The farmer puts seed in the ground to harvest a crop in return. The financier puts money into a stock in order to gain a financial return. You remodel your house to produce a higher resale value. The desire to produce a return on our time, effort and money is common to all people. But what if you could get double the return? I know what you are thinking. “Neil, this sounds like one of those get rich quick schemes I hear about on the news.” Wait! Here me out. There is another way to … [Read more...]
Listening as easy as pie
Do you ever hear somebody say, “to make a long story short,” and you suddenly understand you’ll probably need to cancel your plans for the rest of the day? I realize I’m not one to poke fun at long stories or the people who tell them. Because this gal? Yeah, I often refer to myself as “over-word-ly.” Ironically, there are some of us on the “over” side of “wordly” who can still find it rough to listen to any monologue longer than three minutes. Especially if there are no visual aids. If … [Read more...]
State of The Baptist Homes institution
In 1947, the Annual Message of the President of the United States was renamed the “State of the Union” address. This practice goes back to 1790 when President George Washington presented the first of eight annual addresses. Washington issued two addresses in 1790—one on January 8 and another on December 8. Until 1923 the annual address was given in the fall. Starting with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the address was moved to winter. As we neared the end of the winter months, I felt it … [Read more...]
Who should be our next SBC president?
It was recently announced that current SBC president, Ed Litton, would not seek a second term of office. His announcement guarantees that a new president will be elected this year in Anaheim. Southern Baptists would be wise to carefully consider the type of biblical leader who should lead us in grace and truth through difficult days. As Anaheim draws closer, I would humbly recommend Southern Baptists remember three biblical principles when prayerfully considering our next convention … [Read more...]
MBCH hosts conferences for teen girls, women
The past couple of years have been both hard and trying. We have struggled with so many things and not the least of these being what is truth. As I’ve listened to women and teens share their confusion and struggles, Psalm 25:5 began to repeatedly come to mind. “Guide me in your TRUTH and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” This is our theme verse for 2022 for Women’s Ministry in Missouri. Based on that scripture, we are offering a great new 1, 2, 3 … [Read more...]
Get well, lead well, finish well
Over the last four columns, I’ve attempted to unpack the functions of a state convention. Now, we should ask: What is a practical example of these functions? For church leaders, the function that perhaps brings the greatest value to both the minister and the local church is the work of the MBC Leader Care Network operating within the Developing Leaders Group. “The Leader Care Network helps Missouri Baptist church leaders get well, lead well, and finish well,” says Jim Misloski director of … [Read more...]
Pathway readers await answers on SBC’s new LGBTQ-friendly law firm
Reaction by Missouri Southern Baptists over the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee’s (EC) hiring of a law firm that supports the LGBTQ lifestyle has prompted Pathway readers to respond with phone calls, emails and letters. Such activity by readers is not unusual. But the reaction to this particular story is different. There is genuine concern over how Cooperative Program money is being spent. I reported in the March 8 print edition of The Pathway that up to $2 million of … [Read more...]
Blinded by madness, America needs God’s truth
“Law may prescribe that the male nipples be made equal to the female ones, but they still will not give milk.” – Professor/author Allan Bloom In 1987, a University of Chicago professor wrote a book criticizing American higher education that jolted the American education establishment. The Closing of the American Mind spent several weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List, while it was met with praise from conservatives and ridicule from progressive liberals. In the book’s first … [Read more...]
On whom do you rely? A meditation on Isaiah 36-37
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail, And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal; And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord! – Lord Byron (George Gordon), from “The Destruction of Sennacherib” In the year 701 B.C., the Assyrian army under its king Sennacherib attacked the fortified cities of Judah and lay siege to Jerusalem. For some two centuries, the neo-Assyrian empire had been a force to reckon with … [Read more...]
‘Is cannabis in the Bible?’: MBTS’s Branch debunks interpretive myth
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article first appeared online at www.ftc.co. J. Alan Branch serves as professor of Christian Ethics at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. KANSAS CITY – “The Bible includes cannabis as part of the worship of Yahweh!” Marijuana advocates often repeat this claim in an effort to gain leverage for the moral permissibility of smoking pot. The claim is so strange and peculiar, pastors, church leaders, and parents can be caught off guard and find themselves ill-prepared … [Read more...]
Pity isn’t the answer
“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” – Matthew 5:29 (NKJV) How do we feel when we see someone who is mentally or physically challenged? Is our first feeling one of pity? What does our pity do to help the individual? There are many parents wondering, “Why me?” “Why did God give me this child to raise? Is He punishing me for something I … [Read more...]
Why your state convention is important today? (part 3)
Why a state convention? As we learned in the last issue, a state convention plays an important role in what the Lord is doing among a network of Bible-believing, evangelistic, mission-minded churches. Specifically, the state convention is an Ephesians 4 ministry that facilitates the networking of our churches to do “effective working” of those kinds of ministries that are larger than one congregation. Historically and pragmatically, there are seven unique functions cooperating churches … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- …
- 123
- Next Page »