Lori is a 14-year-old victim of human trafficking. When she first entered the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home’s Freedom 43:19 program, she was addicted to drugs, had missed a lot of school, and was extremely aggressive in her behavior. Whether she would stay in the program was anyone’s guess. Even so, staff members prayed for her and poured God’s love into her troubled young life. Rather than flee, Lori surprised everyone by staying. She is now drug-free, on the honor roll at school, and … [Read more...]
A world without Roe
As I picked up the July 10 issue of USA TODAY, I couldn’t help but notice the headline of a front-page “story” titled, “A world without Roe v. Wade.” Later in the evening, POTUS was to name his nominee to replace retiring SCOTUS Justice Anthony Kennedy. We now know that person to be 5th Circuit U.S. Appeals Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. So, the day before the nomination, the not-so-mainstream media is hosting an opinion piece on the front page promoting a sky-is-falling mentality about … [Read more...]
The Great Commission and rural America
In his recent Moody Press release, The Forgotten Church, Glenn Daman accentuated the current reality that rural America is a mission field. Rural America has often been thought of in terms of Norman Rockwell paintings long before there was an Ozzie and Harriett of the 60s and a Duck Dynasty of early 2000s. When Sharon and I led Pray Across Missouri 2017-2018, we met people from all 114 counties in Missouri at their County Courthouses for prayer. We met some really great people from rural … [Read more...]
The art of civility: 14 Practical Ways to Demonstrate Civility
ci·vil·i·ty səˈvilədē/ noun Formal politeness and courtesy in behavior or speech. "I hope we can treat each other with civility and respect." Synonyms: courtesy, courteousness, politeness, good manners, graciousness, gentleness, respect, kindness Growth in the social media sphere has created a challenge for Southern Baptists that we did not have prior to the launch of Facebook in 2004. Prior to the invention of social media there were not as many voices attempting to gain … [Read more...]
John Yeats: Missional isolation among international missionaries
I really like the way we do Southern Baptist missions. A recent return from the mission field with our MBC partnership nation of Italy was a fresh reminder of “why” we do cooperative missions. Every believer is commissioned to live on mission. Every local church is to be engaged in missions cooperatively and directly. Biblically and practically, working together is a no brainer. On more than one occasion, our team met and interviewed U.S. missionaries who are diligently working to make … [Read more...]
John Yeats: Virtuous words and the court of public opinion
Trevin Wax tells a compelling story about his Romanian father-in-law in “This is Our Time” (B&H, 2017). As a young man, his father-in-law was a Communist advocate. As many others in his national context, he was engaged in the demise of any form of organized faith. Under Communism, religious liberty experienced the boot of ideological expression. We know from non-redacted history of Romania how the Communist Party closed humanitarian ministries, eliminated all Christian education, and … [Read more...]
Reflections and what we must learn
As we gathered in Nashville for the called special meeting of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, it felt more like a wake. The conversations were more like what you would find when the family gathers during a funeral. Never in our Southern Baptist history has anyone resigned the post of president of the Executive Committee because of “a morally inappropriate relationship.” The members who were able to quickly rearrange schedules and form a quorum did so with a … [Read more...]
Tell me about it
Resurrection Sunday is the greatest day for local churches. If I had a wand, I would wish that every church, every Sunday, had a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. As soon as the day was winding down, I sent out an email blast to about 100 pastors, asking them about their day. Several responded: “We baptized 15 people in Shoal Creek today. Air temp: 31 degrees. Heart temp: off the charts!”— John Swadley, Joplin, Forest Park “Baptized a 35-year-old newly married man today. A 30-year-old … [Read more...]
How do you stop a revolving door?
When I approached the revolving door with my luggage, I thought to myself, “This might not be pretty.” The door was spinning at an abnormal rate. And this wasn’t a single-person revolving door. It appeared that each section could host one and 3/4 of a person. How you dealt with 3/4 of a person in a revolving door was not a problem I preferred to solve at the moment. I did calculate that getting in the revolving system was an easier proposition than getting out. That is, getting out with … [Read more...]
The 20/80 rule lives on
During my February trek to Nashville for the SBC Executive Committee meeting, I’m always blessed by the reports from the entity leaders of the SBC. It is thrilling to hear about the advance of the gospel in North America and among the unreached in neglected places of the world. Baptist Press reported an interesting stat. The president of the Executive Committee, Dr. Frank Page, said in his address that “less than 2,000 churches in our convention give 50 percent of all Cooperative Program … [Read more...]
Just two words
Sharon and I have the unique honor of being part of a 5-year-old church plant that is a rooted in the cowboy church culture. I was fascinated to learn from a conference led by pastor Justin Taylor of the Bar-nun Cowboy Church in Tatum, Texas, that in the cowboy church world there are two words that mean everything. Those two words explain the cowboy church theological underpinnings for their unique missiological strategy. Those two words encapsulate the church’s mission statement and its … [Read more...]
Must we choose between preferences?
No kidding. I was reading my half-folded Wall Street Journal. I got to the fold and, subconsciously, I realized my index finger was attempting to scroll the rest of the article up the page. I suppose I am caught in a time warp, preferring to smell ink and read hard copy and at the same time live in an age of digital communications. I can hear the purist for print and/or digital attempting to say, “Choose between the two.” I say not so fast. There is room for both. No need to create a … [Read more...]
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