Tag Archives: Midwestern Baptist College

The Gay Problem in the IFB Church

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homosexuality_a_sin

Officially, there are no gays in the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church. Neither are  there any fornicators, adulterers, child molesters, drug users or booze drinkers. The members of an IFB church are blood-washed, saved, sanctified, children of God, and their lives are radically different from the lives of the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world.

This is the fantasy promoted from the pulpit almost every Sunday in countless IFB churches.  From their youth up, IFB church members are frequently reminded of God’s holy, righteous standard for every church member. Church members are reminded that God sees and knows everything and so does the pastor.

While the IFB pastor is not God, he is often treated like a demigod, not God but not completely human either. The pastor has a special relationship with God, and as a man CALLED by God, he has been given the responsibility of teaching church members how to live. When the pastor speaks, he is speaking on behalf of God. (and this kind of thinking is found in many Christian sects)

A person exposed to this kind of thinking and manipulation week after week will eventually think that things really are just like the pastor says they are.

Yet, for all their preaching about moral failure, moral weaknesses and failures are frequently justified, reinterpreted, or explained away. When blatant moral failures can’t be justified, reinterpreted, or explained away, the  “sinner” is called on to repent. If the “sinner” repents their moral transgressions are expunged and put as far away as the east is from the west. The Bible says in Psalm 103:11,12:

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

IFB church members are taught that they have a divine get out of jail free card. 1 John 1:9 says:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Any act, no matter how vile, no matter who it harms, can be expunged by a prayer to God asking for forgiveness. (there is little difference between the Catholic and the Baptist in this regard)

The average IFB church is made up of people who either have just had their sin slate wiped clean or who need to have their sin slate wiped clean. The pastor, who must make sure his sin slate is wiped clean before he enters the pulpit, is called by God to point out the sins of the church members. He might have surfed porn sites the night before, but as long as he confesses his sin and asks for forgiveness, he is spiritually fit to call out church members over their transgressions of a thrice-holy God’s law and the pastor’s interpretation of that law.

This is why a pastor like Jack Schaap, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Hammond Indiana, could have sex in his office with a minor, and then go preach to church members the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. A divine-do-over was only a prayer away, and I have no doubt Schaap regularly availed himself to the ever-flowing fountain of the cleansing blood of Jesus.

Years ago, I knew of a pastor who would have sex in his office most every Saturday with a woman in his church. On Sunday he would use this very same office to counsel people about their own moral failures. Hypocritical? Sure, but this sin-pray for forgiveness-sin-pray for forgiveness behavior is very much a part of the belief system of most IFB churches. It allows people to have an instantaneous blood-washed cleansing from sin.

IFB church members find themselves in a constant cycle of sinning and getting right with God. Instead of owning their behavior and culpability for what they do, they blame Satan or the flesh.  They see themselves as weak, sinful beings in constant need of God’s power, direction, and grace, and when they fail it is due to an attack by Satan or the weakness of their flesh.

We know that a certain percentage of people are naturally attracted to the same-sex. IFB churches deny this, saying that no one is born gay. In the eyes of the IFB pastor, a gay is made not born. Of course this way of thinking causes a big problem for them when one of their own professes they are gay.

Take the story of  Jonathan Nichols. Jonathan Nichols was raised in the Newark Baptist Temple in Heath ,Ohio. James Dennis, the pastor of the Baptist Temple, is my wife’s uncle. He has been pastor of the Baptist Temple for almost fifty years.(he is a graduate of the college my wife and I attended)

I have known James Dennis for thirty-seven years. He and I have had a love-hate relationship for many years. Right now it is safe to say we have a hate relationship, both of us hating what the other stands for. He has his pulpit and I have mine. Smile

The Newark Baptist Temple is a typical IFB church. It is a King James Only church that is known for what it is against. (and the list of what the church and its pastor is against is quite long)  Church members are expected to live by a certain moral code. This code includes rules about what clothing church members can wear. The Baptist Temple is known as the “no-pants allowed” church.

lccaSince the early-1970’s, the Baptist Temple has owned and operated the Licking County Christian Academy, a private K-12 Christian school. The school started as an ACE school and later morphed into a regular school with each grade having its own teachers. (most of the teachers received their training at schools like Bob Jones University and Pensacola Christian College)

Jonathan Nichols was raised up in the Newark Baptist Temple and attended Licking County Christian Academy. He was taught the IFB way of life and I am sure he made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ and was baptized. He was a member in good-standing of the Baptist Temple.

He  likely heard countless sermons about the sin of homosexuality. (and numerous other sins) Like most IFB churches, the Baptist Temple is homophobic. In their eyes, there is  sin and then there is THE SIN of HOMOSEXUALITY.  Homosexuality is a special sin that deserves regular attention. Why is this?

Since IFB churches don’t believe anyone is born with same-sex attraction, a church member saying they are gay would cause quite a problem for them. If a gay person isn’t born with same-sex attraction, how do they become gay?

IFB churches think a person becomes gay because they choose to be.They also believe that many gays were abused and molested and this why they became gay. How then, do they explain, a person like Jonathan Nichols, the son of devoted IFB church members, a young man who spent his entire life in the IFB church and Christian School?

They don’t. Like other scandals in the past, the Newark Baptist Temple tries to conceal stories like Jonathan Nichols’s story, Stories like his are not only concealed from the public but also from church members. (the internet has made it harder for IFB churches and pastors to conceal their dirty laundry)

The secretive conduct of the Newark Baptist Temple is not unique and can be found in countless IFB churches, including the churches I grew up in and pastored.

I spent my teenage years as a member of Trinity Baptist Church in Findlay, Ohio. Sexual impropriety by church leaders and church members was routinely covered up. The church choir was a hot-bed of sexual misconduct. These things were never talked about from the pulpit but everyone knew what was going on.

I saw the same conduct at Midwestern Baptist College. From teachers having affairs, to students engaging in illicit sexual activity, the College had its hands full putting out the sexual scandal fires.

Every Midwestern Baptist College dorm student knew of the homosexual teacher that lived in the dorm. He had students who lived with him, students that heterosexual dorm students thought might be homosexuals.

As as pastor, I preached against sexual sin and, like James Dennis at the Baptist Temple, I considered homosexuality to be a sin above all other sins. (IFB pastors will tell you differently, but listen to their sermons to see what  they really think) No matter how much I ranted and railed against sexual sin, church members still committed adultery and fornication.

However, when it came to homosexuality, (at the time, I thought all homosexuals were sexual predators who preyed on children) if I got wind of someone being a homosexual I immediately ran them off. Yet, for all my homophobic diligence, there were still some boys and girls raised under my preaching that turned out to be gay,

These children were exposed to hardcore hellfire and brimstone preaching that made it clear that homosexuality was an affront to God and that no homosexual would inherit eternal life. Some of these children attended the church’s private school and God’s moral standard was frequently talked about. Yet, they turned out gay.

