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27 Months Ago
Posted by Bowden McElroy in IMPACT Features
No, this isn’t goodbye. Although blogging may be sporadic for the next two weeks.
We have been in a bit of a transition. Some contributors have opted out. Others haven’t the time to contribute on a regular basis. A few new writers have been added.
Thank you for your patience as we puzzle out what we want to do with this site. We hope you notice very little change in sbcIMPACT! – more energy and a renewed excitement about blogging, but no major changes.
Our goals remain the same as they were in 2007
“We want to host discussions of issues that touch local churches and local church pastors. We’re not afraid to tackle some of the tougher issues that are being discussed in Baptist life today…”
Check back frequently. In the mean time, leave a comment below and tell us what topics you would like to see discussed in these pages.
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I would like to see:
1. Why is there a great gulf between the pew and pulpit?
2. Is the pastorate more of a fraternity?
3. Is the use of DVD Bible teaching in the church beneficial or not?
4. Jesus purged his crowds, should the church?
5. What activities should the leadership embark on for the body to example and practice faith as a body?
6. Should the Sunday School be structured differently?
7. Is it time to split the SBC?
8. I would encourage you to consider taking some of the same topics that were exhaustive in responses and do them again in a different format in order to extract some deeper truth.
I’ve enjoyed all of the comments since someone referred me to sbcImpact. I have learned more about the SBC here than anywhere. During this time in my life I have found comfort in responding and relating with many of you on a biblical basis. Being a “professional visitor” now, I know the importance of church membership and fellowship and look forward to settling down soon. My heart is full of prayer for the area I live in because the men who pastor in this area can be described like the ones in Ezekiel 34 who are in it for themselves. I strongly sense that God’s patience is coming to a close and some of these men will see God’s wrath. My prayer is that a new work will begin soon with a fresh spirit and a fresh vision to be the church God would have it be. I look forward to more dialogue with many of you in the future.
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
May Grace Much More Abound
Bruce,
Thanks for the thoughtful response. All good ideas. I particularly liked #8: revisiting – from a different angle – some of the more read and commented on posts.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
1. Pros and Cons of changing the name of the SBC.
2. Pros and Cons of enabling churches from other countries to join the SBC (we have Canada, why not England, Mexico, etc.?)
3. Something on persecution
4. The personal testimony of sbcIMPACT! writers
5. A post on the HCSB versus other translations
6. The biblical role of deacons
These are just a few off the top of my head. Looking forward to enjoying sbcIMPACT! even more in the New Year!
Brother Bowden,
It sounds as if you guys are in a struggle with the same things we at SBC Today are dealing with. In our case we lost two contributors because of positions on Trustee boards. As you know, we are not shy about giving opinions concerning various entities. Also, I believe you will agree, it is not good for Trustees to be publicly speaking their opinions concerning the actions of sister entities. Then we lost another contributor because of his school schedule getting more hectic.
Thus, we are trying to get back to a more consistent posting schedule. SBC Impact serves a great purpose as does SBC Today. I look forward to what God is going to do through both blogs.
Blessings,
Tim
Tim,
You have inadvertently brought up another idea or topic in your statement, “Also, I believe you will agree, it is not good for Trustees to be publicly speaking their opinions concerning the actions of sister entities.” My comment below is not a reflection of what you said; it is just in the same arena.
I have been involved in some discussions recently with a member of the local Baptist association that I would think email discussions were alright, however, he replied with “call me” and told me about the legal aspect of putting things in writing. To that, I somewhat agree but think some, if not most, topics could be or should be placed in writing as long as they are biblically supported. In a way, there was something that tells me that he could tell me what he thinks I wanted to know on my subject and not be responsible in saying the same thing to someone else. My question: Should we be concerned about what we put in writing as long as it follows 2 Timothy 4:1-3?
Brother Bruce,
I am not sure as to what you are asking me. However, I will tell you that I strive to follow Matthew 12:36 in all that I do and say. I follow 2 Timothy 4:1-3 as well especially in the calling God has on my life as a Pastor. I believe that is area Paul was exhorting young Timothy in when he penned those words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Blessings,
Tim
Andrew,
Living in Canada and serving with the Canadian National Baptist Convention (formerly the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists), I didn’t realize that Canadian churches were “joining” the SBC. Is this true? Normally they join the CNBC, which is neither a part of the SBC nor a farm club of it; rather, it is a sister convention to the SBC.
