Christ Over All

Institutions rarely collapse overnight. They drift. This March at Christ Over All, we consider the future of the Southern Baptist Convention—celebrating its missionary legacy while asking whether its “big tent” can withstand the pressures pulling it off center.

“A training that warns trustees away from managing, concentrates authority in small officer groups, and says nothing about the duty of candor does not raise the floor. It institutionalizes the failure.” —@jrwhitehead christoverall.com/article/concis…

Has the SBC really moved past Resolution 9? Is the “female pastor” problem because leaders are unwilling to be disagreeable? What kind of leaders do we need going forward? Listen in to this new podcast episode. christoverall.com/podcasts/inter…

“The household is the proving ground of ministry, and the church’s health is the precondition of its mission.” @AJKocman argues that Baptists must recover the biblical idea of ordered love (ordo amoris) so that churches rightly order their priorities at home as the foundation for faithful missions. christoverall.com/article/concis…

“Reject biblical revelation and soon reject all.” Tom Nettles traces the pattern of modernism and shows why the SBC must remain firmly committed to the inerrancy of Scripture. christoverall.com/article/concis…

“We are not a financially healthy denomination. Leadership is out of touch, and the messengers are largely out to lunch.” @rhett_burns argues that the SBC’s new financial plan could fundamentally change the convention. christoverall.com/article/concis…

Cue the Bernie Sanders meme: I am once again reminding Southern Baptists that we lack basic financial transparency and the new B&FP will radically transform the SBC. Thankful for @Christ_OverAll publishing my latest article on the subject... christoverall.com/article/concis…

“Money cannot manufacture qualified pastors.” @dmichaelclary shows what happens when the SBC faces pressure to spend money for church planting but does not have enough qualified men to plant churches. christoverall.com/article/concis…

If you want know what's happening in the SBC and among its @NAMB_SBC church planters, take time to read @dmichaelclary 's new @Christ_OverAll essay. christoverall.com/article/concis…

Listen to this new podcast episode as @DavidSchrock sits down with Brad Green and Mark Coppenger to reflect on the good in the Southern Baptist Convention—and the recent troubles that must be faced if the convention is to be faithfully stewarded. christoverall.com/podcasts/5-13-…

As I noted in my introduction to this month at @Christ_OverAll, there are concerns to be had in the Southern Baptist Convention. But there are also reasons to be grateful. Today, long time Southern Baptist Brad Green outlines five reasons for gratitude. See link below 👇

Brad Green shares five reasons he is thankful for the Southern Baptist Convention: 1. The gospel of Jesus Christ is preached in SBC churches 2. Southern Baptists emphasize the necessity of conversion. 3. The SBC labors faithfully in missions through cooperative support 4. Southern Baptists have reaffirmed their identity as Bible people 5. The SBC has long supported theological education and the training of ministers christoverall.com/article/longfo…

“We often blunder innocently into disasters, and it’s incumbent upon the responsible parties to admit fault and undertake restoration.” Mark Coppenger reflects on how several recent SBC initiatives have depleted the denomination’s strength. christoverall.com/article/concis…

Today, Mark Coppenger kicks off our Southern Baptist Convention month with a @Christ_OverAll essay that ranges from SBC Land Acknowledgements to the Hippocratic Oath. As always, Mark is witty and wise. So, be sure to put on your seat belt before you read. Link below 👇

With a new month comes a new theme at Christ Over All. David Schrock introduces this month’s focus on the Southern Baptist Convention, examining growing tensions in the SBC and asking whether the center can hold. christoverall.com/article/concis…

