Frank Page

[Dave Roberts]

I grieve over the news that came out yesterday about Frank Page, the President and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. I tried to access the news from Baptist Press but the website was not working this morning to go to the story. Here is the Baptist News Global release.



I grieve because Frank Page and I served at the same time in Fayetteville, NC, and I knew him as a fellow pastor while he served at Lafayette Baptist and I served at Lebanon. He was an energetic and innovative pastor in that church and was beloved in the association. I trained in his congregation in the old Continuing Witness Training model of outreach. At that time, he strongly supported women in ministry, though he later changed his direction. I do not know what his indiscretion may have been, but he has my prayers that he and his family may recover from whatever this failure was. Knowing him makes this a sad piece of news for me. Join me in praying for our brother in this time.

[Jim]

In other words, he fessed-up only after he'd been caught, a true act of grace and humility, and probably lied about his move to South Carolina. The real in-your-face to his interim pastorate was even being there on Sunday. All the sweet, kind words of support from his colleagues are sickening. He's earned the scorn and ought to be allowed to wallow in it for a while and read his own sermons on the subject of unfaithfulness. Disgusting!

[Haruo]

I don't think we know nearly enough to say what Jim said, but I think we know enough to go beyond what Dave said.

[Tim Bonney]

I never knew Rev. Page and I know few details. But it does make me sad.

It also is a reminder how careful clergy need to be to guard themselves against temptation.

I'm required to take a course every three years on healthy clergy boundaries by our conference. In part it is to remind us how to avoid temptation, situations which may compromise our values and morals, or even just situations where we might be accused of something because we were alone with someone we shouldn't have been alone with.

Those of us who are called to preach have a higher responsibility and when we fail the damage to the Church is far greater.

[Joseph Patrick]

From Gerry Milligan:
In 1975, at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Oscar Thompson started EVERY class, after prayer, with these words, "Young men, watch your selves, keep yourselves pure and do nothing that would cause you to be tempted and do nothing which could lead to accusations" Sometimes he would expand on this telling us who might be at a very small church to have your wife available to "chaperone" during counselling. Good advice then and now.

[Jim]

In 1987, Congress in its wisdom resolved that March would be recognized in perpetuity as Women's History Month. I wondered how women had fared vis-a-vis breaking the glass-ceiling in denominational life so I did some research recently and discovered that the five mainline denominations—PC (USA); Episcopal; United Methodist; ELCA; Christian (Disciples)—are headed by women, as is the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, with each group governed hierarchic-wise by these leaders perhaps along with a tiny group of advisers. These ladies have on their watch the sanctioning of same-sex marriage, ordination of homosexuals, and seemingly a warm-fuzzy philosophy that political-correctness trumps scripture in matters that are strictly black/white and require that no one ever be offended...hugs all around. Already plummeting in membership, these denominations are now in free-fall, largely if not mostly because they are no longer in the world but of the world. Female leadership seems a bit lacking until one remembers that male elitists are also partners in the crimes. Sad.

[Haruo]

Maggie and Golda.

[Tim Bonney]

[Jim]

Just can't remember your chinmoku for me, can you? Rosemarie Wenner is the current head of the bishops and therefore the head of the whole shooting match. The fact that she resides in Germany is not a factor.

[Haruo]

Jim, could you provide some sort of link or other documentation for your assertion about Bishop Wenner? Looking at the UMC website and Wikipedia I have been unable to find corroboration.

[William Thornton]

FP was interim pastor until Jan of this year at my home church near me. We attended a few times. He was well liked there. He was also a good fit as the day-to-day head of Southern Baptists, doing a good job of keeping the rabble together in our common work. There are no excuses of course. His daughter committed suicide a few years ago after a long struggle with depression. That's a burden I wouldn't want to think about carrying for the rest of my life.

He was my favorite denom leader though I didn't know him personally. He stated that he was resigning from "active ministry" immediately.

[Jim]

[Tim Bonney]

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: Tim, I think you are again being overly sensitive when you accuse Jim of "going after" your denomination just because he errantly included you all in a list of religious entities headed by women. Those of us who are associated with entities headed by women are the ones he seemed to be attempting to insult. I am surprised that you take such offense at being included in good company .

[Sandy]

[Tim Bonney]

[Tim Bonney]

[JE Pettibone]

[Jim]

[Jim]

[Sandy]

Yes, well I was missing my sharp sixth grader. Where was yours when the word, "hierarchic-wise" , which should be "hierarchical," popped into your hyped-up, extra-adrenalin challenged, "slur-mode." Grammar can be such a challenge, but apparently less so than getting the facts straight, so I'll leave my error uncorrected so that it can serve to contrast with the notable mistakes in yours, all of which render your point wrong. I may have butchered a little grammar, but you slaughtered the truth.

As to your comments about Frank Page, see John 8:7.

[Jim]

[Sandy]

Oh, whatever "angst" there was has long since been satisfied by seeing how many times you were wrong. A reasonably smart sixth grader would have done their homework before making these kinds of errors.

1. You were wrong about the UMC. You missed figuring out that they have no singular leader who "runs" the denominations, and you missed the fact that the presiding bishop is male, and has no role other than moderating meetings, but does not determine or influence the agenda or doctrine. The UMC is a "mainline" denomination, but remains opposed to same-gender marriage and the ordination of gays and lesbians.
2. You were wrong about the Disciples of Christ. As a denomination, they have even less of a "hierarchic-like" structure than most Baptists have, and positions on same-gender marriage and ordaining gay and lesbian clergy are made at the local church level. There are some churches in the D of C that have accepted both, but a majority of them have not. They do have a woman who is currently serving as their "presiding minister" but, like Baptists, the denominational structure exists to serve the churches. The acceptance of gay and lesbian ordination by those in the D of C who are favorable toward it happened long before their current presiding minister was selected. And if their membership is "plummeting," and in "free-fall," then those terms must also apply to membership in the SBC, since the attrition rate in the D of C, as part of the "Restoration Movement" is less than half the rate of membership and attendance loss in the SBC.
3. I'd think your familiarity with CBF would prevent you from making such statements about them. The way they've structured their governing board, and the authority it has been given is different, but their authority only extends to the fellowship's executive office itself, and not to any partnering organization or church. There is no hierarchy.
4. The other three mainline denominations you mentioned "sanctioned" same-gender marriage, gay and lesbian ordination, and other positions related to sexual orientation and gender identity well before their current female leadership was in place.

That's not angst, that's satisfaction. Have a Happy Easter, Jim.

[Jim]

[Jim]