"Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst."
          

–Reflections on the Psalms, CS Lewis

"This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people."

–The Case for Christianity, CS Lewis

 

 

A COMMENTARY ON TRANSPARENCY

 

So, it starts like this…
 

There is a “business” meeting scheduled for BBC; no, not a special meeting but a plain old, same old, business meeting.  You probably know the one.  For detailed information about the meeting, please go to the following link.This is the excellent blog, New BBC Open Forum. The blogger has a unique connection to the Watchdog@FBC Jacksonville.  A subpoena was also submitted in regards to this blog except the blogger is not from Jacksonville and had no previous relationship with Watchdog. Ah, what tangled webs are woven….We will keep you all posted.
 

http://newbbcopenforum.blogspot.com/2007/03/march-25th-meeting.html#links

 

Apparently, the church is required to have monthly business meetings.  It does not.  Steve Gaines and the leadership do not seem at all concerned that they do not adhere to the letter or the intent of the bylaws.  What is the intent?  These bloggers believe that regular church meetings are essential because they allow for continuing input from the congregation.  In other words, it's a nice thing to toss a bone to the “priesthood” of the believers on occasion and at least pretend that the leaders care about this doctrine.
 

Please go to the following link for a fascinating debate on the priesthood of the believer and what that means in everyday life:
 

http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/post/2009/08/10/Where-is-priesthood-of-believer.aspx

 

So, a meeting was scheduled for a Sunday evening.  The brouhaha regarding the pedophile was already in full swing.  There were some who came to the meeting to discuss the elephant in the room – an incestuous pedophile pastor was allowed to continue to “serve” as a pastor after Steve Gaines had been notified of this man’s disgusting behavior.  That means he was allowed to wander the halls of the church, unaccompanied, for about SIX MONTHS after the “sin” was discovered.  Only a handful in the church knew of this pastor's deviant behavior.

 
Poor Steve…  He thought he was trying to help this “dear” man who confessed that the sin was in the distant past.  Funny thing… he didn’t seem to show much concern for the abused “dear” son of this “dear” pastor.  Did he even give the son a call to check on him?  Frankly, these blog queens are getting SICK AND TIRED of pastors protecting other pastors who are sexual molesters.  This is when our maternal instincts really kick in!!!  Is that the problem?  Too many insensitive men in charge?  Please visit stopbaptistpredators.org to see how many predatory pastors exist within the Southern Baptist Convention alone!   This list should cause us all — that means the priesthood of the believers as well — to hang our heads in shame!
 

 

The SBC is mimicking the Roman Catholic Church in their response patterns.  How many of these supposed pastors have condemned the RCC for both the theology and the pedophile priests? Real Christians look at the speck in their own eyes first.  In this instance, that speck is becoming a log cabin, we fear.

 

The Bible admonishes us to avoid every appearance of evil.  This gathering did not achieve that goal.  There were a number of odd things about that conclave.  It started late after an extended time of “worship.”   Was the late start intentional?  Members of the Gaines' extended family were present, and it has been reported that Gaines' sister-in-law (not a church member) voted during the meeting.  So, obviously, church membership was not an issue.  Hmmmmm…….
 

There were microphones, and members were allowed to make suggestions.  Apparently, one proposal was to donate a significant amount of money to Mid-America Seminary.  This raises an important observation.  There was the ELEPHANT in the room.  However, the leadership and Gaines did not think it important to have a special meeting to discuss the real issue.  In other words, who cares about an incestuous, pedophile pastor and a cover-up?  It's just one more issue in the midst of donations, meeting schedules, etc.
 

Then comes the magic moment.  The aggrieved son makes his way to the microphone.  Finally, the real problem was about to discussed– NOT! The meeting was abruptly ended because the “nursery workers” needed to go home!  See ya!  Bye, bye, sayonara, get lost! 
 

To this we have one comment — WHAT A CROCK!!!  Here's the bottom line.  They could have continued the meeting.  They could have had the parents get the kids and return.  They could have immediately scheduled a meeting for the next day.  Surely the situation warranted such actions.  But, THEY DID NOT CARE WHAT ANYONE THOUGHT!
 

We can’t wait for the “preserve the unity of the church” commenters.  Note the word, “preserve.”  This assumes that unity already exists in the congregation. It's obvious that there was no unity within “Belle”vue Baptist Church.  What they really wanted to do was preserve the pastor’s job and continue the lie that the church was unified.
 

Real leaders would have dealt with this in a straightforward manner.  They should have sent out a mailing to the church membership and admitted that there was a problem with Gaines' handling of the incestuous pastor and the subsequent lack of response by the leadership. A meeting should have been scheduled to discuss the concerns of the congregants.  The mikes should have been open and left open until the very last person had commented.  They should have cordially invited the son to come and make a statement and have been willing to bare the embarrassment.  To quote a frequent commenter, ARCE, “the boil needed to be lanced”.
 

Impractical, you say?  There was a pastor(one of us was in his church) who did precisely this when he had sinned.  He called the church together, confessed, and allowed each and every person to stand up and express their concerns and their anger.  The meeting went into the wee hours.  This man left the pastorate and graciously submitted himself to discipline.  He no longer is an official “pastor” (at his own choosing), but he is an awesome teacher and has followers all over the world.  Do people remember the sin?  Not really.  They remember his confession and how he conducted himself with dignity.  He showed us all how to fall, repent and go on.

 
Where are the real leaders of the church?  Where are those pastors who accept that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God and lead by their example?  Instead, we are afflicted with the pastors who actually think they are just a bit better than those of us in the priesthood.  There are those leaders who believe that they have some special mantle of authority that exempts them from scrutiny and questioning.  Where are the humble servant leaders who understand sin because they have confronted it in their own lives and have sought to lead by their humble example of confession and repentance?
 

Mac Brunson, Mike Everson, Steve Gaines and their sycophant “leaders” protect one another from the consequences of sinful behavior.  What a system!  One leader telling another leader where to find authority!  The rest of us are told to shut up, stop questioning, and keep tithing.  We children must listen to “Daddy” to tell us how to behave.  The priesthood of the believer has become a theoretical concept that can be overlooked and even stomped on.  The “authority” passages are just a whole lot more fun for these boys.  And, yes, they are boys, not men…  Real men can confess and take the consequences.  These lackluster pastors lack the cojones to follow in the footsteps of a real Man, Jesus, who took Himself to the cross and showed that real love takes courage.
 

So, we leave you with an important passage of Scripture.  All leaders must meditate of this condemnation of thoughtless priests and prophets who claim: “Peace, peace but there is no peace”!
 

Jeremiah 5:26  (The prophet speaking for God):…” for wicked men are found among My people…they set a trap, they catch men.”  Then, “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority.” (vv. 30-31)
Jeremiah 6:13-14   For from the least of them to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain, and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. And they have healed the brokenness of my people superficially saying, “Peace. peace,” but there is no peace.
 
(Special thanks to the authors of The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse — David Johnson and Jeff Van Vonderen)
 

We leave you with another touching Elvis tune:

video to follow

 Rumor on the street:  Which SBC leader recently flew into Jacksonville on a private jet to console the “leadership” of FBC Jacksonville?  More importantly, who paid for this private jet?  Which FBC leader is now referring to himself as the new “Joshua?”  That takes “cojones,” for sure.