Baptist Press reports Ronnie Floyd to be SBC president nominee.
No less than Al Mohler has an endorsement in the article and will nominate him at the annual meeting in Baltimore in June.
Here are some things that can be said about this:
He is a leading pastor, megachurch pastor, highly successful pastor as we see such things. To be candid, I've got a heavy case of megachurch/megapastor fatigue syndrome. I'd really like to see the SBC get off of the celebrity pastor bandwagon. It probably will not happen.
He was nominated in 2006 and lost. At the time the only issue seemed to be his church's extremely low Cooperative Program percentage. He came to be known as "Mr. Zero Point Two Eight" which was the percentage. As I recall he said that they had a problem with the state convention. Frank Page was elected that year with a robust, double digit CP percentage.
Since 2006 Floyd's church has given heavily to the CP. The article above says that last year the church gave over $700,000. Presumably, this was routed through the state convention in the normal manner. Baptist Press is either holding something back from us or is being negligent in not reporting what percentage his church gave to the CP. Maybe later. Those who decry the low giving of megachurches to the CP should take a look at the positive change in CP giving by Floyd and his church.
His church is very heavy into church planting and planting in the SEND North America areas and NAMB's SEND North America is about the only positive thing going in the SBC these days, aside from the arduous labor overseas for the Gospel.
As best I know Ronnie Floyd is not a Calvinist, in fact, some of his stuff has been anathema to many Calvinists (Google "Ronnie Floyd" + "fire truck"). If he and his church is OK with Al Mohler, that ought to settle any problem about that.
It wasn't explicitly stated (the word "Calvinism" doesn't appear in the article or Mohler's endorsement) but this looks like a signal that we're not going to fight over the SBC president's stance on Calvinism/Traditionalism issues. This is good and comes at an opportune time.
I'm not sure that the SBC presidency means much in the big picture of things. He can mess things up with his statements but there's not a whole lot he can accomplish that I can see.
Before I decided for whom to cast my vote - if I go and if I am a messenger - I would like to see if any others will be nominated along with the CP percentage for his church.
No less than Al Mohler has an endorsement in the article and will nominate him at the annual meeting in Baltimore in June.
Here are some things that can be said about this:
He is a leading pastor, megachurch pastor, highly successful pastor as we see such things. To be candid, I've got a heavy case of megachurch/megapastor fatigue syndrome. I'd really like to see the SBC get off of the celebrity pastor bandwagon. It probably will not happen.
He was nominated in 2006 and lost. At the time the only issue seemed to be his church's extremely low Cooperative Program percentage. He came to be known as "Mr. Zero Point Two Eight" which was the percentage. As I recall he said that they had a problem with the state convention. Frank Page was elected that year with a robust, double digit CP percentage.
Since 2006 Floyd's church has given heavily to the CP. The article above says that last year the church gave over $700,000. Presumably, this was routed through the state convention in the normal manner. Baptist Press is either holding something back from us or is being negligent in not reporting what percentage his church gave to the CP. Maybe later. Those who decry the low giving of megachurches to the CP should take a look at the positive change in CP giving by Floyd and his church.
His church is very heavy into church planting and planting in the SEND North America areas and NAMB's SEND North America is about the only positive thing going in the SBC these days, aside from the arduous labor overseas for the Gospel.
As best I know Ronnie Floyd is not a Calvinist, in fact, some of his stuff has been anathema to many Calvinists (Google "Ronnie Floyd" + "fire truck"). If he and his church is OK with Al Mohler, that ought to settle any problem about that.
It wasn't explicitly stated (the word "Calvinism" doesn't appear in the article or Mohler's endorsement) but this looks like a signal that we're not going to fight over the SBC president's stance on Calvinism/Traditionalism issues. This is good and comes at an opportune time.
I'm not sure that the SBC presidency means much in the big picture of things. He can mess things up with his statements but there's not a whole lot he can accomplish that I can see.
Before I decided for whom to cast my vote - if I go and if I am a messenger - I would like to see if any others will be nominated along with the CP percentage for his church.
3 comments:
New Ministry Budget Launches October 1
We saw God do great things in the life of Cross Church this past year. It was made possible by your obedience and generosity. At our Annual Business Meeting a few weeks ago, Cross Church approved our God-sized budget for 2013-14 with a goal of $16,780,000. We all need to help meet this challenge, and as we do, we will see what God can do at Cross Church over the next year. Each time you give, you are helping further our mission of reaching Northwest Arkansas, America, and the World for Jesus Christ.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Anonymous: $700,000/$16,780,000 = Assuming last year’s budget is similar to the coming year’s budget and the giving is about the same, seems Floyd is moving toward 5%.
I've known Ronnie for many years and this is just another step in the stroking of his massive ego. But then the SBC is noted for electing men with egos beyond compare. He's always wanted to be President of the SBC so I guess his plan is coming to pass.
Is the increase in Cooperative Program giving since 2006 just a means of vote-buying in the SBC?
And for the record, I'm with you. I grew weary of the mega-church celebrity pastor carousel that the SBC presidency has become. I told Bobby Welch that the day after his election in Indianapolis in 2004 and his response was, "Who would you have to be our president?" I didn't ask for clarification, but since it came on the heals of my comment about the masses being told every two years that we should vote for the pastor of the latest, greatest mega-church, I interpreted his comment as, "You rubes who pastor small churches can't handle it."
I was glad to see a viable alternative announced this week. Hopefully, we will, once again, be spared of a Ronnie Floyd presidency.
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