Why? Because they were born that way. What other explanation can there be? Everything in their upbringing, both at home and church, promoted heterosexuality and condemned homosexuality. Every effort was made to make sure they turned out heterosexual. I protected them from being influenced by homosexuals and I constantly reminded them that God was the God of the heterosexual. Yet…they turned out gay.

The truth is, the IFB church movement is no different from the non-IFB public. The only difference is they live in denial over what is really going on behind closed doors. They convince themselves they are a called-out, chosen, separated, sanctified band of righteous people who live above the fray. They hate people like me because I not only know different but I dare talk about it in public.

Jonathan Nichols had to leave the IFB church to find people who would accept him as he is. Of course, by leaving, Jonathan proved:

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (I John 2:19)

You see, Jonathan being gay means he never really was a Christian, he never really was one of them. How else do they explain a son of the church now being gay, and not only being gay but being willing to tell the world about it?

IFB Preacher Ralph Wingate Jr Uses Me as a Cautionary Tale

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What follows is a sermon clip by Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastor, Ralph Wingate Jr. Wingate is the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Normal, Illinois. Wingate attended the same IFB college I did, Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan, a decade before me. He attended college with my wife’s uncle, James Dennis, pastor of Newark Baptist Temple, Heath, Ohio.

I heard Ralph Wingate Jr. preach a few times over the years. For a time, he was one of the darlings of the Midwestern Baptist College big-name preacher pool. Prior to accepting the pastorate at Calvary Baptist Church in Normal, Wingate pastored Emmanuel Baptist Church in Newington, Connecticut.

In this sermon clip, Wingate is preaching a sermon on legalism. Wingate gives two illustrations of the danger of legalism, Jack Schaap and Bruce Gerencser. Yes sir, I have spies all over America listening to sermons looking for incidents of me being used as an illustration or a warning. I have known for some time that I am being used as a cautionary tale, a warning to the faithful. One church, several years ago, even held a special prayer meeting for me, hoping that God would get ahold of me and bring me back to the fold. (their prayers failed)

Enjoy!

(requires HTML 5 or Flash)

Download audio clip (right click and save)

Link to full sermon.

Several things:

Note how the pastor connects me to Jack Schaap. The same rotten fruit produced the same rotten result. The key difference between Schaap and I? I have never had sexual relations with a sixteen year old girl in a church I pastoring. (or any other time) And, if Wingate has been reading my blog for any amount of time at all, he should know that I left the IFB church movement long before I left the ministry. Wingate makes the mistake of judging me and my theology at a particular point in time and does not account for the fact that my theology dramatically changed over the last twelve years in the ministry. (but, hey, why ruin a good sermon illustration with context)

Note how the pastor stumbles over his theology at the end of the clip. The big dilemma for pastors like Wingate is what to do with me. Wingate, the good Baptist he is, believes a person cannot fall from grace. So here is telling his congregation I was a preacher for 25 years, won people to Christ, and, oh wait, I can’t let them know he was a “real” Christian, so, if he was really saved, well, that’s between him and God. I remain a real problem for IFB preachers. They can’t deny my fruit over 25 years in the ministry, so they must find some way to invalidate my conversion and devotion to Jesus.

The easiest way is to say that I was never a Christian. Of course this presents a whole other set of problems, problems like how in the world did I deceive thousands of parishioners, dozens of pastors, and even one of his fellow classmates, James Dennis? How did I deceive Dr. Tom Malone, the president of the Midwestern Baptist College? How did I deceive my father-in-law, a graduate of Midwestern, a IFB pastor himself? How did I deceive numerous preachers, evangelists, and missionaries who preached for me?

Not one person, not ONE person, ever said of Pastor Bruce Gerencser, I have questions about whether or not he is a Christian. Either this is a conspiracy of grand proportions and I am a master deceiver, or the truth is, doctrine be damned, I once was a Christian and now I am not. (and my wife can verify how lousy I am at lying and deception)

Keep in mind,Wingate’s use of the word legalism is subterfuge. I have seen this method used time and time again. Legalism is defined as works added to salvation or a system by which works gain a person salvation. No IFB Baptist church is legalistic by this standard. Oh, they all have rules and standards BUT they ALL believe their rules and standards are derived from the Bible and that Christian people, people saved by the grace of God, should willingly WANT to live by these rules and standards, not to be saved but because they ARE saved. (I am of the opinion almost ALL Christian sects, except the most antinomian of them, preach a works salvation gospel, not unlike the Catholics they despise)

I bear Ralph Wingate Jr. no ill will. I know his theology frontwards and backwards. I know why he must preach what he does. But, here I am, defying all attempts to be “explained.”

I know some of you are dying to know how I got this clip. Can’t tell. When people send me things confidentially, I treat their correspondence with me like a Priest does the confessional. I appreciate being made aware of this sermon and I am so glad to see Christians like Ralph Wingate Jr. care.

If you would like to see the actual sermon video, you can see it on Vimeo. The above audio clip starts at around the 11 minute mark.

(video clip)

I am not THAT Kind of Independent Fundamentalist Baptist

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picture of 20th century fundamentalist Evangelist Billy Sunday

If you are not knowledgeable about the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement, please take the time to read the following posts I have written:

What is an IFB Church?

Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Lingo, A Guide to IFB Speak

The Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Church, the 20/20 Story

Independent Fundamentalist Baptists and the Secrets They Keep

A Recipe for Abuse

Salvation, Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Style

An Independent Baptist Hate List

The Legacy of Jack Hyles

One of the common objections given by my critics is that I am an athiest, and because I am an atheist my writing on the IFB should be rejected or ignored. In others words, ignore the message because the messenger isn’t one of us.

Ignore me all they want, they know I have the bona fides necessary to be an authoritative writer on the IFB church movement.

I was raised in the IFB church, saved in the IFB church, baptized in the IFB church, and called to preach in the IFB church. I attended an IFB college, Midwestern Baptist College, in the 1970’s, the heyday of the IFB church movement.

The chancellor of Midwestern Baptist College, Tom Malone,  was one of the top dogs in the IFB. During my time at Midwestern, I heard virtually every one of the big-name IFB preachers.

From 1979 to 1998, I pastored IFB churches in Ohio and Texas. I attended numerous Sword of the Lord Conferences and I regularly attended the Ohio Baptist Bible Fellowship Pastor’s Fellowship and the Buckeye Independent Baptist Fellowship.

Over the years, I attended or preached at IFB church Youth Camps. I was a guest speaker at a number of IFB churches. I started an IFB Youth Fellowship in SE Ohio. The IFB churches I pastored supported IFB missionaries.

