions: Increase annual giving through the Cooperative Program to surpass $500 million by 2025. I would put the graphs here but haven't figured out how to do it. A few items from his address that concern the CP: The CP (total CP, state share and national) has declined from $554 million in 2008 to $467 million in 2020, a decline of … [Read more...] about What about the 40% of SBC churches that gave NOTHING through the Cooperative Program?

The Executive Committee's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Task Force presented their report to the EC today. Task force chairman Mike Stone gave the presentation on behalf of the task force. He gave a brief explanation concerning the creation of the task force. He then went on to describe the work of the task force. We've written about the task force report here. And here. If you haven't read the actual report, I encourage you to do so. The baffling part of the presentation today was that no action was taken by the EC regarding the report. The report includes six recommendations … [Read more...] about No action on ERLC Task Force report

Allow me a moment to defuse that flashy title. Nothing I'm about to write is meant as an attack on Ronnie Floyd. In fact, my hopes would be that if he read this article he'd give it a hearty amen. We also must acknowledge that we are at a watershed moment within the SBC. Who we are as a convention, I believe, will be determined by our response to this cultural moment. And Ronnie Floyd serves in a key position within our convention as CEO of the Executive Committee. Whether through action or inaction, he will play a part in the future of the SBC. And that future for the SBC is a question mark. … [Read more...] about We Don’t Need Ronnie Floyd for Revival

It's been a year since the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee last met in-person. It was at that meeting that the Executive Committee voted to usurp the authority of the duly elected Pastors' Conference President by giving him an ultimatum regarding the program. It was also in February 2020 that the EC took on the role of super trustees of the SBC's ERLC by launching an investigation into the entity. Today the Executive Committee begins its February meeting. Are we in in for more February surprises from the SBC entity that many Southern Baptists believe has gone rogue? You … [Read more...] about Are Southern Baptists in for more Executive Committee surprises?

The EC has been engaged, in the last two or three years, in an attempt to gain and assert a greater authority over other SBC entities than it has ever had. Mike Stone's unfortunate tenure as EC chairman was marked by a consistent power grab. The Executive Committee has historically been a coordinating council with seeks to assist the other entities in their work, but more recently, they have been seeking to become more of a "ruling elder board" for the SBC, interfering in other entities and asserting authority they do not have. Current EC Chairman Rolland Slade is a good and honorable man, … [Read more...] about We’ve Got Trouble, Here in SB City, With a Capital E, and that Rhymes with C…

The NAMB controversy concerns mainly smaller, non-south state conventions but the great consumer of Cooperative Program dollars are the large state conventions. If we are to engage in finger pointing over declining statistics, a popular game in the SBC if not a productive one, the fingers should point to the places where we're spending the most money. But, for now the conflict is between NAMB and non-south states. Again, take the time to read Joe Westbury's long, long article here. One  of the statements made in Westbury's article caught my attention,                       Adams, in … [Read more...] about NAMB and the State Conventions.

A major issue in the SBC 2021 presidential election is the relationship between NAMB and state conventions, especially state conventions outside the south. One candidate, Randy Adams, has made NAMB his main platform as he campaigns for the highest elected SBC office. Charges of mismanagement, secrecy, top-down authority, rejection of historic patterns, partnerships, and principles, heavy handedness, and a lot of other things have been aimed at NAMB. The phrase "forensic audit" is being brayed  incessantly. The whole business of relationships, cooperation, partnerships, agreements, church … [Read more...] about The conflict between NAMB and the State Conventions; take some time for weekend reading

It would be understandable if E.W. Perry was nervous as a silence fell over the hushed crowd. He had stood before large congregations of all sizes for most of his life. But never before had someone like him stood before a group like this. The seasoned preacher did what he always did. He opened his Bible and began to expound God's word. Over the next hour, those attending the mostly-white Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Oklahoma City in 1949 sat spellbound as his heart poured out the Gospel. The son of former slaves preached before the convention founded so that slaveholders could be … [Read more...] about Baptists You Should Know: EW Perry