• Christianity

    Why there’s a buzz about the SBC Annual Meeting

    This year’s meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Louisville, Kentucky was nothing short of amazing. For me, the totally unexpected happened. I came away feeling more optimistic about the SBC than I ever have before. Why did I feel this way? 1. The Great Commission Resurgence (GCR). Danny Akin first cast his vision for a “Great Commission Resurgence” at the “Building Bridges” conference back in 2007. If you have not ever listened to this sermon, I encourage you to do so (audio below). It was prophetic, timely, and courageous.

  • Theology/Bible

    Calvinism and the SBC

    Last Fall, I wrote about the “Building Bridges” conference that was held in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. Featured speakers included Calvinistic Baptists and non-Calvinistic Baptists. The presentations from that conference are being published as a collection of essays, and the book is available for pre-order from Amazon.com. Calvinism: A Southern Baptist Dialogue. Ed. Brad J. Waggoner and E. Ray Clendenen. B&H Academic, 2008. Here is the table of contents:

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    A Great Commission Resurgence

    I wish to address this post to all my Southern Baptist readers. So the rest of you have fair warning that what follows is a bit of inside baseball for my fellow SBC’ers. Last week, I wrote about the “Building Bridges” conference that was taking place in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. The conference theme communicated the organizers’ intention to “build bridges” between the Calvinists and the non-Calvinists of the SBC. The divisions of late between some Baptists on this issue have left many SBC’ers wondering if the heated controversy might prevent future cooperation for missions. Thus it was good to hear many of the speakers (both five-pointers and non-five-pointers) communicate their…

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    Southern Baptists, Calvinism, and W. A. Criswell

    Are Southern Baptists Calvinists? That’s one of the questions being discussed this week in Ridgecrest, North Carolina at the conference “Building Bridges: Southern Baptists and Calvinism.” This conference could not have come at a better time, given that debates about Calvinism among Southern Baptist often generate more heat than light. I have great hopes for better things from this conference. Speakers include Albert Mohler, David Dockery, Malcolm Yarnell, Tom Nettles, Voddie Baucham, Danny Akin, Tom Ascol, and many others. You can podcast the messages from the conference through iTunes at the following link: Building Bridges Podcast (SEBTS Audio). Or you can visit Lifeway’s site and download the MP3 messages directly…