My wife is the daughter of an IFB pastor. Her uncle is a noted leader in the IFB church movement. She has first cousins who are IFB pastors/evangelists or married to men who are. All of the men in our wedding party are/were IFB pastors.

I wrote all of the above to say, I know what I am talking about.

My recent writing on the latest sex scandal at First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana has brought thousands and thousands of new readers to this blog. My posts have been linked to on other sites and Facebook and thousands more have stopped by to read what I have written on this subject.

Some commenters on this blog and other sites have attempted to distance themselves from the Jack Schaap scandal by suggesting that while they are proudly IFB, they are NOT IFB like Jack Schaap.

While I fully understand why IFB pastors and parishioners would want to distance themselves from Jack Schaap and First Baptist Church in Hammond, I think they “doth protest to much.”

What makes a church an IFB church? In a previous post titled, What is an IFB church?, I wrote:

I stands for Independent

The  local, visible Church is an independent body of believers who are not associated or affiliated with any denomination. The pastor answers only to God, and to a lesser degree the Church. The Church answers to no one but God. Most IFB churches oppose any form of government involvement or intrusion into its affairs.

F stands for Fundamentalist

The independent Church is fundamentalist in its doctrine and practice. IFB churches are social and theological fundamentalists. Social fundamentalists adhere to an external code of conduct. Often this code of conduct is called Church standards. The Bible, or should I say the pastor’s interpretation of the Bible, is the rule by which church members are expected to live. IFB churches spend a significant amount of time preaching and teaching about how God the pastor expects people to live.

IFB churches are also theological fundamentalists.  They adhere to a certain and specific theological standard, a standard by which all other Christians and denominations are judged. Every IFB pastor and church believes things like:

  • The inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy of the Bible
  • The sinfulness, depravity of man
  • The deity of Christ
  • The virgin birth of Christ
  • The blood atonement of Christ for man’s sin
  • The resurrection of Christ from the dead
  • The second coming of Christ
  • Separation from the world
  • Salvation from sin is by and through Christ alone
  • Personal responsibility to share the gospel with sinners
  • Heaven and hell are literal places
  • Hierarchal authority (God, Jesus, church, pastor, husband, wife)
  • Autonomy and independence of the local church

I am sure other doctrines could be added to this list but the list above is a concise list of ALL things an IFB church and pastor must believe to be considered an IFB church.

B stands for Baptist

IFB churches are Baptist Churches adhering to the ecclesiology and theology mentioned above.  Some IFB churches are landmark Baptists or Baptist briders. They believe the Baptist church is the true church and all other churches are false churches. John the Baptist baptized Jesus, which made him a Baptist and the first churches established by the Baptist apostles were Baptist churches. Churches like this go to great lengths to prove their Baptist lineage which dates all the way back to John the Baptist, Jesus and the Apostles.

Other IFB churches and pastors believe that Baptist ecclesiology and theology are what the Bible clearly teaches. They grudgingly admit that other denominations “might” be Christian too but they are quick to say why be a part of a bastardized form of Christianity when you can have the real deal.

Some Southern Baptist churches can be rightly labeled IFB churches. They are Southern Baptist in name only. It is not uncommon for an IFB pastor to pastor a Southern Baptist church with the intent of pulling them out of the Southern Baptist convention.  It is not uncommon for Southern Baptist churches to reject resumes from pastors with a IFB background. Area missionaries warn churches about pernicious IFB pastors who desire to take over churches and pull the churches out of the convention.

When IFB churches fight among themselves, they usually fight over:

  • Bible translations
  • Ecclesiastical separation (secondary separation)
  • Personal standards of separation
  • Preacher personalities
  • Music styles
  • Soteriological and Eschatological differences

IFB churches all generally believe the same things and tend to fight among themselves over the small differences they have with each other. Remember this is a movement known for what it is against rather than what it is for.

IFB churches are generally subdivided according to the IFB college the church and/or pastor is associated with. They tend to fellowship with their own kind but they do often join together for conferences, revival meetings, and fellowships.

The IFB is subdivided around the following colleges (this is not an exhaustive list)

  • Bob Jones University
  • Pensacola Christian College
  • Hyles-Anderson College
  • Midwestern Baptist College
  • Maranatha Baptist Bible College
  • Baptist Bible College
  • Tennessee Temple
  • Massillon Baptist College
  • Heartland Baptist Bible College
  • Landmark Baptist College
  • Arlington Baptist College
  • Fairhaven Baptist College
  • Crown College of the Bible
  • West Coast Baptist College
  • Faith Baptist Bible College
  • Ambassador Baptist College
  • Trinity Baptist College
  • Cedarville University
  • Northland Baptist Bible College
  • Texas Baptist College
  • The Masters College

All of these colleges teach Bible literalism and believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of God. Most of them are unaccredited.

There are several “denominations” that are aggregates of IFB churches (again, not exhaustive):

  • The General Association of Regular Baptists (GARBC)
  • Conservative Baptist Association
  • The Baptist Bible Fellowship
  • Independent Fundamentalist Churches of America
  • Reformed Baptist Fellowship
  • Association of Reformed Baptists

Within the Southern Baptist Convention, American Baptist Convention, General Baptist Convention, and National Baptist Convention there are thousands of churches that could be described doctrinally as IFB churches.

Then you have the Independent IFB churches. (yes, I know that sounds like an oxymoron but it is not) These churches and pastors who are fiercely independent. Many of them are Calvinistic, Reformed, Sovereign Grace, or Primitive Baptist churches.

There are numerous IFB churches not affiliated with any college, fellowship, or denomination. These churches tend to keep to themselves or fellowship with a few likeminded churches.

IFB churches are everywhere. For decades they flew under the radar but in recent years sexual and financial scandals have turned the spotlight on them and they don’t like it one bit.

This is why IFB churches and pastors try to distance themselves from erring churches and pastors.  They fear getting tarred with the same brush or they fear that the light might be shown on their own aberrant beliefs and practices.

Less than two days after the Jack Schaap scandal was made public, Schaap’s name, sermons, and the like, were scoured from websites. This is the way the IFB church movement handles its scandals…they wave the magic eraser wand and everything is right again.

Except that it is not right at all. Until the IFB church movement changes its doctrine and ecclesiology these abuses continue. As long as they continue to spiritually abuse people and demean and debase them through “hard preaching” these kind of scandals will continue. As long as pastors are considered demigods they will continue to use their absolute power and control of the church to squash dissent, run off those who oppose them, and mentally, emotionally, and spiritually abuse those who call them “pastor.” Until the cancerous head is cut of there is no hope of a cure for the IFB church movement.

The  denial of basic human sexuality will continue to breed “moral” failure among IFB pastors, evangelists, college professors, and parishioners. Continuing to teach people to “deny self” will only result in excessive behavior and acting out.

