IBSA President Heath Tibbetts’ statement offers encouragement and hope to Baptists discouraged by the ongoing discussion of controversies leading up to the June 15-16 Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville. A video version of the message is available on Tibbett’s Facebook page. As President of IBSA, I’m encouraged by weekly conversations with church leaders around our […]
Sweat hour of prayer
Your pastor is sweating a lot, and I don’t just mean during that sermon or business meeting. He’s sweating out the moments you can’t see. Your pastor is sweating in prayer for you. He’s also sweating out whether it’s perceived in this time of low-contact church life. When I accepted the role of IBSA Vice […]
Responsible Christian citizenship: Responding to Coronavirus
Christians should be the best citizens. We should vote, pay our taxes, and do all we can to live lawfully. Countries that do not oppress their citizenry should find the Christians among them to be the very best examples of compliance and involvement. So how should churches respond as some government officials have called upon […]
Prayer meeting faltering? Let it go.
I didn’t kill our Wednesday night prayer gatherings, but I didn’t keep them alive either. Our youth and AWANA programs engage lots of students and require numerous volunteers. It never made sense that our churchwide prayer meeting was at a time that so few could attend. Praying with fellow believers was always encouraging, but I […]
When a mom says ‘whatever it takes’
I was supposed to die on a Tuesday in 1977. My 15-year-old mother had been scheduled to have an abortion despite her objections, leading her into the high school counselor’s office the Monday before that dreaded appointment. After hearing my mother’s story, Mr. Sheets called her mother attempting some mediation away from abortion, but to […]