The Witch Head Nebula-NASA
“Espresso is to Italy, what champagne is to France.” Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
This weekend thru Monday is my son’s wedding. My mom is declining every day, and I also need to spend time with her. They are planning to switch her to comfort care only next Wednesday. Todd has graciously offered to do a post on Friday. We have a plan for Monday as well. There will be no EChurch this week.
So it seems that Adam Greenway knew how to spend your hard-earned tithe money on himself.
Adam Greenway is just one more SBC leader who thinks he is entitled to your tithe money. By entitled, I mean he thinks he deserves the “big bucks” for his “service” to the SBC. He resigned from SWBTS amid concerns about student enrollment dropping. The real problem was that Greenway finally had his hands on some big bucks and decided to spend it on a luxurious lifestyle at SWBTS. Shades of Paige Patterson! In June 2023, SWBTS released Board officers issue’ Summary of Findings’ by trustee Task Force. Let’s look at a few of these findings.
Between 2019 and 2022, over $1.5 million was spent on renovations, furnishings, and related expenses to the President’s home. These expenditures were made at a time when the seminary was making significant budget cuts, including the reduction of faculty personnel and positions. Examples of expenses for the President’s home include $59,865.79 for Christmas decorations, more than $25,000 for artwork, and $11,123.49 for an espresso machine and accessories. Despite extensive renovations completed early in his tenure, further optional work was done on the President’s home in late 2021 when more than $180,000 was spent on HVAC work.
$11,000 for an espresso machine?
$59,685.79 for Christmas decorations?!
He appears to have been milking the SWBTS cash cow. There was more.
Between the summer of 2020 and early 2021, over $500,000 was spent on the President’s office, including renovations and furniture.
The task force also found numerous examples of improper expenses charged to the seminary by Greenway himself and/or individuals whom he authorized to use his seminary credit card in violation of seminary policy, including $9,936.05 for first-class airfare for Greenway, his family, and a family friend to Anaheim, California, for the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, $4,850.51 for the framing of personal diplomas, and $920 for a metal University of Florida Gator head decoration (one of Greenway’s favorite college athletic programs).
Gotta fly the big boy and his family first class to the convention for almost $10,000? No problemo. Keep those gifts and tithes coming. Did you think it would be spent on spreading the Gospel?
SWBTS Board officers are “grieved.”
I get so sick and tired of the term “grieved.” The SBC is grieved over sex abuse. The SBC is grieved over the loss of membership. According to the Thesaurus, grieving means something more profound than some guys yelping when they heard about the espresso machine. It means more, much more.
- cry
- wail
- lament
- weep
- ache
Here’s the deal. I don’t think they are particularly grieved. I guess that Greenway was a friend of the wrong faction at this time in the SBC. If only he had been a member of the NAMB or the IMB, all sorts of things would be kept quiet. Do we know how much he made as the President of SWBTS?
I have yet to see real grief expressed by some of these leaders on anything, including sex abuse in the SBC. Does anyone remember JD Greear’s crocodile tears before he rode off into the sunset? Nope- I doubt anyone is grieving. I think most are wondering how to get the big bucks for themselves.
Greenway filed a $ 5 million lawsuit.
Liam Adams of The Tennessean posted Southern Baptist seminary turmoil continues as ex-president demands $5M in lawsuit threat. It looks like he is having trouble getting a job, and he has decided that SWBTS can pay him big bucks.
Greenway threatened to sue Southwestern, a Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, in a demand letter for $5 million, which said the financial disclosures humiliated Greenway and harmed his job prospects. The letter is a sharp break from a resolution the two sides once sought.
The Board refused to give him the moola and claimed they would take it to court if necessary.
“If Dr. Greenway should decide to file suit, we will defend aggressively the seminary against every claim,” Richard said in his statement. “The facts, when fully known, will reveal a very different reality than the one contained in his demand letter.”
Greenway’s lawyers claim that the trustee investigation was accusatory at the level of embezzlement and not correct in reporting some of the expenditures.
“The framing of these expenditures as unauthorized and lavish personal gain undertaken by Dr. Greenway is an assertion of financial impropriety on par with embezzlement,” Greenway attorney Andrew Jones said in the Sept. 25 letter to Southwestern, according to a copy The Tennessean obtained.
The lawyer claims his espresso machine only costs $6,000!!!
The following quote is the main reason I wanted to write this post.
Southwestern’s public disclosures of spending under Greenway were “grossly inflated and false,” Jones said. For example, an “infamous ‘$11,000 espresso machine’” — a detail that many Southern Baptists have joked about since Southwestern published it — was actually $5,952.67, Jones said.