I am often asked, is the IFB church movement a cult? Some churches are indeed cults. However, most IFB churches are not cults in the classic sense. They have “cultic” tendencies and these tendencies are troubling.

I can not in good conscience recommend that a person attend an IFB church. I know and have seen too much to ever recommend an IFB church to anyone.  I think IFB churches hurt people mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  The danger of abuse is quite high and there are better alternatives for those needing a “connection” with God.

The IFB church movement is dying…that’s the good news. The bad news is that they are dying a very slow death and until they finally kick the bucket they will continue hurt countless people.

I hope this blog can be a help in pointing people to a better way, be it joining up with a progressive/liberal church or joining the ranks of the godless.

Salvation Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Style

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Dr. Bob Gray, retired pastor of Longview Baptist Temple, Longview, Texas travels across America winning souls for Jesus. Every week he reports on his website his exploits for Jesus. Gray is the Über-Soul Winner of the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) Church movement. He is a consummate bean counter. I have no doubt he knows exactly how many souls he has won to Christ over his 40 years in the ministry.

Last Sunday, Gray was in Florida for two days to help Dr. Ken Pledger, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Middleburg, Florida, celebrate his 26th anniversary pastoring the church. Pledger, I believe, attended Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan, the same IFB school I attended in the 1970’s.

Dr. (1) Gray preached at Calvary Baptist Church and of course while he was in the area he worked his soul winning magic. Gray tells an interesting and revealing story about going out to eat with Dr. Russell Anderson, (2) the Anderson in the college named Hyles Anderson.

Gray reports:

Dr. Pledger, Dr. Anderson, and myself went to a Cracker Barrel to eat supper that Saturday night.  Dr. Anderson started joking with the waiter who was 19 or 20.  He told the young man that he carried his priest with him where ever he went so he could get his sins forgiven the minute he sinned.  I was wearing a black pull over and Dr. Anderson pointed to me and said here is my priest.  He told the young man, “By the way we are having a two for one sale on forgiveness of sins and you need to take advantage of this offer tonight!”   The waiter took our order and went on his way.  

He returned with our food and before he walked away he looked at me and said, “Please don’t forget to remind me of that offer to get my sins forgiven.”  I said, “Ok!”  He left and we ate.  He came back and said it again.  We thought he was going along with the joking.  He returned to clear off the table and asked me again to not forget.  I told him to clear the table and then I would show him how to have all of his sins forgiven.  

In a few minutes he came back and I showed him Scriptures on how to have all of his sins whether past, present, or future completely paid for.  He bowed his head and trusted Christ to pay for his sins.  This young man was dead serious with something that started out as joking around.

Gray reports that 103 people were saved and 31 people were baptized while he was there.

Here is what I know. Of the 103 that were “saved” IFB style, most of them will not be in church a month or year from now. The reason is simple. Men like Gray, Russell Anderson, and Ken Pledger, and Bruce Gerencser (3) when he was an IFB pastor, reduce salvation to a sales pitch to be bought or rejected.  It is a complete prostitution and corruption of what the Christian NT teaches about salvation.

Notes:

1. Did you notice that Gray, Russell, and Pledger are all doctors? Except that they aren’t. IFB colleges love to crown their superstars with honorary doctorates. Almost all IFB pastors that have Dr. in front of their name have an honorary doctorate or a doctorate “earned” from a diploma mill.  And believe me, most of them expect to be called Dr.

2.  Russell Anderson came to Trinity Baptist Church in Findlay, Ohio to preach in the early 1970’s when I was a teenager. I was sitting in the far back of the auditorium while Anderson was preaching. I was doing what teens typically do in church….goofing around with my friends. Anderson noticed my inattentiveness and called me out publicly. He then instructed one of the deacons (Mr. Ashcroft I believe) to come sit with me. “One of you deacons go sit with Red there so he will behave!” Guess how many “Reds” there where in the church? You got it. Me. Boy was I embarrassed and my friends never let me hear the end of it.

3.  I believed and practiced IFB soteriology (doctrine of salvation) until 1988. I came to see that IFB soteriology, the soteriology of  Jack Hyles, Tom Malone, the Sword of the Lord  to name a few, was a corruption of what the Bible taught about salvation. After my break with the IFB, I was labeled a preacher of works salvation or Lordship salvation.  Dr. Curtis Hutson, then Editor of the Sword of the Lord, told me I was preaching a works gospel, a false gospel. He and I had tangled over his secret rewriting of a salvation tract written by Dr. John R. Rice. Rice. In rewriting Rice’s tract, What Must I do to be Saved?, Hutson totally changed what Rice believed about the doctrine of repentance.

The Fundy World Tales Part 14

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This entry is part 14 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

Three of our four buses, painted International Harvester Red/Cream

The late 1980’s were a time of explosive growth for the Somerset Baptist Church. I was able to live the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastor’s dream….a GROWING church. It was drilled into me from my teenage years right on through my time at Midwestern Baptist College that the sure sign of  success and God ‘s favor is a growing church.

The reasons the church grew are many.

During the late 1980’s  Cornerstone Baptist Church in New Lexington, Ohio and Uniontown Baptist Church in Fultonham, Ohio (both IFB churches) had church splits. Somerset Baptist Church gained 60 members from these two churches.

It is quite common for IFB churches to poach one another’s members. I took the approach that a pastor can’t feed people who don’t want fed so they might as go somewhere where they can be fed. (of course Somerset Baptist Church was THE church to attend)

I learned a hard lesson as a result of taking in the refugees from Cornerstone and Uniontown. Every one of them had baggage they brought with them when they came to our church. The problems they had at their previous church became problems at their new church. Over the course of three years ALL of the people from Cornerstone and Uniontown left our church and went to other Baptist churches or returned to the churches they came from.

While the Cornerstone and Uniontown refugees were members of our church they helped in the various church ministries, tithed and generally supported what the church was doing. In the end they had conflicts with me, just like they had with their previous pastor and I proved to be just as  trenchant  as the pastor they left. In they came and out they went. (and I don’t necessarily fault them for leaving)

Somerset Baptist Church operated a bus ministry consisting of four buses that traveled all over Perry, Muskingum and Fairfield County picking up riders.  Several of the buses picked up riders 30 miles away from the church. We were very aggressive in our bus ministry outreach.   We operated the buses for seven years and over the course of that seven years thousands of children and adults rode the buses.

