The Southern Baptist Convention is so big and its empire so far-reaching that it’s hard to get true perspective on its scope and trends. One of the few snapshots to give insight is the Book of Reports, published just prior…
The Sunday we left the Southern Baptist Convention
On Sunday, we voted to leave the Southern Baptist Convention. It happened at a special, called business meeting that took place in our Fellowship Hall during the Sunday school hour. When I got there, after preaching at the early worship…
When Baptists fight, they stop fishing
In his book In the Eye of the Storm, Max Lucado shares a story of a group of guys going on a long-awaited fishing trip. The problem starts when the weather turns ugly. They arrive at the lake and have…
New data show SBC not really reckoning with sexual abuse
According to the Southern Baptist Convention’s latest statistical report, the SBC has lost more than 3.3 million members since 2006, which happens to be the year I did my first sidewalk press conference outside SBC headquarters, talking about clergy sex…
How Southern Baptists got ‘distracted’ from the gospel
What do you think might count as a “distraction” from the gospel? To Southern Baptist Convention presidential candidate David Allen, all the sexual abuse cases piling up against the SBC and its churches are a “distraction.” To North American Mission…
SBC membership declines again but not as much, while number of churches still decreasing
The bad news for the Southern Baptist Convention is that membership declined for the 17th consecutive year. The good news is that last year’s 1.8% decrease was less than recent years. Those are among findings from the SBC’s Annual Church…
Candidate for SBC president stirs a storm by saying sexual abuse cases are a ‘distraction’
In a six-man race for the Southern Baptist Convention presidency, one candidate made headlines over the weekend for his stance on the 42 sexual abuse lawsuits reportedly pending against the denomination. Critics pounced when David Allen, a seminary preaching professor,…
Church life is the perfect cover for abusers, Brown says in BNG webinar
The all-encompassing nature of church life can provide predators with the ideal cover for committing sexual abuse within congregations, abuse survivor and author Christa Brown said. “Access and trust. Pastors and churches have both access to kids and enormous trust…
SBC Cooperation Group offers four recommendations, says Constitution is clear enough
A group tasked with studying ways to increase cooperation among a fractious Southern Baptist Convention has proposed four recommendations to be considered over the next year. In addition to the four recommendations, the Cooperation Group said May 1 it believes…
Virginia church with historic ties to SBC will vote on leaving due to Law Amendment
A Virginia church with deep historical ties to the Southern Baptist Convention will vote May 19 on a proposal to sever ties with the SBC due to the denomination’s intolerance for women serving as pastors. For decades, First Baptist Church…
There’s now half a dozen pastors vying to be SBC president
This summer’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting already was going to be one for the history books, and now there’s another reason for that distinction: A record six candidates have now announced their intention to run for the presidency of…
How evangelicals promoted, then abandoned environmental stewardship
Rising temperatures made 2023 earth’s hottest year on record. Climate scientists say human activity increases heat-trapping gasses that contribute to weather-related disasters, which in 2022 forced more than 3 million Americans from their homes and cost the world $360 billion…