I am so glad that the President of an SBC seminary thinks this money is reassuring to us, the great unwashed, Keurig-drinking tithers who paid for the $#*& machine!!! I see. So everyone will feel really good about $6,000 espresso machines? That is a foolish statement.
The SWBTS leadership plans to fight this lawsuit tooth and nail since there was a settlement already…
This fight will probably be on your tithe dollars. Also, how much money did he already get in the settlement? Baptist Press posted Lawsuit threat by Greenway’ baseless’ and ‘absurd,’ says SWBTS leadership. It seems there already was some settlement. How much money is this guy getting??
“SWBTS has fully complied with its obligations under the Settlement Agreement and will continue to do so,” said the seminary’s attorney, Michael D. Anderson, in a response letter to Jones dated Oct. 11. “The matters raised in your letter do not constitute a breach of the Settlement Agreement, regardless of how you characterize them.”
Anderson cited Greenway’s request in April for the seminary to fulfill [its promise of transparency to Southern Baptists by releasing the full trustee investigative report including all related findings, without edit or redaction.” Greenway’s statement was released on X, formerly Twitter.
“The fact that Dr. Greenway does not like the results of that financial review and the public disclosure of it (which he demanded) does not make the results of the financial review false or in any way defamatory,” said Anderson.
Most salaries and perks in the SBC leadership are not reported since, I assume, the little guy can’t handle it.
Perhaps the problems with Greenway should be a warning to the SBC faithful. Greenway is only the tip of the iceberg for the SBC. I predict that transparency will soon be demanded on all levels. When that day comes, I believe plenty of weeping and wailing will go forth from the little tither who should be seen and not heard.
It’s time to tell the truth to the tithers. And a $6,000 espresso machine is too much money for most people.
PS Tell them I will get some folks and come to decorate the mansion on the cheap. Target has some great ideas, or is Target only for the riff-raff? $60,000 on Christmas decorations????? Baloney!
SWBTS …. cutting the budget and dismissing personnel because of declining enrollment and overspending bu certain people in the recent past, and yet President Greenway did not hesitate to blow all of that money simply for the President’s personal pleasure and satisfaction. How Christian! (Did Jesus do stuff like that….?)
Those Christmas decorations cost more than most tithers make in a year, before taxes! And, even if the expresso machine was “only” $6,000, the school could have bought somewhere between 40 and 60 really good coffee machines for that much money (or it could have given some deserving person a partial scholarship….???)
Dee, we will miss you, but take care of your mom and the rest of your family.
Take your time, if you can, and make some wonderful memories to treasure.
When pastoring is a grift.
In Ephesians 4, pastoring is a gift. Like in Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12.
I don’t know about you but I have never paid for a gift.
Gift or Grift. That is the question.
Jesus wept.
and overturned the money tables.
But yeah, it is a deeply sad commentary on the SBC franchise as a whole
Dee, I join with those who are praying for you and your family. God be with you, keep you safe, give you wisdom, shelter you with His peace in the hours with your Mother, and give you deep joy for your son’s wedding. Life is such a mix, but the Lord our God is with us through all of it. Sincerely, Shirley Myers
Wll, it’s not the Southern Baptist Convention for nothing, isn’t it? Those plantation owners’ lifestyles don’t come cheap, do they?
Just ask Paige Patterson.
North, South, East, and West, grifters abound.
Gift or grift? Always the question.
Paying for a gift makes it a grift.
Plain English, tricky leadership. Tricky, slimy, deceptive, and all that – the leadership that was meant to be a gift of the Holy Spirit to the church but morphs into a grift of greedy men and their womenfolk.
A Sister in formation who told me her calling is to lead women’s prayer groups told me she took a vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience. No grift. Yeah, her church sees to her basic needs being met but no grift. New Testament culture and commitment.
When you merchandise the Gospel for personal gain, it’s grift. The Christian Industrial Complex is populated by more grift than gift.
Do you reckon that all those fancy Christmas decorations, expensive art work, elaborate diploma frames, Florida Gator head decoration, and the over-the-top espresso machine are now stashed in a warehouse with Patterson’s stained glass windows and wild animal taxidermy? Perhaps SWBTS should auction all that stuff off and do something gospel-centered like feeding the hungry.
“The SWBTS leadership plans to fight this lawsuit tooth and nail since there was a settlement already … This fight will probably be on your tithe dollars.”
Just a drop in the bucket considering the millions in tithes and offerings that SBC has thrown away to fund the New Calvinist takeover of the denomination.
Good Lord! That’s the cost for a commercial-grade espresso machine! I’ve had great cups of espresso coffee prepared with machines costing only a few hundred dollars.
I say sell off all the toys Greenway (and Patterson) bought during riotous living at SWBTS and put the money into full-scholarships for worthy students (if you can find a few non-Calvinist seminarians at SWBTS now).
