SBC preview and predictions

Next week. Baltimore. There will be strutting. There will be stuffing. There will be puffing. There will be frivolity. There will be hand-wringing. There will be resume passing. There will be business, elections, motions, promotions and emotions.

It's the annual mobocracy called the SBC Annual Meeting. Here's my preview.

Elections

We've got a duke's mixture of candidates. One megachurch pastor. One microchurch pastor. One large church, ethnic pastor.

The first is Ronnie Floyd who lost to Frank Page back in 2006, primarily because his megachurch Cooperative Program giving was a micropercentage, 0.29. Since then, his church is giving a large amount and decent percentage, less than the average but good enough for my threshold.

The microchurch pastor is Jared Moore, PhD student, current first vice president. He is an outstanding pastor but is uninformed on many aspects of SBC work, a judgment I make from exchanges with him over the years on blogs. Needs experience, age, and smoothness. The SBC president can't do a lot to help but can easily do a little that will hurt. There is an affinity in the SBC for small church pastors but not nearly enough for a majority...and unlike last years VP election, there will be a quorum this year when the vote is held.

The ethnic pastor is Korean Dennis Kim. His large church is a mission machine. He is below the radar in the SBC, though not because of any deficiency in accomplishment.

Moore has no chance and Floyd is clearly the favorite but I would vote for Dennis Kim. I like the idea of moving away from megachurches and the oligarchy of megachurch pastors and their members that dominate important positions, trusteeships, and committees.

I'd predict a Kim victory but conventions are lightly attended these years and the middle-aged greybeards like to attend and I'd guess there are enough to elect Floyd. There's really not much the SBC president can do, or has done, or will do.

Reports

NAMB assembled a group of pastors to "assess and respond to stark patterns of decline in Southern Baptists' evangelism and baptisms." They met. Ed Stetzer threw a bunch of statistics at them. The have a report and some recommentdations.

Pastor's Task Force on SBC Evangelistic Impact and Declining Baptisms 

These are good people and this was a serious effort but the conclusion was to round up the usual suspects. Let's pray more, witness more, make disciples, try and "leverage" the next generation to do better than we have.

I expect most SBC leaders to do some handwringing over the report, same as in previous years. I don't have a solution to this but, my how we do like to lament the lack of baptisms.

Paige Patterson will be asked about his Muslim student at Southwestern Seminary. He will unless he stacks the mics with friendlies who prevent the question. He has responded with a statement already. Trustees either have the guts to address the matter or not. I cannot see much happening from the convention floor.

Russell Moore may be asked about his hires at the ERLC. The Gospel Coalition seems to have moved to the ERLC under Moore. He should be asked in particular about his new spokesperson who has acquired a reputation for brusque twitter exchanges. This isn't helpful. Richard Land, before he resigned, was perceived as just another ascerbic Republican talk show host. Moore better pay attention here.

Motions

The Executive Committee has a monumental change proposed for the SBC Constitution. They propose tweaking the messenger allocation formula. That looks fine to me. They also propose linking the SBC Constitution in regard to what constitutes "in friendly cooperation" to the Baptist Faith and Message. This part of their motion should be tabled or removed.

Motions from the floor always provide some unexpected entertainment. One never knows what an SBC messenger will come up with.

Miscellany and questions

I wonder if Frank Page will make note of the fact that the Executive Committee received more designated funds than Cooperative Program funds in the last fiscal year? We are mostly a societal giving convention at the SBC level.

Just how much did Golden Gate seminary receive for their prime acerage in Mill Valley? Should be the largest SBC real estate transaction ever. LifeWay had far more acreage at Glorieta but sold it for a buck.

Last year we had the Calvinist committee making their report. That is long forgotten and we are probably worse off in this regard than one year ago. Will someone make a splash about the Calvinists? God only knows but I'd guess that someone will.

What blogger will be elected as a VP this year?

I'd be there for the duration, brethren, but will watch from afar. Have fun.

Do you do the Annual Church Profile?

All SBC pastors know that the Southern Baptist Convention compiles   statistics with a form called the Annual Church Profile, ACP for short.

The form is administered by LifeWay with state conventions and associations cooperating. LifeWay in fact just had a meeting in Nashville for state convention "statistical representatives" a report of which was made by Baptist Press:

State ACP reps discuss data's value

The most recent version of the ACP (may be viewed here) asks for just two pages of figures along with names and addresses of various church staff and volunteer positions.

Simple, right? Absolutely. Very short and sweet.

Sweet? Not according to many.

