Snark ahead, you’ve been warned!
I ask you dear reader, do you care about lost and dying souls? If so, Bob Gray Sr., retired pastor of Longview Baptist Temple in Longview, Texas, has a book or two he’d like to sell you. According to his blog, these books are so important that NOT buying them will result in more souls being lost for eternity. According to Gray:
…There are 400,000 plus churches of all types in our nation. If the Bible believing local churches would sharpen their soul winning tools and organize a strong Sunday School system we would see a reversal of our outreach to our worlds. Jesus is coming soon and we must have a second mile kick in order to finish our portion of the race for souls.
You can call xxx-xxx-xxxx or xxx-xxx-xxxx or email xxx@juno.com or xxx@me.com to order. Do not put this off. The longer you delay the more souls we will lose. This one-two punch will help your local church in your outreach in your world.
Gray warns fellow Independent Fundamentalists Baptists (IFB) about the soon return of Jesus. Isn’t this same sorry trope IFB preachers have been using for decades in an attempt to light a fire under complacent church members? Evidently, IFB churches are in a race and these books will help them start running faster so they “finish their portion of the race for souls.” Who are they racing against? Satan? Catholics? Muslims? Southern Baptists? Or is this just a Madison Fifth Avenue ploy to sell self published books? Guilt+fear=more book sales.
The first book is written by David Hyles. Yes, THAT David Hyles. Titled, Jack Hyles’ Passion for Sunday School: Philosophies and Principles that Shaped His Pastoral Ministry, this book is all about the importance of having a Sunday school. And not just any Sunday school, but a Sunday school just like Jack Hyles had at First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana. (Please read The Legacy of Jack Hyles if you are not familiar with him) I think it is safe to say that this book will NOT mention Jack Hyles’ passion for his secretary or David Hyles’ passion for anyone wearing a skirt.
The second book is written by Gray. Titled, Passion for Souls: The Motivation, Message, and Methods of My Life as a Soulwinner, it details Gray’s soulwinning passion and methodology. Jeff Fugate, pastor of Clay Mills Road Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, had this to say about the book:
“This book is in my opinion the BEST book I have ever read on the matter of personal soul winning. It is encouraging, instructive, enjoyable and convicting. I recommend this book to new Christians as well as to seasoned soul winners. Thank you Dr. Gray for your example of personal soul winning and for putting your life’s work into this book.”
“I’m thrilled that you are holding in your hands right now, this tremendous bound volume, “My Passion For Soul Winning” by my dear friend, Dr. Bob Gray, Sr.
I’ve said, as Andrew was the Apostle of Personal Workers in the days of the early church, Dr. Bob Gray, Sr. is the “Apostle of Personal Workers” in the present church”
Here is a principled fundamentalist, powerful preacher, published author and proficient soul winner, who has not only lead tens of thousands to Christ but also has trained and tutored tens of thousands of personal soul winners.
In this bound volume you will find the drive, desire, duty, determination and demeanor, of one, without question, of the most successful personal soul winners of our day.
The IFB church movement is dying on the vine. Countless churches have closed their doors and others face steep attendance decline. IFB colleges that once had burgeoning enrollment now have a hard time keeping the doors open. You’d think that someone, anyone, would stop and ask WHY this is? Some IFB preachers blame worldliness, a catch-all phrase for church members who love HBO more than they love Jesus. Others develop a persecution complex, thinking that liberals, Obama, socialists, Democrats, Catholics, Southern Baptists,other IFB preachers who aren’t in their camp, and a host of other groups and people they demonize, are actively working against them.
The fault lies with everyone but them. Instead of recognizing that their “motivation, message, and methods,” no longer work, they just keep doing the same thing over and over and over hoping for a different outcome. They continue to preach against the same “sins” they were preaching against 40 years ago. The difference now is that it is harder to find people who are willing to be assaulted week in and week out with the King James bible.
Gray will surely sell some books. The IFB church movement is quite incestuous, so big name IFB preachers preach for one another, give each other doctorates, and buy each other’s books. It is a wheel that keeps on spinning…
If you are interested in buying a copy of Gray’s books, you can purchase them at Solve Church Problems.
