Wayne Bray

I’m sure you’ve heard the latest report on the state of our Southern Baptist Convention. While statistics aren’t everything, they are something. And these are not good. If the SBC were a ship, it would be sinking.  First, the number of Southern Baptist churches actually grew by almost 500 to 47,272. I am sure this is due to the increased focus on church planting by NAMB. We can celebrate this reality. The total number of baptisms, however, dropped by almost 15,000 to 280,773 nationwide. That’s the lowest number of baptisms reported by the SBC in over 70 years. That means that the average church baptized just under 6 converts. The problem with that statistic is that a large number of churches baptized none, and even more baptized just 1 or 2 new believers. Allow me to use the 2015 numbers from my state convention of South Carolina as a sample for this discussion. Of our 2,130 churches, 375 reported no baptisms, while another 158 churches reported only 1 baptism. So 533 churc

Every church has a unique set of challenges, but we all share one ongoing struggle, regardless of size and style. You may be the only paid pastor on staff, or perhaps you’re on a team of 40 ministers. Regardless, we all share a deficiency in the area of communication. Why is it so important? Our communication ultimately speaks value to those around us. If we lack communication skills, we risk making those closest to us feel disconnected from, or worse neglected by, us. While we live in a day of mass communication, technological advancement, and social media, these modern benefits have not completely solved our problems. In fact, if we’re not careful these tools can actually work against our progress. Less important things can dominate our day, while our primary responsibility becomes an afterthought. Good things can easily distract us from great things. We must remain focused on those things that are moving us toward our stated mission and vision of the church. W

Leadership is everywhere. From book clubs to corporate boardrooms, leaders are in every room. They may not have titles or name tags, but they lead. What happens when there is no clearly defined leadership? -- At best inactivity and plateau -- At worst chaos and confusion. Usually, the leadership vacuum pulls someone into the seat, willingly or unwillingly. But make no mistake about it - someone will lead. The local church is no different; leaders abound. However, scripture clearly defines the roles of leadership within the body and also provides guidelines for leaders to follow. While polity among churches may differ because of denomination or leadership styles, some things are indisputable elements of the local church order. For example, God places the pastor in leadership, but how is he called to lead? Let’s look briefly at the role of a pastor in Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4: 11 “ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some