If you are a young Southern Baptist minister who loves the Bible, the Gospel, the local church, your city, and the nations, then you owe a great deal to Paige Patterson. Humanly speaking, as a pastor or minister, if it were not for Dr. Patterson, then you would most likely not be where you are today. You would not have …
A Response to “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation”
A statement was issued recently, and endorsed by some key SBC leaders, claiming to be a statement on a traditional Southern Baptist understanding of the way God saves sinners. This statement was issued as a response to the “new Calvinism.” Let me state a few items upfront. I do not consider myself a member of the “New Calvinism,” so I …
Baptist21 Panel at the 2012 SBC in New Orleans
Baptist21 is excited to announce that we will once again host a panel luncheon at the 2012 Southern Baptist Convention held in New Orleans, Louisiana. The topic of this panel is: The CR, the GCR, & the Future of the SBC March marked the 45th anniversary of Judge Paul Pressler and Paige Patterson’s meeting in New Orleans at the Café …
Faithful Unto Death
Sunday an American named Joel Shrum was killed in Yemen by a terrorist group. The group says they killed Shrum because he was sharing the gospel and trying to convert the people of Yemen to Christianity. Shrum was 30 years old, and he leaves behind his wife and 2 children (ages 2 and 4). Both the NGO that employed Shrum and …
Baptism and Church Membership: A Response to Michael Horton
Because much of the evangelical talk about baptism in recent years has downplayed the importance of it in regard to church membership, I was glad to see serious discussion about this subject the last few days at the Gospel Coalition site. While the piece by Mathis on “open membership” falls in line with much of the discussion that does not …
Questions about Calvinism, local associations, Acts 29, and the BFM2000
There is a lot of talk in SBC life about the challenges we are facing as a convention that some think are threatening to divide us. The supposed issues are things like a division between “true baptists” and those who wish to become more Presbyterian, traditional churches versus contemporary churches, which networks we can partner with, and of course the …
SBC Possible Name Change?
SBC President Bryant Wright has formed a task force to study a name change for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). This announcement immediately brought passionate arguments, tweets, and Facebook statuses on both sides of the question. Baptist21 believes there is no harm in forming this task force to ask the tough questions about our identity and mission. There is no …
Interview on the CP & other SBC issues
At the 2011 SBC meeting in Phoenix I got to sit down with some key leaders in our convention to discuss the Cooperative Program (CP) and other significant issues facing the SBC. In this interview I shoot questions at Bruce Ashford (Dean of the College at Southeastern), Jimmy Scroggins (Pastor at FBC West Palm Beach), and Micah Fries (Pastor at …
Embracing the Unreached Unengaged – Part 3 (The Unwasted Life)
Martha Myers laid it all on the line for King Jesus and the people of Yemen. She served them for 24 years as a doctor, and over her 24 years there the hospital ministered to nearly 1 million people. She sacrificed personally for many of her patients, including giving away her savings account to pay for someone’s kidney transplant. …
Embracing the Unreached Unengaged (Part 2)
Our trip to the Middle East came at a strategic time. There are many shifts taking place in that part of the world. The “Arab Spring” has seen a call for democracy in the Middle East and new ideas being considered. This also means new opportunities for our churches to engage in the Great Commission in places so desperate for …