If I were an investigative journalist looking into all this IFB stuff, and probably wider than just IFB, I think I’d start with all these ‘Dr’ handles so many of the pastors attach to their names. Be it the U.S., the UK, or any academically respected country, obtaining a doctorate is immensely challenging. The son of an old friend of mine recently completed a doctorate in marketing, not usually seen as one of the higher academic studies. It took him, in addition to his initial and masters degrees, 3 years of intense study, with a huge (incomprehensible) book at the end of it, and several hours of intense ‘inquisition’ by an expert panel, intent on determining his expertise.
In the UK we have a celebrated case where a TV so-called dietician ‘doctor’ was exposed as having a fake degree from a U.S. college. Or rather it was ‘genuine’, in the sense that the college actually did issue it, but it was simply paid for, not worked for. To reinforce the point, the science journalist who exposed this succeeded in getting a similar doctorate for his dead cat on payment of the $60 fee. The ‘dietician’ has now been banned from calling herself ‘Dr’.
I wonder then as to the true background of some of these pastor doctors?
I have a post-it note stuck to my office monitor…write post about IFB doctorates. 🙂 should knock that out sometime next week.
The IFB phony-balogna Ph.D is a great topic. I’ve actually read “Dr.” Kent Hovind’s doctoral thesis. An easy read and not exactly something that represents a body of new research on any issue. (And the case could be made that he could have pursued a study in how teaching evolution affects school children for example. One would not need to be an independant Baptist to do such a study.) Hovind has been in the news recently as he was tried on various charges related to trying to stifle the government’s attempt to sell his confiscated property.
I suppose the Ph.D is just another feather in the cap of IFB ministers to give them the air of sophistication to complete the illusion they are doing more than creating hot air.
Throughout the IFB the doctorate is always worn on the sleeve. In fact during a recent amazon search I could tell creationists books from scientific books based on if the authors were listed as “Dr.”!
For people who have such a low opinion of education, they sure do love having those “PhDs” at the end of their names.
The phony doctorates, how pompous of them.
I had a note in my Bible, at Matthew 23:5-8, that said, “Rabbi then is the same as Dr. now”.
Gray warns fellow Independent Fundamentalists Baptists (IFB) about the soon return of Jesus…..Evidently, IFB churches are in a race and these books will help them start running faster so they “finish their portion of the race for souls.” Who are they racing against?
If “the soon return of Jesus” is the reason for the urgency, it sounds to me like they’re racing against Jesus. “Dang, he’s gonna be back any day now, doesn’t give us much time to save all these souls!” If this is an example of how well-thought-out their persuasive rhetoric is, it’s no surprise that the movement is shrinking rather than growing.
I wonder why Hamblin felt the need to specify twice that Gray’s book is a “bound volume”. What else would it be? A scroll of parchment or something?
Well, let’s hope they never see the irony in taking advice about “soul winning” from people who can’t keep their existing churches from imploding. Let them keep on doing the same things over and over, since it’s working — for our side.
Years ago when I was in an IFB church (It was named after Hyles as the pastor graduated under Jack in the 1970’s) and Bob Gray visited one time. As soon as he took to the pulpit it was a hot mess. He made several derogatory comments about Mexican people (in a joking matter of course…never mind there was a Mexican family who had been members for years) and spent well over his allotted time going on and on about his books. He kept on saying “This book is for you” as if I was watching a late night infomercial. I remember feeling very uncomfortable with the she thing. And of course, after the service was over, many of the faithful flock bought his books because our pastor encouraged them to. As always, I was one of the lone standouts in not buying his shitty books. Of course I heard “Oh, you’re not buying any of his books” from a couple of people. I’m still ashamed I allowed myself to even be exposed to such bullshit.
Dude, are you referring to a certain church in chesterfield? If so, I went there, too!!
Yes sir!!!
OMFG!!! Small world !!
What year? I was there in ’94!
2001-2008 then periodically for about 2 years after that. Haven’t been there since July of 2010.
Oh woww, many years after me, lol!