News like this gives a lost world yet another reason to say “See, there’s nothing to it.”
ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS, BABY!
“If you want to make a million dollars, START YOUR OWN RELIGION!”
— L Ron Hubbard, 1947(?)
P.S. The End Time Prophecy types are coming out of the woodwork re the Hamas-Israeli War.
Morning drive-time is running ads from somebody named “Skip” about Israel, The Bible, and The End Times for the past week. This is at drive-time (i.e. morning prime time) on one of the biggest AM talk radio stations in my metro area.
Not “wild animal taxidermy”.
CANNED HUNT TAXIDERMY.
Just like Seah Feucht of Bethel, who has just as many (if not more) canned hunt taxidermies in his Dana Point ManCave.
But such a Godly ManaGAWD like Bungalow Bill Patterson is Sooooo Much More Deserving!
Doing The LOOOOOOOOOOOOORD’s Work!
But that’s ROMISH(TM).
Greenway made this statement when SWBTS was attempting to get Paige Patterson to return documents and assorted goods to the Seminary:
“Greenway said in the statement to Baptist Press: “The inerrant Word of God that we love fervently, that we affirm confessionally, and that guides sufficiently the work of this institution in keeping with our Founder’s vision of theological education and in accountability to the Southern Baptist Convention, instructs us clearly, ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.’ Southwestern Seminary has told the truth.”
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/patterson-disputes-allegations-he-improperly-took-items-used-swbts-donor-list/
I guess Greenway threw the accountability thing overboard once he moved into the President’s home!
P.P.S. “Christians for Nuclear War” are STILL Alive and Well and Living on Planet Earth.
In a bygone century, a Big 3 CEO got a huge raise when the corporation was tanking. The “reasoning:” The auto maker needed to pay extra for a CEO who would shepherd them through hard times. I couldn’t help seeing this as a powerful financial incentive for one man to allow failure, or even to vandalize the future of a company.
I have a similar concern about this guy. Did they pay him extra to guide his institution through plummeting enrollment, and to do the painful work of laying off faculty members?
If he’s interested, his local big-box hardware store has a 6-foot animatronic singing Santa for a mere $199.00, with a 90-day return policy. He can buy now, use it all season long, and return it in January—at no cost to the seminary! (/sarc)
I guess Greenway threw the accountability thing overboard once he moved into the President’s home!
Todd Wilhelm,
I think it was just an act.
I’ll bet Greenway and family were having a fine ole time …. until he got caught, and learned they weren’t going to tolerate (or were unable to finance) another Paige/Dorothy lifestyle.
“The framing of these expenditures as unauthorized” – I don’t think Greenway’s lawyers are wrong about this part. The home renovations began in 2019? Did he get authorization for those? Who did he have to go to? What procedures were in place when he was given a credit card (with a limit enough to buy his whole family 1st class airplane tickets)? I think the board was not watching the wolf, I mean the shepherd, in 2019, 2020, 2021, or 20222, so he did as he pleased.
Lord’s work my a$$.
That espresso machine cost almost as much as my car did when I bought it in 2009.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
I still have my 2001 Honda Accord.
Runs like a charm.
You can get a nice espresso machine on line for $150. How many jobs could have been saved using the renovation and expense money? Did the leaders reduce their salaries to help them through hard times? I doubt it.
1996 Del Sol.
(After three econoboxes in a row, figured it was time for a mid-life crisis car.)
200,000 miles and showing its age.
My 1995 Honda Accord wagon finally pooped out two years ago. But it still sits in the backyard. I am earning my redneck credentials.
EEEWWWWW…….
https://baptistnews.com/article/as-southern-seminary-honors-al-mohlers-30th-anniversary-as-president-o-s-hawkins-compares-mohler-to-moses-king-david-paul-and-jesus/
Cars here don’t last that long. I have an 04 Corolla and an 03 Camry both high mileage over 250 000 Km. Rust is big car killer. I’ve already patched a hole in the bottom of the Corolla. The Camry is a good car though. Got us all the way to California and back last year.
Catholic Gate-Crasher,
I’m still driving my 1999 Saturn that I bought new. 5-speed manual transmission…… I’m on my second clutch, with 320,000+ miles, but she still runs great. We’ve driven it from Southern Kentucky to Maine several times, all over KY and TN lots of times, and then some…. Cross fingers, knock on wood….. I’ll get in it her right now and drive her anywhere if I need or want to!
Redneck? Yeah, my dad’s ‘92 half-ton 4-speed Ford farm truck has been sitting in the cow pasture for 5 or 6 years, now. When my Saturn dies, I think I’m thinkin’ about gettin’ a bulldozer to bury her so I can put up a grave marker.
