Archive for State Conventions
Podcast Episode 19
Posted by: | CommentsA little later than usual, we’re back with another installment of the SBC Today podcast. We were shorthanded this week, a description at which Scott Gordon for some reason took offense. No one is sure why. In any case, the three of us bravely forged ahead, with discussion about a proposed Cooperative Program change that intrigues us, Missouri’s move to two giving plans for churches, and IMB strategies. And despite our best efforts, Tim Rogers managed to bring a little college football coaching drama into the discussion. It’s a little shorter than usual, perhaps to make up for last week’s 40-minute-plus marathon talk session.
Listen by using the player embedded below, or subscribe in iTunes to have the podcast delivered to you fresh from the oven. Comment here with your suggestions for how we can improve our podcast, and while you’re at our iTunes page, click some stars to give us a rating, or better yet, write a quick review of the podcast on that page. And as always, thanks for listening.
Here’s a link to the post that got the discussion rolling:
Podcast Episode 19: iPlan Giving…A or B?
Posted by: | CommentsWell, it seems the Missouri Baptist Convention will not be out-done by our brethren in the South. Our church has just faced, at our first quarter business meeting last night, the distasteful decision forced upon us by our convention after our annual meeting this past October. As part of our budget approval process we had to make a decision regarding how we desire our state convention to allocate the Cooperative Program funds we give to them. The need for this decision comes from the ongoing battle within our convention…no, not the rival conservative factions and the ‘peace committee’…the other one (I never knew Southern Baptist life could be so ‘interesting’!). Welcome to Missouri! Read More→
Podcast Episode 16
Posted by: | Comments
The Thanksgiving week edition of the SBC Today podcast includes discussions about the Manhattan Declaration, the Georgia Baptist Convention’s removal of a member church, and our Thanksgiving travel plans. We enjoyed the discussion, and hope you will, as well.
Listen to the podcast using the player below, or subscribe in iTunes by clicking the logo here, or the button in the sidebar. Leave your comments here with suggestions on how we can improve, guest suggestions, or to discuss the issues we raised. On iTunes, take a moment to write a quick review for us, or just click some stars to give us a rating.
Below are links to the items we discussed during the podcast:
Podcast Episode 14
Posted by: | CommentsWe’re back for another episode, and everybody but Joe made it for this episode. We chatted about state convention meetings and not a whole lot else, but it was an entertaining chat nonetheless. We hope you enjoy it.
You can listen using the embedded player below, or you can subscribe in iTunes by clicking the sidebar link or the logo in this post to have the podcast delivered right to your iPod, piping hot from the oven. Leave your comments here to let us know how we can improve the podcast, and while you’re on our iTunes page, leave us a comment or give us a star rating. And as always, thanks for listening.
Podcast Episode 13
Posted by: | CommentsBetween state convention meetings and associational meetings, podcasting last week proved to be impossible. It wasn’t much better this week, as we were down two, but Tim Guthrie agreed to make a guest appearance at the last minute, and we appreciate him joining us to liven things up a bit. Our discussion focused on several items, including the Missouri Baptist Convention, other state conventions, FBC Dallas, and the North American Mission Board.
Listen using the player below, or subscribe in iTunes by clicking the logo in this post or the iTunes link in the sidebar. Feel free to comment here with suggestions for how we can improve the podcast, and if you have a moment, leave us a comment or give us a rating in iTunes. And as always, thanks for listening.
Links to some of the items discussed in episode 13:
Podcast Episode 8
Posted by: | CommentsThis week’s podcast held such great promise, as Tim Rogers had undergone a minor medical procedure requiring sedation earlier in the day. He got a good report from the test, and despite being advised by his physician that he should wait at least twelve hours before saying anything for which he could be held responsible, he joined us for the podcast. Needless to say, we were giddy with excitement at the possibility of a drug-induced rant from our brother in North Carolina. His wife, on the other hand, was understandably terrified. Sadly (for us, anyway), he managed to keep his wits about him as the discussion centered around state conventions and the Cooperative Program.
You can listen using the player below, or subscribe to our podcast in iTunes by clicking the image in this post or the link in the sidebar. We’d love to hear from you about how we can improve the podcast, so leave a comment for us here and let us know. And while you’re at our iTunes page, we’d be grateful if you’d give us a review or just a rating.
