12 Witnesses

I used to take Sports Illustrated. I quit because they kept sending me the Swimsuit issue. Now, if you think that is self righteous, you read that wrong. I quit because I liked it, and struggled with it. Any man that tells you the swimsuit issue doesn’t attract him in a sinful way, well, never mind.

Anyway, one of my favorite parts was a little block of info they called, “This Week’s Sign The Apocalypse Is Upon Us,” after which they would tell you something absolutely mind boggling.

Well here’s mine:

This Week’s Sign

Yes. This is how we are going to win the world.

So you think I am the only one who thinks Texas will matter next year?

Here’s what Phillips Lynn says:

Greensboro is Behind Us, Now What?

OK. Everybody now. Tell us what you think about Texas.

(As always, mind your manners.)

The Inner Circle has never lost in Texas. It is their strong tower, so to speak. However, I know a couple of SBT pastors who’s sympathies do not run to the Inner Circle. These are not bloggers, either. I wonder how many others like them are there? I am led to believe that many in the BGCT, though able, are not willing to send messengers, having had enough fighting for the SBC, so the question will be, “Where will the SBT sympathies lie?”

Ronnie Floyd’s statement about Sutton splitting the “strong, conservative vote” is telling. What he really means - AND I AGREE WITH HIM - is that the vote of those who follow the Inner Circle (knowingly or unwittingly) was split. That is true.

Again, he is wrong to assume that all Sutton votes would have gone to him had Sutton not been in the race. That still doesn’t matter, though, because Page beat them both combined.

The question now is, “What will be the make up of the convention in San Antonio?”

Before I left, Marty, his lovely wife, Sonya and I ate at the Lone Star Steakhouse. As we were waiting, I took a picture of this:

Somehow, I thought it significant.

By the way, this is an anti-littering campaign slogan that the state of Texas came up with when I was a child. It seems to have taken on a life of its own.

Time for a new poll. The results of the last poll are interesting considering the events of the last week in Greensboro.

The question was “What is the most important thing in Greensboro?” With 211 responding, the votes ran like this:

Presidential Election: 55

IMB Issues: 40

Calvinism: 14

Rejecting the Inner Circle at every level: 102

Since the last option encompasses the previous three, from a certain perspective, I find it telling that so many things seem to have happened along those lines.

Also, I have come to understand that the responses are not reflective of a generational mindset. I had so many folks older - even much older - than 40 talk to me about my blog. This means we are not moving the convention but representing it - or a certain mood within it.

The question now is what will be the main topic of heated discussion. Will we return to the the IMB and the policies or the Wade Burleson restriction? Will we scrutinize Frank Page’s appointments in expectation of fulfillment of his commitments? Is there something out there on which we have yet to focus that will demand our attention?

You tell me.

Wes Kenney and fellow road runner, Jeff Young, pile into Wes’ little yellow gas saver. He told me that he went to the car lot and asked for something cheap and gas efficient. The salesman asked, “How do you feel about the color?”

If Wes is going to be running off to all these IMB meetings like he did in New Mexico last month, he’s going to need it.

Does the Road Runner license plate on the front give us a clue?

Right before folks were nominated and then received votes for President, Marty Duren and I were looking for a seat in the convention center. Of course, this is the premier moment and everyone was there for the vote.

We ended up going to the second level, which was also quite full. As we made our way down the side we saw some empty chairs at the top of what turned out to be some pretty steep stairs. Since no one submitted a picture of me, and you didn’t meet me at the convention, you might not know that I am no longer the slim young man I once was.

That is to say, I suffer from “Dunlapped Disease.” In the words of Jeff Foxworthy, my belly Dunlapped over my belt.

Anyway, on the way up, I saw Steve McCoy and Joe Thorn about halfway to my destination. Finding them to be quite fun and funny upon meeting them face to face, and needing desperately to stop and suck in much needed oxygen, I paused for a quick word of greeting.

A few minutes later I was at the top, directly behind the “Missional” men, removed by about 10 rows. I kept thinking that if I had anything to throw, that I could easily have hit Joe’s head as it presented itself as an inviting target. Alas, I had no ammunition.

The first two presidential nomination speeches were full of cliches, dropped names and winking nods that their man was inner circle connected. I found the whole thing humorous.

I particularly found it funny when Johnny Hunt declared his nominee to be “Missional.” Apparently, so did Steve and Joe, because I thought they were going to literally fall out of their seats. They were laughing so hard, I thought they might hurt themselves.

I knew this would be true, because Steve suggested a couple of weeks ago, at my expense, that one must read something akin to a doctral dissertation before being allowed to use the word.

Marty took off down the steps to say something to them about it, but I was laughing pretty hard myself and couldn’t move.

Amazingly, this was the last I saw of those two. I wonder where they went.

I am glad to hear that Ronnie Floyd is ready to move on now the SBC is over. I have said a few good things about him, but raised more questions concerning his CP giving. I had thought that he was handling himself fairly well in defeat, being that I perceived him to want the position very badly.

