Plodder visits world's oldest living person [or the SBC in 2064]

...who lives in a nursing home just a few miles away. The facility is one that I regularly visit.

Georgia woman certified as world's oldest person

Actually, I didn't visit her but another woman who attends my church. It would be rude and rather unmanageable if every rubberneck was able to accost this poor lady.

But to say that I saw the oldest living person is something special. There is no one in America, in Asia, anywhere in the world who is certifiably older that this dear 114 year-old lady.

Plodder will catch up to her in age...in the year 2064. But I'd rather not for the following reasons:

I figure in 2064 the SBC calvinists will still be whining about not being accepted in the SBC, although they will still find ways to be stealth pastoral candidates in noncalvinist churches along with winning every theological debate while alienating every lay SBCer.

The Baptist identity crowd will be upset that some pastor in the SBC dares to preach without a tie.

Megachurches, will be supermegamonster churches. Admitting to using smaller churches as feeders and robbing them of their best members and most generous givers, the megamonsters will start paying small churches for providing most of their growth. "It's a win/win situation" says Dr. Ed Young, IV, from the steps of his space shuttle.

The CBF will be down to the last three people, all CBF employees, who will be doing another revisioning for their future.

Every pastor in the SBC will have a blog and will mostly agree with himself on everything.

SBC churches will remain stubbornly autonomous, not letting anyone tell them what to do...sometimes not even Jesus.

Somewhere in the SBC someone will take a swig of beverage alcohol and thereby unleash untold anti-alcohol resolutions, motions, with appropriate apopleptic indignation.

An obscure SBC pastor in south Georgia will write a piece entitled, "Young, Southern Baptist, and Irrelevant" and will instantly be famous around the convention.

The six seminaries' student bodies will be 85% female, all of whom will be forced seek positions as unordained chaplains.

LifeWay and State Convention Sunday School folks will be in the middle of a big Sunday School growth program: "A Hundred More in 'Sixty-Four".

The Stewardship Consortium will be excited about a hot, brash, hip new consultant who will revive the Cooperative Program brand. "We think that all the body art and extensive piercings he has will give him instant credibility among our younger pastors," the Consortium head will say.

State convention executives will still be lamenting the good old days when churches gave an average of 1% to the Cooperative Program, as they continue to keep about two-thirds of every CP collar. "We're not the skunk at the picnic," leaders will say, while showing great determination to move towards a 50/50 split with SBC causes. "We're making great progress and are committed to giving an additional tenth of one percent per year to SBC causes. "We are on schedule to hit 50/50 sometime in the 24th century," they boast.

The Great Commission Repeat Revival Rebirth Recrudescence
Re-emergence Renaissance Resumption Resurrection will be the big push in the SBC. It will pass. Folks will complain about it.

Jesus will still be Lord and will be patient with SBCers.

One way NAMB gets it

A gazillion Southern Baptists with not much else to do are regular bloggers. SBC Voices boasts 500+ blogs in their listing and, as it is sometimes put, I are one of them.

I didn’t do much blog reading until about five years ago when I was intrigued by Wade Burleson's blogging about International Mission Board trustee meetings and matters. Starting with him, IMO, it seemed that blogging in the SBC was not an insignificant means of communication about convention stuff.

One of the things that was painfully evident five years ago was that the IMB and especially the IMB trustee leadership was completely inept at responding to bloggers. To many of the trustees blogging seemed to be considered an annoyance, something to be ignored or, if a blogger was heard enough to cause waves in the SBC constituency, a sin.

It's looking like some of our entities are much more sophisticated these days. Southeastern Seminary has a popular blog. I occasionally see a prof respond to something said on some of the blogs.

I get the feeling that some staff of North American Mission Board actively pays attention to what is said on the blogs. At the moment no other SBC entity is under such scrutiny and for the past five years or so no other SBC entity, except perhaps the IMB for a stretch, has come under such criticism. I have a good many articles that feature my rather close, and sometimes dysfunctional neighbor, NAMB. Their new leader, Kevin Ezell, was an easy target, nothing personal mind you, because of his non-support of NAMB prior to being elected head of the outfit.

So, is NAMB trying to manage the information coming out on the blog, or at least respond to it?

Looks like it.

Last week I wrote a piece that was tweeted with a link by someone at NAMB. I check the count on my blog occasionally and it was up one day. Turns out such was because of the attention from the tweet. Fine by me. Puts my vast readership into double figures.

I am aware of one other blogger who has been called by NAMB staff after a critical blog article. Guess I am not critical enough of them to get a low tech, personal response like a phone call, not that I'm looking for it. They could take me out to lunch, though.

Maybe Ezell learned after his intemperate criticism of bloggers a few months ago. Maybe he just has someone who knows the blogging landscape better. Whatever the reason, good for NAMB for paying attention to one slice of their constituency.

It cannot hurt them.

SBC Narcissist, Lottie Moon, and good therapy

Random Friday plods:

A local high school football team here ran up almost 600 yards rushing in a game...and lost by two TDs. Gotta be some kinda record.

My sat TV provider is in a squabble with some of the networks and has dropped some channels that I like but, no, I'm not going to take sides, I'll just drop the whole thing. I think I can live without TV. I pay more for TV than I do a couple of months a year for electricity and I'm all electric in my house.

Why isn't there more griping about GuideStone? Aren't we SBCers known for that? And, is there anything going on now that is more worthy of our complaints?

Wanted: someone honest enough to start a Baptist blog with the title of SBC Narcissist. No, I decline. 'Plodder' is sufficiently accurate for me.

We're going up on our Lottie Moon goal, and offering, this year. If not now, when would be a better time?

For the 'take back our country crowd': Looks like we are going to have another voluntary, free will, election where political power will shift. Explain to me why the Obama crowd would be unjustified in claiming the 'take back our country' line after our new representatives are sworn in next January? We had it. They had it. We will share it. Sounds so, well, democratic to me.

Not her best moment: Christine O'Donnell on 'separation of church and state'. Come on, Christine, at least be able to quote the relevant part of the first amendment.

I cannot think of an SBC blogger whom I dislike, although I can think of a few basement bound, housecoated blog commenters that I dislike.

Fishing and working on your woodpile are highly therapeutic.