SBC Pastor's Conference Day 1: Dick Lincoln Bashes Reformed Pastors

It didn't take long for any pastor or layperson with reformed leanings to feel as if they had a huge target on their forehead. South Carolina pastor Dick Lincoln, the first speaker in the pastor's conference line-up, blasted away at Calvinist with all guns blazing. He called the doctrine insidious and damaging to evangelism. He also made a interesting statement that the neumber of the redeemed is not fixed, intimating that it is an unknown quantity to God. I don't think he is an open theist, but is sure sounds like it.

Johnny Hunt gave the second message, which was a nice pep talk for pastors to be more evangelistic. He took the opportunity to take one pot shot at any Calvinists in the house, but was pretty mild otherwise.

Today there will be a conversation between Al Mohler and Paige Patterson on "Differing Views of Election." This should be interesting.

Southern Baptist Boxing Match goes WWF

With Jerry Sutton in the ring it looks like we have more of a WWF wrestling match than a sparring of Floyd and Page. Now we have a situation where the kings have split their ticket and Page remains the unknown entity and the hometown boy.

This is very interesting, and I think it spells doom for Floyd. Sutton is a very comfortable pick for those who have issues with Floyd and his FBCS's CP giving. Sutton was involved in the resurgence and has written a book on the topic, yet he is not a controversial political type figure. As far as I know, he has not written against or preached any anti-calvin sermons as of late, probably making him the candidate of choice for the reformers. He is undeniably relevant and progressive, which could appease many younger candidates. Wade Burleson, on the other hand, is still endorsing Frank Page on the issue of cooperation and because Page has no link to the kingmakers. Frank is also very very strong in CP giving, the highest among the candidates. He sits at 12%, Sutton at 7% and Ronnie at a dismal .27%.

At this point I am torn. I like Page and Sutton. But after reading Tom Ascol's blog post yesterday concerning Page's book I will have to admit that Sutton is somewhat appealing to me. I hate to pull an endorsement - but like I have said in the past, this is an important election. The big questions for me is this - will Sutton broaden the scope of appointments or will he fall right in line. If the issue were just this - for me it would be between Frank and Ronnie. I think Ronnie would have brought some new faces to the table. If Sutton is willing to do this - he is a go for me.

I was going to send Sutton my list of questions, but Marty Duren, is supposed to issue a interview with Sutton ASAP, so I will hold off on that until I see the results of that interview.

My prediction:

Sutton's entrance leaves Floyd voted off the island.
It will come down to the wire between Jerry Sutton and Frank Page. Those who vote with Floyd will cancel out the hometown votes that Page will receive and Sutton will win as a respected resurgence candidate who has strong CP giving. Who I am going to vote for - It is now up in the air between Page and Sutton. We all have some research to do in a limited amount of time.

I have never liked the WWF - but why do I need that when we have an exciting Southern Baptist Convention this year.

The Blogging Revolution in the Southern Baptist Convention

This convention will be a thermometer. It will tell us a great deal about where we are at and what impact all this typing has had on thinking is the SBC. I have come to the conclusion that many are fearful of truth...but the truth is getting out, leaders are being held accountable, and many more people have a voice in the conversation. Will this translate into change in Greensboro? We will have to wait and see. The following is an email sent to me by one of our beloved missionaries is a far away land:

"I’m really writing TO everyone else who seem to be “getting on to you” but I guess I also want to encourage you too. I want to know what’s going on with the organization I “work” for. I want to understand my leaders so that I can walk in step with them. I have done that with Jerry Rankin and others at the board, and even though I don’t see eye to eye with everything, I have the utmost confidence in their leadership, their wisdom, their humility, and their godliness. That goes without stating because its obvious to any who know them and hear their heart year in and year out.

Now on to your comments and your question on the blog. You hit the nail on the head with Tom Hatley. What I really admire and appreciate is your willingness to say it publicly. Some feel that those comments shouldn’t have been stated publicly. They couldn’t have been more wrong. Being a public leader is a public thing. We shouldn’t entertain an accusation against a leader without witnesses, but that’s not the case here. We’re all witnesses of the IMB BoT debacle and his church leadership seems to have lots of witnesses as well. Its time we “speak the truth in love” as you have done and quit hiding behind the “let’s be nice” façade that ignores the truth. People can disagree with you about Tom Hatley’s leadership. That’s fine and their prerogative. Exposing the truth is also biblical. Thanks for being biblical. That helps the “church” (universal as well as local) and it also helps the SBC body. But then you already knew that so nothing new here.

Don’t worry about the critics. There are always those who think we should keep “our” dirty laundry at home. All of us believers are sure glad God didn’t choose to do that with his followers in the Bible throughout history like Moses, Abraham, Jacob, David, Peter, etc. They are our teachers through their failures. Hopefully we, as SBCers, can learn from mistakes like the Tom Hatley appointment. Leadership is crucial and getting the right leaders in place is of vital importance to our conv., as you wisely stated.

