Between the Times is the officially faculty blog of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Southeatern exists first and foremost to serve the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention. Our professors are not freelance academics, but rather are denominational servants who have a heart for local churches. Most of our faculty members have at one time or other served as pastors, missionaries, or other ministry leaders. Virtually all of us currently serve our local churches as pastors (or interim pastors), ministerial staff, deacons, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, etc. Many of us also frequently preach or teach itinerantly in local SBC churches. We know the same could be said of all of our sister seminaries.
Because we are denominational servants, we want to write about issues that are relevant to “real life” ministry in general and local churches in particular. To that end, we are seeking your input. We know the majority of our readers are pastors, other paid church staff, foreign missionaries, church planters, or students preparing for one of these ministries. We want to know what topics you think we should write about, especially at Between the Times. (Though we also welcome suggestions about topics we should write about in other media like books and print articles.) In addition to our regular contributors, we have dozens of other gifted faculty members who are well equipped to write about any number of topics. How can we best serve you and your church through this blog?
We want to invite you to leave a comment and make some suggestions. The more specific you can be in your suggestions, the better. We look forward to hearing from you and, Lord willing, crafting some future articles in response to your suggestions. Thanks for reading this blog, and thanks in advance for your thoughts about what we should write about in the days to come.
I would like to see more book reviews of new and old books. Commentary on current events is good and necessary, but as a student I would gain a great deal from knowing what I should be reading.
For instance, I find Dr. Akin’s “building a library” booklet invaluable. I would, however like to get a broader perspective.
Many times I go to the bookstore, or surf online, and I am looking at items and have to make an evaluation about the relative merits of a particular book. I have done enough research about some topics that I remember certain authors’ names and titles, but there are cases where I find myself wondering if a particular volume is worth the $12.99, or if it is a good place to start on a particular topic.
One way to approach this would be to systemically cover topics, with a “panel discussion” of sorts with the contributors making their recommendation as to the one or two books that are essential for a beginning understanding on a particular subject and why.
Comment by Spencer — March 8, 2010 @ 9:48 am
Got a couple of recommendations:
I’d like to see a few posts introducing Canonical Theology from one of the Old Testament profs. I would also like to see a post or two on why youth ministry is important? how is it biblical? and in what ways can you make it a ministry to families (rather than just youth)?
Biblical advice for community and discipleship would also be welcome. Like Dr. Liederbach’s chapel sermon last semester.
Thanks for serving us!
Kevin
Comment by kschaub — March 8, 2010 @ 10:47 am
As someone who has a heart for single adults, I would love to hear some ideas and strategies for encouraging this particular demographic to join and serve in a local congregation.
I would love to hear ideas about how to combate the unfortunate steriotypes that currently exist in SBC culture as well as strategies for including singles in the overal life of the body.
Comment by Brian — March 8, 2010 @ 11:40 am
I’d like to get some specifics on how to implement a system of biblical church discipline in a congregation that is unfamiliar with the concept. I’ve read some decent materials on church discipline, but almost everything I can find about it is theoretical rather than practical. I hope I don’t sound like too much of a pragmatist, but I would appreciate some specific steps of what to do. There are important practicalities to be dealt with regarding both leadership of the people and the nitty-gritty of how to carry out discipline. I would especially love to read a firsthand, step-by-step account from a pastor who has successfully led an SBC church to practice discipline.
Comment by Dan — March 9, 2010 @ 4:58 pm