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Lots of Warren/Hybels ministry philosophy masquerading these days as a Reformed flex.
Warren profiled the guy he wanted to reach: "Saddleback Sam." Fine-tuned church to attract him.
Today we see the same strategy, just different packaging.
Say, Dominion Dave? Heritage Hank?
If a cultural zeitgeist compels a preacher to substantially change the tone and emphasis of his preaching because he suspects that’s will attract more people to him…
He’s an ear tickler.
@JeffreyPWiesner Assuming we don't include Len Bias and Reggie Lewis...
Tiger Woods. Health in body and soul.
Honorable mention: Larry Bird & Archie Griffin.
Hundreds of Christians in central India have been denied clean water, fresh produce and employment for nearly a month in unsuccessful attempts to force them to denounce Christianity, International Christian Concern (ICC) reported May 29.
https://t.co/9mk3sT5rfV
@marcminter I think many of us have always believed your latter paragraph, and never assumed the former.
But we've also believed that "The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work."
@lukeholmes It all runs together in my head at this point, but didn't he make the motion in 2024, and it got 2/3 that year, but not on the 2nd vote in 2025?
@SamRainer So I encountered some other data & facts, & now I understand why you I assumed I was talking about you. But with all sincerity, at the time, I had no idea.
https://t.co/xFTiNqubB9
I’m just learning that Church Answers has a $1,500 program that certifies female interim pastors.
Also, the website offers resources to “equip” women to be “pastors,” among other things.
These activities are directly at odds with Scripture and the BF&M.
That anyone would deploy this data to undermine what the Bible teaches, rather than to expose our failure to teach it, tells you everything you need to know about the one deploying the data.
New Research from Church Answers: 55% of Southern Baptists affirm male-only pastors. In May 2026, we surveyed 1,786 Christians who believe the entire Bible is true and asked them about women in ministry. Our goal was to discover what people in the pew actually believe. The responses reveal a divided yet important pattern: Southern Baptists are more likely than the overall sample to affirm a male-only pastoral office. Still, even among Southern Baptists, the view is not held with overwhelming consensus. https://t.co/8XaysZdJcL
@bartbarber@SBCExecComm@Jeff_Iorg Fair.
But I have also in mind your personal influence in direct communication with leaders/gatekeepers. Maybe you've pressed that point in those ways too.
@bartbarber@SBCExecComm@Jeff_Iorg I wonder if your influence might be usefully deployed not only to criticize those one the right who've failed to broaden the coalition, but also EC's failure to take leadership to that end.
Personally, I think that's their job. If not, what is?
@DennyBurk That coincided with a moment when we were losing confidence in multiple entities on matters of complementarianism.
We were designed for confessionalism at the entity level. When that appeared to be failing, messengers grabbed the tool we deployed to address other problems.
@bartbarber I remember when a diverse group of people—with an egalitarian or two among them—came up with some pretty good ideas.
But the EC killed them.
(The ideas, not the people.)
Some are arguing against the Truth/Unity Amend. saying that since “pastor” means “shepherd” “shepherding” is something all Christians do rather than something connected to an Office (e.g. “fathers shepherd children, mothers shepherd families, believers shepherd one another”). However, as you can see from an old post, the NT reserves “shepherding” for a select few not just any Christian … @jdwredberg and I devote a chapter to this in our new book “What is a Pastor?”
@SamRainer Well obviously, motives will be clear as we see how people deploy the data.
But you seem to want a fight on this way more than I do. I'll let you take it from here.
@SamRainer Which claim is silly?
But no, I don't want to pay $9.97/month. My job as a pastor is to teach what God says, not what the majority says. As a pastor yourself, I'm sure you can understand.
Your other role as a resource provider makes research useful to you & others.👍 Blessings.
@SamRainer Sam, you want me to pay $9.97/month to read the article.
But you posted the data.
So I quoted your data, and commented on how some will inevitably use it. I really don't understand why you seem defensive here.