--- type: newsletter-issue title: State of the Church Today — Issue 21 issue: 21 date: 2026-10-11 audience: Pastors & Elders status: draft created: 2026-10-11T07:05 updated: 2026-10-11T07:05 --- # State of the Church Today *A weekly digest of Southern Baptist, Reformed, and broader theological news — curated for pastors and elders.* **Issue 21 · Sunday, October 11, 2026** > Three weeks before the midterms, SBC President Willy Rice told pastors to "step up" and teach their people why to vote as they do, while the Pentagon announced that the Fort Hood gunman will be executed by firing squad on a public livestream, drawing objections from Catholic bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, and senators of both parties. The Supreme Court took a church land-use case, the FDA put off its abortion pill review until spring, and Lifeway found pastors preaching longer with their people's blessing. A week to ask what a pulpit is for, and what it is not for. --- ## ⛪ SBC & Convention Watch *Annual meeting, entities, ERLC, resolutions, denominational politics.* **Willy Rice: pastors should "absolutely" be in the political process.** In a weekend interview with Fox News, the SBC president and longtime pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Fla., said pastors must "articulate not just how to vote on these issues, but why we need to vote those ways," naming abortion, marriage and gender, and immigration. On abortion: "It's as relevant and as critical and as important as it has ever been." On immigration he framed the question as compassion and the rule of law held together. "Pastors need to step up," he said. Teaching the moral reasoning behind a vote is the pulpit's business; endorsing candidates is not, and elders should help their pastor keep that line clear in the weeks before Nov. 3. — [The Pathway (Baptist Press)](https://mbcpathway.com/2026/10/06/rice-southern-baptist-pastors-should-be-involved-in-the-political-process/) · [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/southern-baptist-president-calls-pastors-step-ahead-midterm-elections) **Entity accountability letters are now in the SBC Annual.** Under the business and financial plan messengers adopted in 2025, each SBC entity's board chair and president must sign a letter certifying compliance, the appropriateness of compensation policies, trustee review of presidential expenses, and that the entity did not solicit churches directly apart from the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong offerings. The letters now sit beside the audits in the 2026 Annual, available since Sept. 23. They vary widely in length, from about 1,450 words for the Executive Committee to 156 for the IMB. Executive pay, perks, and top vendors are still not disclosed; those remain with trustees. "I encourage every Southern Baptist to take the time to read the BFP, accountability letters and audits in detail," said EC CFO Mike Bianchi. Elders who want to know where their church's CP dollars go now have a place to start. — [Biblical Recorder (Baptist Press)](https://www.brnow.org/news/accountability-letters-audits-available-in-sbc-annual-provide-wealth-of-information-about-sbc-entities/) **SBC27 hotel rooms sell out in an hour.** Nearly 15,500 room nights for the June 2027 annual meeting in Indianapolis were booked within the first hour on Oct. 5. Three other conferences overlap downtown, and several hotel blocks are smaller than last time; the EC says more rooms are being added. Churches planning to send messengers should book now. — [The Pathway (Baptist Press)](https://mbcpathway.com/2026/10/07/hotel-rooms-sell-out-for-sbc27-more-being-added/) --- ## 📖 Reformed & Confessional *Reformed Baptist, Presbyterian (PCA/OPC), confessional churches and networks.* **D.G. Hart's *Protestants and Patriots*.** Hart's new book from Notre Dame Press traces Presbyterianism as a political movement in Britain and North America from 1560 to 1870, arguing that a tradition often blamed for rebellion ended up, by refusing compromise, helping lay the ground for disestablishment and religious liberty. Hart discussed it on this week's Heidelcast. Worth reading in an election season, alongside Hart's critique the same week of Stephen Wolfe's Christian nationalism as collapsing the two kingdoms. An announcement and interview, not news. — [Heidelblog](https://heidelblog.net/2026/10/heidelcast-for-october-11-2026-protestants-and-patriots-with-dr-d-g-hart/) · [Heidelblog](https://heidelblog.net/2026/10/hart-wolfe-collapses-the-two-kingdoms/) **"Can NAPARC be normal?"** R. Scott Clark hosted a live Heidelcast on Oct. 7 on the state of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council, the fellowship of confessional Reformed denominations that includes the PCA, OPC, and URCNA. Commentary, not a council action, but a sign that the question of what binds these churches together is live. — [Heidelblog](https://heidelblog.net/2026/10/heidelcast-live-can-naparc-be-normal/) **PCA prayer guide begins its second year.