I was 30 years old when my mental breakdown happened. In retrospect, I’m thankful it was as early as it was.

I was a missionary in China in my 20s, but I felt called to make a pivot and went to law school. So I was 30 years old with a wife, two young sons, and a new job as a corporate lawyer in a big fancy law firm when it all fell apart.

It was everything that’s now typical of modern America. Panic attacks, insomnia, and suicidal thoughts that eventually led me to be unable to sleep unless I took sleeping pills or had a few drinks. The point is, the missionary had become converted to the nervous medicating lawyer. I was left to wrestle with why. [Read more…]

Daryl Crouch

The Tennessee Baptist Convention gathered for its annual meeting in early November at what is called the Summit.

The thought of denominational meetings provokes cold sweats for some people expecting boring reports interrupted by factions and division. Regrettably, Southern Baptists have to some degree earned that reputation. But what I experienced at the Summit was something better.

I was impressed, moved really, when I looked across the room and saw so many godly people of every age and season of ministry giving their lives so that the manifold wisdom of God may be made known through the church, not only to rulers in the heavens, but to every neighbor and the nations (Ephesians 3:10). [Read more…]

Randy Davis

Christmas heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Who is your favorite?

There’s Clarence, the angel-in-training from one of my favorite Christmas stories, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Or maybe Kevin McCallister, the eight-year-old whiz-kid defending his house in “Home Alone.” Or perhaps it’s Lt. John McClane in the epic Christmas movie “Die Hard” (although personally, I stand with those who believe “Die Hard” is not a Christmas movie).

Beyond the Christmas movie list, there are other heroes of note, like Little Debbie, a benefactor who gave us the Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake. [Read more…]

Dan Spencer — Photo credit: BP

Thank you, Tennessee Baptists, for the undeserved blessing of being elected to serve as your Tennessee Baptist Convention president.

It feels full circle for me. According to the December 4, 1924, edition of the Baptist & Reflector, my great-great grandfather, Dr. G. M. Savage, served in this same position 100 years ago. He was nominated, at the insistence of his brother, because he was the only surviving charter member of the TBC at the time of its 50th anniversary.

He reluctantly accepted the nomination and went on to serve with distinction during a time when the Cooperative Program, the Baptist Faith & Message, and Baptist Collegiate Ministry all began. This opportunity is very meaningful to me, and I pray I can serve as faithfully as Grandpa Savage. [Read more…]

Kelly Boggs

“A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the beloved animated television program, turns 60 this year. It is hard to imagine that it almost did not air.

Network executives thought it moved too slowly for a Christmas special. They also were convinced that the absence of a laugh track, a staple of 1960s-era comedies, would be the kiss of death.

To further complicate matters, the man behind the cast of animated characters insisted on using real kids for the voice-overs. As a result, only a couple of the children who were cast had any acting experience. [Read more…]

Chuck Lawless

Some time ago, I posted, “Ten Factors that Help Long-Term Pastors Stay at Their Church.” Since that time, I’ve also worked with declining churches whose pastors have, in my opinion, stayed too long in their current place of service. Here are some of the clues that move my thinking in that direction:

1. The church is in continual decline, and the pastor blames the congregation. I know there are many troubled churches—and decline cannot be attributed to only one cause—but long-term pastors leading churches into decline must take some responsibility for the problem.
2. The pastor no longer has vision for the church; he lives in survival mode. Everything is about paying the next bill and getting through next Sunday. Any sense of future life is long gone.
3. If anyone would offer the pastor a new job, he’d likely take it. He might even be looking, but few churches want to interview a leader whose church is in constant decline. If they do talk with him and he blames the church, they have even more reason to discontinue the process.
4. The church has lost any sense of passion for what they do. Often, a church in a state of decline follows the lead of the long-term pastor into pessimism and hopelessness. Nobody takes needed steps toward change because everybody’s just tired of the struggle.
5. The only people left in the church are long-termers who will die as members of the church. They don’t like what’s happening to their church, but they’re also not moving their membership. They’ll wait out this pastor like they’ve waited out others.
6. Paying the bills takes priority over everything else. As the church declines and givers decrease, the bills nevertheless remain the same. This problem is especially acute if the church is still making building and property payments.
7. The pastor finds himself isolating from the church family.It’s just hard to “hang out” with people when his ministry doesn’t seem to be going well. He retreats into his office and closes the door more often than he used to.
8. The pastor is willing to let the church die on his watch. You’d hope that would never be the case—and I’ve not seen it happen often—but I have seen it . The pastor guides the ship to its death and blames the congregation all the way.

Leaving a declining church is seldom easy for a pastor, however. Nobody wants to feel like he is “abandoning the ship,” and no pastor wants to look back on a seemingly failed ministry. Rather than condemn any pastor, let’s pray for all pastors today who may be wondering about God’s will for their lives. B&R – Chuck Lawless is Dean of Doctoral Studies and Vice-President of Spiritual Formation and Ministry Centers at Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, where he also serves as Professor of Evangelism and Missions. He is also Team Leader for Theological Education Strategists for the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. 

King

I don’t know what people do who are dealing with a serious health issue and don’t have a church family to help. Fortunately, I don’t know what that’s like because I have two church families.

I recently experienced an unexpected hospital stay. What I thought would be an overnight emergency room visit turned into a five-day hospital stay.

This would be an inconvenience for most people, but the hospital stay came with moments of sheer panic for a single mom of four children. The hospital was an hour away from our home in Chapel Hill. I was wondering who would help care for my children while I was lying in a hospital bed.

And that’s when I experienced something amazing. [Read more…]

Randy Davis

Change is uncomfortable. It means leaving the familiar for which there is a routine that creates repetition, that creates efficiency.

People will often say about an organization when it reaches that point that “It runs like a well-oiled machine.” It’s as if things just run on autopilot.

But routine, repetition, and efficiency can also create comfort and complacency, and complacency is the death knell of churches and organizations like the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. [Read more…]