Regional Director of @cmalliance churches in Southwest Florida and Director of Multiplication for The Alliance Southeast. M.A. in Apologetics from Talbot.
Detroit’s All-NBA forward Jalen Duren was reportedly “underwhelmed” by the team’s initial offer in restricted free agency and is planning to explore sign-and-trade scenarios, per @sam_amick.
The gap between the two sides is significant enough that Duren is considering ways to land with another team, with a sign-and-trade seen as the preferred route.
@tcraighoops I would have loved to see him go to a team where he could start or get heavy rotation minutes right away. Any development needs he has left are marginal, he should be playing real minutes as a rookie and I’m not sure that’s going to happen with the @okcthunder
There was no point in the @celtics getting a marginal upgrade in @Giannis_An34 if they wouldn’t have a team around him and @jaytatum0 to compete with. I’m thankful they didn’t overpay for the often injured, aging legend.
The Celtics were unwilling to include players like Baylor Scheierman and Hugo González in a trade package for Giannis Antetokounmpo, per @ShamsCharania
Becky Hammond’s point about small guards is still correct, OG Anunoby was their best player on both ends in the finals. Brunson just happened to score 40 in game 5 to skew the narrative but anyone who watched knows that OG was the game changer for them. Period.
Knicks fans heading to the Frost Bank Center for Game 5 tonight might be in for a massive surprise at the gate.
In addition to the news reported earlier, the Spurs have been actively tracking unauthorized secondary market listings (StubHub, Vivid, FB groups) and revoking season ticket memberships for violating resale policies.
If you bought from an unverified platform, those seats might already be completely voided and canceled. 🎟️❌ #NBAFinals #GoSpursGo #Knicks
The fact remains that if Fox just dribbles out the clock he gets fouled and shoots two free throws. By going for the layup he creates the opportunity for the refs to miss the call. Also doesn’t change the missed goal tending in the 1st half or the choke job the entire 2nd half.
These two things—spontaneous baptism and rigorous baptismal examination—do not have to be opposed. Summit Church regularly does spontaneous baptisms; we also require baptismal candidates to go through a comprehensive interview with a trained counselor on the spot before they can get in the tub. We end up turning a number of people way—or at least slowing them down to make sure they properly understand what they’re doing. I’m so glad we do it that way—many people come to genuine faith in Christ during those on the spot interviews. It’s arguably our church’s most effective evangelistic strategy.
My bigger concern here is that this approach, while well-intended, offers a pragmatic solution to a perceived problem rather than relying on the biblical model, which is ironic given that it comes from our friends at 9 Marks.
The simple fact, as others have pointed out, is that EVERY single baptism we see in the New Testament is spontaneous. Every. Single. One. Without exception. Of course, the concern to not give false assurance is legitimate and pastorally wise. The question is whether we will pursue a biblical solution to this challenge or a pragmatic one… If we want to follow the biblical model, we will use spontaneous baptism calls AND instill a process that seeks to validate whether a profession of faith is real.
Will we make mistakes? Of course. I’m pretty sure it’s unavoidable. In Acts 2 Peter gave an invitation for a spontaneous baptism and 3000 responded. The total membership of the church at that point was 120, so with 3000 respondees that means each believer had to counsel no less than 25 people that day. That’s >6 candidates per person every hour for 4 hours straight. You can’t tell me a few people didn’t slip into the baptismal that day that “weren’t ready to be baptized” — people like Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8), who had to be rebuked post-baptism and called again to repentance.
We work especially hard to vet confessions of faith, but there’s simply no way to avoid all mistakes. And any conscientious pastor will tell you that happens, no matter how long you take in the baptism catechumen process.
I appreciate the concern raised here, but let’s embrace the sufficiency of Scripture and practice baptism the biblical way!
“In the era of artificial intelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human.”
In order to protect the human person in the age of #ArtificialIntelligence, we must once again reflect on the common good, the universal destination of goods, subsidiarity, solidarity and social justice. #MagnificaHumanitas
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