We are Baptists, and there is something special about that. It means we have a voice in our convention and its direction. Our headquarters reside in the local church. Our leadership is made up of pastors and church members across our more than 3,000 churches.

Georgia Baptists will once again recognize their “Legislators of the Year” at our 12th Annual Georgia Baptist event at the State Capitol on Thursday, Feb. 5. Each year, Georgia Baptists, through the Public Affairs Committee, recognize a Senate and House member with an award, thanking them for their extraordinary service to Georgia and God’s Kingdom on earth.

I write with gratitude for your service and with respect for the weight of the moment before you. I recognize that you are seeking to discern the future of the ERLC—an institution that has served Southern Baptists for many decades—and I want to offer my thoughts in a spirit that is both charitable and candid.

Have you ever been called a hypocrite? If so, did you resent it? Well, you should not have, because you and all of us are hypocrites. Why? We claim to be Christians and find ourselves doing wrong and saying wrong things, if we are honest about ourselves. And that, my friends, makes us hypocrites, every one.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated modern discourse, appearing in advertisements touting cutting-edge products, company branding eager to signal innovation, and investment pitches chasing the next technological breakthrough. Yet, alongside this enthusiasm, media and social platforms often amplify fears of AI running amok, evoking dystopian scenarios of machines overtaking humanity.

The choir was singing while we were in the middle of serving the Lord’s Supper one Sunday morning. The ushers were halfway down the middle aisle when the sanctuary’s rear doors flew open and a young man stepped in the aisle and began yelling. “You are prophets of doom,” he shouted.

How much does it cost to know Jesus? Well, it depends. In one sense, following the Lord is entirely free. Scripture is robustly clear that we cannot earn the grace of God. We cannot buy His forgiveness. None of us deserve the salvation that our Savior alone provides. 

In 1971, Walt Kelly produced a cartoon of an image he called the “Pogo possum,” and in it, the statement was made: “We have met the enemy, and he is us!” This original cartoon was about being “anti-pollution” minded.

When I first joined the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, my heart was to help churches make disciples who make disciples. That has not changed. What has changed is my role and the scope of what we are renewing across the state.

I am a Christian by the grace of God, Baptist by conviction, and Southern Baptist by choice. I value cooperation and believe the kingdom of God and the gospel enterprise are strengthened when people of like faith and practice work together for the glory of God and the good of people. 

A preacher entered a newspaper editor’s office in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and said, “Mr. Editor, there are forty-seven in my church who subscribe to your paper. May we have a notice in Sunday’s issue?"

Seven hundred years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah spoke of Him and His suffering. Isaiah was not popular; he was not welcome in the world. But he spoke God’s truth. There are a few prophetic voices today in our country. They, too, are not popular or welcome in our culture.

A family of four dies unexpectedly on the highway. A routine visit to the doctor’s office reveals a terminal illness. A late Friday afternoon meeting concludes with a single father losing his job. A tornado rips through a small town, leaving nothing but debris in its wake. A vacation trip turns tragic with the disappearance of a young child. Examples like these illustrate how vulnerable all of us are to the unexpected tragedies that can change our lives forever.

Fear is an enormous challenge for many of God’s people. Milly Jones, in a blogpost under the heading of Milly’s Scribblings, discovered 145 Bible verses encouraging God’s people who battle fear.

As a local church pastor or church leader, one of the things that I rarely thought about was a disaster happening in my community, until it happens. More than likely, even less thought is given to a disaster happening in our community, unless it has happened before.

We had a lady, Donna Huff, in the small church where I grew up. Her husband divorced her for another woman, and she was alone for many years before she met and married a godly layman in our church. They had a few great years together, until he contracted dementia. He eventually passed away after a battle with cancer.  

Satan has many devices and tricks up his sleeves. Paul called them the “wiles of the devil.” Probably the cleverest of all is to persuade men that the devil does not even exist, and that there is no God, no heaven, and no hell.

​January’s arrival means The Real Deal Santa can catch his breath after another successful run of raising money to fight pediatric cancer while bringing joy to children, many of them cancer patients. Joe and Dawn McGee of Senoia, Georgia, made nearly 50 appearances as Santa and Mrs. Claus this Christmas season. Their appearances raised $105,700.

On Jan. 12, the Georgia General Assembly will convene for its 2026 legislative session. Having been at the Capitol now for 19 years, I am looking forward to my 13th year representing Georgia Baptists.

It was not my best sermon. After being away from my congregation for six weeks, the induction phase of my son’s chemotherapy ended, and we returned home from the Memphis Ronald McDonald House. Though he was now in remission, 128 consecutive weeks of treatment remained in order to prevent him from relapsing with leukemia. We were tired, emotionally spent, and fearful of what lay ahead of us.

Tithing is generally understood as setting aside 10% of one’s income to be given to one’s local church as an act of worship to the Lord. I grew up in a home where my mother tithed off our household income. So, when I became a Christian, tithing was a natural expression of worship to God and support of my local church.  

It seems that everywhere I look for information and inspiration, the emphasis is on leadership. Books on the subject continue to roll off the press. Leadership blogs, podcasts, and seminars abound.

Doctors Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears (Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe) said, “A life that images God is one in which we are increasingly sanctified by the Holy Spirit to be more and more like Jesus, thereby enabling us to mirror the glory of God in a way that is akin to how Moses radiated the glory of God after meeting with Him on Mt. Sinai.”

What would you like your life to be like one year from now? What about five years from today? Or ten? How about twenty years from now? What are the goals and ambitions that drive your life? With a New Year unfolding, what are the dreams that have you putting pen to paper in the form of resolutions and objectives?

Looking at the life of Thomas Jefferson Bowen (1814-1875) and his struggles as a pioneer SBC foreign missionary, one might ask the question: “Was it worth it?”