A friend of mine advises pessimism so that life is full of pleasant surprises. (Doesn’t that sort of defeat the point?) But I can’t help myself. I am hopelessly hopeful. (And I like a good oxymoron on occasion.)
When it comes to the Southern Baptist Convention we can certainly point to difficult challenges- and I have. But, there are many reasons to be “hopelessly hopeful” about our convention and I want to name a few just to put our future into perspective.
1. The emphasis on Continue reading
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Tagged Baptist, bible, Christian, Christianity, church, God, Religion and Spirituality, SBC, southern baptist convention
I’m neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. That’s a bad start for confidence in my predictive powers. But let me speculate on the future of the Southern Baptist Convention with whom I have been associated my entire life.
In many ways I am describing what is more than what will be. Perhaps this is more of where we are than where we are headed. While it seems likely we will have more of what we currently have, God can change things dramatically. Perhaps we will have a great revival. Perhaps we will have ruin. But here is where it seems we are and where we are headed. (Keep in mind the “neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet” part.)
1. We will be less Continue reading
My wife and I recently spent a couple of weeks in Madagascar with our son-in-law, daughter and two grandbabies who serve as career missionaries with the International Mission Board. Here are some lessons learned while there.
1. We should be very grateful for American plumbing. It is a good thing. Perhaps you haven’t thanked the Lord for those many blessings that other places don’t take for granted. The Western world has unbelievable riches compared to much of our world. With those blessings come some responsibilities.
2. Missions is hard. After the idealism wears off there is the reality of difficult language study- or in the case of my family, sort of two languages to learn with the dialect of their people group. There is the reality of bad smells and undependable electricity and strange food and customs. It is hard.
3. The call matters. If you become a career missionary to see the world and have fun and take some neat pictures you will undoubtedly Continue reading
Some time ago I gave some unsolicited advice to the International Mission Board of the SBC as they sought a new president to replace Tom Elliff. David Platt was recently elected. I want to note the areas where the IMB followed (if inadvertently) my advice and where they didn’t. Some quick notes-
-Failure to follow my advice is not necessarily failure. I’ve been wrong many times about many things. Sometimes the wisest course is to reject my advice. (More often than I would like to admit!)
-Disagreements do not stop in any way my prayers for, and support of, Dr. Platt. He is our President and I hope he succeeds fabulously. I want the IMB to be more effective for the cause of Christ than ever before.
With that, I give my original recommendations (in bold) and my thoughts on how that stacks up against their choice of David Platt.
1. Don’t worry much about who recommends them. We don’t need any kingmakers because we don’t have any kings. (Further free advice extends to my recommendation that you read that last sentence again.) Continue reading
I am at the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) this week. Think of a giant church business meeting with sermons and worship interspersed. That doesn’t sound like much fun to many of you, but you do get to meet a lot of old friends and make some new ones. Okay, there are some annoyances. There are sessions where anyone can speak- some less thoughtfully than others. (Wasn’t that charitable of me?) There is great congestion and lots of walking. But we SBCers can often focus most on our problems and can be extra critical of ourselves. So here are some things I really like about our convention.
1. We focus well on International Missions. I call the IMB (the International Mission Board of the SBC) the glue that holds us together. I listened Continue reading
  Perhaps the most important decision that will be made in the Southern Baptist Convention for years to come is the choice of the next president of the IMB. I say that, not because he will be so critical to the success of the IMB (generally speaking, we need less of man and more of God in our workings anyway), but because a poor choice would be disastrous for the convention.Â
  So, here is my advice- offered freely, and worth about what you are paying- to the next IMB president.Â
I would like you to focus on 3 things and start one massive new project.
1. Focus on making the IMB effective. You should be a big picture guy. Help the organization reach the unreached and unengaged groups while mobilizing areas where the harvest is ripe. Keep our focus on disciple-making. Help us focus on starting churches that can be led by nationals. Draw our attention to evangelism that moves towards discipleship. You don’t have to be chase fads- we’d rather you not. But do consider innovations that Continue reading
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Tagged Baptist, Christian, Christianity, discipleship, Evangelism, faith, God, IMB, International Mission Board, Jesus, missions, Religion and Spirituality, SBC, southern baptist convention
I am a Northern Southern Baptist (NSB). That makes me sound “directionally challenged” I know. But I was born this way.