Kevin
Kevin, I am sure that Andrew is speaking to the fact that NAMB coordinates mission work in both USA and Canada.
Although, I did hear that our government is considering annexing Canada and calling it “North Minnesota.”
Kevin,
Having only lived on the border and not being a Canadian myself, I am not familiar with how members of the CNBC view their neighbors to the south. I do know that Americans in general (not necessarily Southern Baptists) tend to talk derogatorily about our neighbor to the north, and I’d just like to clarify that I don’t view our Canadian brethren as a lesser convention or an American export. I know you didn’t ask or accuse, but we tend to give you a hassle about such things, so I wanted to say it plainly.
Even with the name change, I’ve always heard the CNBC referred to as “Southern Baptist,” referring to the beliefs and affiliation, while our specific conventions have been defined by national borders. We share biblical beliefs and strong partnerships. Here in the south we refer to Southern Baptist both as our convention and as our beliefs. When I said the Canadians were “SBC” I was referring to the latter. We never really came up with a term for it. Perhaps if we change our name to the “American National Baptist Convention” or something the term “Southern Baptist” won’t necessarily be linked solely with the southerners.
As far as the topic I’d like to see an article on, I wonder why we don’t/won’t have Southern Baptist Conventions in those other countries. I see some pros and cons to the idea that would be fun to discuss.
Tim,
I was responding to both you and the request in today’s blog for topic ideas. I may not have said it with the best sentence structure. I just didn’t want it to come across in any way that your statement had a shadow or hint of suspicion by me. Another verse comes to mind, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” Colossians 4:6
Sometimes there is a concern among Christians not to put what they believe in writing and the claim is because of the fear of legal retaliation. Others have a hidden agenda and they want to answer your question a certain way without being obligated so they can answer the same question a different way to someone else. Kind of like a politician. Too much of that goes on in the upper levels of our denomination. I was suggesting a topic like this for a blog in the upcoming months for sbcIMPACT. I may not know exactly how to address it but some may be able to. I just have a concern when a question is asked and written communication is ended with a preference of a phone conversation from that point on. As believers, we must make sure our words are not “idle” words, too.
Thanks for your patience and letting me clarify.
Another point to clarify, just because I don’t view our neighbors to the north negatively doesn’t mean I can’t send over a few teasing comments (like Dave’s “North Minnesota”). That has more to do with the fact I come from a somewhat sarcastic family and I lived in Sault Ste. Marie, where “Bot’ sides of da border talk a little funny, eh.”
I’m probably more like the stereotypical “Canadian” than the average person from VC is.
For instance, I used to say “eh,” though not on purpose, I can immitate Sarah Palin’s accent very well, I typically wear long underwear, a sweater, and a coat in the winter, and I like to top it all off with a “Mad Bomber” rabbit fur hat.
Thanks Andrew,
How am I going to get THAT picture out of my head?
Sorry,
What I meant was a long underwear shirt.
Andrew,
I believe I understand more of what you are asking for. Most Canadians have no desire to become Americans (take that, Dave). In fact, it has been said that a Canadian may have trouble describing what he is, but he can clearly tell you what he is not!
That may make an interesting conversation on the subject of if the SBC should consider becoming an “international” denomination or convention (like the Nazarenes). Up to this point, the SBC missions philosophy has been to encourage indigenous conventions in other countries (with the exception of American territories and protectorates) and partner with those indigenous conventions to reach their own country for Christ. That’s how it works in Canada and the other countries that you mentioned. The main difference with Canada is that the primary partnership responsibility for missions is NAMB, and with the others it is IMB.
Kevin,
One other piece is that the IMB sends out Canadian missionaries as well, so it’s a stronger partnership than we see anywhere else in SBC (American) missions.
By the way, where are you located at and what do you do for the CNBC? And what is a “farm club?” Is that a colloquialism?
