There’s a preacher joke you might have heard before: Two young fish are swimming along when they pass an older fish. “How’s the water?” the older fish asks as he swims by. A few moments pass and then one young fish says to the other, “What’s water?” The point of this fishy parable is that ..read more

At the SBC Annual Meeting, the messengers elected Clint Pressley as the new president. I’m embarrassed to say that I had never heard of him. In fact, six candidates vied for the office, and I only knew two—David Allen and Michael Keahbone. I don’t know if that says more about me (my ignorance) or about the candidates. Last week, I wrote Bart Barber to thank him for serving as our SBC president. He did a good job in a difficult period, and he demonstrated that the pastor of a mid-sized church can serve as president. The common wisdom before was that only a candidate with a big church or instit ..read more

This is Part 4 in Don Dent’s “Finding Direction” Series We have painted ourselves into a corner with the idea that “everyone is a missionary.”   I first noticed this statement from SBC leaders in the early 2000s.  It has been repeated and advocated by so many on so many occasions since then that it is now considered a truism.  The idea gained popularity because we need to renew in our churches the emphasis that every believer is a witness, but this is the wrong way.  All believers should definitely be contributing to accomplishing the Great Commission, that does not m ..read more

One purpose of SBC Voices is to provide a forum for our readers to share their opinions. That’s what I’m requesting in this post. For some years I’ve pondered the question: How should we honor our parents as adults? We veterans of Sunday School learned the Ten Commandments, and the fifth states, 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Ex 20:12, ESV) When we teach this, we emphasize that minor children should obey their parents. Put another way, children honor their parents by obeying them. That ..read more

In a very close vote, Eddie Lopez (2074 votes/52.11%) won the election for second VP over Michael Pardue (1886 votes/47.39%). These were some of the closest elections I remember this entire convention. Welcome to the 2VP club, Eddie. Call me and I will give you the website address and password, plus teach you the secret handshake ..read more

Eddie Lopez received 2304 votes for 38.55% Michael Pardue got 2269 votes for 37.97% Wesley Russell brought in 1382 votes for ??%   Lopez and Pardue are in a runoff ..read more

I’ve been attending the SBC Annual Meeting, on and off, since 1979, and I’ve seen changes happen. If I were elected King and Supreme Ruler of the SBC, these are the changes I would make to our esteemed gathering. 1. Of course, #1 would be the name-tag issue. Print our names bigger on the front and scrunch the schedule up a bit on the back so you can print our names on the back as well. Those silly things always flip over. Names on both sides – because I said so! 2. I would institute a rule that says a person  who uses his or her 3 minutes to advocate for or against a motion CANNOT then ..read more

I am Louis Cook. I am a messenger sent by Oak City Baptist Church in Oak City, North Carolina. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this motion might sound unusual to many of you. Let me make clear that the purpose is not to attack or disparage. It simply calls on you, as messengers, to approve a motion of censure of these leaders who serve our Convention. Censure does not fire nor suspend someone. What it does is express our strong disapproval of a specific action. I believe that most messengers and the churches that sent us remain unaware of what was done in our name in 2022 and has remained un ..read more

By a vote if 61.45% to 38.38% the Law Amendment failed to reach the 2/3 majority ..read more

Clint Pressley received 56.12% (4244 votes) to 43.17% (3305 votes) for Dan Spencer and has been elected as president of the SBC ..read more