The Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting will soon be upon us. One item of particular interest will be the probable effort to defund the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Al Mohler (surprisingly) and Jack Graham (unsurprisingly) have publicly supported defunding, while ten former SBC presidents have advocated keeping the ERLC. Richard Land published an impassioned plea to Southern Baptists to preserve it. As for me, I support maintaining the ERLC. The letter from the former presidents mentions improving the Commission rather than abolishing it. That makes sense to me. If it needs to improve, give its trustees and staff a list and let them get to work. It used to be said of preachers—“Preachers should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” It has always seemed to me that was the purpose of the ERLC—to afflict the comfortable. The Commission should poke and prod Southern Baptists to give attention to ethical issues. Often, these are issues we’d rather ignore. I’m old enough to remember when the Christian Life Commission (old name for ERLC) pushed Southern Baptists to respond to the Civil Rights Movement. Most SBs did not want to get involved, but we needed to and eventually did address racism. If a bunch of SBs are not frustrated with the ERLC, it is probably not doing its job.
Clint Pressley is running unopposed for president of the SBC. As of this writing (May 27), there is only one candidate for first and second vice president. Now, it is customary for the SBC president to get a second term without opposition, but that’s not true of other positions. This seems strange to me. What’s going on?
Clint Pressley has maintained a much (!) lower profile as president than did Bart Barber. Is this a matter of personality or conviction or both? I don’t know Clint Pressly at all. I had never heard of him until he was elected. (That may say more about me than him.) Still, I would be glad to know your views/reactions to his low-profile approach.
Southern Baptists owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. David Dockery and his team of administrators at Southwestern Baptist Seminary. When he assumed the presidency of SWBTS two years ago, it had the lowest financial rating that an institution of higher education can have. Beyond that, the seminary’s accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, sent the seminary a letter, warning of probation if the finances did not improve quickly. Now, two years later, SWBTS has the highest financial rating an institution can achieve. Writing as a life-long seminary professor and administrator, this turnaround is wonderful and remarkable. So, thanks are in order.
At the upcoming SBC Annual Meeting, the messengers will be asked to redirect 3 million dollars of Cooperative Program money to pay attorneys’ fees in regard to the sexual abuse scandal. I’m prophesying that this proposal will prove quite controversial. Southern Baptists want their tithes and offerings to support missionaries in Africa, not attorneys in Nashville. Of course, the SBC Executive Committee understands this quite well, so they must be desperate.
Today marked the release date of a new book, “Original Sin,” by Jake Trapper and Alex Thompson. This book is not about the doctrine of original sin, like we studied in systematic theology class. No, it is about the cognitive decline of President Joe Biden and his decision to withdraw from the presidential race last summer. (Full disclaimer: I am a registered Republican.) Much of the discussion about this book pertains to the Democrat Party’s election loss, a political autopsy, if you will. That’s natural, and both political parties do an autopsy after a loss. Many Democrats blame Joe Biden for their loss in November, believing he should never have run for a second term or at least dropped out earlier. They point out that he was obviously not mentally capable of running for president. My concern is different, and I expressed this to family and friends last summer. If he was not capable of running for president last summer, then how was he able to function as President of the United States? If the leaders of the Democratic Party deemed him an incapable candidate, then why did they not invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from the presidency? To me, as a US citizen, this is a question that government leaders should answer and answer for. I believe this is a bipartisan issue that affected people of both parties or no party.
Last week, I drove my wife to Mardel’s Bookstore (no more Lifeway Bookstore to go to) to buy a graduation card. While she looked at cards, I wandered back to the Bible section. To my amazement, there were several Bibles that cost more than $200. That prompted me to check on Bible prices on the Christian Book Distributors website. I looked at English Standard Version Bibles, and I asked the website to list them by price, from highest to lowest. The most expensive ESV Bible was $349.99, and the prices declined from there. I never thought I would live to see Bible prices like these. So, if you need a Bible, my advice to you is to go to your church’s lost and found. You’ll probably find several free ones to choose from.