Thanks for listening to the podcast. Our discussion this week focused on articles by or about state convention executive directors. Here are links to those articles:
A Caution and Reminder
Posted by: | CommentsA CAUTION AND REMINDER
Unless wisdom flees from us, Baptists will ever see to it that churches, churches and the New Testament type of preachers, meritorious preachers, are, in the right sense, the constant center of their concern, the first objects of proper honor and credit for denominational accomplishments and acquirements—not Boards, nor Associations, nor even Conventions, not Secretaries. These four instruments or agencies are legitimate, highly proper, and useful, indispensable, but they and their funds all stem from the churches and preacher-pastors. There is no iota of discredit here, of course, for these four agencies, but it must be said that there is an alarming drift in thought and practice, particularly in some quarters, in the direction that responsibility and most credit belong to Boards, Secretaries and Conventions. The writer hastens to say that he sees no such drift in Arkansas. History and experience show that where credit is placed, sooner or later right there control will be placed. Where credit abides control will reside. Boards, Associations, Conventions, and Secretaries are necessary, we repeat, and worthy and deserve a great measure of credit, but major credit and honor should be laid at the doors of the blessed churches with their faithful pastors. That is right and just and it ought to be expressly said in reports and minutes and is said in Arkansas at present. It is not at all sufficient to say “that is understood” or “everybody knows that major credit belongs with the churches.” Safety with Baptists lies in staying close to the churches, in continuous and unfailing recognition of the churches and preachers. They by the grace of God made this day possible. They brought us where we are. They, after the Lord and the Bible, deserve credit for what we are and have today. What is “understood” in this case should be underscored. This book is written with the constraining impulse and conviction that churches and preachers, little churches and little preachers (if there are such) and big churches and big preachers deserve and must have consideration and first honor in any such enterprise. Baptist denominational “directors” will do well to “watch their step.”
-J.S. Rogers
Is there ever an era in our denominational life in which this “caution and reminder” is not timely?
A Solution to the Missouri Lawsuit Problem
Posted by: | CommentsThe Missouri Baptist Convention is considering the use of Cooperative Program funding to pay legal fees in their ongoing lawsuits attempting to regain the entities that were stolen from them. Ethics Daily has produced articles alleging that the MBC has already used CP funds to pay for legal fees. These articles bemoaned the use of missions money for the pursuit of these legal initiatives.
I, too, mourn to think that any Cooperative Program money should be employed to fund lawsuits between Christians. The primary problem is not that CP funding will go toward the legal fees, for CP money always has and always will go to a wide variety of general and administrative costs associated with our missionary enterprise. Part of the intended design of the Cooperative Program is to cover such costs. Lawyers have received CP dollars many times in the past for defending Southern Baptist entities from legal threats, and they will continue to do so in the future. Most of those instances do not earn much in the way of headlines, but they occur with an inexorable regularity.
The problem is not where the money originates, but rather that the lawsuit exists at all. The Bible is plainspoken in 1 Corinthians 6:1-7, commanding us not to take fellow Christians to secular courts. This has been my opinion all along regarding the unfortunate events in Missouri. The folks over at Ethics Daily have contacted SBC Today to indicate their dismay over the potential use of CP money to fund the lawsuit. These conversations have posed something of a dilemma for me. On the one hand, I am not a fan of the lawsuits. On the other hand, the reporting by Ethics Daily and the Baptist General Convention of Missouri is potentially self-serving and might not be motivated strictly out of a love for the Cooperative Program and a desire for reconciliation.
If the good folks at the BGCM and Ethics Daily are working out of the same concerns that I have, it will be easy enough to show it. A simple and fair path exists for those at Ethics Daily, the Baptist General Convention of Missouri, the Missouri Baptist Convention, and the renegade entities. 1 Corinthians 6:2 asks, “If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?” Three verses later we read, “I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren…?” The biblical manner for resolving this sort of difficulty is for God’s people in the churches to settle the matter, rather than potential unbelievers in the courts.
Therefore, I call upon all of the agencies involved in the Missouri discussion to convene messengers from all of the churches that were a part of the Missouri Baptist Convention in 2000 according to the messenger formula in place in 2000. If Ethics Daily is genuinely alarmed about CP money being spent upon unbiblical lawsuits, then let them encourage the involved parties all to agree to binding arbitration by which the majority of messengers convened in this meeting shall be able to decide finally and irrevocably the disposition of the matters disputed in the lawsuits.
This is the biblical manner for resolving these questions, and I am confident that the Lord will be honored when all of those involved commit to follow this approach.
