Tag Archives: southern baptist convention

Northern Southern Baptists

Posted on May 12, 2014 | 2 comments

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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My Second Favorite Missionaries

Posted on May 6, 2014 | 1 comment

   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 →

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Not a White Church

Posted on March 23, 2014 | 4 comments

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 →

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Unsolicited Advice for the International Mission Board

Posted on March 3, 2014 | 33 comments

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.  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 →

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The Segregation of the Church

Posted on February 3, 2014 | 1 comment

There are so many ways to divide the church. Our past has often included division by race. I am glad to see that changing. I love that my church has people of different backgrounds and races. Heaven will certainly include people of every tribe and tongue.
Segregation by race has been accepted and justified by the homogenous growth principle. That is the principle that people tend to come to Christ through churches that are much like they are. But isn’t the ideal something better than churches that are segregated by race?
Today’s churches have a new way to divide.  They are often segregated by age. Continue reading →

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What Baptists Believe

Posted on January 13, 2014 | Leave a comment

I’m finishing a biography of John D. Rockefeller.  It is 650 pages long- which is about 450 pages beyond sufficient.  I realized that the author- an otherwise excellent writer- doesn’t seem to understand Baptists much.  (Rockefeller joined a Baptist church when young and stayed a Baptist all of his life- though in the more theologically liberal branch.)  Earlier, I read a biography of Harry Truman. (Truman joined a Baptist church when young- though he didn’t stay very connected or influenced.)  The author told me what he had for breakfast on multiple occasions, but hardly spared a word for what Baptists believed.  I doubted that he knew.

I thought to myself, “If those fellows don’t know what Baptists believe, I’ll bet some others don’t either.”  So, here is a brief synopsis.

A couple of quick disclaimers.  Baptist belief in argumentation seems to be overly developed,  so note that there are some differences of opinions about some issues.  Note that this is my belief about Baptists beliefs (as a Baptist believer) and may not necessarily be matched by everyone using that title.  And, these things are believed by many in the broader conservative, Evangelical world.  Also, I can’t cover everything here, so I’ll just focus on a couple of basics.

1.  Baptists believe that the Bible is God’s word Continue reading →

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The future of discipleship

Posted on November 15, 2013 | 3 comments

It was Training Union once.  SBC churches had a program for discipleship that was almost universally adopted by our churches.  It met on Sunday nights and was pretty well attended.  There were study course books and diplomas and discipleship had a strong niche.  Life was more patterned; routines more constant.

Discipleship for my church- and many churches- has had to change.  At FBC O’Fallon, IL, Continue reading →

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When Baptists Take Over Chick-Fil-A

Posted on October 30, 2013 | 1 comment

Some changes that we will make when we Baptists take over Chick-Fil-A.

1.  We will replace “my pleasure” with “you’re in my seat”. 

2.  No more cash registers.  We will use offering plates held tightly by grim faced men looking disappointed if you don’t dig deep.

3.  We will change the recipe for the chicken sandwiches.  If it tastes that good, doesn’t it have to be immoral in some way?

4.  Our personnel committee will recommend cutting the salaries of the cows, citing poor spelling as one reason.

5.  We will ban the use of mustard in the store, citing “the incident” from the most recent youth lock-in.

6.  New motto- “Free sermon with any purchase!”

7.  We will definitely open on Sundays!

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If McDonald’s Was Run Like a Baptist Church

Posted on October 17, 2013 | 8 comments

10 changes that would happen if McDonald’s was run like a Baptist church-

1.  Customers would have to get prior, written approval from the Committee on Committees to super-size.

2.  One side of the arches would be golden, the other teal to satisfy differing opinions on the Colors Committee.

3.  The new McDonald’s opening two blocks away would take half the employees and customers and be called “Unity McDonald’s”. Continue reading →

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Lessons learned from Dr. Roy Fish

Posted on October 15, 2013 | 3 comments

   I said at the funeral for Dr. Roy Fish last year that I believed him to be the most beloved seminary professor in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention.  I’ve thought of him often in the last year and wanted to note some lessons he still teaches.

Lesson 1-  Talent gets you admired; goodness gets you loved. Continue reading →

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