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.

Was Disfellowshipping the Right Move? Yes.

On Wednesday, February 22, 2023 the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention reported out that it had voted to Disfellowship...

Can the Southern Baptist Convention Change?

Organizations and Power: A Question for the Southern Baptist Convention. Do Grassroots Movements Work? Can an organization truly be a...

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...

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...

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...

New Testament Deacons: Servants in the Household of God. Where Do Deacons Come From?

In our last post on Spiritual Leadership in the local church, we noted, “So, if Pastors are not expected to be managers and CEOs, who is...

What Does an Elder Do?

New Testament Elders: God’s Shepherds Part 3: What Does an Elder Do? From our brief survey of the 3 biblical titles used for the office...

Who Can Be an Elder?

New Testament Elders: God's Shepherds Part 2: Who Can Be an Elder In our first post, we looked at what an Elder is according to the...

What/Who Are Church Elders?

New Testament Elders: God’s Shepherds Part 1: What/Who is an Elder? In this series of posts, I want to explore what the Word of God says...