I wrote previously on the ACP in a piece entitled, Annual Church Profile, RIP?. The ACP is not quite RIP but a growing number of churches are refusing to file it. In my article linked I noted that about 15% of Florida SBC churches are non-filers (and labeled by the FBC as "uncooperative" as well). I do not know the figure here in Georgia.

Why would any church refuse to file this?

I looked at the ACP every single year of my 30 years as a pastor and saw to it that it was filed each year. The scenario always went like this: Associations would make the request in August of their churches and then beg, plead, and cajole them into returning it by a September deadline in time for church statistics to be compiled and handed out at the associational meeting in October. At the meeting attendees would look at what the churches were doing or not doing - baptisms, giving, etc.

Nothing was reported out of the Nashville meeting about churches refusing to file the ACP but I would bet it was a subject of considerable discussion. Why do churches refuse? What can be done to make it simpler? Less objectionable?

One of the reasons for declining participation is that the ACP data from individual churches is sometimes used as a club.

Did not baptize anyone? Wham!

Did not give much through the Cooperative Program? Wham!

Did not participate in the Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon offerings? Wham, bam!

Those running for state or national SBC office, or nominated for SBC entity positions can be sure their ACP will be scrutinized. Part of the reason for the new giving category, Great Commission Giving, was to make those churches with low Cooperative Program giving percentages  and office seekers that pastor them look better.

I like figures. I like delving into statistics. And although I understand using stats as a weapon I believe churches should be cooperative and file the ACP, unless someone convinces me of the impropriety of it.

If you want to be an SBC church, well, grit your teeth and file the ACP.

Of course, churches have been known to lie to the ACP...but that's another article.

The Gospel Project...assessed

A few weeks  ago Trevin Wax, Managing Editor of TGP, noticed a comment of mine that I had not had an opportunity to read any of TGP materials and offered to send me the next quarter's materials to read.

I appreciated the offer and have had them for some time now. If it was noticed that I posted no blogs at all last week the reason was that I took the week to plow through all the adult, student, and children's Gospel Project literature.

Not really...but I do recall last Wednesday giving it a fleeting thought while catching some really nice saltwater trout at an undisclosed location on the Atlantic coast.

I scanned TGP materials a couple of weeks ago and here are my thoughts on them:

What I read looked fine. I found nothing untoward or inappropriate. I uncovered no rabid calvinists lurking between the pages. There was nothing that I would have objected to were I still a pastor and some Sunday School classes in my church were using the curriculum.

One might consider that TGP is the most scrutinized product LifeWay has ever produced with the possible exception of the controversial Genesis commentary decades ago. Thus far, all of the dedicated scrutinizers have pointed to the writers of the literature and not the writing itself.


I thought Eric Hankins' critical evaluation of the overall approach to the curriculum made some good points but no one has pointed to any 'aha' 
lessons.

LifeWay says TGP subscriptions far exceeded their estimates. They should send some of the anti-calvinist bloggers Outback gift cards for widely publicizing the literature and generating a lot of free marketing and street buzz. Priceless.

Every decade or two, seems to me, we get a new iteration of the latest, greatest, red hot new Sunday School curriculum. TGP fits the pattern. I see it as not being any more Biblical than the others that LifeWay publishes. It may fit better for some churches and pastors and some may look and say, 'No thanks.' Not that any denominational folks need a reminder, but churches and SBCers get to choose where they spend their literature dollars. Let each make their choice.

This semi-retired pastor recognizes that the most salient item about any dated literature are the writers. I predict that TGP, like the other dated curricula, will have some that are very good and some that miss the mark.

LifeWay sells stuff. They had better come up with new products and improved output or SBC churches will find what they like elsewhere.

LifeWay should ask David Hankins or another notably non-Calvinist to write a quarter's worth and see how that is received...but what do I know about selling literature to churches? 

I hope The Gospel Project has success.

Anti-calvinist SBC headquarters?

Just asking here, brethren and sistren...but is the obscure Georgia Baptist college, Truett-McConnell College now the headquarters of anti-Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention?

It certainly looks that way to this observer.

TMC is local, exactly 55.68 miles north of me, although I have never been on the campus. Maybe I will get an invitation. It is located in a lovely area.

Emir Caner is the president of the college, a Georgia Baptist Convention entity, and he has recently written a piece critical of the new LifeWay curriculum: The Gospel Project: A birdseye view from the Blue Ridge mountains.

