Southern Baptists to hear recommendation on name

As I pointed out to this individual...the reason many churches use "Lifeway" is because their Education ministers...or Sunday School directors are lazy...and it does enable people who really don't have the gift of teaching. I hate Lifeway.

That being said...BY NO MEANS is ANY church FORCED to USE Lifeway. As a minister who goes to MANY churches...I have been in dozens of churches who do NOT use Lifeway. MY CHURCH (which is a MEGACHURCH and one of the largest in the SBC) does NOT use Lifeway. WE have DOZENS of Sunday School classes and they are all using different materials. Some are made my the teachers themselves...hand written in house.

I interim pastored at a church several years ago that WAS using Lifeway and we stopped and started using my stuff. Not one sermon or lesson that was taught in that Church came from the SBC. I can name numerous churches like this. This person either 1) Is a liar with a grudge or 2) Is an ignoramus.

I have found that many fundementalist Baptist/Bible Baptist type suffer from being overly judgmental. I have worked with a couple in my local community...and have a couple of good friends who are. They are KJV only (Think Peter Ruckman) with that Holier than Thou...my “Stuff” doesn’t stink attitude. It’s a far cry from each of us esteeming ourselves less than the other (Phil 2:3).

I have to admit, I have a vast prreference for the KJV, myself. It’s mainly a familiarity thing, although I agree with some of the theological criticisms of some other versions.

I am quite comfortable using most of them, however.

A big chunk of the offering went to the Convention and we never really knew how it was used there.

Any amount of the offering that went to the SBC was entirely voluntary. Each individual church decides whether and how much to donate to the SBC/Cooperative Program. I've been part of churches that do it by a decision of the Church Council (elected by the church membership), by a majority vote of the membership at a regularly scheduled business meeting, or by the deacons (chosen in various ways determined by each church's membership and/or constitution). I'm sure there are other ways, but the point is the same: each church determines how it will decide whether to participate and in what way.

Missions efforts were via Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong.

There was likely a state offering, too. Again, all these are determined by each church individually. No church is required to take part in the Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong or any other missions program.

VBS programs were all standardized, like going to any McDonalds to get an identical hamburger.

We chose Sunday School and VBS materials to best suit the attendees.

Lifeway does offer a number of VBS "in-a-box" curricula, but no church is obligated to use them. Churches decide on their own whether to have VBS and if so what materials to use. The same holds for the Sunday School/Bible School materials as well as materials for any mission programs.

Finances were all internal.

Each autonomous SBC church handles its own finances. Completely. The church owns its own land, building and fixtures. The church hires and pays its own staff, including pastor. Each church determines its own budget. I've been a member of finance committees. There was no involvement from the SBC.

We actually MET the missionaries we supported and hosted them in our homes.

Part of the theory of the Cooperative Program is pooling resources, so no the church doesn't necessarily meet each missionary it supports. That doesn't mean, however, that missionaries don't visit churches. The opposite is true. Missionaries on furlough are strongly encouraged (again, though, it is their personal decision) to visit churches and give presentations while on furlough.

Some churches are more active in hosting missionaries than others (because...they're autonomous and make this decision for themselves). Many SBC churches have, for lack of a better term special missionaries be they persons from that individual church or region or who participate in a given project, with whom they have a special relationship and participate in their ministry by special gifts or sending missionary teams. Again, this is determined by each church individually.

ANY involvement a SBC church has with the Convention itself is entirely voluntary and can change at any moment. There are no quotas. If a church, mid-year, decides it no longer wants to give money to SBC mission programs, then it just stops. The same with Sunday School literature, etc.

A big chunk of the offering went to the Convention and we never really knew how it was used there.

Any amount of the offering that went to the SBC was entirely voluntary. Each individual church decides whether and how much to donate to the SBC/Cooperative Program. I've been part of churches that do it by a decision of the Church Council (elected by the church membership), by a majority vote of the membership at a regularly scheduled business meeting, or by the deacons (chosen in various ways determined by each church's membership and/or constitution). I'm sure there are other ways, but the point is the same: each church determines how it will decide whether to participate and in what way.

Missions efforts were via Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong.

There was likely a state offering, too. Again, all these are determined by each church individually. No church is required to take part in the Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong or any other missions program.

VBS programs were all standardized, like going to any McDonalds to get an identical hamburger.

We chose Sunday School and VBS materials to best suit the attendees.

Lifeway does offer a number of VBS "in-a-box" curricula, but no church is obligated to use them. Churches decide on their own whether to have VBS and if so what materials to use. The same holds for the Sunday School/Bible School materials as well as materials for any mission programs.

Finances were all internal.

Each autonomous SBC church handles its own finances. Completely. The church owns its own land, building and fixtures. The church hires and pays its own staff, including pastor. Each church determines its own budget. I've been a member of finance committees. There was no involvement from the SBC.

We actually MET the missionaries we supported and hosted them in our homes.

Part of the theory of the Cooperative Program is pooling resources, so no the church doesn't necessarily meet each missionary it supports. That doesn't mean, however, that missionaries don't visit churches. The opposite is true. Missionaries on furlough are strongly encouraged (again, though, it is their personal decision) to visit churches and give presentations while on furlough.

Some churches are more active in hosting missionaries than others (because...they're autonomous and make this decision for themselves). Many SBC churches have, for lack of a better term special missionaries be they persons from that individual church or region or who participate in a given project, with whom they have a special relationship and participate in their ministry by special gifts or sending missionary teams. Again, this is determined by each church individually.

ANY involvement a SBC church has with the Convention itself is entirely voluntary and can change at any moment. There are no quotas. If a church, mid-year, decides it no longer wants to give money to SBC mission programs, then it just stops. The same with Sunday School literature, etc.

My apologies for the double post. Not sure if it’s on my side or FR’s.

I do too. However, for my serious study I go to the Greek...and this is where the KJV-only people (like Ruckman) err. They 1) elevate the KJV ABOVE the Greek manuscripts and 2) The get into ad-hominem attacks on the translators of other translations. The translators of the KJV were NOT saints.

Thank you so very much for your explanation of how the Southern Baptist church works. Since you are in the bidness ;o), you are in a much better position than I am to debate these so called members of FR.

There’s another reason why I am so thankful to you is that I think you’ve outed a couple of sleeper trolls.

I don’t know anyone who has any credibility on FR who post such nonsense.

Happy Rain reminds me of Happy 2 B Me...long banned.

Nothing in the scriptures tell us to form conventions or denominations, which lead to associating with those whose doctrines are false.