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Shepherding Thoughts
by Pastor Ben Francis
Welcome to Shepherding Thoughts: An inside look at a Southern Baptist Pastor's comments on navigating popular topics in Christianity and Religion.
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Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin?
A follow up word... In a recent sermon from Psalm 5, I cited the cultural statement, “Love the sinner, but hate the sin,” and noted that...
Ben Francis
Oct 25, 20215 min read
When They Come for Our Bibles…
Christians, we must be wise and understand the times in which we live. The Apostle Paul instructs the church, “Look carefully then how...
Ben Francis
Oct 12, 20214 min read
Draw the Battle Lines with Care, An Essay.
Treasuring Jesus in a Divided Age. Battle lines. That seems to be how life unfolds right now. Along the battle lines. Democrat/...
Ben Francis
Oct 11, 202113 min read
The Conveniently Forgotten Aspect of Abortion
Several weeks back, the 87th Texas State Legislature passed what is known as Senate Bill 8, or, the Texas Heartbeat Bill. The bill...
Ben Francis
Oct 8, 20218 min read
Which Bible Translation Should I Use?
In this post, I want to briefly discuss some of the various English Bible translations available to us today, the differences between...
Ben Francis
Oct 1, 20213 min read
Forever: A Hymn
The Hymn... Give thanks to the Lord our God and King His love endures forever For He is good, He is above all things His love endures...
Ben Francis
Sep 27, 20212 min read
On Being Broken…
There are two contradictory realities that exist in our lives, and in the lives of most everyone we know. Reality #1: I am a broken and...
Ben Francis
Sep 23, 20215 min read
The Cover-Up Continues as the Rabbit Hole Gets Deeper
Today, September 21, 2021, a letter was posted from Jennifer Lyell to the SBC Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, who...
Ben Francis
Sep 21, 20211 min read
Marks of Healthy Preaching
In a previous post, we discussed the pressing need for good, healthy, Biblical preaching. In this post, we want to outline some of the...
Ben Francis
Sep 21, 20216 min read
What is Good Preaching? And Does it Really Matter?
Preaching is one of those words that, for the most part, makes us think of things like: Church, Sunday, a Preacher, etc. But, what makes...
Ben Francis
Sep 20, 20218 min read
Trust and Obey
A Hymn As our Church gathered for corporate worship yesterday, the Lord’s Day, we sang the hymn, “Trust and Obey” in response to the Word...
Ben Francis
Sep 13, 20216 min read
What If We Took it Seriously?
It's an interesting question. It implies that we might not take “it” seriously. And we could fit a lot of things into the category of...
Ben Francis
Sep 7, 20216 min read
Ruth - A Story of Redemption
This Sunday, our Church family will begin a study through the Old Testament book of Ruth. In many ways, Ruth is a marvelous story about...
Ben Francis
Sep 2, 20212 min read
"Wherever He Leads I’ll Go."
A Hymn. Written and Composed by Rev. B.B. Mckinney in 1936. "Take up thy cross and follow Me," I heard my Master say; "I gave My life to...
Ben Francis
Aug 30, 20214 min read
The Coming Challenge to Christianity
What’s the Rubber? Where’s the Road? The Coming Challenge to Christianity You’ve heard the old saying, “Where the rubber meets the road.”...
Ben Francis
Aug 24, 20216 min read
Who are Deacons to Be?
New Testament Deacons: Servants in the Household of God. Who are these Deacons to Be? -In the last post on Deacons, we looked at the...
Ben Francis
Aug 21, 20215 min read
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” By: Robert Robinson, written 1758. Come Thou fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy...
Ben Francis
Aug 17, 20216 min read
Should I Take the Covid-19 Vaccine?
Should I Take the Covid-19 Vaccine? How should Christians approach the question? A note up front: This will be a long post, so you may...
Ben Francis
Aug 13, 202115 min read
Elitism and Power in the Southern Baptist Convention
Some follow-up thoughts... Is there a power problem in the Southern Baptist Convention? Is there a culture of elites? When someone...
Ben Francis
Aug 11, 202112 min read
SBC 2021 in Review: Part 6 The Forest and the Trees...A Path Forward?
As we bring this series to a close, it will be helpful in this final post to think of each of the specific issues in the first 5 posts as...
Ben Francis
Aug 9, 20218 min read
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