In 1980, during my second year at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, Paige Patterson was kind enough to give me a few hours of his time in his study at the First Baptist Church of Dallas. I was on staff at a Dallas church and had…
I am preparing to travel to St. Louis tomorrow for the Midwest Founders Conference where I will join Ray Van Neste and Phil Newton in speaking on Pastoral Ministry. Unfortunately, Dr. John Thornbury has had to back out of speaking due to health issues (from which, I understand, he…
Over the last several months I have repeatedly been asked why I support the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) and the broader impetus that led to its formation. A full explanation would include some necessary nuances and caveats that transcend the limits of a blog post, but the…
Charles Simeon was an Anglican who served Trinity Church in Cambridge, England for 54 years. The story of his life and ministry are fascinating and challenging to modern pastors who tend to be soft and too quick to retreat in the face of opposition and trial. Simeon tells the…
This is the first of a series of “bloggersations” that I hope to publish here over the next several months. One of the vitally important dimensions to the resurgence of gospel unity that is developing within and beyond the SBC is the establishment of friendships. Too often, brothers who…
The 2009 Southern Baptist Convention may well go down as the one that has left me the most hopeful…ever. My first convention was 1979 when Adrian Rogers was first elected President and the “Conservative Resurgence” (CR) officially began. I am grateful for that movement because it inhibited the slide…
Dr. Al Mohler’s motion to commission a task force passed tonight at the Southern Baptist Convention. Specifically, the motion requests that the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting June 23-24, 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky, authorize the President of the Southern Baptist Convention to appoint a Great Commission Task Force charged to…
Morris H. Chapman is president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee. Last week he published an article through Baptist Press entitled, “This One Thing I Do (Philippians 3:12-14).” In it he provides a critique of the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) document and offers reasons…
What is the relationship between the recent call for a Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) and the vote this week by International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention to scale back missionary appointments for this year? Just this: both make the case that Southern Baptist churches desperately need…
Danny Akin, Johnny Hunt and others have released a manifesto entitled, “Toward a Great Commission Resurgence.” It is a document aimed at Southern Baptists with implications far beyond the SBC. In some respects this call is the culmination of a growing concern among many Southern Baptists over the last…