With a new month, comes a new theme at @Christ_OverAll. Here's my introduction to the month. This month will tackle the question of what it will take to maintain friendly cooperation in the Southern Baptist Convention. Check it out. For the last three years (2023–25), Christ Over All has given itself to the task of seeking denominational reform in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). As I explained two summers ago, when many left the annual convention deflated by the rejection of the Law Amendment , we devoted a month to the SBC because our board includes two current SBC professors, one SBC vocational pastor, and six SBC alums. In fact, all but one of the team at Christ Over All is a member of a church that stands in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention. In other words, Christ Over All doesn’t want to simply do theology in the abstract; we want to help make a difference in the place God has put us. And because the SBC, with all of its warts, is our family of faith we have tried to do good for the convention that has done so much good for us. That said, there are abiding and even rising challenges. Those of us who prize doctrinal clarity (consider our February 2026 month), confessional association (see our March 2024 SBC edition), and strong Baptist ecclesiology (a future month that still needs to be written) often feel at odds with the decisions that are made in the convention. As one SBC pastor has put it, his church remains in “unfriendly cooperation” with the SBC. And for good reason. In addition to the inability for our convention to come to terms with female pastors, there is the stigma of the SBC’s infamous 2019 Resolution 9 and its DEI measures that hang over the convention. Likewise, the damage done by former ERLC-president Russell Moore and those who followed his lead to waive attorney-client privilege and to launch an investigation against Southern Baptist leaders turned out to be a disaster. Not only did it reveal that denominational leaders were steered by toxic empathy, but in the process it cost the convention millions dollarsof dollars to discover what fair-minded Southern Baptists already knew: Southern Baptist Churches “are statistically MUCH safer places for women and children than secular entities like the public school system.” Just the same, there are legal problems related to the North American Mission Board and its defamation of Will McRaney. And before that in 2020, there was LifeWay suing its previous president, Thom Rainer, before reversing course. And most recently, with Southern Baptists nauseated by all the legal fees and lawyer talk, Jeff Iorg, Executive Committee President, stood in Dallas to oppose the Law Amendment 2.0 with spurious threats of litigation. The Law Amendment rightly called the convention to uphold what is already in the SBC’s Baptist Faith and Message, namely, that only qualified men can serve as pastors within the SBC. After three years of discussion and debate on this amendment, Iorg introduced a previously unheard of argument for rejecting this constitutional change: “legal risk.” He spoke from the platform in his role as Executive Committee President that it was his “responsibility to caution you about voting for this amendment, because you are taking on this additional possible risk”— a risk that would allegedly open the SBC to further litigation. Of course, with Iorg’s stark warning ringing in the messengers’ ears as the final word, his uncontested argument won the day. And now, “Baptists Debating the Existence of Women Pastors”—or BEDWP (as Heath Lambert framed it)—continues. Put all this together, and it doesn’t take long before one wonders: Will the center hold? Will the Cooperative Program that began 100 years ago in 1925 continue to be the funding mechanism for the Southern Baptist Convention? Already, there are signs that churches are not giving to the Cooperative Program like they once did. That is to say, instead of entrusting the SBC and its state conventions with all the Cooperative Program funds to allocate them as they desire, churches are now directing their monies towards one or more preferred SBC entities, so that other disagreeable entities receivesreceive none. To speak personally, this is what our church did many years ago. When we lost confidence in the ERLC (see our March 2025 theme) and NAMB (for reasons that we will address this month), we directed our giving toward The Southern Baptist TheologyTheological Seminary and the International Mission Board. In speaking with dozens of other SBC pastors, our decision to “defund” certain entities—for that is what designating giving effectively does—is a growing trend. And yet, one wonders if those like Jeff Iorg are aware of why churches are redirecting their funds? It doesn’t appear so. Speaking to the Executive Committee in the Fall of 2025, Iorg returned to blame Expressive Individualism among SBC churches as the sinful cause for low Cooperative Program totals. Sidestepping “programmatic and political reasons for these current changes,” he inveighed against Southern Baptists that a spirit of self-centered expression was preventing Cooperative Program giving. Of course, our world is steeped with expressive individualism, and it sounds smart and sophisticated to bring out Robert Bellah’s sociological descriptor, but Rhett Burns response’s response is better. Marching through SBC institutions, Pastor Rhett shows how multiple entities have misused SBC funds and thereby invited SBC churches to withhold their giving. Indeed, one has to ask: could it be that SBC churches are not giving to the Cooperative Program because they are tired of seeing money go to waste? Could it be that they are not giving because they cannot even transparently see how their money is being spent, as Rhett Burns has also pointed out? Indeed, the SBC is a denomination that shares (in some fashion) a common statement of faith. But functionally, it is a denomination that pools its resources to do more together than apart. Yet, as these anecdotes illustrate, cooperation is not holding, trust inis waning, and questions are looming. And so, this month we are going to wade into the mire, look at the concerns, hear from many leaders, and let reliable pastors speak. In short, we are going to consider the question: Can the center hold? If you are a Southern Baptist pastor, seminarian, or church member, you ought to follow along. Just the same, if you know a Southern Baptist, especially one who is going to the annual convention in Orlando, then be sure to tell them about this month. We will take a look at all the SBC entities and consider if and how Southern Baptists can continue to walk together for the purpose of missions, education, evangelism, and church planting. Along the way, we will interview the outgoing SBC President Clint Pressley and the two leading candidates for the 2026 presidency, Josh Powell and Willie Rice. Additionally, we will have two longforms that (1) express our gratitude to God for the good we see in the convention and (2) outline our concerns for ongoing partnership. And interspersed between these interviews and essays, we have articles that tackle denominational weaknesses and ways the SBC needs reform. Read the whole thing with links here: christoverall.com/article/concis…

“Why would a professing Christian adopt an atheist eschatology with respect to the damned?” Responding to Kirk Cameron’s recent comments on hell, @clbolt argues that conditionalism fails the exegetical test, misunderstands the character of God, and cannot account for the nature of Christ’s atonement. christoverall.com/article/concis…

“Those of us who have been redeemed by Christ long to treasure God, but before his glory can be treasured, it must be known and understood.” Christopher Morgan and Christina Gonet show how Scripture reveals God’s glory from beginning to end. christoverall.com/article/concis…