I was there when they were in the trailer, before they built the rich building
They still used that trailer but the “new” building is a double-wides. Theres still a lot of long timers there. Some good people as well, but I got the hell out of dodge!!
Lmfao!
Do they still scream “THAT’S MY PREACHER!!” when Talley walks to the podium?
Oh yes!!! That will never change no doubt. I’ll admit that Talley himself wasn’t a bad guy…I actually got on with him quite well, even though he knew I was a drummer (A drummer…a divorced one at that….in an IFB church????? I might as well been Satan himself lol!) and was very supportive of me during and after my divorce. It’s the teachings that drove me away and some of the more close-minded idiotic zealots who went there as well.
Yeah, he seemed to genuinely love & care about people, (rare for IFB pastors).
I’m divorced now, as well. But that’s nothing compared to being an apostate. I emailed him a few years ago when I realized I was no longer a Christian & an atheist, no response. Which kinda surprised me, as he & I were really close when I was there. I yelled “that’s my preacher!!” many a time, lol!
I honestly figured by now that would’ve phased out; Talley seemed embarrassed by it at times; of course, now I realize that could’ve been feigned embarrassment.
Yes, he did seem to genuinely care about people. I remember he spent most of the night of his 50th birthday in a counseling session with my wife and I. I also remember him personally mowing the grass, fixing the baptism, etc. by himself. But he is trapped in the IFB world so he can only think outside the box but so much. Very sad.
Sigh. Yeah, that’s Talley. I agree, it is sad, as he certainly doesn’t “fit” with them
He would almost admit he didn’t fit in with the rest of them! I look back and know the only reason I stuck around as long as I did was because he did seem genuine. It was the teachings and beliefs that drove me nuts, so it was always a struggle. I started working for a church (If you’re from Virginia I’m absolutely positive you’ve heard of it as it was ALL over the news 2 years ago) which is why I stopped going there. I still have a lot of respect for Talley but cannot subject myself to hear any church teachings whatsoever again…..ever.
I’m from NC. What happened? Talley had a scandal?
No. I went to work for another church that was ROCked by a scandal.
A church rocked by scandal?? GASP!! I am soooooo SHOCKED!!
Yeah, the pastor was having marriage class while screwing females who worked for him and went to the church…..living large while many who were there scraped by on pennies….had security with shotguns strapped to their backs….
Awesome! He should run for Congress; he can replace that douche that just resigned! Lmfao!!
Oddly, the person you’re talking about (I think) did the opening prayer at the grand opening at the new facility when it opened in 2010.
Passion For Souls sounds like a real crock. The whole sleazy IFB sales racket makes me so sick. It’s like Amway gone terribly wrong. Yes, I know Amway is a pyramid scheme that sucks in the young and vulnerable… doesn’t that sound like the IFB brand?
As long as they can get them in by droves, you can sell enough of them anything.
So glad that these ‘”PhDs” are on the losing end of things. Will there come a day, do you think, that no one will listen save for a small fringe? Is it possible? Or will there always be these snake oil salesmen for the gullible? I was one of those who was duped, but my eyes opened. Can enough eyes open that the whole thing will one day be relegated to just strange curiosities of history?
Sadly I think there will always be snake oil salesman for the gullible. I was reading this morning about the faithful in Naples, Italy celebrating that the blood of San Gennaro liquified for the Pope on a recent visit. That b.s. miracle has been perpetuated in Naples for centuries.
Many bible colleges issue “honorary” doctorates. As in “you get a doctorate, YOU get a doctorate, EVERYBODY GETS A DOCTORATE”!
Question. Are the sins of forty years ago any different than the sins of now, or even 2000 years ago? The answer is obviously no. So why would they have to change their message?
Matt, you are repeating yourself. I see your comments are the same on other posts. And if you are interested, I don’t believe in sin…you have to believe in a deity to believe in disobedience to it. I believe in being a good person, nothing more and nothing less. We don’t need a book or a “message” to teach us the importance of being good to people and ourselves.
Well keep reading my comments, maybe you ‘ll learn something.
Matt appears to have a massive case of “I know it all.” His ego shines through everything he says.