The article was posted on the blog SBC Today which is owned by the college. TMC is a Georgia Baptist Convention institution and is in the budget for one million Cooperative Program dollars this year, dollars collected from both Calvinist and non-Calvinist GBC churches.

Certainly SBC Today can legitimately be said to be at least indirectly a GBC blog which makes for an interesting scenario whereby Calvinistic GBC churches are paying for the anti-Calvinist SBC Today blog.

Hmmm...didn't we conservatives object to paying for certain things way back when the Conservative Resurgence was under way?

One wonders if the GBC wants to be tied so closely to one side of an issue where Georgia Baptists are divided.

SBC Today has been the source of a steady stream of anti-Calvinist articles and, as best as I can tell, is the chief blogging source for anti-Calvinism in the SBC. If there is a more prominent blog doing such, I would appreciate one of my readers kindly informing me if I am uninformed and out of touch.

I check SBC Today regularly and like some of their offerings, particularly Joe McKeever's articles. I hope they don't move to all anti-Calvinism, all the time.

I am not a Calvinist and have not a few pieces critical of Calvinists and Calvinism, so don't throw that traditionalist hymnal at me brethren. I'm just asking questions here.

Will LifeWay connect this man to Glorieta? Updated

Baptist Press now has a story, LifeWay awaits study pending Glorieta sale,  based on the Christianity Today article linked below.  

The CT article makes it very difficult, in my opinion, for LifeWay to go through with this. One notes that Al Mohler and Danny Akin have very recently resigned their affiliation with Jang-related organizations. It makes it complicated that Olivet University is already renting a large chunk of Glorieta even now. What happens to all that if the sale is deep sixed?

Life is complicated for LifeWay...

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I'm five states away and have never been to what I'm told is a very nice facility - Glorieta Baptist Conference Center. You know, the one that has lost money for 24 of the last 25 years and about which LifeWay says that there's just not much demand for the stuff offered at the center.

So, LifeWay puts it on the market for sale with considerable stipulations (details and links in an earlier blog of mine here).

Sounds both reasonable and responsible to me.

The best sale prospect, the Baptist Convention of New Mexico, said the price quoted them, one dollar, was ten to twenty million dollars too high so LifeWay finds another potential buyer, a real buyer who presumably will write a real check to LifeWay - Olivet University in California, who is even now renting Glorieta facilities for about 200 students and faculty.

But it seems there is a question about theological compatibility with Olivet, sufficient for LifeWay to retain, as in spend good money, the National Association of Evangelicals "to conduct a thorough review of their theological views to determine compatibility with ours”, as a LifeWay executive put it in an Associated Baptist Press story. Baptist Press reported in July that a third party investigation was under way but did not name NAE.


Scrutiny on the potential deal may just have increased exponentially as a result of a Christianity Today article, The Second Coming Controversy, which names a Korean pastor and Olivet founder, David Jang, likely unknown to almost all Southern Baptists, as the questionable figure lurking behind the potential sale. The article, co-authored by the considerable Ted Olson, is no superficial treatment of the matter and is rather lengthy. I'm guessing that LifeWay's folks have read every syllable of it.

Jang's critics point to his involvement with the Korean religious figure and organization that most SBCers have heard of, Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church, the mere mention of which may poison the Glorieta deal. Others have declared Jang to be completely orthodox.

Some of the landed gentry at Glorieta, residents with long term land leases whom LifeWay says they will protect in any sale, are already dropping Jang's name.

One wonders, do not Southern Baptists have people of sufficient erudition and import to conduct such a study, or is a third party needed because some prominent SBCers, Al Mohler and Richard Land and formerly Jimmy Draper and LifeWay's current CEO, Thom Ranier, among others have tangential ties to some of Jang's sprawling organization?

I'm merely a curious Eastern seaboard Southern Baptist who doesn't venture west of the muddy Mississippi, much less the Pecos, who wonders if LifeWay may have roped a tornado on this deal.

I have no reason not to believe that LifeWay trustees, who exhibited some hasty skittishness in pulling the wonderful movie Blind Side from their stores (a predictor of a decision on this matter?), will make the proper decision on this and I trust that the NAE study, when completed and reviewed by LifeWay executives and trustees, will be made public.

Plodder predicts: no deal...but I'm just reading the Korean tea leaves on this. One this is for certain, LifeWay better find a way to get ahead of the publicity on this.

LifeWay, Glorieta Conference Center and old fashioned money pits

I am venturing out of my geographical area in writing about LifeWay's 'other' conference center, Glorieta Conference Center, in New Mexico. I have always wanted to take in a conference there (my wife worked there one summer and loved the place) but it was just too far.

