“Among Baptists, there is a longstanding myth that the essence of Baptist identity is the freedom to believe whatever you want as long as you baptize believers by immersion.” - London Lyceum

“Blalock, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Charleston, S.C., and Jon Nelson, ARITF member and lead pastor of Soma Community Church in Jefferson City, Mo., were guests on Baptist Press This Week” - BPNews

“if, as Paul explained, some labor where others have sown, we can’t limit the church’s mission to pioneer work among the unreached.” - TGC

“So, did God ignore the prayers of evangelical-Pentecostal hoops fanatics and favor those of the theologically hip, fluid, progressive believers at Duke? Does this score mean that God…was pro-Duke?” - GetReligion

“The complaint alleges the SBC and Guidepost engaged in defamation and libel, that they invaded Hunt’s privacy and intentionally caused emotional harm.” - RNS

Read the series.

The study of fulfilled biblical prophecies is a book in itself. We’ve looked at Jeremiah’s “70 years” prophecy of Judah’s exile in Babylon; in this post we’ll look at a prophecy that came during the Babylonian Captivity from a prophet living in Babylon.

“The Flynn Effect, the increase in intelligence over generations, appears to be stagnating or even reversing in parts of Europe and the US.” - Psychology Today

“Over the course of the yearlong conflict, only a tiny minority of Russian Christian leaders have voiced complaint publicly. The response from authorities has been uneven: Minor church figures have been fined or jailed, while others continue to use their names on social media.” - CToday

Why doesn’t Sharper Iron have any of those cookie notification/permission pop-ups that are all over the web these days?

Simply put, it’s because these popups are a GDPR compliance thing and GDPR is for Europe.

It is widely claimed that GDPR applies to all persons in GDPR countries who use the web, regardless of where the site is hosted. This is usually followed by the claim that a site must be GDPR compliant if anyone in a GDPR country uses the site.

“… trimmed its staff by 153 through ‘voluntary resignations’ to save $9.47 million annually, implemented a new gifts and honorarium policy, adopted a new culture focused on more effective mission-focused ministry and launched a third-party evaluation of the church’s financial structure and processes.” - CPost

Related: Hillsong Church operated lucrative honorarium scheme for celebrity preachers: report

“Most American nonverts are former Christians. That’s simply a matter of numbers. The large majority of Americans historically have identified as Christian and continue to do so today. Most Americans who abandon religion, therefore, abandon Christianity.” - Law & Liberty

“There are moments when one might wonder if President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are running for president or for messiah.” - Seattle Times

“As far as our evidence goes, Patrick was the first person in Christian history to … grasp that teaching all nations meant teaching even barbarians who lived beyond the border of the frontiers of the Roman Empire.” - DeYoung

“New Barna data shows that pastors’ confidence and satisfaction in their vocation has decreased significantly in the past few years, and two in five (41%) say they’ve considered quitting ministry in the last 12 months.” - Barna

“What do you think about going to Texas?”

Chris Katulka, director of North American Ministries for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, posed that question to me in the summer of 2020.

“To live?” I think that was my response.

Well, he explained, at least initially it would just be for a visit. I was given the task—the test?—of lining up and then executing my own ministry trip to Texas.

Chris shared with me how Texas is, not surprisingly, home to a large base of support for The Friends of Israel. However, we have no one located there as a church ministries representative for FOI.

Paul wrote (NKJV)

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

I chose the NKJV because it retains the word “carnal,” and the term “carnal Christian” was derived from that. So do genuinely carnal Christians exist? Or are these new believers who haven’t progressed much? Or is Paul uncertain about their conversion?

This could tie in with 2 Corinthians 13:5 perhaps?

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

What do you think?

“Scripture teaches it’s good to sing songs that voice both joy and sadness. But there’s another emotion Scripture commends to us and our churches that can get neglected: reverence.” - TGC

“This debate has gone on for years. … Here are some of the arguments I’ve heard on both sides.” - Chuck Lawless

“Taking a closer look at these charges. I demonstrate that a lack of conceptual clarity at crucial points combines with some historiographical missteps to fuel the misunderstanding of Arminius on [semipelagianism], and I conclude that the case against Arminius has not been ‘proven.’” - London Lyceum

“In the same way we struggled to assemble Christmas toys, evolutionary biologists have struggled to piece together a clear picture of life in one of its earliest forms—LUCA (life’s universal common ancestor).” - Reasons to Believe

“After climbing steadily for almost a decade, the percentage of Americans who identify as LGBTQ remained steady at 7.2% in 2022, according to the latest Gallup survey.” - BPNews

“Far more Americans express favorable than unfavorable views of Jews, mainline Protestants and Catholics, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey that measures U.S. adults’ broad sentiments toward several religious groups.” - Pew

Related: Evangelicals Are the Most Beloved US Faith Group Among Evangelicals …And among the worst-rated by everybody else. - CToday

(What happens when leaders are not trained, continued from Part 1)

“Emphasizing what the WCTU called ‘organized mother love’ — the belief that women could apply the ideals of motherhood to the social issues of the time — Willard built the WCTU into one of the largest women’s organizations in the world.” - RNS

“Stacie and I are grateful to be called to serve at Saddleback Church. We are not co-pastors but rather have unique roles on staff. I’m serving as the lead pastor and one of our Saddleback overseers while Stacie is serving as one of our teaching pastors” - C.Leaders

“Dr. Mark Ward interviews Bible scholar, professor, and author Rev. Dr. Vern Poythress about Trinitarian theology and more.” - Word by Word

“What is temptation? As John Owen notes, ‘It is raising up in the heart, and proposing unto the mind and affections, that which is evil; trying, as it were, whether the soul will close with its suggestions, or how far it will carry them on, though it do not wholly prevail….’” - Ref21

“In an interview with CT, Hunt shared what he learned from listening to hundreds of Stott’s sermons. The transcript has been edited for clarity and length.” - CToday

A night club, a recording studio, an apartment complex, a tae-kwon-do facility. No, these are not answers to the questions from the winner’s circle of the $25,000 Pyramid gameshow. This is the reality for many church buildings in America. Places that once boasted the gathering of worshipers for Jesus Christ, are now lamented as monuments to “empires” of the past. Some were edifices built not for the King, but for a king! Buildings that were meant to be for worship, instruction, and edification of believers and a place where the next generation could grow and learn, are now fashionably re-purposed like an antique bathtub or wood from an old barn.

Dave Deets is VP of Ministries at Institute of Biblical Leadership. He holds a M.Min. degree from International Baptist College, M.A. from Maranatha Baptist Seminary, and a D.Min. from Northland International University. Dave has also published the book, Selecting Elders: A Biblical Guide to Choosing God’s Shepherds.