By Ronnie Floyd, SBC President As the newly elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, I want to call every pastor, every church leader and every layperson from a Southern Baptist church to join me in Columbus, Ohio, on June 16-17, 2015. As I work with our Order of Business Committee as well as other leaders, I will respectfully request that we dedicate as much time as possible in next year’s convention to pray extraordinarily for the next Great Awakening. I want to call you to Columbus to what could be one of the most significant prayer gatherings in our history. Yes, we have to conduct business at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, and we will do it with great diligence. But we will also bring to fruition a year-long emphasis of praying in an extraordinary manner for the next great spiritual awakening in America. For the next year, I want to humbly request from each church, each national SBC entity and each state convention that we begin to pray in an over-and-above way for God to move mightily in our lives, our churches and our nation. Now is the time Why is this important? Our convention has bemoaned our decline in baptisms, membership, attendance and giving far too long. Now is the time for us … [Read more...]
Five “musts” that could fix the Southern Baptist Convention
By John Yeats, Executive Director Missouri Baptist Convention Considering the complex issues swirling around the SBC, I’m not sure anyone has a definitive word on how to fix what ails us, especially as we rub against a culture increasingly more hostile to the Gospel. There is no silver bullet to fix all that plagues our great convention of churches. Truth is, we are broken people, raised by broken parents, living in a broken world, and our only hope is the transformational power of the Lord Jesus to fix our brokenness. Yet, it is through our brokenness that our Lord works most powerfully through His church. A friend of mine asked, “John, what do you think would ‘fix’ the SBC?” I offered five transformational “musts” that have the potential to position Southern Baptists for a movement of God: 1. We must return to being a convictional people. It is one thing to say you believe. It is quite another to behave like you say you believe. Most Americans have assented to the realities of the historical Jesus. But that doesn’t make them authentic Christians. They may have adopted a cultural form of Christianity that enables them to disconnect from their religion while they dabble in all kinds of debauchery. History records that … [Read more...]
A God-blessed America has obligations, responsibilities
By Richard Land, President of Southern Evangelical Seminary, Matthews, N.C. America is fundamentally distinct from all other countries in its founding, in its national life, and in the values, rights and privileges it confers upon its citizens. In other words, America is exceptional. And if it is exceptional in its domestic character, in what it offers to immigrants in search of a better life, then it would follow that America is exceptional in what it has to offer to the global community. America is not an ethnicity or mere geography, but a creed, a set of first principles to which we pledge allegiance – freedom, human dignity, self-government, and equality. Anyone who pledges allegiance to these values can consider himself or herself an “American.” America has been blessed by God in unique ways – we are not just another country, but neither are we God’s special people. I do not believe that America is God’s chosen nation. God established one chosen nation and people: the Jews. We are not the new Israel. We cannot assume “God is on our side.” We are not God’s gift to the world. America does not have a special claim on God. Millions of Americans do, however, believe God has a special claim on them – and their country. The … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5