Reflections on the 2024 SBC Annual
It’s my privilege to serve as the recording secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention. The recording secretary is elected each summer by messengers to the SBC Annual Meeting. Along with the registration secretary, a position currently held by my beloved colleague Don Currence, the recording secretary position is not term limited.
FIRST-PERSON: A convention of complementarian churches
Over the past two years, I've said very little in public about the so-called Law Amendment. As Recording Secretary, I'm an officer of the Southern Baptist Convention who is eligible for perpetual election. If elected, I’ll serve Southern Baptists joyfully, regardless of the outcome of this or any number of other votes. But now that the decision about the Law Amendment has been made, at least for now, I want to offer some brief thoughts about the path forward.
FIRST-PERSON: Southern Baptist churches, confessional statements and cooperation
When the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was formed in 1845, the new body did not adopt a confession of faith. This is not because founding President William Bullein Johnson represented the majority opinion when he referenced a “Baptist aversion for all creeds but the Bible” in his address to the public. Rather, there are likely two reasons for this decision.
FIRST-PERSON: Commending classical evangelicalism
The evangelical label has fallen on hard times. A growing number of Americans treat it almost like a slur, especially on social media.
FIRST-PERSON: Thankful for the Cooperative Program
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Growing up, I loved Thanksgiving primarily because of family, feasting, fall weather, and football. In adulthood, I still love all those things. But in middle age, I’ve come to appreciate the meaning of Thanksgiving increasingly with every passing year.
FIRST-PERSON: Complementarianism, confessionalism and cooperation
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP) – Southern Baptists are overwhelmingly a complementarian convention of churches. This means we are committed to biblical teachings about distinct-yet-complementary gender roles for men and women, as well as the principle of male leadership in the family and the church.
FIRST-PERSON: Confession and cooperation
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP) – Southern Baptists have begun a public conversation about the relationship between our confession of faith and our commitment to cooperation.
Vivir a la luz de la Segunda Venida
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP) — Los cristianos han estado debatiendo los puntos más finos de la escatología, o el “fin de los tiempos,” desde al menos el siglo II. ¿Se cumplen las promesas de Dios a Israel en el Antiguo Testamento acerca de la tierra literal o figurativamente o una combinación de las dos? ¿Cuál es la naturaleza del milenio y cuándo ocurre en la divina línea del tiempo de Dios? ¿Es el rapto un aspecto de la Segunda Venida o es un evento separado? ¿Qué continuidad existe entre el orden presente creado y los nuevos cielos y la nueva tierra?
FIRST-PERSON: Living in light of the Second Coming
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP) -- Christians have been debating the finer points of eschatology, or the “end times,” since at least the second century. Are God’s Old Testament promises to Israel about the land fulfilled literally or figuratively or some combination of the two? What is the nature of the millennium and when does it occur in God’s divine timeline? Is the rapture an aspect of the Second Coming or is it a separate event? How much continuity exists between the present created order and the new heavens and new earth?
FIRST-PERSON: Praying for a new college missionary movement
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP) -- Historians call the final quarter of the 19th century the Gilded Age, a term originally coined by Mark Twain. It was an era characterized by unprecedented industrialization, spurred on especially by the expansion of the railroad industry. It was the age of tycoons, monopolies, mass immigration, rapid urbanization and significant wealth disparity.
