Thinking of going on a short-term mission project? It could go something like this: Our mission team convened in the First Baptist, Newberry, parking lot in the wee hours of a July Thursday. Six of us from our church, plus Ben Harr, pastor of Willow Swamp Baptist Church of Norway, headed off to catch a […]
President’s Perspective: That’s Why
As I write this, I am sitting in my office at 12:33 a.m. on Thursday, July 13, 2023. It’s a strange time to be typing an article for The Baptist Courier. Indeed, what a strange time to be awake. Six of us from First Baptist, Newberry, plus a pastor friend from another South Carolina Baptist […]
President’s Perspective: Holding Hands
Widespread understanding of the relationships between churches, associations, state/area conventions, and the Southern Baptist Convention used to be a given within our particular family of believers. In recent years, however, there has been an uptick in the use of seemingly benign, but inaccurate, expressions of the nature of these relationships. Whether due to lack of […]
President’s Perspective: ‘Trust, But Verify’
The 2023 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans is a few weeks away. If you are reading this, chances are high that the work and health of the convention are important to you. As you support kingdom work through the Cooperative Program, you probably join me in appreciating an old Russian […]
President’s Perspective: Cultivating a ‘Going’ Culture
For generations, South Carolina Baptists have generously supported international missions through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Unfortunately, however, some churches have tended to point to their giving as the best evidence of their commitment to reaching the nations. Of course, giving is a biblical no-brainer: We must give, just as we […]
President’s Perspective: Where Are You Indispensable?
In the summer of 2005, I was almost three years into my third full-time pastorate. “Climbing the ladder” wasn’t my thing, but this wonderful church was the largest I had served, based on nickels and noses, and was in the middle of a big city in another state. I was preaching, pastoring, and casting vision, […]
President’s Perspective: Going There
She was born into a disadvantaged and poor ethnic minority in the rural interior of Asia. She was the apple of her hard-working father’s eye, and he saw to it that she received a college education and a master’s degree. After concluding her studies in a large, distant city, she returned to her home prefecture […]
President’s Perspective: Let’s Leave!
Nobody was going to heaven from Thessalonica. It was a spiritual wasteland: no Jesus, no hope. Jesus had come into the world, done His amazing work, and returned to the Father; but the folks way over in Thessalonica were completely oblivious. It was a long way from Bethlehem, Golgotha, and the empty tomb. Somehow, though, […]
President’s Perspective: Engaging Lostness Overseas
Part of the turf that goes with pastoring Southern Baptist churches is the annual tipping of the hat to international missions under the banner of Lottie Moon. At least that’s how I viewed it for many years: “It’s Lottie time again, let me work up a missions sermon and slide it in somewhere between Thanksgiving […]