I appreciate your truthfulness, your boldness, and IMO, you are right on.
Keep up the good work."

I am of the persuasion that this convention is for our M's in the field and for the future of the cooperative program. For this reason, and this reason alone I will be voting for Frank Page. His church supports the CP and contrast between him and Dr. Floyd in this area is clear. I appreciate Dr. Floyd, his big vision, and disciplined leaders, but in the end I must go with my conscious. When you do the math - FBCS - cost the state convention of Arkansas money this year. My prayer is that in the future they will at minimum give enough to offset the benefits that they will recieve lest they be substidized by all of the smaller churches in the state.

This will be an interesting convention...my prayer is that God will be glorified and that the outcomes will show that we truly had a voice.

Outrage Towards SBC Bloggers

Since my post regarding leadership on boards and the consequences of placing such leaders as Dr. Tom Hatley on various BoTs - I have had emails and phone calls from folks outraged by my blog and other blogs. Here is an example of one email I recieved today. The sender did sign his name, but I will not include it here. My question is this - Was I viscious? Was I sub-Christian? You make the call and I will take the heat. Does the blogging community need an attitude check? Or - is there needed accountability here. Are the days over where one's public record can be hidden from those making very important appointments. I really do not care if my Arkansas political days are over - I never had them to begin with.


"Hi Tad,

I was disappointed to read your vicious criticism of Tom Hatley on a recent blog. It was the kind of thing that squanders credibility for bloggers in general and you in particular. The public recounting of your version and view of of his personal church record is sub-christian. That you don't see it addresses your ethics. You are willing to sacrifice personal ethics for the purpose at hand.

The best of blogs is the straightforward information about giving records, etc. The worst of blogs is this kind of stuff and the contortions you and your supporters go through to justify it. I read your blog occasionally for information, you do reasonably well there, but you have successfully reduced your credibility in my eyes with this stuff. And while you are not the worst of the bloggers insofars as the hypocrisy of not allowing opposing viewpoints and personal criticism, you aren't far from it. It appears that you can comfortably trash Hatley but easily work up indignation if your father is brought into the discussion.

I don't know Hatley or his church. I have only communicated with him by email on the imb business and I disagree with his handling of the matter.

Hoping for better things from you in the future."

NAMB Problems Will Cost Southern Baptists Millions

An insider reported to me that the BoT of the now infamous North American Mission Board forced three, top level, resignations before Dr. Reccord resigned his post. Each of these resignations are reported to have included nice severance packages for up to 18 months.

Did you realize that Dr. Reccord had two years on his contract that had to be bought out? If you estimate and do the math this could cost us over 1.5- 2 million dollars in CP funds when you include the double salaries that will be paid out.

To bad most of us pastors don't have buy out clauses in our contracts...wait a second, I don't thing I even have a contract.

What Happens When a Mega-Church Gives .27% to the CP?

The answer was found today at www.baptistblogger.blogspot.com:

"Many of you are already aware that Ronnie Floyd is a trustee at Guidestone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. You are probably also aware that Floyd's churches, First Baptist Springdale-Pinnacle Hills, etc, contributed a meager $32,000.00 to the Cooperative Program through the Arkansas Baptist State Convention last year. And you've probably been told about the .27% giving. But were you aware that Ronnie's church, because it participates in the Arkansas Baptist Convention, even though its a meager $32,000.00 per year, divided according to the ABC budget, that his church RECEIVED $22,000.00 last year from the Arkansas Baptist Convention in matching annuity contributions for its staff?That's right. Small churches all across the state of Arkansas are subsidizing Ronnie Floyd's retirement fund."

I mentioned in my last post that the CP issue will be key in this election. This type of stat will not help Ronnie's case.

A View Towards the SBC in Greensboro: Floyd vs. Page

Floyd vs. Page...it sounds like a classic boxing match, it sort of has a nice ring to it. The messengers to the convention or going to have a choice this year...and two good, yet distinctively different choices. I will have to say that I actually like both of these candidates...my vote at this point is 100% up in the air. This may leave some of those following my blog gasping for air, but I will explain my reasons here. Both candidates have their strengths and weaknesses, this is no secret. My position is this...I will vote for the candidate that I feel will best take the SBC in a new, progessive, cooperative, and conservative direction. I will not vote for an alternative candidate simply because he is not the "chosen one," and I will not vote for the "chosen one," simply because he has the endorsements of Patterson, Mohler, and Akin. In this post I will give my views of each candidate as I see them from my small little corner of the world.

In the red corner: Dr. Ronnie W. Floyd. He also goes by Ronnie "Winners" Floyd, "Armani" Ronnie (remember folks I am just having a little fun here) and the Spritual Life Coach.

I see Ronnie's strenghts as the following:

Incredible Visionary: God has gifted Dr. Floyd with the ability to dream big. Not only can he dream, he knows how to see the dream come to fruition. No matter what you think of this leader, you have to admire him for dreaming big. I think this is huge. As Southern Baptists we need a new vision. We don't need another baptism goal. We don't need a traditionalist. We need someone to challenge all of us to dream big for the Kingdom. I am not saying we all need to build mega-churches, but we all need to do our soveriegn king justice as we dream about the impact our churches can make on our communities and collectively in the world.

