Big Red, His Rider Macy and Lessons on Stewardship

Stewarding Families, Churches and Denominational Life

  My family does not camp, but 4,000 miles in a car with a 6, 9, 12 year old daughters has to be similar to camping. The summer of 2001 included our family’s all-time favorite 16 day summer vacation to Tucson and work trip to Glorieta, NM. Beautiful scenery, Tombstone, the desert golf courses, a […]

Dealing with Decline: The Future of Southern Baptist Cooperation

Is the SBC in Danger of Unraveling at the Seams?

We have got such a great past, BUT are we going to have a future? The Southern Baptist Convention has a strong historic foundation, but is currently declining in worship and small group attendance, baptisms, church plants, and cooperative mission dollars invested. QUESTION: With less resources and declines in most measurable indicators, what are Southern […]

Life and Ministry in a Cultural Tsunami

Rethinking Ministry through the Life of my 96 Year Old Grandmother

Grandmother’s World from her 4’4” entrepreneurial view… In the small community of Lone Star in Southwest Mississippi, my grandmother Grace McRaney, “Mammy” as I called her, shared her living space with her business that she and my grandfather purchased together as a startup in 1930. For 74 years, the last 52 years by herself, all […]

Approaches to the Great Commission

How are churches to carry out the Great Commission? The complexities of navigating Kingdom living in the current American landscape are many for individuals and churches.  Among other items, you will discover the Great Commission’s connection to the Great Commandment, importance of resetting church values, and various approaches to advancing the Great Commission. Continue reading […]

Church Planting and Evangelism

Can church planting turnaround the Southern Baptist Convention’s steady decline in baptisms? In 2002, the North American Mission Board of the SBC commissioned me to determine whether church plants are more effective by ratio in baptisms than established churches. Short answer to a longer complex matter, church plants have slightly better baptism ratios. Church plants […]