We also had a street ministry, a junior church ministry, youth ministry, and Sunday school. All of the church ministries were geared towards getting people saved. We were aggressively evangelistic and over the course of eleven years we knocked on thousands of doors, inviting people to church and witnessing to them about the good news of the gospel. (we were as aggressive as the JW’s)

Why did people came to the Somerset Baptist Church?  The reasons are several:

  • There was a sense of busy-ness and excitement every time we met for worship. Our church was THE place to be.
  • The services were well-planned, complete with great music.
  • The preaching was considered by many to be well above average. My preaching was engaging and always challenged people to make a decision. There was no place for neutrality.
  • I was a winsome, personable pastor. I regularly visited the home of EVERY member. This took up a lot of my time but I believed, and I still do believe, that it was vitally important for me to get to know every person that I pastored.
  • At the time I would have given all the credit to God and the Holy Spirit. I now see that the credit should go to those who worked day and night to make the Somerset Baptist Church what it was. If “we” didn’t do it it wasn’t going to happen.

The Somerset Baptist Church was like one, big, happy, yet quite dysfunctional family. We loved, hated, ate, lived, got sick, and died together.  Rarely was there a week when there was not a conflict at the church or families upset with each other. I spent more time than I cared to soothing the hurt feelings of people or refereeing disagreements between church members.  I naively believed that I could make everyone happy and that everyone should get along with each other. By the time the 1990’s came I lost my naivety and I stopped trying to keep everyone happy. By the time I pastored my last church in 2003 I no longer was willing to fight with church members and  I warned the last church I pastored that I was not a fighter any more. Evidently, they didn’t think I was serious, and when several members raised a ruckus and wanted to fight I declined to fight and left the church. (and in retrospect this was an arrogant, foolish decision on my part)

Stay tuned. I have much more to share about my time at Somerset Baptist Church.

Our little girls on the front pew of the church.

Independent Fundamentalist Baptists and The Secrets They Keep

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This entry is part 8 of 10 in the seriesChurches That Abuse

(Note: I use words like sin in this article for the benefit of readers who are Christians. Sin is a religious construct that I  reject. There are good and bad behaviors and  good or bad is determined by how the behavior affects others. I want to ensure this article is widely read so I use some words that in normal circumstances I would not use. I hope my non-Christian readers will understand my intent)

Independent Fundamentalist Baptists (IFB) pride themselves in being bold proclaimers of the truth.  IFB preachers are known for their fire and brimstone sermons, sermons that name names and call sin sin.

As a long time IFB pastor, I know the movement well. I know its outward persona and I know its secrets. In mob-style fashion, I know where there bodies are buried.

The IFB church movement is built upon the personalities of preachers and fundamentalist colleges. IFB preachers and their churches gravitate towards certain colleges and certain preachers of notoriety. Preachers who have arrived, arrived meaning have a big church or college, are revered as gods. Go to any IFB conference and listen to the speaker introductions. If you didn’t know any better you would think one of the most famous, most renowned speakers in the world, was going to speak. Remember this is a movement where its preachers think becoming President of the United States would be a step down for them.

Outwardly, IFB preachers and their churches, give the appearance of letting it all hang out. Let the chips fall where they may. IFB preachers are known for their fearless, stepping on toes preaching. Yet, when it comes to the sins of its leaders or sins that could hurt the ministry of the church or educational institution, all of a sudden these same fearless preachers become mute. All of a sudden calling out sin and naming names is considered causing division and strife and condemned as a sin against God. It is one thing to call out the sexual sin of Joe-Blow Church member but altogether something different to call out sin of the IFB superstars.

IFB churches are generally ruled by one man, the pastor. Some churches have a plurality of elders, but even then one elder is THE head elder, teaching pastor, etc. Some IFB churches have a deacon board, but in most cases the pastor is the head of the board and has the final say on matters.

When power is consolidated in one man or a few men (note women have NO power in the IFB church outside of the nursery or kitchen) it is inevitable that abuse will occur.  I am not suggesting that that these men are deliberately abusive but the ecclesiastical structure of IFB churches lends itself to abuse.

A hallmark of success in the IFB church is longevity. IFB colleges encourage young preachers to go to a church and never leave. It is not uncommon for pastors to have long tenures, stretching 30-50 years. I know numerous pastors who have been at their church for over 25 years. My wife’s uncle, James Dennis, has been pastor of the Newark Baptist Temple for over 40 years. Pastor Dennis had a good role model to follow. The chancellor of the college he attended, Midwestern Baptist College, pastored Emmanuel Baptist Church in Pontiac, Michigan for over 50 years. There are numerous Midwestern graduates that have spent their entire adult life pastoring one church.

With longevity comes increased power.  Over time the pastor gains the respect of the congregation. If he happened to start the church he even has more power. He is the alpha of the church, the beginning of all things. With good intentions, long tenured pastors exercise the power they have, but over time arrogance and corruption seeps in, and the church, instead of being a New Testament body of believers worshipping Jesus, becomes Pastor So and So’s church.

This corruption of the church becomes entrenched further when the long-tenured pastor retires or dies and his son or son-in-law is made pastor. Like the English throne, the power is passed on and the control continues. Some IFB churches have been around long enough that we are now seeing grandsons following in Father and Grandfather Preacher’s steps. (Bob Jones University is case in point)

Now to the point of all that I have shared so far.

The Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church movement has a lot of secrets. While IFB preachers love to rail on the Catholic Church and its abuse scandal, the IFB church has its own scandals. As I have said many times, Catholic priests seem to like boys,young men. IFB preachers seem to like young girls and married women. Different strokes for different perverts.

The level of sexual scandal and infidelity within the IFB church and its preachers  is astounding. Child abuse, spousal abuse, perversion, theft, and misappropriation of funds is widespread. Take at look at the Freedom From Religion Foundation Black Collar Crime feature in their monthly newsletter, the Stop Baptist Predators website, Christa Brown’s blog, or the Conservative Babylon blog, and you will quickly see that abhorrent behavior is quite widespread.

Add to this the plethora of organizations, blogs, and groups devoted to the survivors of IFB group homes, camps, and ranches and there is no other conclusion that one can come to other than that there is a huge stench coming from the putrefying bowels of the IFB church movement. (please see my collection of posts under Churches that Abuse)

Some days I think their days are numbered. Thanks to the internet, activist bloggers, and investigative reporters, their evil works of darkness are being brought to the light of day, and in some cases brought to the light of the  State and Federal Judicial system.

And then I will get an email from a person who has been abused. Or I will get an email from someone asking for advice about what do about this or that scandal that is going on in their church. I often weep as I read their emails. Such pain….

I try to help people as much as I can. As I told one dear person the other day when asked if I knew of a church they could attend, I would look for the most liberal church I could stand and attend there. I would NOT attend any church where power and control is held my one man or a small group of men.

Of course I could evangelize for atheism but that is not my goal. I genuinely want to help people and I know that anything I can do to help people see that fundamentalism is THE problem, is a huge step in the right direction. I know that most people will have some form or the other of belief in God. The best way to help them to encourage them to seek of  religious groups or beliefs that are not abusive and controlling.

