Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The unbaptistic Kevin Ezell, Frank Page's new old giving plan, and, sigh, Wiley Drake

It's almost 2,000 miles from me to Phoenix but with herculean effort, I will comment on SBC meeting stuff anyway:

Kevin Ezell on Numbers, almost unbaptistic

What's this? An SBC leader who believes in honesty in numbers? That would be NAMB leader Kevin Ezell who said that "Biblical stewardship demands accuracy..." What's next, transparency in financial matters?

Here's a leader who has cut - cut, mind you - church plants in half with a wave of his hand, just to be honest about them; who has explained that, no, we don't exactly have over 5k NAMB missionaries.

Give the guy another trophy.

Frank Page's new, well, not so new, Giving Challenge

Now, I like Frank Page. I think he will do well but I cannot help but noting that his challenge to Southern Baptists to increase their giving to the Cooperative Program by 1 percent is the same stewardship campaign we have had for all these years that the CP has been declining: You churches just give more.

My very first exposure to a national SBC stewardship program was in 1982 when Planned Growth in Giving asked churches to increase their CP giving by one-half of one percent annually. Nothing new under the SBC sun. We need substantial change in both spending and funding formulas. Page, to his credit has cut EC spending substantially and certainly has the credibility and track record to ask churches to give more.

Southern Baptists' Village Idiot

Wiley Drake nominates himself for SBC president - gets 102 votes. What are those 101 people thinking? It would be laughable but since he is a past SBC vice president every fruitcake thing he does gets shoved at all of us. Sigh.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too bad we weren't all out there to witness the circus. Who knows, maybe even William Thornton could have been nominated for President.

I would have voted for him!

Dave Miller said...

I was under the impression that you were Wiley Drake in disguise.

William Thornton said...

He used to be a joke. After he held one of the VP spots, he became a problem and an embarrassment. The joke is on us, unfortunately.