Artificial Intelligence press, hype, and doom is everywhere. I can’t look at the news without hearing about AI. I’ve written elsewhere about what I can do as a pastor that AI can’t do. Today, I wanted to argue why I think SBC Voices matters in the age of AI.
First, In an age of general thoughts and predictions, SBC Voices matters because the posts here are the particular thoughts of specific people. AI can only do general or predictive work. We live in specific places, though. We pastor specific churches, not the idealized or general.
Early fighter jets were made for the average pilot, but that made them really unsafe because no actual pilot was average. No one person had average legs, arms, torso, height, and weight at the same time. The cockpits didn’t fit anyone. In the same way, no church is actually average. No leadership situation or decision can be averaged out and predicted. SBC Voices is a place where the particular still exists.
Second, this site matters because we can share actual stories of real life and ministry.
There aren’t a lot of stories in SBC life anymore. State convention newspapers and entity communications departments don’t have the support or budgets anymore. This is the one place besides personal blogs where real stories can be shared. Many of us who write here are pastors, ministry leaders, or retired from those positions. This is a place for our stories.
I would love to see someone write about the absurd, heart-wrenching, joyous work that we do in the style of James Herriott. I keep a list of the ups and downs and crazy in-between stories. A layperson would be surprised at the number of times that animal hijinks happen in the life of a rural pastor.
We can also tell the beautiful real life stories of what God is doing. Just this week, a little boy in our church repented of sin and trusted Christ. He told the church about his decision and desire to be baptized. I heard him tell others later, “I repented of my sin and asked Jesus to save me. And he did!”
AI doesn’t have stories like that.
Third, SBC Voices matters because AI can’t share wisdom, but SBC Voices can. AI can learn from what others say, but it can’t learn from sitting at the bedside of a dying saint. It can’t learn to persevere and wait on a prodigal child to come home. It can’t learn hard lessons from hours spent fasting and praying. It can’t gain skill in making disciples who love the Lord. This is a place where the wise can share their wisdom.
I’m not in charge of who writes here, but if someone asks you a question because they think you know what you are doing, consider that a signal that you should write down your answer. Others could use your wisdom too. Does a young leader ask you how to handle a difficult conversation because he knows and trusts you? There are a lot of young leaders who could use that same wisdom. Consider writing it down.
SBC Voices has what AI doesn’t have and what it never will. It has us.
