Southern Baptist Coup?

Imagine, if you will, the uproar and outrage if President Trump used the coronvirus as a pretence to delay the November elections a full year and to stay in full power as President of the United State for that year.

It seems Southern Baptist Convention President J. D. Greear has pulled pretty much the same sort of coup.

It is certainly understandable, even advisable, for the Southern Baptists not to have their convention this year.  What is not understandable is for him to remain President of the SBC for the additional year until the next convention with the full exercise of the powers of that office.  The appointment powers of the SBC President are particularly important.  Will Greear use those to stack further the leadership of the SBC?

Could the Southern Baptists not had an online vote to elect a new President?  Or could not Mr. Greear had vowed not to use most or all of the powers of the office during this additional year?

Now perhaps he may come around to seeing that putting aside those powers is the right thing to do. But I’ve seen no indication that he has or will.  And I have looked around and asked around including asking Greear himself.

Will you refrain from using some of the powers of a #SBC president such as appointment powers? What will you do to alleviate the concerns of those who see this as a power grab?

— WannabeAnglican (@WannabeAnglican) March 30, 2020

I will keep my ears open and will post again if Greear does the right thing.  But there is no indication of that so far.  Instead, he gave a long tedious speech about “putting the Gospel above all.”  I did not hear a word about him putting the Gospel above his own power.

But is there any outrage from among Baptists?  Not much that I’ve noticed.  Some are even cheerleading it, including Dwight McKissic.

Watching the convention debate resolution 9 & the unprecedented abhorrent act against Pastor David Uth & the dear sister scheduled to do the poetic speech would have been observing the SBC return to their original sins. God spared the SBC & America of this pending atrocity. https://t.co/ebGnXAjmif

— Dwight McKissic (@pastordmack) March 25, 2020

You know he would not be cheerleading an unelected free year for Trump.  Heck, he will probably rant if Trump gets reelected fair and square.  But an unelected free year for his side in the SBC?  He has the gall to thank God for that.

I will leave aside, at least for now, what I would do if I were a Southern Baptist.  But I will remind my Baptist brethren that a big reason the mainline Presbyterian and Episcopalian churches went liberal and apostate is because most of the people in the pews were spineless wimps who did nothing when church leadership engaged in the outrageous.

Go and do not likewise.

-------

NOTE:  No, I do not think Trump would ever use a pandemic to stay in power an additional year.  And I would oppose any President pulling a stunt like that . . . although I admit I love it when Trump trolls the paranoid Left that he will be in power for decades and decades. 

I am much more worried about Democrats using the coronavirus to steal the election as they have already attempted.

J. D. Greear Digs Deeper on Charging $5 for Good Friday “Worship”

President of the Southern Baptist Convention and Pastor of Summit Church J. D. Greear has tried to explain his church charging $5 for “Good Friday Worship” with the church choir.  And “tried” is the operative word.  He tweeted:

For sure limited space. & bc this is a choir concert not a worship service, choir has traditionally sold tickets. But every year they pick a mission project to give 100% of proceeds to—usually one of our community ministry partners. This year it is to send singers to SBC.

But church publicity clearly called it “Good Friday Worship.”  And is sending your choir to the Southern Baptist Convention a “mission project”?

Would it have killed Greear to say instead, “We had logistical issues to consider with this worship concert and did not handle them in the best way.  As Pastor, I take responsibility and apologize”?  Confession is a good thing, you know.

It is certainly much better than such a lame explanation.

Going to J. D. Greear’s Good Friday Service Cost $5

Passing the plate during a service is one thing, but charging admission just to attend worship?

That is exactly what J. D. Greear’s Summit Church did for Good Friday . . . for Good Friday.  They charged five dollars for admission to their “Good Friday Worship with the All-Campus Choir.”  It says right on their site: “Tickets are $5 each.”

Charging admission to attend worship.  I am at a loss for words.  It’s not exactly simony, I guess. . . .  It’s worse.

This is who the Southern Baptist Convention has as their President.  Lord have mercy upon them.