Bowden,
This comment stream is proof that a discussion on the topic of opening up the SBC into an international convention would generate discussion (at least between David, Kevin, and I). Plus, we’d get a chance to discuss what the name would change to.
Actually, Kevin, what you say is fundamental to the missions philosophy of the SBC. There are no “Southern Baptists” in Tanzania or in Spain or in Taiwan. There are Tanzanian Baptists, Spanish Baptists, Taiwanese Baptists who fellowship with Southern Baptists.
Now, if we could just get this silly convention of ours to take the name “Southern” out of it, we could all be happy, right?
How ’bout this, Kevin? “Northern North Dakota”
Andrew,
“Farm club” is a baseball term for minor league teams in the “club” of a major league team. When a player is “called up from the minors” he has already been signed by the major league team but is playing in the minors until the mother team needs him. Every professional baseball player dreams of playing in the “majors.” Far more have heard of Dave’s Yankees than the various farm club teams in the Yankee camp. (Dave, who are the Yankee minor league teams?) I used the analogy about the CNBC to make the point that we are not lesser or subservient to the SBC, one of their “farm clubs.” We are an autonomous “sister” denomination, not a daughter.
Most of our Canadian missionaries are “sent” through the structure of the IMB and work side by side with our IMB missionaries, but their salary and support come from our Canadian churches. A few, mostly with American connections (i.e. an American spouse) have gone out directly through the IMB, but this is not normally how it happens.
I live in Cochrane, Alberta and teach at Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary, an agency of the CNBC.
Kevin,
I see. Farm club = Farm team for me.
David,
Wouldn’t it just be “Nort’ Dakota” in keeping with Canadian pronunciation?
(my apologies, Kevin)
FYI,
AAA – Scranton/Wilkes Barre
AA – Trenton
A – Staten Island, Tampa, Charleston
OK, so now sbcIMPACT is on Twitter. Can anyone tell us old fogeys what on earth twitter is and how we “follow” someone?
It sounds like stalking to me.
I think IMPACT should be dedicated to informing the lesser football conferences about the greatness of the SEC and about the flagship of the SEC; The SABANATION.
I believe that such an endeavor on the part of IMPACT would inspire all of you of the lesser conferences to aspire to greatness in all areas of your lives.
It would also help you all to begin to eat more B-B-Q and stop eating all that bland food which makes your lives and sermons so boring.
I would be glad to meet with you guys and do a seminar to help you get started.
I am sure that Vol and some of the other SEC guys like would be glad to come and help also.
I realize you of the lesser conferences think we of the SEC are only about slaughter and leaving your nations in hopelessness when we come through. But in truth, we are often very benevolent to the underprivileged during the off-season.
Dave,
Twitter is sort of a “micro-blogging” site, allowing users to share brief 140 character posts (called “tweets”) about whatever they see fit. “Following” people on twitter is a lot like using an RSS aggregator like Google Reader or Bloglines to keep up with what those you follow on twitter are saying, except it’s done through twitter itself rather than a third party software package.
It’s a pretty neat way to stay in touch with a wide group of people.
I haven’t read all these comments, sorry. Not enough time. But I will provide a little feedback.
I read much less and comment even less on Impact these days than I did, primarily because the articles have become too long. I would much much much rather see three or four paragraphs than a 5000 exposition.
If you want to cover long topics, fine, just take the content from your writers and break it up into a weeklong series. That will also make your posts more regular. Use the scheduling features wisely.
Just advice from a reader that doesn’t have time to read the whole thing. Of course, if I’m not in your demographic, I understand. No offense
Merry Christmas AND Happy Holidays!
Flamesuit on.
Bernard,
Good advise…. Blogging after all is a post-modern type of communication and was created for short opinion type responses. It is sort of the contemporary way, if you will.
I really like both the short and the long blogs. But, I think most get bored with the longer more thought-out blogs. It is kind of the sign of the times I’m afraid.
Twitter is another good example of how “texting” has turned into narcissistic meanderings. (btw,… “I am going to lunch with a few friends…just getting into the car now”)
These are fun times!
Blessings,
Chris