These Baptist gatherings are always interesting. You just have to know how to handle them. Some vignettes from the Georgia Baptist Convention meeting:
Excellent! GuideStone (at GBC Church Financial Services desk) giving out toothbrushes. That's a first.
Disappearing: Toupees. Used to abound at these things but now scarce. I saw only one and it wasn't much to behold.
Puzzling: Speaker asserted that, "Doctrine without duty is a disgrace." This is a trap for Christians, I think, but if one alliterates, one has to expect some untidiness.
Unwise: Scheduling a vote on some nominations after a stemwinder sermon. Get the nuts and bolts stuff out of the way, then preach.
Amusing: The messenger who proposed a resolution on gluttony to counterbalance the one passed on alcohol. I though that was a good time to step out for a donut.
Tiresome: Speakers who apparently never heard a cliche they were not willing to use.
Sad: Christian pulp fiction far outnumbered Bible displays at the bookstore.
Aggravating: Reading every single word of resolutions. We can spend $40+ million on a show of hands vote without reading a budget but we can't pass a boilerplate resolution without every syllable thereof being enunciated.
Inspiring: The preacher whose enthusiasm and passion vastly outweighed his shrill voice. You don't have to be Adrian Rogers after all.
Expected: Rambling, incoherent, amusing comments from the floor microphones. Well, it is sort of a large church conference anyhow.
You will not find this stuff in the convention minutes. Happy to help.
2 comments:
Umm--just because Christian pulp fiction outsells Bibles shouldn't cause alarm.
Some folks read the same copy of the Bible literally for a lifetime, but don't want to do so with a silly novel.
Kind of like saying we only need one episode of one tv show, run endlessly, as entertainment.
Maybe, but not very entertaining.
I was surprised at the stacks and stacks of Christian pulp fiction. I don't know about sales.
Consider me caught in an old codger moment. I don't understand the popularity of the genre.
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