I want to be clear here…….I don’t think that most IFB pastors or the churches they pastor are evil. I know some people want, even demand, the narrow, defined, certainty that IFB churches offer. However, due to their ecclesiastical structure and Bible literalism the probability of abuse, misuse and control is quite high. Unless these churches are willing to make systemic changes I can not recommend that ANYONE become a member of an IFB church. (and I certainly wouldn’t recommend sending someone to an IFB college like Bob Jones University, Pensacola Christian College, Hyles Anderson College, and the like)

IFB pastors and churches have secrets because they believe that the most important thing is to protect the testimony (reputation) of the church. They will often say they are protecting the name of Jesus but make no mistake about it, the name being protected in the pastor’s name and the church’s name.

Instead of naming names and calling sin sin, they become quite pragmatic. Instead of doing what is best for everyone involved they do what will best preserve the institution and its name in the community.

Result? Terrible sins are hidden, swept under the rug.  Sometimes, theology gets in the way of proper action. Since Jesus forgives us of our sin, we should forgive others. Since the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, every sin, no matter the act, should be forgiven and the sinner given a clean slate.

I know of more than a few pastors who oppose criminal background checks for people who work with children in the church. They oppose this on the grounds of what is in the past is in the past and the blood of Jesus covers past sins. Never mind the fact that some sins and behaviors are so entrenched that all the Jesus blood in the world won’t deliver the person from their proclivities. Sexual predators, child molesters, pedophiles, and the like aren’t cured or delivered. They will have these dispositions throughout their life and it is naïve to ignore this.

It is one thing to allow a sinner saved by grace to sit in the pew and worship God. It is another thing to grant them access to the children and teenagers of the church. Why are IFB pastors and churches so blind to this? Imagine the church treasurer being caught stealing money. It is all well and good to forgive the person, but would it be prudent to allow the person to be the church treasurer again? Of course not. Why is it then, when it comes to sins that carry a greater social, physical, and mental price, sins like child abuse, sexual abuse, and pedophilia, do IFB pastors and churches think that, with time, all is forgiven and the offender should be given unrestricted access to the children and teens of the church?

I know of one case where a man was caught in a sexually compromising position with a male youth on one of the church’s bus routes.  The whole matter was quietly dealt with and no one was the wiser. Over time the offender was allowed back into “ministry” and 20 years after the first incident was caught sodomizing a teenage boy. This time the pastor couldn’t sweep the incident under the rug and the man was arrested and prosecuted. He and and his family were banned from the church and were put under the care of another area IFB church.

The pastor bears the burden of these acts because he acted irresponsibly when the first act was committed. Such actions should never be hidden or kept from the church body. Full disclosure is absolutely required, even if it means ruining the ministry of the church and its name in the community.

Over the years I have watched church after church where sinful acts by pastors, evangelists, missionaries, deacons, Sunday school teachers, and Christian school leaders and teachers, are hidden from the light of day. Sometimes, the offender quietly moves on to another “ministry” or church, taking their proclivities with them. (in the case of David Hyles we know how disastrous such an approach is)

I know of a number of pastors, evangelists and missionaries who have benefitted from the “protecting the ministry” notion. Instead of facing the consequences of their behavior they resign and go to another church. Since the IFB is an amalgamation of loosely affiliated churches, as is the Southern Baptist Convention, child abusers, pedophiles, perverts, adulterers, fornicators, and abusers and misusers people, are free to slink out of town in the dark of night only to set up shop again 5 states away. (fortunately the internet is making this practice much harder to pull off)

I am often asked how much do I think church members should be told about this or that. One word! EVERYTHING! Full disclosure. There is no place for secrecy in the church. Pastors and church boards need to stop deciding what information church members should be given. Adult church members have a right to know what is going on in their church.

Of course, the problem here is that in the IFB church movement the church is the PASTORS rather than the membership. The pastor is the one person who decides what will be revealed and what will be buried. I know of several churches where when pastors are asked about this or that rumor or scandal they tell the church member, You need to trust me. It is better if I don’t tell you anything. This, of course, is the problem. Like Ronald Reagan’s approach to Russia, I think the right approach is, trust but verify. Yes, in most cases pastors should be trusted, but that trust is only merited when matters of importance are not secreted away or buried.

The IFB church movement has over the years shoved so many things under the rug that the rug is exploding above the roof of the church. It’s time for a complete and full disclosure of the secret sins that have long been buried under the guise of protecting the ministry. People have a right to know. Parents have a right to know whether or not their child is safe in the nursery, Sunday school, or youth group. Criminal background checks must be an annual requirement. Churches have a right to know about the pastor’s past, what he did at his last church, or five churches ago. No pastor should be able to slink out of town with the assurance that his sin will never be revealed. Once a predator, always a predator, and it is unconscionable to allow a pastor to go down the road to a new church and prey on unknowing church members.

Let me finish with this. I know a some fine IFB pastors and churches. As an atheist, I have no love for their beliefs. That said, many of these men are good, honorable men. They have a genuine love for people. They sincerely believe what they believe and they want to help others spiritually. Some IFB churches are free from the things I mention in this post. Good for them. I hope they will consider what I write here and make changes in their ecclesiastical structure. The only way to correct the abuse is to take the power and control out of the hands of the pastor or a small group of men. I know this means disobeying what you think is a clear teaching of the Bible. Ask yourself, what’s more important? Your interpretation of the Bible or the welfare of the church body?

To the serial abusers I know, those men who have screwed their away across America, I hope your days are few. I hope you get caught and I hope some church will not let you continue your pernicious behavior. To those men who are strangling the life out of their church by asserting their kingly right of pastoral authority, I hope your power is ripped from you and, like Nebuchadnezzar I hope you will learn you are but, a frail, feeble human.

The Fundy World Tales Part 10

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This entry is part 10 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

After our sophomore year at Midwestern Baptist College, my fiancé and I were married at the Newark Baptist Temple in Heath, Ohio.  After our honeymoon at the French Lick Hotel, French Lick, Indiana we returned to our apartment in Pontiac, Michigan. We enrolled in fall semester classes at Midwestern.

In late August or early September of 1979 Polly informed me that she thought she was pregnant. We had been married all of six weeks.  Back at my wife’s home Church the gossip mill ran wild.  The gossips were quite certain that Polly was pregnant BEFORE we were married. Nothing brings more glee to gossips than a preacher’s kid getting knocked up before marriage. (it makes them feel better about their own sexual escapades)  Fortunately our first child was full term, born 7 weeks before we celebrated out first wedding anniversary.

I changed jobs several times during the first few months of marriage. I had a difficult time finding work that would pay enough to support two college students and a child on the way. In late 1978 I was laid off and we began to have serious financial troubles.

I made an appointment to talk to Levy Corey. Corey worked for the College and was my homiletics teacher. I consider him one of the best preachers I have ever heard. I vividly remember his first lesson in homiletics class. “Forget everything they taught you in speech class!”

