Tuesday's Catch: 'Many African American SBC churches have women pastors on staff. Will they be expelled next?' And More

Many African American SBC churches have women pastors on staff. Will they be expelled next?
A letter from the president of the SBC's National African American Fellowship expressed concerns over recent SBC decisions to bar churches with women pastors.

Unanticipated ramifications of the SBC vote on the constitutional amendment excluding women from the SBC pastorate or something else? Also see: Thousands of Black churches could face Southern Baptist Convention expulsion over women pastors and Why Black churches in the SBC are questioning the future with new women pastor standards.

Critics Discredit ‘Sound of Freedom’ by Linking It to QAnon; Supporters Push Back
Trafficking in children for sex as been a problem in the United States for decades--long before te current squabbles between the United States' two leading political parties over immigration policy and illegal immigrants. New Orleans where I worked as a social worker with children at risk was one of several cities in a human trafficking network that covered the United States. Runaway minors and minors from poor or dysfunctional families were their primary commodity. The traffickers were US nationals and not from outside the United States.

Synod's Alpha and Christianity Explored snub
The vote in July's General Synod against an amendment affirming the Alpha and Christianity Explored courses in prisons showed a disturbing level of hostility towards the gospel message that charismatic and conservative evangelicals are proclaiming.

Alpha and Christianity Explored are two of more effective resouces for reaching ad engaging te uchurched population.

Are We Following the God of What Works?
Dietrich Schindler shares what he’s learned in his 30 years of church multiplication and why he believes conversion-based church planting is not on the radar of most leaders today.

21 Ways to Stop a Church from Growing
The fact is that growing a church is hard work. It’s relatively easy to keep things small or stop a church from growing. We could almost do nothing and achieve it.

The Machiavelli Effect – Is It Happening in Your Organization?
Learn to recognize the people holding back your vision....

What Forgiveness Is and Isn’t
It’s important for us to understand what is demanded of us in forgiveness. Forgiveness is not the same thing as reconciliation, which requires two parties willing to come together.

8 Ideas to Lead Well Into the Future
There’s great joy in seeing multiple generations working together for the cause and kingdom of Christ. How will you lead your church well?

Should we use personal disclosure in our preaching?
What can we say about personal disclosure? Here are Ian Paul's reflections.

Missions, Grocery Stores, and the Major Leagues Rob Smith, author of Leading Christians to Christ: Evangelizing the Church (Morehouse Publishing, 1990) made similar oservations over three decades ago.

Making Discipleship Central
If Jesus says being a disciple and making disciples is the main thing, then that’s the main thing for us. But what in the world does this look like? How do we know for certain that this is happening in our own life? What is present in our life that makes us say, “I am a disciple.” Or, “That girl is a disciple for sure!”

How to talk with your Postmodern Friends About Christianity (And a Brief History of how we got here)
The average person has been shaped by postmodern thought to the extent that they believe in the relativity of moral claims, but they have not been shaped by it to the extent that they believe in the relativity of their own moral pronouncements.

Finding a Home Away From Home
On Saturday nights, a group of 20 or more international university students gather at Indian Community Church in Framingham, Massachusetts, for a special ministry designed just for them. The ministry, which is the brainchild of Lead Pastor Suresh Sammangi, targets the many international students attending universities in the Boston area, from Harvard University to Boston College to Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Americans' faith in the Church, public schools flounders near all-time lows, survey finds
Americans' trust in critical societal institutions continues to flounder near record lows as less than a third say they have confidence in the Church or organized religion and about a quarter has confidence in public schools.