** The PCA Administrative Committee's daily guide walks through every PCA church, church plant, presbytery, agency, RUF campus, and MTW field over 365 days, and now offers a weekly text option. Stated Clerk Fred Greco calls it one of the most practical ways to foster unity. A simple idea any association of Baptist churches could borrow. — [byFaith](https://byfaithonline.com/pca-prayer-guide-begins-second-year/) **Grimké launches the Carey Center.** Grimké Seminary's homepage now lists the Carey Center as "NEW," a program to train and assess prospective church planters for planting and revitalization. The announcement is undated. — [Grimké Seminary](https://grimkeseminary.org/carey/) *Founders was checked directly; its homepage showed no new dated articles or announcements this week, and its newest listed podcast, on the 1689 Confession's chapter on sanctification, is undated. WORLD and The Aquila Report blocked direct fetches.* --- ## 🕊️ Theology & Doctrine *Major debates, books, controversies, council and committee statements.* **Pastors are preaching longer, and churchgoers don't mind.** A Lifeway Research study (pastors surveyed Sept. 2025, compared with 2019) found 80% of Protestant pastors preach under 40 minutes, down from 85%, and the share preaching an hour or more tripled from 2% to 6%. Only 25% of churchgoers want shorter sermons; 17% want longer ones, up from 13%. Half of Baptist pastors preach 30 to 40 minutes, while nearly half of mainline pastors preach under 20. Young adults are the most divided: 30% of those 18 to 29 want 50 minutes or more. "The majority of churchgoers prefer sermons of at least a half hour," said Scott McConnell. Length is not faithfulness, but people who are fed tend to want more. — [The Pathway (Lifeway Research)](https://mbcpathway.com/2026/10/08/pastors-are-preaching-longer-with-churchgoer-support-according-to-lifeway-research/) **State of the Bible: most Americans believe in the supernatural.** The American Bible Society's 2026 report, from a January NORC survey of 2,649 adults, found about 62% of Americans believe in the supernatural, many with no religious affiliation. Among practicing Christians, 90% report answered prayer, 69% divine healing, and 58% demonic attack. Ten percent of evangelical Protestants doubt the resurrection. Scripture-engaged Christians are the least likely to consult tarot or astrology (6%), against roughly a quarter of the Bible-disengaged. The neighbors are not materialists; they are spiritually open and untaught. The doubt about the resurrection inside evangelical churches is the number to bring to your teaching plan. — [Biblical Recorder (Baptist Press)](https://www.brnow.org/news/state-of-the-bible-few-attest-to-answered-prayer-divine-healing-demonic-attack/) --- ## 🏛️ Culture & Church-State *Religious liberty, ethics, politics affecting the church, cultural engagement.* **A livestreamed firing-squad execution at Fort Hood.** Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Nidal Hasan, convicted in 2013 of murdering 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, will be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3, and the Pentagon says the execution will be streamed to the public. It would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961. It will be public, Hegseth said, "because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things." Catholic bishops' president Archbishop Paul Coakley called it a "barbaric promotion of a culture of death." NAE President Walter Kim affirmed the "need for justice" but warned that a livestream "risks turning one of the state's most solemn responsibilities" into a spectacle. Sen. Thom Tillis, who supports the death penalty for Hasan, called the broadcast "beyond disgusting." Christians who hold, with Romans 13, that the magistrate bears the sword can still say plainly that justice is not entertainment. — [Religion News Service](https://religionnews.com/2026/10/09/head-of-u-s-catholic-bishops-conference-condemns-public-execution-plans-as-promoting-a-culture-of-death/) · [Colorado Politics](https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/10/09/catholic-bishops-condemn-administrations-plan-to-livestream-execution/) · [WJLA](https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/beyond-disgusting-gop-republican-sen-thom-tillis-slams-democrat-sen-chris-murphy-bipartisan-backlash-defense-secretary-hegseth-plan-to-livestream-fort-hood-shooters-nidal-hasan-firing-squad-execution-december-3-death-penalty-president-trump) **FDA delays its abortion pill review to March 2027.** In an Oct. 7 filing in Louisiana's lawsuit over telehealth prescriptions of mifepristone, the FDA said it expects study data on 100,000 women in December but needs until perhaps March to complete its review. Mail-order prescribing continues meanwhile, and related suits in Florida and Texas remain paused. ERLC President Evan Lenow called the delay "frustrating but unsurprising" and political rather than clinical. Most abortions in the U.S. are now by pill; the clinic is no longer where the fight is. — [The Pathway (Baptist Press)](https://mbcpathway.com/2026/10/09/fda-delays-abortion-pill-safety-study-results-retaining-telehealth-prescriptions/) **Supreme Court takes a church zoning case.