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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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On the Importance of New Testament Elder Leadership.
Why Shared Leadership is Essential for Healthy Churches Churches are fascinating creatures. Churches exist solely through the atoning...
Ben Francis
Mar 104 min read
155 views
0 comments
Is the Southern Baptist Convention Overstepping its Authority?
A discussion of Creeds, Authority, and Autonomy There is a growing discussion in some corners of the SBC that the Convention is preparing...
Ben Francis
Apr 5, 202411 min read
572 views
2 comments
10 Leadership Lessons from the Movie: Greyhound
In 2020, the Movie Greyhound was released on AppleTv in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a groundbreaking movie for several...
Ben Francis
Mar 5, 20245 min read
208 views
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Was Disfellowshipping the Right Move? Yes.
On Wednesday, February 22, 2023 the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention reported out that it had voted to Disfellowship...
Ben Francis
Feb 23, 20235 min read
218 views
1 comment
Can the Southern Baptist Convention Change?
Organizations and Power: A Question for the Southern Baptist Convention. Do Grassroots Movements Work? Can an organization truly be a...
Ben Francis
Nov 1, 20215 min read
114 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Sep 21, 20216 min read
68 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Sep 20, 20218 min read
172 views
0 comments
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...
Ben Francis
Aug 21, 20215 min read
66 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Aug 4, 20214 min read
103 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Jul 13, 20215 min read
108 views
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Who Can Be an Elder?
New Testament Elders: God's Shepherds Part 2: Who Can Be an Elder In our first post, we looked at what an Elder is according to the...
Ben Francis
Jul 9, 20218 min read
99 views
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What/Who Are Church Elders?
New Testament Elders: God’s Shepherds Part 1: What/Who is an Elder? In this series of posts, I want to explore what the Word of God says...
Ben Francis
Jun 29, 20213 min read
168 views
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