Mike Harder

Pastor First Baptist Spartanburg. Jesus + nothing = the gospel

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

Free life advice. Watch less news. Spend less time on social media.

Read your Bible. Read key thinkers and theologians. Even those you disagree with.

Don’t let media personalities dictate your worldview.

[Ronnie Parrott @ronniep]

63 new IMB missionaries commissioned to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

This is who Southern Baptists are. From church planting to missionary sending, cooperative, faithful, and Great Commission focused.

The enemy hates this & stands against our gospel work & unity.

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

Congrats @WillyRice on being elected SBC president. Grateful for my friend @JoshuaWPowell and his ministry and was glad to support his candidacy. I believe Willy will serve our convention he loves our SBC family. Let’s reach the nations and our nation for Jesus

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

Vote for Josh

[Wes Church @Dubya_D]

What does #SBC26 need in a president?

Conviction without arrogance.
Humility without weakness.
Wisdom without compromise.
Courage without harshness.
A love for our churches and our cooperative mission.

By God’s grace, I have seen those qualities in Josh Powell for many years .

[Jimmy Scroggins @JimmyScroggins]

SBC OPTIMISM (updated) #SBC26

I am thankful and generally enthusiastic about where we are in the SBC. I am just one man and I don’t claim to speak for anyone else. 

10 reasons I am optimistic:

1. We have a strong cohort of hard-working, theologically solid, evangelistically minded pastors in churches of all sizes. Very encouraging.
2. Many of our SBC churches of all sizes are growing and multiplying. There is unprecedented interest in spiritual things right now in our country - especially from young men. I’ve never seen anything like it. Praise God!
3. Many of our state conventions are becoming stronger, more connected, more strategic, and more visible. Glad to see it. The more local the connections the better I think.
4. We have a solid confession that clarifies important doctrines and unifies us - the BF&M 2000. That document provides the boundaries of our big tent. @albertmohler’s amendment will bring greater clarity on the title, office, and function of a pastor. I’m all for it.
5. Our seminaries and mission boards are headed by clear, unapologetic conservatives. I don’t worship these guys and I disagree with them from time to time but I am thankful for every one of them. They have difficult jobs. 
6. Our mission boards are doing excellent work. They are not perfect. But I believe they are effective. I am proud of their leadership and proud of the thousands of missionaries and church planters that we get to support through NAMB and IMB.
7. Our seminaries are a tremendous asset. Again - not perfect - but overall - effective. I was educated at SBTS. Almost all of our pastors at Family Church have degrees from SBC seminaries . I am grateful and supportive.
8. I do not believe the SBC has a widespread problem with feminism, liberalism, racism, sexual abuse, or women pastors. I definitely do not believe there is any large-scale “leftward drift.”  
9. Every pastor I know wants to protect kids every way that we can. Every pastor I know wants to offer the gospel to every person regardless of ethnicity. There is near-universal clarity and biblical unity on gender, sexuality, and family structure.
10. If an entity leader is out of step (as some have been)? They can be corrected by their trustees. If a church is out of step (as some are)? They can be corrected at the associational, state, and national levels. Ultimately churches can be voted out. The SBC has a proven willingness to disassociate with churches (even large churches with famous pastors) in egregious and consistent violation of the BF&M2000.

Must we be vigilant about articulating and guarding our conservative commitments? Absolutely.

Are we perfect? Of course not. 

Can we make adjustments or tweak certain things to get better? Of course.

The thing I am most excited about for our Convention of churches is the unprecedented opportunity for gospel advance. It’s happening right now.

We live in the greatest and freeest and most prosperous  country in the history of the world. The SBC is the greatest and most influential network of evangelical churches in the Western World. There is a highly unusual openness to spiritual things in our culture right now. And we have a powerful gospel that really saves.

What a time to be alive. What a time to be Southern Baptist. What a time to serve Jesus.

[Joshua W Powell @JoshuaWPowell]

The #SBC26 is one week away, I always look forward to our time together, and leave encouraged and excited about our work together. I hope you’ll join me in praying for our annual meeting in Orlando.

Join me…

Pray for a spirit of unity to permeate our gathering, even where there is disagreement, I pray that disagreement does not become division. We don’t have to agree on everything to love one another and labor together for the gospel.

Pray for a renewed zeal for the Great Commission. The SBC exists to help churches work together to make disciples of all nations. May every conversation, recommendation, and vote be shaped by that mission.

And pray that we would remember what is at stake. Together, we’re holding the rope for more than 4,000 missionaries serving around the world. What happens in Orlando matters because gospel work among the nations matters.

Finally, the SBC is at its best when the messengers are able to speak on the issues that are most pertinent to our work together at the time. I pray for @pastorclint as he leads our meeting and moderates our cooperative work.

May God give us wisdom, humility, conviction, and charity for His glory and the advance of His gospel. #SBC26

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

@DrPaulChitwood @deanfulks @IMB_SBC Dean is the best

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

@SaturateChurch hey. If anyone is still monitoring this I would love to talk to you about it. Thanks!

[Thomas S. Kidd @ThomasSKidd]

"The first time in the past 75 years the SBC has seen five consecutive years of increases in baptisms." - More significant statistic than "membership," which too often has counted the never-attending, members who joined elsewhere, and/or the dead. https://t.co/CunVzJmK3g

[Clint Teeples @TeeplesCY]

"If I told you there was one free thing you could do every Sunday that would make your kids happier, healthier, smarter, and closer to you, you'd think I was selling something."