Then I read his conciliation blog. You can read it at:

SBC Is Over, Let’s Move Forward

In this post, Ronnie claims that when Jerry Sutton entered the race, eight days before the convention, he split the “strong conservative vote.”

I’m sorry, but this is myopic.

To claim that Jerry Sutton split the conservative vote, implies that everyone else is a moderate or worse - a liberal. In fact, it ties Ronnie now to the insinuation that Frank Page is less than a strong conservative.

It is a slap in the face of the entire Southern Baptist Convention, who voted more for Frank Page than for Floyd or Sutton COMBINED. Ronnie just implied that not only is Frank less than conservative, that we are as well.

Here’s how you know he’s wrong.

1. 30+% voted for a floor nominee two years ago, showing strong dissatisfaction with the “Kingmaker Appointment” process. This problem has been there for years. It is not new.

2. Ronnie is assuming that Jerry Sutton took all of his votes. He is not factoring in whether or not he took any of Frank Page’s votes. I know for a fact that he did. Ronnie would not have inherited 100% of Jerry’s votes had Jerry not been in the race.

3. The attendance, while up slightly, was not the 18,000 to 20,000 that some were predicting. 11,500 messengers was the highest total I heard. With just the slightest augmentation, the people who always show up were there this year.

These guys just don’t understand how out of touch with the Southern Baptist Convention they are. We are conservative, innerrantist men and women of God who are tired of our Cooperation together being used as a political tool to stroke the need of some to gratify their ego or satisfy their need for control.

And for Ronnie to say that he took the high road after saying that Sutton split his vote, implying that the rest of us (the majority of us) were less than conservative, and that he would never understand the logic in such a move, simply boggles the mind.

Steve McCoy and Joe Thorn always post great pics on Friday. Mine is not great, but…

Since no one sent me a picture of myself for my photo contest, here is a phone pic I took. Look for a few more, later.

The Southern Baptist Convention and I made some Kentucky publications this week.

Our state Baptist paper is the Western Recorder. David Winfrey is a good reporter and a good guy. He published some of my comments and quoted some things off of my blog - from the “A Clumsy Retreat” article - in his article “Russellville youth minister making name for himself among bloggers.”

At the end he quotes the end of my article where I quote the words, “Mene Mene Tekel Parsin,” and then applied them.

David did a good job and I am not disputing what he wrote. I would like to clarify that those words are not for all of the Trustees at the IMB.

Specifically, I was talking about the caucus group that I perceive to be leading the BOT astray in certain areas. I have had the good fortune to meet with a few Trustees who voted to expel Wade. I found them to be kind and sincere. Though I wouldn’t say we were on the same page when all was done, I feel that we at least had a valid conversation and we were both heard.

Also, Peter Smith quoted in me in two articles. Peter writes for Louisville’s Courier Journal. He does a great job in being fair and balanced, I think. If you are not Southern Baptist, or don’t have SBC history in your own life, it is often hard to understand the subtle nuances of our interactions. Peter does well, first in the article, “Disputes likely at Baptist meeting,” and again in the article, “Southern Baptists in Kentucky see shift toward a more open annual convention,” in which he quotes fellow blogger Tim Sweatman.

Feel free to give ‘em a read.

Right now I am trying to get my house on the market and sold for a phenomenal profit (wouldn’t that be nice). Over the next several days, I will share some humorous stories from the convention and commentary as I am able.

I had just under 6,000 hits on Tuesday and just under 3,000 on the days before and after. That astounds me.

Thank you for the support.

Here’s a funny to get you started:

Marty Duren, his wife and I went to lunch Wednesday before I came home. We ate at the Lone Star Steakhouse, and they bought my lunch. They did this in spite of my incredible powers of persuasion applied to convincing them not to do it. I guess I wasn’t trying very hard. (Sidenote: Wes, we left a huge tip.)

Now you have to understand that Marty calls Wade Burleson a sissy all of the time, I believe because of Wade’s meticulous attention to his appearance. CB Scott and I thought this was somewhat hypocritical considering the two tone tassel loafers that Marty wore to Memphis. We both began teasing him in return about his shoes. Typical, I’m defending Wade against one charge or another.

Marty even called me to tell me that he was replacing his shoes from the shoe store.

As the waitress asks for our drink order, Sonya, Marty’s wife, asks for water and I for sweet tea. Marty asks if they are serving flavored tea. Upon hearing the options, he asks for Raspberry flavored tea. I can’t let that slide, as much grief as he gives me about my Mom reading my blog and running up my numbers.

I asked, “What kind of a sissy drink is that?” Marty shakes his head and begins to chuckle. That’s when Sonya chimes in, “I know. I was thinking ‘Why are you ordering a girl drink?’”

To his credit, Marty laughed, shook his head and still bought lunch for both of us.

*Please note that I know full well that I have opened the door for further teasing. Marty, feel free. You owe me after that story.