All churches have had a culture of compliance for years. People are conditioned early on to accept whatever the church says so why are we always surprised when we hear about espresso machines, mansions, private jets and the like.
The liturgical churches aren’t immune. That’s how the abuse of kids flew under the radar for so long.
A few years ago we drove by the Osteen temple, the excess makes me ill.
And the money keeps flowing.
You can’t blame people for bailing out of this mess.
Jesus won’t do anything about it. It’s up to the adherents of these Christianities.
Ok, fine, Jesus is going to skewer people with his sword tongue in revelation but that’s not happening anytime soon (as in not at all).
Only the adherents of this faith can stop it. No one can do it for them.
To quote St Smokey “only you can prevent forest fires”
Paige Patterson is a saint compared to the guys who ousted him.
Whew! That doesn’t say much for the other guys!
I’m saving my 2001 Chevy Silverado pickup for my grandson … he’s 10 years old … it will be a classic by the time he gets his driver’s license. In the meantime, I plan to use it on many more fishing trips.
Not at all, but you (generic you) sure can blame the people who are continually sodomized (so to speak) by the jokers that run those ‘churches’, and yet still hang around.
Fly! Flee! Take a hammer and chisel to the chains they’ve got you in!
My patience with those so-called ‘victims’ has worn thin.
(The bold was done by me.)
That.
When I did go to a Pentecostal church I was surprised that the reality is they really like it.
There’s a certain hubris when you think you’re a chosen group, that you have all the answers and you’re superior to other Christianities. Oh yes, they’ll run down their fellow evangelicals.
And they really do think the missives of the old testament are God’s words, yep he really dislikes ‘those’ people – think Leviticus.
So a an authoritarian who provides easy answers fits right into that priestly class mindset.
I do feel bad for some trapped on the treadmill but the conditioning is strong. I was raised Christian and find the program difficult to break. It will likely always be with me.
But ultimately it won’t be those on the outside who change the system (if it can be changed)
But I do weary of hearing “*gasp*, can you believe it?” Because yes I can, it’s the real Christianity – Jesus is just a mascot.
“THE VOICE OF A GOD, NOT OF A MAN!
THE VOICE OF A GOD, NOT OF A MAN!”
— Book of Acts re King Herod Agrippa
And does Hawkins echo Goebbels about how Mohler/the Fuehrer cannot be compared to such an Inferior as Jesus?
“PROCLAIM HIM A GOD, DEMOSTHENES!
PROCLAIM HIM A GOD!”
— Some Fifties biopic about Alexander the Great
“RULERS OF TOMORROW! MASTER RACE!”
— Ralph Bakshi, Wizards/i> (spoken by The Bad Guy)
“As Southern Seminary honors Al Mohler’s 30th anniversary, O.S. Hawkins compares Mohler to Moses, King David, Paul and Jesus”
Now that’s called idol worship in the nth degree!
I doubt that Moses, King David, Paul or Jesus would shout Amen!
Anything like the “Liberace Wedding Cake” of TBN World Headquarters?
Many years ago, I drove past the TBN building by the 405 and it was gaudy enough to make Liberace puke. Local newspaper had a reward outstanding for anyone who could bootleg pictures of the top-secret interior; rumor had it was gold or gold-plated everything kitsch. As Christian Monist said, “You can’t get up in the morning, take a dump in a gold-plated toilet, and NOT be delusional about yourself.
It’s an old professional sports stadium, the Compaq centre.
It’s big but looks more corporate than church like.
Pulls in 90mill a year.
Jesus is cool with it.
Not surprising.
“Compaq Center” means it was named after a corporation that bought and owned it for a time.
Where I am, you’re seeing stadiums and landmarks bought and sold like Magic the Gathering cards and being renamed every time they change hands. To the point nobody can keep track of the names and just call them by their original names (before they became a shote-term Investment Oppportunity like McMansions in the middle of nowhere).
Still has a long way to go before he can one-up Kenneth Copeland – $800 mil and counting; that’s a LOT of Social Security checks mailed in for a Blessing(TM).
Exalting the Throne of Mohler above that of the Most High.
“PROCLAIM HIM A GOD, DEMOSTHENES!
PROCLAIM HIM A GOD!”
Jesus likes Kenny better…he’$ $uper Kool with it!
Nancy2(aka Kevlar),
There is an coffee shop on campus. I am certain it has a commerical expresso machine. If the President need to entertain guesses, why not use the machine in the coffee shop that is owned by the seminary?
Private commerical expresso machine, disgusting esp. SWBTS was going through financed hardship.
Well, it’s clear that Mr. Greenway wasn’t going through financial hardship at SWBTS!