The 2015 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention is scheduled for June 16-17 in Columbus, Ohio. The business will be conducted by Ronnie Floyd, the SBC president whom I recently mentioned. For many years it was a thrill to…
Meeting in Ohio, SBC grapples with numerical decline
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Convention lost more than 200,000 members last year, according to statistics released just ahead of the 2015 SBC annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. Annual statistics compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources, the convention’s publishing arm,…
The last time I saw Dallas
I’ll be going to Dallas, Texas next week to represent Smyth & Helwys Publishing at the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF). I’m looking forward to it. They’re my people. The upcoming trip has put me in mind…
What about those who are trans formed?
Things used to be so simple when it came to gender issues. Boys/men were males who liked girls/women and girls/women were females who liked boys/men or at least wanted a good one for a husband and breadwinner/caretaker. In all the…
Why Rachel Held Evans is not that controversial
Just as we had finished imposing ashes on the foreheads of worshipers, my friend and fellow pastor David Bennett turned to me and said, “Alan, remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” And with those words, David…
Seminary president says Southern Baptists drifting toward infant baptism
By Bob Allen While a recent Baptist News Global story about a Baptist church in Ohio sprinkling an infant is newsworthy, baptizing babies isn’t as far-fetched as many conservative Southern Baptist churches assume, a seminary president said in a May…
Mike Huckabee announces presidential bid
By Bob Allen Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced his second run for president May 5 at a gathering in his hometown of Hope, Ark., pledging to lead the country “from hope to higher ground.” “It seems perfectly fitting that…
Southern Baptist military chaplains may plant churches overseas
By Bob Allen Southern Baptist military chaplains would be authorized to plant churches overseas under a recommendation headed toward the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 16-17 in Columbus, Ohio. In February the SBC Executive Committee approved a recommendation enabling…
How corporate America changed our religion: A review of “One Nation Under God” by Kevin Kruse
One Nation Under God could change the way we think about civil religion in America. Forget about the 1970s, or even the 1950s, Kevin Kruse says, this story begins in the heart of the Depression. Exiles from the Southern Baptist Convention who…