** On Oct. 1 the Court agreed to hear *Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist v. Frederic*, over a Kentucky town's refusal to allow a small prayer grotto on a religious order's property after neighbors objected. The Kentucky Supreme Court found no "substantial burden" under the federal land-use law, RLUIPA, partly because a smaller shrine might fit elsewhere on the lot. The justices took only the substantial-burden question. The National Association of Evangelicals filed in support. Any church that has fought a city over a building, a parking lot, or a food pantry has a stake in how the Court defines that burden. — [National Constitution Center](https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/local-zoning-dispute-over-grotto-presents-new-first-amendment-test) · [WORLD](https://wng.org/roundups/catholic-shrine-case-pits-religious-rights-against-zoning-laws-1791308627) **Senators move to protect financial aid for ministry students.** Sens. James Lankford and Ted Cruz filed the Religious Education Fairness Act on Sept. 29 in response to an Education Department rule tying federal loan eligibility to graduates' earnings. The bill would keep theology programs at Title IX–exempt schools from losing aid because ministers earn modest salaries. Students should not lose aid "because Washington measures the value of that calling by a paycheck," Lankford said. Southwestern's David Dockery and ADF back it. — [Biblical Recorder (Baptist Press)](https://www.brnow.org/news/senate-bill-aims-to-protect-financial-aid-for-those-preparing-for-ministry/) **Another house church pastor arrested in China.** Police detained An Yankui, pastor of an unregistered Protestant church in northern China, on Sept. 29 for "illegal religious activities," according to an arrest record obtained by International Christian Concern and ChinaAid. Add his name to the list from last week. — [WORLD](https://wng.org/sift/police-arrest-pastor-in-china-for-illegal-religious-activities-1791214254) --- ## 🔥 Also Worth Noting *Notable controversy and media shake-ups — reported with discernment, not appetite.* **Gaza's Christians, down by half.** A Christian grandmother and her daughter, Maysa Abu Daoud and Mary al-Najjar, were among five killed in an Oct. 3 strike on a Gaza City apartment building, despite the year-old ceasefire. Gaza's Christian community has shrunk to roughly 500 from as many as 1,000 before the war. Gaza Baptist Church, the strip's only Baptist congregation, meets on Zoom; about 70 people shelter in its ruins. "It is still a very difficult situation," said Hanna Massad of Christian Mission to Gaza. — [Biblical Recorder (Baptist Press)](https://www.brnow.org/news/gazan-christian-community-down-by-half-2-mothers-killed-as-fighting-continues-in-ceasefire/) **Christianity Today names Erik Petrik editor in chief.** Petrik, CT's chief creative officer and founder of CT Media, was executive producer of *The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill*. He succeeds Marvin Olasky, who took the post a year ago after Russell Moore moved to editor at large. — [Baptist News Global](https://baptistnews.com/article/christianity-today-names-new-editor-in-chief/) **Jim Bakker dies at 86.** The televangelist who built the PTL empire with Tammy Faye Bakker, and went to prison after its collapse in scandal, has died. His career is a long lesson in what happens when a ministry is accountable to no one. — [Religion News Service](https://religionnews.com/2026/10/06/televangelist-jim-bakker-once-imprisoned-for-scandal-dies-at-87/) --- ## 🧭 For the Elder's Desk *A pastoral takeaway for your leadership team this week.* > The SBC president wants pastors to "step up" before the election, and he is right that a pastor who never says why abortion is wrong has failed his people. But the pulpit's authority reaches exactly as far as "thus says the Lord" and no farther. Where Scripture speaks plainly, on the image of God in the unborn, on marriage, on justice for the sojourner and the rule of law, the preacher must speak plainly too. Where Christians weigh candidates, prudence, and policy, he should teach the principles and let the sheep vote as free men and women under Christ. So ask your board this week: **in the next three Sundays, what will our pulpit say clearly because the Bible says it clearly, and what will we deliberately leave to the consciences of our members?** And then: **if a member came to us after the election hurt by something said from the pulpit, would we be able to show him the text?** --- *State of the Church Today · Compiled October 11, 2026. Reply with corrections or tips. Forward to a fellow elder.*