Last year LifeWay started looking for a buyer, so I may never get the chance.

Why sell a perfectly good conference center? Here's a factoid that got my attention: LifeWay reported that "Just once in the last 25 years has Glorieta achieved financial break-even."

Ouch.

LifeWay offered the whole thing to the Baptist Convention of New Mexico for one dollar.

Deal of the century?

Not according to the BCNM who said there was tens of millions of dollars of deferred maintenance to be done and wanted LifeWay to indemnify them if they took it over.

LifeWay, understanding that they would still own a money pit, declined that.

There was a possibility of another sale that fell through. It was interesting that the sale would have included

• -- "Significant protections for individuals and churches that lease land from Glorieta for houses and conference facilities
• -- "Permission for LifeWay to continue using Glorieta for summer camps
• -- "Accommodation of use by New Mexico Baptists
• -- "Preservation of memorials associated with rooms and structures, and,
• -- "Prohibition of re-selling the facilities in the future without LifeWay's permission."

Come on LifeWay. Either sell it or make something out of it. What buyer would buy the thing with all the above stipulations?

The first stipulation in the list above, the one about "individuals and churches" leasing land from Glorieta, is interesting. I have always wondered what the arrangement was at Ridgecrest for all those on-campus houses that were owned by churches.

The Ridgecrest/Glorieta model of a centralized, dedicated conference facility fueled by national conferences is outdated, according to one of the news reports linked above. This matches my experience with Ridgecrest where summer youth conferences, my church went every year in the 1980s and early 90s, packed the place. 

LifeWay gets to operate differently than other SBC institutions and agencies, since it can raise literature prices to generate more income and is unaffected, directly that is, by any Cooperative Program revenue issues. 

I suspect that this is the only thing that has made it possible for LifeWay to pour money into Glorieta for decade after decade without too much worry. I suppose the sums just became too large to justify. 

I'd be curious to see a figure on how much money LifeWay has lost on Glorieta over the years. I read that Ridgecrest is profitable, but I'd like to see the details on that. LifeWay has put some significant money into Ridgecrest which was getting very long in the tooth.

I'd ask any of my west-of-the-Mississippi readers what they think of the whole, sad, Glorieta thing.

Annual Church Profile, RIP?

Well, no. It's not dead, just weathered with age and dying.

It is noteworthy that the Florida Baptist Convention reports that a significant number of their churches are not reporting data for the Annual Church Profile, that statistical summary of church attendance, finances, and other information.

An article in the Florida Baptist Witness reports that fully 15.6% of FBC churches have failed to provide such data "despite repeated efforts to collect the information."

To be frank, I came to look with some small degree of disdain at the ACP when the materials would show up in my church's mailbox each August or so. Nonetheless, I'd see to it that the information was provided, though in somewhat of a desultory manner. I confess that I got to the place where it seemed in some ways that the information was useful mainly for denominational statistical voyeurs and chest thumping ministerial braggarts who liked to see if anyone else was baptizing as many folks as they were.

Perhaps I was just a bit burned out on the thing.

Whatever the motivation or lack thereof, there is a general trend of churches tossing the ACP packet in the old garbage can and forgetting about it. It looks like 2011 will surpass 2010 and set a new record of low response rates.

Which raises some questions:

1. What will we do in associational meeting if we can't take the fresh statistics and see who's baptizing the most or who's not doing much? And, it has always been a part of evangelists' repertoire to declaim about how many SBC churches baptized no one last year. They will not know how many.

2. How will pastors searching for a new place of service know if a church that has their resume has enough money to pay them enough?

3. Great Commission Giving? Who would know? It would be extremely tedious, perhaps impossible, to go to each SBC entity and see what churches are giving directly to them.

I give credit to LifeWay and my state convention for simplifying the form and asking for less information the last few years but it looks like that will not be enough.

How about LifeWay offering a gift card to Outback Steakhouse for a completed form? That would guarantee full compliance, and quickly.

LifeWay's Ed Stetzer, our stat guru, said that the record low response rate...

"may be an indication that some churches no longer value their connection to the SBC, but I am guessing it is because many do not see how important the ACP is."

Stetzer further states that...

...“we measure points to what we value,” he added, “If we want SBC churches to grow, want new SBC churches to be added, want more individuals to be involved in Bible study and missions, and want churches to cooperate in Great Commission giving, we should be willing to measure our progress.”

