SBC Voices

I was informed, breathlessly, that my county had seen a huge jump in virus cases just last week. Are we experiencing an exponential  expansion of the illness here that requires even more stringent measures by the population? No. Seems the National Guard had been asked to test everyone in a large nursing home. About sixty percent of the residents tested positive. Add to that staff who were positive and the single location accounts for about half of the county's entire virus count. In percentages, the county's infection rate is about one-tenth of one percent. It's difficult to arrive at … [Read more...] about COVID, my county, and implications for the next novel virus

Like many of you, earlier in the week, I heard about another seemingly racially motivated attack on a young man in Georgia.  And to my shame, I did not investigate it because I was caught in my own world, doing what I thought was important.  Not long after hearing about this, I started seeing the video being posted on various social media platforms, and I felt that maybe I needed to watch it.  So I did.  It shook me to my core. Ahmaud Arbery was simply jogging, and since he "matched a description" of someone in connection to some alleged neighborhood burglaries was targeted by two white men … [Read more...] about How Long O Lord? (Adam Wyatt)

You figure it was coming - some guidance, explanation, advice about how to count attendance during this time of cancelled physical services. My church's last in-the-building service was March 15th. Since then we have had some variety of online services each Sunday and two drive-in services. Our plan is to have drive-in services each Sunday this month, except for on Memorial Day weekend, and then have inside services starting in June, the latter if nothing changes with the current situation and governmental orders. Southern Baptists are gonna count. Around three-fourths of them are gonna … [Read more...] about Counting attendance in the age of COVID-19

Baptist press reports that a National Day of Prayer gathering will be taking place tomorrow, May 7, at 2:30 Eastern. J.D. Greear, SBC Vice President Marshall Ausberry, SBC Second Vice President Noe Garcia, as well as other SBC pastors and leaders will be leading the prayer time. Would you join tomorrow? Would you ask your church to join? It's hard to think of a better time for us to come together in prayer. Join me, @MAusberry, @_Matt_Carter, @plattdavid, church planters, missionaries, & others as we fast and pray together Thursday, May 7 at 2:30pm EST on Facebook @pastorgreear. … [Read more...] about National Day of Prayer Livestream with SBC Leaders Tomorrow, 2:30pm

I wouldn't expect all to admit to it, frankly. This is the strangest of strange occurrences: government guaranteed loans paying the salaries of pastors and other church and church related workers. If you're applying or have received the loan and want to explain your church's thinking, feel free. I doubt that there will be a question on the ACP about it. I've seen some SBCers weigh in against it as a general principle. The only serious warning I've seen on this was this. Let’s assume that 100,000 religious organizations receive federal funding through the CARES Act and that 5,000 of … [Read more...] about So, who’s getting Uncle Sam to pay your clergy salaries?

I have been posting about our church’s efforts to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, and I thought I would bring you up to date. We ended public worship on March 22nd. We’ve webcast our worship services now for six weeks, and more people have viewed our services online than came to public worship. We observed the Lord’s Supper online, and we held a business meeting by asking people to vote by email. In the last three weeks, we’ve used ZOOM for some of our adult Sunday school classes, and that has gone well. We never closed the church office. Except for the first week of shut down, our offerings … [Read more...] about When Shall We Resume Public Worship?

This is the final in my series of three posts about politics. I am not endorsing a candidate or telling anyone else for whom they should or shouldn't vote. My purpose is to attempt to define biblical principles for political engagement. Part 1 Part 2 Here's part 3, in which I put the final nails in my coffin - oops, my theses. 21. America is not the new Israel, chosen by God. I believe the American political system is exceptional in many ways – there’s not a system of government I’d like to switch it for – but the idea that our nation holds a special place in God’s heart is … [Read more...] about The Final Nails in My Coff…er..Theses