Structuring worship to accommodate unbelievers is misguided because these unbelievers are not seeking after God. Seeking after God begins at conversion, and if we are to structure our worship with a view to seekers, then we must structure it for believers, since only believers are seekers. When we look at the early church, we see... Continue Reading

An honest examination of Southern Baptist churches reveals a much deeper problem than even sexual abuse. The real problem is spiritual before it is moral. That is, Southern Baptists have a problem with God. They trumpet their affirmation of the inerrancy of Scripture and unhesitatingly call it the written Word of God. Yet, at the... Continue Reading

There seems, at least in my perspective, to be an unfortunate emphasis on the negative side of the pastoral ministry – conflict, long hours, budget woes, neglect, burnout, etc. Is that all the ministry amounts to? Not a chance! And I think pastors need to be guarded and resist the temptation of letting those things... Continue Reading

While the civil law as enforced by the state may not be as comprehensive as God’s moral law, do not assume that just because the “culture” or the “secular world” seems so sexually permissive that the society’s laws are not strict.  They are.  And they bear witness to the larger moral reality that God built... Continue Reading

We as believers must place a great priority upon the centrality of God’s Word among his people. By gathering together for the public reading of Scripture—from the very beginning of the service—it places a priority upon the Word. An honest evaluation for all believers would be to compare the amount of singing to the amount... Continue Reading

The delegates voted Tuesday morning 449-374 to reject that progressive plan, known as the One Church Plan, which would have lifted the church’s prohibitions on same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy while adding protections for those who do not support the marriages. One Church Plan supporters worried about future. The division was present in the debates.... Continue Reading

This elder had been a friend of mine for forty years. We started the church together. We ministered alongside each other for decades. We teamed up to lead the church and staff together. ​But one evening, I had to tell him it was over. He was out. After thirty years, he was no longer a pastor... Continue Reading

When churches become players in the pendulum swing game, they are prone to overlook other issues, some of which may be far more important than compensating for a perceived weakness. I have heard numerous church leaders and members bemoan the bad fit of the next pastor simply because they did not ask sufficient questions.  ... Continue Reading

The past twelve months have been a heart-rending season, with a handful of dismissals surrounding sexual misconduct and one for the mishandling of cases of sexual misconduct. Now another shoe has dropped: The Houston Chronicle published three articles—“Abuse of Faith,” “Offend, Then Repeat,” and “Preying on Teens”—on more than 700 abuse cases that occurred in Southern Baptist... Continue Reading

Harriet Ann Jacobs (1813-1897) was born into slavery and would escape to Philadelphia as a young woman. She learned to read as a child, and as a fugitive slave in the North published Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, where she described her experience as a female slave living in the South before the... Continue Reading