Where is Mission Money Spent?
By Gene Scarborough
Pastor, North Rocky Mount Baptist Church, Rocky Mount, NC
I was President of the BSU at Emory University in 1969 when Thomas J.J. Altizer, et al, expoused their “God is Dead” philosophy/theology to the popular press. Needless to say, Methodists were outraged and demanded a look beneath the surface. More in depth analysis of what was being said revealed a fascinating truth: the theory dealt with transcendence (God out there) an immanence (God here on earth), and what they were trying to say was “God is transformed” in the incarnation as he came to earth in human form. The problem lay with poor terminology, but even more, with the typical person’s pagan view of death as “the End” rather than “the Transition” to another life.
My experience at Emory led me to follow a practice of critical review of anything, which draws drama and touches many lives. Such critical review is due a recent trip of Morris Chapman and all the seminary presidents’ wives. It is documented in the December 2002 issue of “SBC Life” under an article entitled “China—The Challenges and Opportunities.” The group took a so-called “vision trip” to China in October sponsored by the IMB. “They walked the Great Wall, toured historic sites, prayer walked a Taoist temple, listened to the testimonies of new Christians, and met students in a school for some of China’s 450 minority ethnic groups.”1
My questions are very simple and deserve an answer to anyone still supporting the IMB through giving and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, which has become so sacred no one, would dare to say a critical word of her despite her violation of the submissive female rule now popular in the SBC.
1. Who paid for such a trip and how much did it cost?
The article gives no detail of hotels and mealtime activities, but by the picture of a President’s wife alongside a well-fed Morris Chapman lets one know they are not eating out of poverty bowls of poor Chinese natives. One could easily check the cost of overseas airline tickets and discover no one travels that far round trip for less than $2,000. Did they travel coach or first class? The bottom line from one who runs his own tree service business alongside his pastorate of the North Rocky Mount Baptist Church, is “Was this cost necessary to promote the Lottie Moon Offering?” My church, by the way, is famous for its 1950s court case which allowed the minority to keep the property despite a majority, charmed by a fundamentalist Independent Baptist, voting to leave the SBC.
2. Why is it necessary to convince SBC Executives and wives of the need for missions work?
I thought we had enough missionaries on furlough to spread first-hand experiences of mission need. Moreover, our publications flood us with inspiration at Christmas time. I am not more inspired to give by this article, rather I am led to ask the critical questions I raise concerning our expenditure of large amounts of money given in good faith by Mr. and Mrs. Average Baptist. They choose to drive to see their grandchildren because airfare is too expensive and it would take away from their tithe. Why, also, must we use a glossy color portrait format to tell such a story? The old leadership thought such fancy formats should be reserved for SS Board published materials and HMB and FMB primary magazines. Again, at what cost (almost triple) is our money spent to let us know things are better in the SBC now than in the olden days? If we still used the black and white newsprint format of the 70s we could convey the same message at significantly less cost.
3. How does this recent activity compare to what happened to my church in the 1950s?
It seems they called a fellow from “up north” with no consideration to his academic background. They were won over by his outgoing personality, pulpit fervor, and the crowds he drew. In a few years this crafty pastor had managed to hide or destroy all the original documents, which clearly stated the property, would be returned to the Convention, should the church ever cease to be in good relationship with other local SBC churches. The “righteous” cause of the affable pastor led him to expect that the court would uphold his claim. What saved the day in the embarrassing court case (which ended up at the Supreme Court) was the fact a little lady had one of the original documents the crafty pastor thought he had hidden or destroyed. When she stated clearly in court that it was an original document she received as a member when the church was founded, the judgment was obvious—it allowed the minority to keep the property and continue to worship as Southern Baptists. How time has changed in 50-plus years.
Now we clap for the leadership, which has made us so much like Independent Baptists, that Jerry Falwell wants to join us. My church is still located a 45-minute drive from Southeastern Seminary. At the time of the court case one of the respected Baptist History professors was summoned as a witness to how Baptists of the SBC variety operate. If we had a case today, I fear the Independent Fundamentalists would fit the current faculty’s image of being proper Baptists. Numerous horror stories have happened since the force applied to Randall Lolley’s resignation a President of SEBTS. Now students are led to tell pulpit committees whatever they want to hear so that the new way of being a SBC “king pastor” may be made real after a few months of charming authoritative preaching.
What happened to the black-and-white newsprint servant pastors that used to lead the SBC? Methinks CEO triple digit salaries have led current leaders to believe no one out here is watching with any eye on history and the way things used to be. I hope more people will take notice of how things are being done: extravagance, spoiled leaders and spouses, a horrible waste of many dollars which used to be conservatively spent on missionaries in the field to share the Gospel with the World.
1 SBC Life, December 2002, p. 1
April 2003