Erin Roach

Astronaut Victor Glover with a phenomenal Easter message from the spaceship. Watch this.

This column by Steve Gaines helped me eight years ago when my grandmother died, and I’m thinking of his words again as this great man of God is close to hearing Jesus welcome him home. baptistpress.com/resource-libra…

Southern Baptist churches in New England have 10,000 more people attending worship now than they did a decade ago. In Ohio, churches gave a record amount through the Cooperative Program last year, and in Michigan, baptisms increased by 15 percent. baptistpress.com/resource-libra…

Morris H. Chapman, former EC president, dies | Baptist Press baptistpress.com/resource-libra…

Cooperative Program allows Houston’s First to expand its footprint far beyond its natural reach - TEXAN Online texanonline.net/articles/sbtc/…

@MagSandusky What a blessing to have #5! Congratulations!

Well the Sandusky’s are breaking ground at the start of July….and not a minute too soon 😅

Something I’ll never understand is half-hearted devotion to Jesus Christ. If Easter is true—if Jesus really did rise bodily from the grave and conquer death—then everything changes. We cannot respond to such a cosmic victory with mild interest or occasional church attendance. If Christ is alive, then He is not just a religious figure to admire but a King to obey. And if He defeated death, then His claims about Himself—His authority, His divinity, His right to rule—must all be true. That kind of power demands total allegiance, not partial compliance. Some embrace Christianity as a matter of heritage or culture, and I won’t mock that. Cultural Christianity often keeps people tethered to truth in ways they don’t fully grasp yet. But the resurrection calls us beyond the familiar comfort of tradition into the radical obedience of faith. The fact that Jesus walked out of the tomb with nail-scarred hands is not just inspirational—it is an ultimatum. You either live in submission to the Risen Lord or you live in rebellion against Him. There is no neutral ground. Easter is not a seasonal encouragement; it is a call to total surrender. The early church understood this. They didn’t celebrate Easter with brunch and flowers—they lived resurrection lives that “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). They understood that if Christ is risen, then nothing can remain the same—not our morals, not our ambitions, not even our very lives. So when we say “He is risen,” we must ask: Have we risen with Him? Are our lives marked by wholehearted obedience, or by the half-measures of convenience and comfort? The resurrection demands our everything. Anything less is not just inadequate—it’s incoherent.

God has put good complementary callings on the lives of men and women. Among those, God calls biblically qualified men to teach and lead the church. Let us embrace God’s good design and not treat it as a glass ceiling to be broken through.

The first day down here on the Gulf of America turned out pretty well. 🇺🇸

Rick Pitino speaks to BBN. You can see what it means to him

🎵 On a Tennessee Saturday night 🎵

One of the biggest issues in the church today is people thinking their opinions outrank Scripture.

@MagSandusky Praying for you and yours, Maggie.

Prayers please as little bitty isn’t feeling great. We’re supposed to celebrate her birthday this weekend. Almost 3 years ago we canceled her sister’s first birthday party for fever that led to her death. Parenting after loss isn’t for the faint hearted.

Kentucky Basketball.

It's the week after Easter. This is when we get to prove if we believe what we celebrated on Sunday in the way we live today.

@keahbone I can’t think of many men I continue to admire as much as Dr. Merrell. I’ll sign on to any commendation of him.

This is the door to the office of the Director of Missions for Comanche/Cotton Baptist Association. In the early 1990s, Dr. Bill Merrell was the DOM. Cameron University’s Baptist Student Union connected to this office. I was a live-in student there. I would sneak to Dr. Merrell’s office late at night and use my rez skills to break in. I devoured his library of theology books and Bible commentaries. Night after night, I just couldn’t get enough. I especially loved the books he would leave on his desk. Later, I realized that he was purposely leaving books out. He knew I was breaking in to read, but instead of scolding me… he fed me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it were not for men like Dr. Merrell who helped make up the SBC village that raised me.

@chuckkelleyjr We are praying for you and admiring your example.

Yesterday was the worst day of my life, but the best day ever for my Beloved. I will take that deal 100% of the time. 5 years after her cancer journey began, Rhonda stepped into eternity about the time we usually had morning coffee. I grieve. She celebrates. God is wise & good.

I was able to listen to Andy Stanley’s messages from today on the topic of same-sex attraction and marriage. What’s clear from Stanley’s teaching is that he’s drawing a distinction between doctrine and pastoral practice. What does that mean? It means the doctrine has not *officially* changed which is why he can technically affirm a “Biblical view,” but for all practical purposes, there is a pastoral accommodation that allows for LGBT-identified persons to disobey Scripture and remain in good standing as a Christian. What Stanley considers as a failure to live up to an unattainable ideal, Scripture calls sinful. Nowhere in the messages was there any expectation that someone would turn from their same-sex relationship. This is an example of unbounded empathy that listens (which is good) but never invites toward transformation (which is not good). For Stanley, if there’s a general commitment to Jesus, that is sufficient. Ethics takes a backseat to empty affirmations of “belief.” This may sound like a way to split the baby, but it is simply another way of saying that Andy Stanley and North Point Community Church are implicitly affirming of LGBT identities and behaviors as consistent with Christian faith. This explains why Stanley valorizes the Christian faith of LGBT individuals and why, perhaps, no reliable or well-known conservative voice was platformed at the Unconditional Conference. What’s most subversive about today’s messages is Stanley’s gaslighting of anyone who disagrees with him, as though dissent from North Point’s ministry model is soaked in animosity, contempt, and hatred toward LGBT family and friends. A textbook move of theological liberalism is to sever doctrine from ethics, a severing that the Bible in no way, shape, or form justifies (John 14:15). Stanley is attempting to be more compassionate than Jesus, which is impossible. Scripture embraces truth and love as mutually reinforcing (1 Cor. 13:6). This sort of third-way “quieter middle space” is neither biblically faithful nor practically sustainable. I should say: Andy Stanley is an acquaintance I’ve spoken with about these issues over the past several years. He’s never been anything less than kind and respectful, so I have no personal animosity in saying this; in fact, I say it with much grief and lament: Andy Stanley is in error, and based on reports I’ve heard of what’s encouraged and promoted at North Point itself through its counseling ministries, the church is leading people down a grave pathway that is unbiblical and therefore harmful to those it claims to serve.

“A dream of cooperation carried us through the 1920s and 1930s, and it will carry us through the 2020s, too.” Bart Barber said. baptistpress.com/resource-libra…

@LauraErlanson Exactly right.

Today would have been a great day to invest in a fascinator. #Coronation #KentuckyDerby