Forever: A Hymn
The Hymn... Give thanks to the Lord our God and King His love endures forever For He is good, He is above all things His love endures...
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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.
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Ben Francis
Sep 23, 20215 min read
On Being Broken…
There are two contradictory realities that exist in our lives, and in the lives of most everyone we know. Reality #1: I am a broken and...
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Ben Francis
Sep 21, 20211 min read
The Cover-Up Continues as the Rabbit Hole Gets Deeper
Today, September 21, 2021, a letter was posted from Jennifer Lyell to the SBC Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, who...
503 views3 comments
Ben Francis
Sep 21, 20216 min read
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...
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Ben Francis
Sep 20, 20218 min read
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...
167 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Sep 13, 20216 min read
Trust and Obey
A Hymn As our Church gathered for corporate worship yesterday, the Lord’s Day, we sang the hymn, “Trust and Obey” in response to the Word...
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Ben Francis
Sep 7, 20216 min read
What If We Took it Seriously?
It's an interesting question. It implies that we might not take “it” seriously. And we could fit a lot of things into the category of...
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Ben Francis
Sep 2, 20212 min read
Ruth - A Story of Redemption
This Sunday, our Church family will begin a study through the Old Testament book of Ruth. In many ways, Ruth is a marvelous story about...
135 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Aug 30, 20214 min read
"Wherever He Leads I’ll Go."
A Hymn. Written and Composed by Rev. B.B. Mckinney in 1936. "Take up thy cross and follow Me," I heard my Master say; "I gave My life to...
161 views1 comment
Ben Francis
Aug 24, 20216 min read
The Coming Challenge to Christianity
What’s the Rubber? Where’s the Road? The Coming Challenge to Christianity You’ve heard the old saying, “Where the rubber meets the road.”...
228 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Aug 21, 20215 min read
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...
66 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Aug 17, 20216 min read
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” By: Robert Robinson, written 1758. Come Thou fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy...
150 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Aug 13, 202115 min read
Should I Take the Covid-19 Vaccine?
Should I Take the Covid-19 Vaccine? How should Christians approach the question? A note up front: This will be a long post, so you may...
2,972 views
Ben Francis
Aug 11, 202112 min read
Elitism and Power in the Southern Baptist Convention
Some follow-up thoughts... Is there a power problem in the Southern Baptist Convention? Is there a culture of elites? When someone...
239 views1 comment
Ben Francis
Aug 9, 20218 min read
SBC 2021 in Review: Part 6 The Forest and the Trees...A Path Forward?
As we bring this series to a close, it will be helpful in this final post to think of each of the specific issues in the first 5 posts as...
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Ben Francis
Aug 4, 20214 min read
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...
103 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Aug 3, 20213 min read
On the Chopping Block: The Hyde Amendment
As of today, August 2nd, 2021, the United States House of Representatives has passed a federal budget and it is currently being...
148 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Jul 13, 20215 min read
The Leadership of New Testament Elders
New Testament Elders: God’s Shepherds From our brief survey of the 3 biblical titles used for the office of Elder, we can put together a...
105 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Jul 11, 20217 min read
Sexual Abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention
SBC 2021 in Review: Part 5 Sexual Abuse in the SBC The Story Breaks... In 2019, The Houston Chronicle Newspaper ran a series of stories...
193 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Jul 11, 20214 min read
The “Dirt” of Life
Did you know that buckets make dirt? You read that right. Buckets make dirt. In his essay, “The work of Local culture,” Wendall Berry...
84 views0 comments
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