SBC Life Articles from 2021

NEW YORK (BP) — A timeline provided by the U.S. attorney charging a former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary interim provost with impeding a federal investigation includes the failure to report the destruction of a document outlining an allegation of sexual abuse at the seminary as well as falsifying notes related to a conversation about the document.

Are you motivated to pray? The word “motivation” doesn’t appear in older dictionaries since it wasn’t coined until the mid-19th century and didn’t come into common use until the 20th century. 

WICHITA, Kan. (BP) — Citing the emergence of a like-minded candidate and the demands of pastoring a “growing, multi-ethnic, multi-generational inner-city church,” Kansas pastor David Crowther has announced his decision not to be a nominee for SBC first vice president at the upcoming annual meeting.

BATON ROUGE, La. (BP) – The Louisiana House passed a bill May 21 designating abortion pills as controlled substances, classifying their use as racketeering and creating the crime of coerced criminal abortion.

CLINTON, Md. (BP) – More than 500 pregnant women and new moms crowded Clinton Baptist Church May 11 for a Community Baby Shower and Resource Fair. The church linked arms with one of its favorite long-time partners, MedStar Health of Southern Maryland, for the win-win event.

The Southern Baptist Convention will soon consider final action on an amendment to the SBC Constitution stating that a cooperating Southern Baptist church “affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.” This is a significant decision which raises important issues related to Baptist theology, polity and practice and has the potential to profoundly impact not just the Southern Baptist Convention, but the entire Southern Baptist denomination.

NEW YORK, N.Y. (BP) – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has announced a charge against former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary interim provost Matt Queen today (May 21). In a statement, investigators allege one count of falsifying records “in connection with falsified notes Queen produced to the FBI related to an ongoing federal investigation.”

Even before the canonization of the sacred texts, importance was attached to the prophetic and apostolic writings. Moses wrote “all the words of the Lord” in the “covenant scroll.” Joshua’s farewell address was written “in the book of the law of God.”

I wonder what most pastors would answer if you asked them this question: “What’s the toughest ministry lesson you’ve had to learn?”