SBC Voices

We, in the SBC, have a problem with women. We are a complementarian convention and that will always anger many. I believe the Bible teaches that men and women are different and that men have certain leadership roles granted to them by the Creator. This offends egalitarians but I do not apologize for what I believe God's word teaches. I also believe that some are seeking to take us beyond what the Bible teaches. Some, though, are seeking to use scare tactics, using the loud voices of men like Rick Warren and a minuscule few female pastors among us, to get us to overreact and accept their … [Read more...] about Which Way Will We Go? The SBC’s Problem with Women

*This is a rebranding of Dr. Terry's popular "Scatter Shooting" series. Wondering, while writing this, why there was a garbage truck (toy) in my bed this morning. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that read—“Former Baby on Board.” I need one of those. Recently, I received an invitation to an informational luncheon on cremation. I thought, “Do they want me to schedule my cremation?” That invitation prompted me to think about cremation. My mother died while I was serving overseas as a missionary. When I returned for my mother’s funeral, my sisters told me they had her body cremated. … [Read more...] about Varied and Vacuous Opinions and Observations*

My wife and I served for many years as IMB missionaries in the Philippines. Christmas there begins in mid-October and continues through the Feast of the Three Kings in mid-January. We arrived in Davao City in the southern Philippines in 1976. Like all new missionaries, we had to learn the language (Cebuano) and the culture. Christmas brought with it a whole set of customs for us to learn. Of course, we had to learn a new climate (tropical), too. On our first Christmas in Davao, friends invited us for a picnic on the beach. We enjoyed the day, but the whole idea seemed strange. One of my … [Read more...] about Christmas Memories from the Philippines

Scatter shooting, while wondering if leisure suits will make a comeback. (asking for a friend) We need to pray for my friend, classmate, and former pastor Steve Gaines, the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis. He’s been diagnosed with kidney cancer. The disease must be advanced because he will consult with doctors at the M D Anderson Clinic in Houston. My career as a football pundit was short-lived. After Alabama lost to Texas in week 2, I wrote them off. They’ve won every game since, including an amazing win over Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Alabama won the game on a last-second … [Read more...] about Scatter Shooting, Part 10

When this posts, if all goes well, and God blesses, I will be on the Omaha to Atlanta leg of my trip fourteenth trip to Senegal, West Africa. In January of 2015, I traveled there for the first time with Bart Barber and felt conflicting emotions. I wanted to leave and go home almost every moment I was there. I was filled with fear, stress, and anxiety in so many ways. I also sensed that God was drawing me to be involved in that ministry on a long-term basis. I've been there twice almost every year (there was that little COVID thing), ministering to an unengaged, unreached people group, working … [Read more...] about Senegal Bound – and Asking for Prayer

I have been attending a Southern Baptist Church since 9 months before I was born, and I've been a member of one since I was baptized in February of 1964, holding membership at churches in Iowa, Georgia, Taiwan, Florida, Texas, and now Nebraska. When my ministry in Sioux City ended I immediately began preaching at a Nebraska church that was loosely affiliated with the American Baptist Churches (we were guests at the convention last year, not messengers - it felt weird!), but was exploring affiliation with the SBC. The same day they voted to seek affiliation with the SBC, Jenni and I … [Read more...] about I Am Thankful for the Southern Baptist Convention

Some years ago, while serving with the IMB in the Philippines, the IMB’s Regional Leader, Bill Wakefield, came for a visit. Our mission administrator asked me to serve as his driver and translator. So, I drove him where he wanted to go, and I interpreted for him in Cebuano as necessary. As we drove along, I asked what I could do to keep my daily devotional time fresh. Bill advised me to read a different daily devotional book each year.  He meant that I should read a book with a daily devotional thought and Scripture reading. That seemed like a good idea to me, and I began to do that. I’m glad … [Read more...] about Which Is Your Favorite Devotional Book?

"Death to Moby Dick! Death to Moby Dick!" The grog-fueled, semi-ecstatic chant of Daggoo, the west African harpooneer of the doomed ship Pequod. A little Melville goes a long way in today's SBC. Our venerable North American Mission Board is the SBC Moby Dick, the enormous spermaceti whale and object of the crazed, morbid, and ultimately fatal quest for vengeance by Captain Ahab and willing crew. NAMB trains planters, plants churches, supports plants and has received record and near record offerings for years, indicative of the support of Southern Baptist crossroad churches and … [Read more...] about “I seek the white whale:” NAMB’s strident critics and Moby Dick