“North Port Church puts muscle in its message.” That’s the title of an article that appeared September 24, 2005 in the Sarasota Herald Tribune. It is an article on the (in)famous Power Team’s show being performed at the South Biscayne Baptist Church in North Port, Florida–about an hour up I-75 from me. The Power Team…

Timothy George was absolutely prophetic twenty years ago when he said, “The exchange of one set of bureaucrates for another doth not a reformation make” (he later put his thoughts in print). I supported the conservative resurgence in the SBC. The denomination desperately needed a theological correction. Everyone who is committed to the inerrancy of…

The task force’s report included more than a dozen recommendations: — People “elected to Southern Baptist Convention positions of leadership” should come from “strong Cooperative Program churches” and should be “well-known advocates themselves of Cooperative Program commitment.” — Every elected SBC and state convention leader “should promote the Cooperative Program” with “vigor and intentionality on…

Richard Jackson, at the time pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church in Arizona, had one of the best one-liners of the whole inerrancy controversy that dominated the SBC during the last two decades of the twentieth century. After he fell out of favor with the conservatives he scoffed at their calls for cooperation. What they…

As I write this at 10 PM Thursday I have 19 relatives traveling in 7 cars out of Beaumont, Texas, running from Hurricane Rita. Rain from outer bands of the storm is falling outside my house in Cape Coral, Florida. Rita stretches 400 miles over the western half of the Gulf of Mexico. My family…

1 Corinthians 13 is more often romanticized than thoughtfully studied. You hear it at weddings and see it on wall-hangings as if it were some kind of ode to love. But in at least two ways this chapter actually is devastating. One, it describes love in such a way that it becomes patently obvious that…

THIS MUST BE CLEANED UP! QUOTE MARKS, ETC. Both of these descriptions speak to the issue of pride. Love and pride are enemies and cannot both rule in a person’s life at the same time. So, when you see a braggart, someone who is arrogant and obviously full of himself, you find a person whose…

Not long ago my wife and I were visiting in the home of a family who have visited our church worship services recently. We wanted to welcome them, get to know them and take the opportunity to speak to them about the Lord and our church. It turns out that they are faithful followers of…

Pastor Fred Malone and Heritage Baptist Church of Clinton, Louisiana continue to coordinate hurricane relief efforts for Founders Ministries through several churches that were severely affected on the Gulf Coast. You may still contribute to this effort via Founders Ministries. In his latest update, Fred writes, “I am glad to report that we have received…

Should existing churches be reformed or should new churches be started. Well, that is sort of like asking whether you should love your wife or your kids. The two are not–indeed must not be–mutually exclusive. It is easy for us to slip into this dichotomous way of thinking about church life particularly if we are…