Some Not-Too-Shabby Baptist Blogs and Bloggers

As a group, bloggers certainly score high on the scale of self-importance. I suppose it probably is so internalized that no blogger ever asks him/herself, “Why wouldn’t the whole galaxy want to know what I think about stuff, seeing that I am such a witty, insightful, and provocative guy?” Bloggers instead presume that the world awaits their next display of brilliance.

Indeed.

Plodder admits to a degree of that, the self-importance part, not the witty, brilliant, insightful part. OK, I own up to the provocative part.

Here are a few blogs that I enjoy reading and have found to be more than the usual tepid blogfare, annotated of course with my witty, brilliant, and provocative thoughts:

FBCJax Watchdog Tom Rich’s story about FBCJax, his banishment, lawsuit, and settlement was a prime example of how a church member, when denied any effective voice through proper church channels, can easily go public. Tom’s case just happened to be one of the more exaggerated examples of church conflict and a pastor and church’s inept response to it. Since then, Rich blogs about his version of abusive, manipulative, and misbehaving men-of-the-cloth. Sure, some may think it is just a pastor-hate site, but I encourage my colleagues to read it. They might learn something. I don’t buy all of his stuff but I read it all.

Spiritual Samurai David Montoya is the little Latino pit bull whose persistent small voice exposed one of the SBC’s largest scandals. Give a little guy with a high level of indignation a big bullhorn and see what might happen. There could be nothing better for the SBC at every level than an understanding that, ‘No, you’re not going to get away with untoward behavior and decisions, even if all the people who “count” busy back slapping, glad handing, and looking the other way.’ I don't get the samurai stuff.

SBC Voices is a group thing (six guys without a life, perhaps? Don’t they know that six is a bad number?) where a bunch of people contribute, including moi, occasionally. The blogs they feature have introduced me to a few interesting subjects and writers. The pieces written for SBCV are a mixed offering. As in the OT, I wave on a few, burn a few, and consume a few, and scratch my head over a few. I am told this is a Calvinist site but am awaiting divine judgment about that. Until then, I don't hold it against them. One of the calvinists there even has a sense of humor. Quite rare.

The Big Daddy Weave/ comes from Aaron Weaver who is a few light years to my left and a few decades below me in age. He writes well, is quite informed on church/state stuff, and hasn’t learned to trash mouth everyone who disagrees with him. He is a Georgia Bulldawg, which always helps. I don't get the Big Daddy stuff.

SBC Tomorrow. I like Peter Lumpkins. He has the finest hair in the SBC for one thing; however, he seems to generate some ire amongst the brethren. I confess to not quite understanding why. He is zeroed in on Calvinism and such things as ACTS29, et al. He writes well and thinks deeply about SBC stuff. I appreciate his stuff.

From Law to Grace is Howell Scott's blog, former lawyer, something he reminds us of about once a day, so I try and toss in a few ex post factos, certioraris, and a posterioris for him. Howell is far from being a posterior and writes widely on interesting things and I like his stuff.

I'd list other blogs I read but someone might get the idea that I don't have a life.

Surprising giving factoids from Georgia Baptist churches

Here in Georgia The Christian Index prints the giving records of all Georgia Baptist Churches, 3,556 of them, displayed in eight pages of mice type so as to cause those with even the sharpest visual acuity to strain. It makes for some interesting reading, however. The most recent report gives 2010 results and there are some interesting observations to make:

18% of GBC churches did not make a report, presumably, not filing the ACP. I would speculate that this number will rise as pastors and churches find that reporting has less value to them. I give the bigwigs credit for simplifying the ACP.

Almost one in five (19.4%) GBC churches reported no contributions to the GBC, no Cooperative Program, Lottie Moon, World Hunger, nothing. This number is up from last year when 17.6% of churches reported no contributions.

Almost one in four (24.3%) of GBC churches reported no contributions to the Cooperative Program.

Cooperative Program gifts by GBC churches were down 1.54% in 2010, about $700k total. Not too bad, I’d say.

Total giving was up, mainly because of sizable Haiti relief giving (about $1.5mil) and increased Lottie Moon ($721k) giving.

Gifts to NAMB dropped by about 4%.

I suppose that one could find some trends in some of this but I don’t have past years readily available.

I don't have a figure for the number of GBC churches that have elected to designate their CP gifts around one or more SBC agency or institution.

Since we pay for the SBC Pastor's Conference, how about an accounting of it?

My fellow Georgian, blogger friend Peter Lumpkins of SBCTomorrow blogs about something of which I was not aware - not a difficult thing to do.

SBC Pastors' Conference: Who Pays and How? by Peter Lumpkins

His article (above) of 3/14 is about the funding for the Southern Baptist Pastor’s Conference, the pre-convention affair that showcases people the SBC elite want to be elected to office. Back in the day (I attend the SBC annual meeting about once in every three years or so and haven’t been to a Pastor’s Conference in many years) the PC was helpful in the Conservative Resurgence, Adrian Rogers always having a prominent preaching slot. I enjoyed it then.

I thought that the PC was funded by the offering received from attendees, plus some sponsorships from LifeWay or other businesses that wanted some exposure to a large gathering of SBC pastors.

Peter reports that the PC receives substantial funding from the SBC Executive Committee, $150,000 annually with the PC reimbursing $50,000 of that – net funding of $100,000.

Since ordinary SBCers are paying for a good chunk of the PC through the Cooperative Program, how about a little transparency on it? Frank Page, XComm CEO, thinks the same way and the XComm, according to Peter has “this year…passed a motion which requested the Pastors' Conference reimburse a larger amount of money to the EC including a detailed accounting of the gifts and expenditures for the Pastors' Conference.”

Peter’s understanding is that “no record to date has been given to the EC for monies received/dispersed at the Pastors' Conference.”

Huh? I can think of 100,000 reasons that the Pastor’s Conference treasurer ought to send, post haste, a full accounting of their revenues and expenses, line-by-line.

If Plodder may be presumptuous enough to offer Frank Page some assistance here, how about the following:

Memo to the SBC Pastor’s Conference:

Brethren, please send me a complete accounting of revenues and expenses of the 2010 Pastor's Conference and a proposed budget for the 2011 Pastor's Conference. If I do not receive this within seven days, you get no check from the Executive Committee.

Love in Christ,
Frank Page, President
SBC Executive Committee