Note: This story was updated Oct. 29 with additional comments from church leaders. One of the most prominent Baptist churches in Texas quietly quit the Southern Baptist Convention Oct. 27 — part of an unnoticed trend that’s hard to…
Southern Baptists have voted heavily Republican in last four elections
Southern Baptists have voted consistently Republican in the last four presidential elections, researcher Ryan Burge says. In his analysis of 40 U.S. denominations, “the Southern Baptists and the independent Baptists are clearly the most Republican of the bunch,” he reported…
Where will churches leaving the SBC go?
In the past week, I’ve been asked two questions related to the back-to-back meetings of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship: Will churches leaving the SBC because they support women in ministry join CBF? What is the…
‘Broken Churches, Broken Nation?’ A crisis of our times
“The very worst omen of the times is the fact that the religious (people) of the country stand apart to so great an extent in this hour of trial. Most of the Churches have split on the very rock upon…
My obituary for the Baptist General Convention of Texas
Losing something that once was valued and respected is painful. It doesn’t matter if it’s been circling the drain for years. When death finally comes, the grief is real. Such was the case for me recently with the Baptist General…
Get ready for a third Baptist alternative to emerge
A tsunami of change is coming to the Baptist family of congregations. With the hard-right pivot of the Southern Baptist Convention in June, a significant number of centrist SBC congregations are facing a difficult decision about their future. These churches…
The nondenominationalizing of American Christianity
Joel Osteen is an ecclesiastical phenomenon, an American, evangelical, charismatic, postmodern, megachurch, media savvy, health/wealth/motivational speaker, gospel-preacher phenomenon. A 59-year-old who doesn’t look it, Osteen seems made for the media — razor thin, self-effacing, pragmatic and guileless to a fault,…
Lifeway’s new headquarters is much smaller, designed for collaboration, not offices
In the span of six years, Lifeway Christian Resources has downsized its headquarters twice, moving from a 15-acre campus with nine buildings to its newest intended location that will be 46,000 square feet — about the size of an average…
Dis-membered denominations: Forgetting who we are
In 1990, in God’s Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention, I wrote: Growing up Southern Baptist once seemed relatively easy. Elaborate denominational programs created a surprising uniformity among an otherwise diverse and highly individualistic constituency….