Sorry, Ed, I'm not buying your second point. Filling out the ACP isn't much of an indication that we don't value growth or the progress of the Gospel. Let's go to Occam's Razor for this one. We're tired of it, or, reporting to denominational entities is not considered to have a lot of value. Stuff like that.


But even an 85% response rate is sufficient for adequate statistical analysis if we want to perform those but I might suggest that what we would really like to know is what certain individual churches and pastors are doing, or not doing.

Of course the gold standard is not the ACP, which may simply be made up numbers penciled in by whomever fills the form out in a church, but rather the state convention report of what money is actually received. Those represent real checks written to the Cooperative Program or to the various mission offerings. Attendance and baptisms, however, may or may not be real figures.

I'm a bit of a statistical junkie myself. I'd like to see full cooperation on the ACP though I fear that we will continue to set records for low compliance.

I'd take the Outback gift card, though, in an SBC triple-bypass heartbeat.

Pick up the phone. Call the cops.

Some time ago in a deacons' meeting, I was speaking on the subject of sexual abuse of children in churches and our church's policies on the same. The sordid subject was in the news as a result of the Roman Catholic scandals and not a few cases of SBC churches and clergy involved in such things.

While we have adopted policies in our church, nothing made the matter more clear to the deacons than when I said, "Here's what we do if someone comes to me with an accusation of sexual abuse: I pick up the phone and call the cops."

Sometimes the beloved brother pastor likes to be dramatic. Sometimes he should.

Take a look at what is happening at Penn State University. The religion of college football has its own cathedrals, altars, and revered priests which is why the alleged child sexual abuse case involving Penn State is so prominently featured in the news.

While the matter will continue to unfold, it looks like someone messed up. Hmmm, they didn't pick up the phone and call the cops.

What's the problem? It's not that the issue is obscure or hidden. It is certainly no longer a matter for closed deacons' meetings and hallway whispers around the SBC.

Every level in SBC life appears to be attuned to the issue of sexual abuse in churches and denominational life. State Conventions, the Executive Committee, LifeWay all have extensive materials for churches on their websites.

Cases involving clergy in SBC churches are regularly reported (usually by Associated Baptist Press, seldom by Baptist Press) and a number of Baptist bloggers focus on them.

In my state you cannot be involved with any camps or conferences involving kids without undergoing background checks. I feel certain that LifeWay has the same policies for Ridgecrest and Glorieta (though as this case illustrates, the checks do not eliminate all problems).

Sometimes an essential action of a pastor doesn't involve preaching, teaching, evangelism, or discipleship.

Sometimes it is simply to pick up the phone. Call the cops.

Another strange silence from Baptist Press

Updated 11/3/11: LifeWay has added a Q & A page on Sammy Nuckolls. The page answers questions about LifeWay's relationship with Nuckolls, their policy concerning speakers, and directs any Fuge attendees who think they might have been victimized to call the police who are investigating. Nothing yet from Baptist Press.
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I don't expect Baptist Press to jump on every bit of salacious information that bubbles up around the Southern Baptist Convention but their credibility is eroded when they pass on stories that are pertinent to SBCers, to the SBC's entities, and to SBC churches.

Take for example the story of the arrest in Blytheville, Arkansas last week of evangelist Sammy Nuckolls for video voyeurism.

The local Arkansas paper reported the story last Thursday: Mississippi man accused of video voyeurism.

A prominent Baptist blogger, FBCJax Watchdog, reported the story this past Saturday: SBC Lifeway's 2011 Youth Camp Pastor Sammy Nuckolls Arrested for Filming Woman Showering in Her Own Home

Associated Baptist Press reported the story yesterday: Evangelist charged with video voyeurism .

There is a virtual flood of stories (many linked here ) from news outlets and bloggers yesterday with more to come today and this week.

Baptist Press reported...well...nothing so far.

Before one accuses ABP or the Baptist blogger of gratuitous journalistic voyeurism for delving into this, consider that the evangelist was one of LifeWay's FUGE, a big youth camp, pastors and had been involved in the camps for years. He was also popular with youth events and in churches. This makes it news of interest to SBC pastors, youth ministers, and anyone concerned about the SBC's handling of sexual offenses.

LifeWay was concerned enough to immediately scrub their online sites of the evangelist's presence.

Is not this something that Baptist Press needs to report? Other news outlets are reporting that more victims are coming forward.

I like Baptist Press. I read Baptist Press. But I don't trust Baptist Press to report all matters that are newsworthy.