I told Levy Corey about the financial troubles we were having.  I told him we were going to have to drop out of college for a semester in hopes of getting our finances in order. He told me, “It is the will of God for you and Polly to stay in school. God will provide. If necessary borrow the money to stay in school.”

This was the worst advice to give to struggling college students. God didn’t provide but Beneficial Finance did. We borrowed money we could not repay. We were not very responsible with money to start with and being encouraged to borrow money was not what we needed to hear.

Even with borrowing money we could not keep our head above water, and in February 1978 we withdrew from Midwestern Baptist College and moved back to my home town, Bryan Ohio.

Before we left Pontiac several friends of ours took it upon themselves to come to our home and preach to us about leaving Midwestern.  They informed us that it was not the will of God for us to leave college and God would never use us if we left. The founder of Midwestern College, Dr. Tom Malone, hated quitters. He hammered us in chapel about never quitting. NEVER QUIT!  We were quitters, the lowest of the low.

Ironically, several our our friends who prophesied against went on to graduate but never served a day in the ministry. We spent over 25 years in the ministry. (yes that is a smug “take that’ poke)    In the early mid-1980’s at a Preacher’s conference,Dr. Malone publically said of me, “Bruce left college before we ruined him.”  I appreciated his words.

Polly and I packed up a small u-haul trailer, hitched it to our mid-1960’s Chevrolet Impala, and moved 2 1/2  hours southwest to Bryan, Ohio.  We moved in with my sister and her husband and a month later we rented a duplex on Hamilton St.

I was asked by Pastor Jay Stuckey, pastor of Montpelier Baptist Church in Montpelier, Ohio, to be the church’s bus pastor. I gladly accepted this unpaid position.

In the  next Fundy World Tales  I plan to write about out time at the Montpelier Baptist Church.

Feet of Clay, No Your Pastor Can’t Walk on Water

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Over the course of my lifetime I have met  scores of pastors, evangelists, missionaries, and church leaders. Some of them were the superstars of Christianity and others were nobodies who labored week after week in obscurity. The nobodies longingly gazed at the superstars with a sanctified covetousness, desiring to have the superstar’s power and status. (this was also called pleading for God’s blessing)

The superstars of Christianity are no different than superstars in sports, the media, or Hollywood. As their stature grows they gain a following and as their following grows so does their fame. Of course, along with fame comes wealth. Look at the big name TV preachers. Almost all of them are multimillionaires. After all, superstars are WORTH more money. (no matter how many times we are shown that this isn’t true we still tend to believe it. 20 million a year to play baseball. Really?)

With superstar status comes a perceived invincibility. If you dare say or write anything negative about one the the superstars of Christianity you likely will face the wrath of their devoted followers; followers who are blind to their idols feet of clay.

Are the superstars morally, ethically, or spiritually superior to the nobodies? Are the superstars cut from a different cloth, a better kind of human being? Of course not.

We are all feeble and frail creatures. We are all prone to our own excesses and delusions.  With or without Jesus each of us is the same. Oh, we come in different shapes, sizes, and abilities but in the still of the night all us hear the quiet beating of our heart and are reminded of the commonness of us all.

Sometimes superstars forget all of this. They start to believe the excited utterances of their followers. They start to believe their own press clippings. Maybe God really has given me a special anointing, the superstars thinks. After all, the Bible is filled with stories about God’s superstars, men and women who did great exploits in the name of God. The superstar thinks, Maybe I am a modern day David or Paul.

True, but let’s not forget, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. Yes, David was a man after God’s own heart but he was also an adulterous murderer. Paul formerly named Saul, the man who singlehandedly raised up the Christian church in the first century, was a temperamental man who bickered with and split from those who disagreed with him. Look at Peter…what a contrast between the Peter of faith and the faithless Peter. (I always loved Peter, reminded me of myself, a person on contradiction)

The Christian superstars focus on the good side of men like David, Paul, and Peter. They arrogantly ignore the bad side of these men. Focus on the positive, forget the negative, they say.

Then one day the news comes. Superstar So and So has fallen into sin. They have stolen money, committed adultery, etc. All of the sudden the superstar looks just like everyone else. Frail. Feeble. Broken. (unless they deny the things they are accused of) What is clear for all who are willing to see….the superstars have feet of clay.

I grew up in, was trained in, and pastored in Baptist Fundamentalism. Superstars were quite common in the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) Church movement. Men like Jack Hyles, John R Rice, Curtis Hutson, Bob Gray, Bob Jones Sr, Bob Jones Jr, Tom Malone, GB Vick, AV Henderson, Jerry Falwell,John Rawlings,BR Lakin, Peter Ruckman, Dallas Billington, Charles Billington, Harold Henniger,  Billy Graham (in his early days) and a host of other men. (I heard all but one the above men preach)

All of these men were preachers of great status and power. Most of them pastored large churches and thousands would flock to hear them preach, not only on Sunday but also during the week at conferences and special meetings. They were in such demand that they could have  preach every day of the year and twice on Sunday.

These men were above criticism. Since they had done great things for God, since the largeness of their church proved God’s favor, the nobodies were expressly forbidden from saying anything negative about the superstars. How dare they criticize God’s anointed prophets?

Almost all of the above mentioned men are now dead. What is their legacy? Their big churches are now in decline or closed. Men like Jack Hyles and Bob Gray were accused of gross sexual improprieties.(and to this day some of their followers deny these men ever did anything wrong) Few of these men are still superstars. Most are just a faint memory of a day and a man gone by.

Why is this? Superstardom is fleeting. They had their five minutes of fame and now it is over. The nobodies should ponder this very carefully….is five minutes of fame worth the price? When superstars fall the destruction left in their wake affects many people. Perhaps living in anonymity as a nobody is better in the long run.

I have written several posts that mention my alma mater Midwestern Baptist College and Tom Malone the founder of the college and long time pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Pontiac Michigan. (the church and college are now for sale)

In the late 1960’s and 1970’s Tom Malone was considered a superstar by most everyone in the IFB movement. He was a great pulpiteer, a man who preached with great power and conviction. Midwestern Baptist College sent out hundreds of men to start new IFB churches. (and I was one of them) Emanuel Baptist Church was one of the largest churches in America. Attendance exceeded 5,000 people in the 1970’s. Busses from Emmanuel traveled the Detroit/Pontiac metroplex bringing thousands of people to church.

All of this is long gone. Tom Malone is dead. He is but a fleeting memory. Yet, as time goes on the purer the memory of Malone becomes. People forget how arrogant and obstinate he could be. They forget how unwilling he was to embrace compromise or change. They forget that there was only one way to do things, Tom Malone’s way.

