Andrew Peterson previews his new album in this video. The album will be released on July 27. (HT: Jim Hamilton)
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Acts29 Rap at SBC
A bit of comic relief followed the long and arduous session debating the GCR Task Force Report at the Southern Baptist Convention. Many of the messengers were leaving the hall when this happened, but I was there and heard the whole thing. An SBC messenger came to a microphone and offered a motion to affirm the Acts29 church planting network. But this wasn’t just any motion. This guy offered it in the form of a rap. After he finished making the motion, the chair called for a second, and the place erupted with seconds. I think everyone appreciated the light moment. The motion was subsequently ruled out of order. UPDATE:…
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The Scandal of Southern Baptist Divorce
Today, the messengers at the 2010 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention will be debating a resolution on “the scandal of Southern Baptist divorce.” According to Baptist Press, it reads, in part, that “the acceleration in rates of divorce” in SBC churches “has not come through a shift in theological conviction” but rather “through cultural accommodation.” It further says the SBC has been prophetic in confronting assaults “in the outside culture” on God’s design for marriage “while rarely speaking with the same alarm and force to a scandal that has become all too commonplace in our own churches.” Here is the last half of the resolution:
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Initial Reflections on GCR Victory
I have been at the Southern Baptist Convention this week, and today was a big day. Outsiders watching it all unfold probably thought the process looked positively Byzantine, but it really wasn’t. Southern Baptists adopted the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Report and thus took the first step in what I hope will be a long journey of renewal for our denomination. I won’t take the time here to narrate everything that happened during the deliberations on the GCR (for that read here and here), but I will make a few observations.
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Ross Douthat on Feminism
Ross Douthat writes that a the slew of female primary victors last Tuesday constitutes a victory for feminism—even though they were by and large conservative candidates. He writes: “What Tuesday’s results demonstrated, convincingly, is that America is now a country where social conservatives are as comfortable as liberals with the idea of women in high office. More strikingly, they’re comfortable voting for working mothers — for women publicly juggling careers and family obligations in ways that would have been unthinkable for the generations of female leaders, from Elizabeth I’s Virgin Queen down to Margaret Thatcher’s Iron Lady, who were expected to unsex themselves before being entrusted with the responsibilities of…
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BP Needs Reform
No, we’re not talking about British Petroleum. It’s the other BP—Baptist Press. In an editorial for the Florida Baptist Witness, state paper editors Jim Smith, Marty King and Gary Ledbetter argue that the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention is biased. They write, “Concern about Baptist Press has arisen among some Southern Baptists… over its perceived lopsided coverage of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force… “The evidence of BP’s bias against GCR is so obvious as to not require an exhaustive listing of the facts. This should suffice: over just a three-day period, BP ran four opinion pieces by Chapman totaling more than 18,000 words opposing various aspects…
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Theology for the Church
In an article today at “Between the Times,” Danny Akin and Bruce Ashford remind us that the calling of SBC seminaries is “to serve the churches of the SBC.” They issue four challenges to that end, but it was number two that caught my eye as an educator in an SBC school: “A second challenge for the seminaries is to produce ministry-minded graduates instead of seminary eggheads. The brutal fact is that seminaries sometimes produce students who can discourse on theological abstractions but who are detached from real-life ministry.”
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Desiring God’s 1% Campaign
If you’ve benefitted from Desiring God’s free online resources over the years (as I have), then I encourage you to consider giving a monthly donation. They are having a “1% Campaign” right now to encourage users to contribute. Here’s a message from Executive Director Jon Bloom explaining the rationale for the campaign. This is a wonderful ministry, and I hope you’ll take time to check it out.
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Richard Hays on Homosexuality
I’ve been working on an article about the New Testament’s teaching on the moral status of homosexuality. In my research, I have been helped time and again by Richard Hays’s careful scholarship. Today, I’ve been reading an article that he wrote back in 1986 on the meaning of “nature” in Romans 1:26-27. In particular, Hays confronts an assumption that is often held by Christians and non-Christians alike. The assumption goes like this. Actions are sinful only if they are chosen. If an action is not chosen, then it cannot be sinful. With respect to homosexuality, some people argue that homosexuality is an orientation that one is born with, not something…
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Oil Spill Forecast
This graphic shows a likely dispersal pathway for the oil spill over the next several months. It assumes that the spill runs continually from April 20 to June 20. As you can see, the oil moves around the Gulf coast, up the eastern seaboard, and out into the Atlantic. The Associated Press reports it this way: “Oil could enter the Gulf’s loop current, go around the tip of Florida and as far north as Cape Hatteras, N.C. According to researchers, oil could threaten East Coast beaches by early July… The oil could then head by Bermuda on its way to Europe.” Pray this ends soon. (HT: Timmy Brister)