Take your kids to church regularly. I don't care if you believe. The data is so lopsided that skipping it is the parenting equivalent of refusing vegetables because you don't like the taste.

Grades. Religious teens get As at almost twice the rate of nonreligious teens. In a class of 100, that's 24 A-students instead of 14. Church gives a kid the same academic boost as being born rich instead of poor.

College. Working-class religious kids earn bachelor's degrees at double the rate of their nonreligious peers. Middle-class kids do it at 1.5x the rate. For families without a trust fund, this is one of the most powerful forms of upward mobility social scientists have measured.

Character. Religious teens are far less likely to lie, cheat, or do things they hope their parents never find out about. They're more likely to care about racial equality, the elderly, and the poor. They reject the idea that morality is whatever works for you in the moment. That kind of kid doesn't happen by accident. It's built.

Closeness. 60% of parents of religious teens say they feel "extremely close" to their kid, compared to 50% of nonreligious parents. The kids report the same thing back. They get along better with their parents, talk about hard stuff, and actually want to spend time with their family.

Despair. Religious teens are dramatically less likely to be depressed, anxious, lonely, or feel that life is meaningless. 90% of devoted religious teens never binge drink, compared to 41% of the disengaged. Economists named the modern epidemic "deaths of despair." Regular church attendance is one of the strongest known buffers against it. Parents are spending fortunes trying to solve teen mental health. The most evidence-backed intervention is free.

Purpose. Religious young adults report higher purpose, gratitude, life satisfaction, and resilience. These are the exact traits every parent says they want their kid to have.

Here's why it works. Affluent families already surround their kids with networks of stable, accomplished adults through neighborhoods, schools, and parents' colleagues. Working and middle-class families usually don't. A congregation is often the last institution in American life that puts your kid in weekly contact with dozens of stable, employed, sober adults who know their name. It used to be called "a village." Now it barely exists outside of churches.

"But I don't believe." Your kid doesn't need your theology. They need you to show up.

"But church is boring." So is sitting through a kindergarten music recital. Parenting is the deliberate choice to be bored on purpose for someone you love.

There's a church within 15 minutes of nearly every American home. You don't need money, connections, or credentials to walk in. Nothing else in this country will surround your kid with engaged adults, teach them moral seriousness, and give them a stable weekly rhythm at zero cost.

You already drive them to practices that produce far less. The free thing on Sunday produces more, on more dimensions, than almost anything else you do as a parent.

You don't have to believe anything. You just have to take them.

[Send Network @sendnetwork]

In 2025, Southern Baptists planted 792 churches!
📈 699 new plants (Highest since 2016)
🙌 93 replants (praise God)

Added to our convention ⬇️
32 new campuses & 127 new affiliates

Altogether - 951 total new congregations in 2025!

💡 But “churches added” isn’t the end goal.
Its souls reached, disciples made, and cities impacted.  

Join us in celebrating with Heaven ⬇️
Send Network church plants
saw more than 28,250 people
profess faith in Christ in 2025!

---

We’re praising God for 2025—
for courageous missionaries,
for sacrificial sending churches,
and for those who give to make it all possible!

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

@cuatronelson This is foolishness. @DJ__Horton is a godly brother and faithful preacher. You should repent the slandering a brother.

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

@KevinOConnor @grok which players is the nba waiting on

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

Agreed. We need to come together and accomplish the Great Commission

[Ronnie Parrott @ronniep]

Agree. In the SBC especially, negativity-as-a-brand is exhausting & unpersuasive. @pastorclint showed a better way. @JoshuaWPowell is carrying it on - no divisiveness, no accusations, just unity around the BF&M & the Great Commission. Easy vote in June.

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

Congrats @rscott_pace You will do a great job. So glad you hooded me at my PHD graduation. Looks like I made a great decision! Ha ha.

[Baptist Press @BaptistPress]

Scott Pace will be presented as the recommended candidate by a search committee to serve as Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s next president, the school announced.

https://t.co/aO2NDn6uDG

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

So grateful to be a part of this group of friends and pastors.

[Joshua W Powell @JoshuaWPowell]

This was a fun conversation with some of the best pastors I know. Thankful for @DJ__Horton putting this together.

@waynebray @Pastor_Cory @Mike_Harder

https://t.co/dHV8pVS3hS

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

If you’ve ever wondered why progressives (media, higher ed, the arts, etc) hate and target Bible-believing Christians so much, this is why.

They (we) are literally the only group left in America holding back a tidal wave of evil they’re seeking to legislate and advance.

Remove evangelical Christians (or just get them to sit out elections / think “eh, the gospel is neither right nor left, doesn’t matter”), and the United States becomes Portland or Canada in one generation.

And that would be the (tragic) cultural inheritance we pass down to the future Church and our grandchildren… to our shame.

[Ryan Burge 📊 @ryanburge]

Evangelicals are the only religious group where a majority do not agree with these 3 statements:

Abortion should be legal
Gay and lesbian people should be allowed to marry
Homosexuality should be accepted by society

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

This is who I think should be our next SBC president. @JoshuaWPowell is the right man for this moment.

[Joshua W Powell @JoshuaWPowell]

The presidency of the SBC is a stewardship. I have been raised by Southern Baptists, shaped by Southern Baptists, and educated by Southern Baptists. It is my privilege to serve alongside other Southern Baptists for the sake of the Great Commission. A short video and article…

[Mike Harder @Mike_Harder]

@ShortStopBall Is https://t.co/jRLGg7nGBB igoing to work as a stand alone app or an add on in YouTube tv