I grew up here in Illinois as a Southern Baptist. My grandfather and father were saved (they recognized they were sinners, repented and placed their faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection and were forgiven by Him) back in the 1930’s in a Southern Baptist church here in Illinois. So, they became NSBs. Did you know there were NSBs that long ago? I was raised in Illinois where my father was a bi-vocational pastor. Hence, I was an NSB.
After 14 years in the beautiful land of Texas where I attended seminary and was a pastor, I came back to Illinois to pastor 19 years ago. I am an NSB.
There are three things I want you- especially the larger Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) world- to know about NSBs.
1. There are more of us than you might know. My state convention is called the Illinois Baptist State Association and we have about 1,000 churches. Many of them are small, and that is a lot less than southern states with much smaller populations, but there are more of us than you might have known. Many NSB churches started as “southern clubs” as southerners moved to the north for jobs. However, they were usually very serious about the gospel and found themselves reaching folks who weren’t from the south. Some transitioned into NSB churches with the strong theology of the SBC, but culturally connected with their neighbors in the north. If they remained southern in mindset they tended to decline as the inflow of southern transplants slowed. If they became NSBs, they often did very well.
There are some strong NSB churches. The church Continue reading
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Tagged Baptist, Baptist Associations, bible, Christian, Christianity, church, faith, Fred Luter, God, Illinois Baptist State Association, International Mission Board, Jesus, North American Mission Board, Religion and Spirituality, SBC, southern baptist convention
It will be hard for anyone to replace my favorite missionaries. My son-in-law, daughter and grand baby (with another on the way) are serving with the International Mission Board in Madagascar. But let me tell you about my second favorite missionaries.
James and Sonya Herron serve with the IMB in Uganda. They were “normal” members of our church (can anyone be called normal with me as their pastor?) who began going on mission trips to Uganda with our church. Then, they started leading mission groups from our church. Then, Continue reading
Posted in baptist, International Mission Board, missions, southern baptist convention, Uncategorized
Tagged Baptist, bible, Blessing, Christian, Christianity, church, Church planting, Evangelism, IMB, International Mission Board, missions, Religion and Spirituality, SBC, southern baptist convention, witnessing
I am not a white pastor. Don’t get me wrong, I am quite Caucasian. I’m named Douglas, get sunburned pretty easily and live in suburbia. That sounds pretty Caucasional…Caucasionistic…Caucaustic? But I am not a white pastor. I am a pastor… who wants to be a man of God.
My church is not a white church. While we have a lot of whitish skinned people in our church we are not a white church. We are a church. And, by the way, Continue reading
Tom Elliff is retiring after a short, but effective stint as the head of the IMB, the international mission agency of the Southern Baptist Convention. Here is some free (like someone is going to pay for this?) advice to the trustees who will choose his successor.
I care deeply about this decision for at least three reasons. 1, I love missions. God grabbed my heart for missions on my first mission trip and I am all in. 2, The church where I am pastor (FBC O’Fallon, IL) is in the SBC, goes on many IMB connected mission trips each year and has a few families from the church serving with the IMB. 3, My son-in-law, daughter and granddaughter serve with the IMB as new career missionaries to Madagascar.
1. Â Don’t worry much about who recommends them. Â We don’t need any kingmakers because we don’t have any kings. Â (Further free advice extends to my recommendation that you read that last sentence again.) Continue reading
Posted in baptist, Christianity, International Mission Board, missions, southern baptist convention, Uncategorized
Tagged Baptist, Christian, Christianity, Church planting, discipleship, Evangelism, International Mission Board, Jesus, missions, Religion and Spirituality, SBC, southern baptist convention
Before she was even two years old, our granddaughter would entertain us with the words to this song: “Hey Jude, don’t make it bad.Take a sad song and make it better.” You’re welcome! 😉 While it is absolutely adorable coming from a two-year-old’s mouth, it is truly a sad song because the writer was a […]
Doug Munton 