Progressive Leadership: For all of you who are tired of hearing sermons that bash anyone for not having Baptist in the name of their church - you won't hear that from Ronnie. He is progressive, he likes new ideas, and he desires for innovation to accelerate the delivery of the Gospel to a technological culture and generation.

Denominational Understanding: Ronnie understand our denomination. He is not an unknown quantity.

He Understands Cooperation: I met with Dr. Floyd yesterday and discussed the concept of cooperation. This talk specifically hit on the idea of the new IMB guildlines on baptism and pp languages. I truly believe that he does not want to see the uneccessary narrowing of parameters. I think he will make strides to bring younger leaders to the table and to encourage cross-generational leadership. Dr. Floyd is not afraid of Calvinist, and admits that hyper-calvinism is not a pervasive issue in our convention (This one is important to me and think many should think about this when considering Dr. Page vs. Dr. Floyd).

Dr. Floyd Does have one glass jaw: CP Giving. Despite all the explanations, it is still a chink in his armor. When it is all said and done, this may be the one issue that this entire election hinges upon. I will have to admit this is major for me. We did not get to this in our talk yesterday, but if the masses understand this when voting time comes it could be a major blow.


In the blue corner: Dr. Frank Page. He is also known as the TULIP Eater, and the Paginator. I see his strenghts as the following from my research:

Cooperative Program Giving: He is off the chart in CP giving as well as supporting his own church's missions program. This will be a huge strength heading into Greensboro - if the discrepency gets out, this could push the hometown hero over the top.

Tansperancy: Dr. Page was willing to answer my questions, openly, honestly, and in a timely fashion in a blog environment. This was very refreshing.

Cooperation: I also believe that he will be very strong in the area of cooperation. He has made it clear that he is agaist the new IMB policies, although he may be on some shakey ground with the Calvinists out there and his interview with the CBF run ABP may represent too much cooperation to some.

Humility: As a personal observation it seems the Frank Page is a humble man. A good dose of humilty would be a great thing for our convention

Page's Glass Jaw: I think his glass jaw is two-fold, first his anti-calvinistic book. This is personally troubling to me while so many are ranting against reformed theology. Second, visibility - there are many that simply do not know much about him. This may be overcome by his strong CP giving and the fact that the convention is in his backyard.

I am truly up in the air...neither candidate will damage our convention. If Page wins it will demonstrate the influence of the blogs and that a new cycle has hit the convention. If Floyd wins, we will see a new vision cast, and possibly a more progressive stance on various issues. He hinted to me about the possibility of a massive blogger network. This should be interesting.

I am personally in prayer about this and will make up my mind as God brings direction. This is too important to go by impulse.

Back to Blogging and SBC Bewilderment

I took one week off of blogging after I posted the interview with Dr. Page. I had staff retreat and then the holiday weekend. I had a great time not even reading any blogs and I am frantically catching up when I have bits of time to do so. I want to take a moment to thank Dr. Page for his thoughtful answers. Like most, I do not agree with every response, but there is merit is the fact that he responded. I also must admit that I am going to Greensboro with excitement and trepidation. What transipires there will give a much more accurate picture of the climate of our denomination. It should be very interesting.

I am also bewildered at the IMB BoT. I am not bewildered at the actions of Dr. Tom Hatley. His actions are of no surprize to those of us familiar with the history of Immanuel Baptist Church in Rogers, AR. I am very familiar with this church, my father pastored there for 15 years. During those 15 years the church grew to over 1500 in worship attendance and over 1000 in Sunday School. It was one of those churches where the people were great! The spirit of unity was awesome! All you have to do is look at the numbers today and it will tell you the rest of the story. Since Dr. Hatley has pastored Immanuel it has plummeted to 226 in Sunday School as reported in 2005. The average weekly attendance in worship is now 350. The church is at the same level it was in 1976, when Dale Thompson became the pastor.

As John Maxwell says, when a leaders looks behind him and no one is following, he is not really leading. As goes the leadership, so goes the organization. My bewilderment is this - we have so many great leaders in churches of all sizes. Can we not put leaders in key roles who have proven track records? We are reaping what we sow. Broaders cooperation means actually taking the time to put competent leadership in place. I will make a statement that some will not like, but it is true. Tom Hatley was put there as a yes man - to do the bidding of the power structure. This is plain and simple.

I know Dr. Hatley. He has always been very kind to me and there has never been a cross word between us. But, I know literally dozens of people, including men who have served on his staff, who can tell you some stories that will make your heads spin - just as I am sure Wade has those stories. If this convention is about anything it is about leadership. We need bold leadership on all levels, leadership that will take the time to make the right appointments. Our goal cannot be simply to broaden cooperation - we must broaden cooperation for the purpose of finding the best leadership possible for the boards and agencies that facilitate the work of the convention.