I loved listening to Tom Malone preach. He was an awesome public speaker. His preaching was forceful and passionate. However, Tom Malone was more than his preaching. Preaching made him into a superstar but his character flaws reminded everyone who dare pay attention that he had feet of clay.

Who can forget Tom Malone going into a rage over the 1977 Midwestern Baptist College yearbook? There were pictures in the yearbook of people with long hair. Malone was certain this was a deliberate plot to hurt him and the college. He tore up the yearbook in front of the student body and demanded that all the yearbooks be returned so the pictures could be blacked out. (I have one of the few unblacked yearbooks)

I played a good bit of pick-up basketball with Tom Malone. He loved to play basketball.(he loved competition in general) I watched Malone reduce students to tears when they called a foul during the game. Only wimps, weaklings, called a foul. No blood, no foul. Malone even sent a student home from the pickup game for being too “sissy” to play the game.

Tom Malone ran the College and the Church with a rod of iron. He allowed no dissent. Anyone who tried to stand up to him lost their teaching job or was expelled from school. There was, and still is, a certain arrogance in IFB churches and institutions that refuses to admit wrong. As a result, Malone hurt and abused many people during his 60 plus years in the ministry.

Many people want to only remember Malone the superstar. I refuse to have such a whitewashed memory of my pastor,professor, mentor, and example. Yes, he was a great preacher but he was also a arrogant, mean-spirited, man. He had, like we all do, feet of clay.

A devoted follower of Tom Malone wrote to me about my posts that mention Tom Malone:

It is hurtful to his (Tom Malone) character and him as a Christian and since he died a few years ago in sure you want to preserve the right image of him as a Godly man and a leader who did what he believe was right in the eyes of the Lord.

The writer thinks the most important thing is to preserve a right image of him. In order to do this we must not write or talk about his character flaws and failures. I refuse to do this. To understand Tom Malone is to know him for ALL that he was. He was, like all of us are, an admixture of many different things. When taken together the result is a clear picture of who Tom Malone was. To only focus on his preaching or his religious works in the 1960’s and 1970’s results in a skewed picture of who Tom Malone was.

I was a pastor for 25 years. I did many good things during my time as a pastor in Ohio, Michigan, and Texas. I like to think that people will remember me for the good things I did. However, I also know that I was not perfect. Out of anger, arrogance, and pride I did things that hurt others. I said things I regret to this day. I made bad decisions that still reverberate to this day.

The difference between Tom Malone and Bruce Gerencser is that I was never a superstar. My success in the ministry was moderate and I never pastored more than a few hundred people at a time. Like most preachers I lusted after the success of others but superstar success never came my way.

Superstars and nobodies at the end of the day are the same, human, a mixture of many things, that make them who and what they are. Rose-colored glasses worship of superstars strips the superstar of their humanity and sets up an impossible standard for the nobodies of the world.

How many times did a church member say to me Dr. So and So on TV said__________. How could I ever compete with that? The superstar was considered a step above me, the local nobody preacher. He was smarter than me and his words were gospel. The church member never saw the superstar’s faults or failures. Mine were on display every Sunday.

How about you? Share with us your superstar stories. Maybe you were a superstar at one time. How do you view the superstars of the religious world? (maybe not a good question to ask on an atheist blog)

Pontiac Michigan and the Bankruptcy of Baptist Fundamentalism

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Sign in front of Midwestern Baptist College property and last home of Emmanuel Baptist Church.

College, dormitory, and chapel library For Sale. In its heyday Midwestern had over 400 students. I attended Midwestern from 1976-79, as did my wife.

Emmanuel Baptist Church For Sale. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s Emmanuel Baptist Church was one of the largest churches in America. Thousands of people called Emmanuel their church home. It is now an abandoned property in a decaying industrial area.

Midwestern Baptist College dorm. I lived in this dorm for 2 years. The students are gone, never to return. The geese have taken up residence on the abandoned property.

Just an empty lot, with an old, run down building, the uninformed viewer might think. But I remember a time when 50 busses sat on this lot, busses that fanned out over the Detroit/Pontiac metro area bringing thousands of people to church.

I am an atheist, yet seeing the College I attended and the Church I attended up for sale was quite depressing. The fact that they are for sale comes as no surprise. Tom Malone, the founder of  Midwestern Baptist College and pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church for over 50 years was a staunch King James Only, Sword of the Lord, fighting Fundamentalist. The Christian world changed and Tom Malone didn’t and it cost him the church and college he loved so dearly. Malone was a stubborn, arrogant Fundamentalist to the end.

Perhaps it was Pontiac, Detroit and PURE Michigan that depressed me before I ever drove into the Midwestern Baptist College park lot. The roads in Michigan are deplorable. Main roads in Michigan are worse than rarely improved gravel roads here in Ohio. The collapse of infrastructure was in evidence everywhere I looked.

Closed businesses and malls are everywhere. Everywhere I looked I saw decline and death.  Perhaps  Midwestern and Emmanuel were casualties of an economic free-fall that has been going on in Michigan for two decades. All I know is this, I saw nothing that said to me this would be a great place to live. Maybe it was always that way and, as a young man, I paid no attention to it. Unless cities like Detroit and Pontiac get major infusions of cash to rebuild their infrastructure I doubt much can be done to breathe life back into these dying communities.

Can America Survive, a sermon by Tom Malone

The Day Abraham Blew Himself Up At Church

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I  attended Midwestern Baptist College in the mid 1970’s.  All dorm students were required to attend Emmanuel Baptist Church. Emmanuel was pastored by Tom Malone, the chancellor of Midwestern.

Emmanuel Baptist Church was  large church. At one time it was one of the largest churches in the United States.(current attendance, last I knew was under 200) The Church ran buses all over the Pontiac/Detroit area. During my time at Emmanuel the church operated 80 buses.

One of the bus riders was a young man name Abraham.

Abraham was a walking contradiction. He was a brilliant, crazy young man.

Abraham would walk up in back of people and snip hair from their heads. A week or so later Abraham would bring the person a silk sachet filled with hair and finger nail clippings.  Needless to say most of us kept a close eye on Abraham.

One day there was an explosion at the Church.

Abraham had built a bomb and brought to Church.

Abraham carried the bomb into the restroom and, whether accidentally or on purpose, the bomb detonated.

It was the last strange thing Abraham ever did.

The bomb blew Abraham to bits. One man who helped clean up the mess said bits and pieces of Abraham fell from the drop ceiling.

At the time, I thought all of this was quite funny. I thought “I guess Abraham won’t do that again.”

Years later, my thoughts are quite different. The buses brought thousands of people to the services of the Emmanuel Baptist Church. Most of the riders came from poor or dysfunctional homes. Their need was great but all we offered them was Jesus.

Jesus was the answer for everything.

Except that he wasn’t.

As I now know, the problems that people face are anything but simple and Jesus is not the cure for all that ails you.