Summary: holding the center through reform

ABOUT THE EPISODE

Many aspects of the SBC are broken, and this article charts a possible route forward into a dawn marked by humble leaders, diligent trustees, and a reorganization.

Resources to Click

• “Seeking a Convention That Is Not Southern Baptist In Name Only: How to Regain Trust, Rebuild the Trustee System, and Avoid an Impending Exodus of Vocal Conservatives” – David Schrock
• “Southern Baptists warm to alternate moniker ‘Great Commission Baptists’” – Adelle M. Banks
• “Under Reconstruction: How the Egalitarian Beachball Wrecks the Household of God” – Christ Over All
• “Creeds, Confessions, and Cooperation: The Basis of Our Unity” – Christ Over All
• “The Ethics & Religious Liberty Conundrum” – Christ Over All
• “More Money Than Men: The NAMB Church Planting Problem” – Michael Clary
• “Whoever Holds the Purse Holds the Strings: The Financial Plan that Could End the SBC” – Rhett Burns
• “What’s Trusty About SBC Trustees: Does Trustee Training Fix Ailing Entities or Institutionalize Passivity?” – Jon Whitehead
• “Why Baptists Must Recover the Order of Love” – Alex Kocman
• “One Sacred Effeminacy: The Cooperative Longhouse And the Great Feminization of the SBC” – Doug Ponder
• “14 Clint Pressley, David Schrock, and Stephen Wellum: ‘The SBC: A Presidential Perspective with Clint Pressley’” – Christ Over All
• “16 Josh Powell, David Schrock, and Stephen Wellum: ‘Getting to Know SBC Presidential Candidate Josh Powell’” – Christ Over All
• “17 Willy Rice, David Schrock, and Stephen Wellum: ‘Getting to Know SBC Presidential Candidate Willy Rice’” – Christ Over All
• “What Is the Cause of Our Divisions? Social Media and Other Strategies for Effecting Positive Change in the SBC” – David Schrock
• “The Attempt to Clarify Resolution 9” – Tom Ascol
• “Stewardship of Our SBC Land” – Mark Coppenger
• “‘Too Busy with Woke Stuff’: The All Too (In)Visible and Inconsequential ERLC” – Megan Basham
• “New Boss, Same as the Old Boss: Michels’ Iron Law of Oligarchy and the SBC” – Joshua Abbotoy
• By What Standard? God’s World, God’s Rules – Founders Ministries
• How the SBC Got Played – Crosspolitic Studios
• X post by Cuatro Nelson (@cuatronelson), “On Sunday, we officially voted to leave the Southern Baptist Convention…,” September 18, 2025
• “We Don’t Like Theology, Do We? Three Reflections from the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention” – David Schrock
• “The SBC Isn’t Drifting—It’s Being Steered: A Sober-Minded Response to Emotional Sabotage” – Michael Carlino
• “Greear Announces Most Diverse Ever Committee on Committees” – Brent Hobbs
• “The Great Commission Resurgence Debate” – Trevin Wax
• Theme of the Month: Can the Center Hold? The Southern Baptist Convention in the 21st Century
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Books to Read

• Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe – Voddie Baucham Jr.
• Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda– Megan Basham
• The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in an Age of Individualism – Yuval Levin