In this case, I look for BP to eventually get around to reporting on this, dragged kicking and screaming to do what they should have done already.

Come on, BP, you can do better than this. We can handle bad news and may even learn from it.

Beth Moore: Southern Baptists most valuable brand?

I like Beth Moore, our Southern Baptist female Christian rock star. In fact, I like her preaching better than many of the men I hear and I'd guess that my church has bought and used every product she has marketed.

IRS Form 990s, available online for charitable organizations, are sometimes interesting reading and her organization, Living Proof Ministries, reports the following on its 2009 Form 990:

Her reported compensation is modest, $207,000 for 2009.

The organization’s cash and temporary cash investments on hand are substantial, $5,483,538. I suppose that would be called sitting on a big pile of cash.

The organizations total assets (mainly cash on hand plus real estate) are $10,877,258.

Revenues, product sales and honoraria was $4,370,613 in 2009.

I’m a greedy capitalist pig and have no problem with Beth Moore or Charles Stanley or Adrian Rogers’s estate marketing their sermons (uh, 'talks' rather than sermons in Moore's case), books, or whatever but if one doesn't understand that this is big business on this level, well, that would be naïve.

People like to speak of personalities in terms of ‘brands’ (Robert Reccord, former NAMB head famously told Mary Branson, one of his employees and author of "Spending God's Money" an expose of NAMB under Reccord, that her job was to “brand him”)and I’d speculate that Beth Moore might be Southern Baptist’s most valuable brand these days.

And what would LifeWay's balance sheet look like without her?

The 'real' problem with declining Cooperative Program revenues...

This is Coke's new Freestyle dispensing machine. I go to two fast food restaurants that have it and it is a fascinating, sophisticated thing. You have a main touch screen and sub-screens for all of the main 'buttons', 125 drink choices in all.

I go for the Minute Maid Light Cherry Lemonade, or maybe the same in strawberry, raspberry, orange or fruit punch, or endless choices among Coke Zero, Dasani, Sprite, etc.

Folks like to mix the drinks and the machine sends data on what customers are mixing. Various odd customer mixes (you can fill half a cup with cherry vanilla Coke Zero and the other half with Hi-C Orange Vanilla...or thirds, fourths) have acquire nicknames. Endless possibilities.

Which brings me to SBC stuff, namely, Cooperative Program giving. Surely part of the long, steady decline is the rise of a virtually endless array of possibilities for mission funding.

We may not like it that SBC churches show no more loyalty to the SBC, NAMB, IMB, seminaries, etc. but it is part of 21st century reality in American church life.

As for me and my church, we like SBC stuff. In fact, I sometimes take church related telemarketing calls. My standard response is this, "If you aren't LifeWay or SBC, I don't have time for you. Goodbye. Click."

SBC politics and problems aside, the new Coke machine is a genuine wonder.

Just don't get behind someone who can't make up their mind...

Thom Ranier on helpful criticism

Back in February, I, uh, criticized LifeWay head Thom Ranier for his blog on criticism. I thought that he erred in saying that those who cricicized the pastor might just be lost.

Well, Ranier, has a new blog on criticism in which he says criticism can be helpful.

FIRST-PERSON: 7 lessons we can learn from critics

He doesn't allude to Plodder's brilliant criticism of his earlier blog on criticism in which I called for advice to pastors about receiving criticism...but maybe he read my piece anyhow.

I give him credit for his present article on learning from criticism.

Religious people are suckers, LifeWay's tough task, and dead dogs

Are religious people easy targets for scams? Well, yes. No, wait...YES!

LifeWay will no longer put warning labels on some of the books sold in their stores. The label read, "Read With Discernment. This book may contain thoughts, ideas, or concepts that could be considered inconsistent with historical evangelical theology. Therefore we encourage you to read it with extra discernment." Now, folks are on their own. Maybe pastors should educate their members to be discerning? LifeWay sell books. Many best sellers are trash. LifeWay wants to please their customers many of whom demand the latest, faddish 'Christian' trash. LifeWay has my sympathy for an impossible job, although Plodder finds their selling Jesus junk to be more offensive.

Happy story of the week: Euthanized Oklahoma puppy rises from dead. Give that pooch a pass on being executed, er, euthanized.

Sometimes freedom is hard: The Westboro Baptist Church and their scurillous behavior at military funerals is a First Amendment right, says the Supreme Court. Only Justice Alito dissented, saying "it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims like the petitioner," Sometime free speech brutalizes the hearer, happens to Baptist congregations all the time.