…and I’m happy to help.
Squirrels, those rats of the forest with long fluffy tails, are being brought back from the ‘dead’. Rodent CPR. Why?
Complaints are being noised that our ERLC leader can’t get into the White House. But we do have a few megapastors who seem to get there and end up being photographed standing beside prosperity gospel superstar Paula White. God bless Russell Moore.
Don’t worry about the world ending a week from Monday, National Geographic sez. Instead, plan for the usual Global Warming catastrophes. Seems that there has long been a conspiracy theory (Nibiru, look it up) on this. We’ve got our very own SBC conspiracy theories to occupy our time so it’s good to know the NGS is on top of apocalyptic stuff.
I never had to think about a church policy covering firearms in church until now. My pastor sent me a proposed policy the other day. Seems that in Georgia a church can either allow all legal carriers to have guns in church or no guns at all in church, not even your security team. Let me ruminate on this. If you want to have armed security in your facilities then all gun cowboys who manage to get a carry permit have to be allowed to roam around your facilities armed to the teeth? Some Second Amendment sage is going to have to explain this to me.
This is the most contentious pre-SBC election season in over two decades. It’s not Greear or Hemphill but some rabid supporters. It’s tough to have a sensible discussion with folks who think they are saving the convention. Lord, deliver us.
Percolating just under the radar…the court case where a federal district judge declared the cash housing allowance unconstitutional. Pastors don’t have enough to worry about already, so I though I’d keep this towards the top of the list. No need to thank me.
I have no desire to visit Dallas in June for a sweatfest but…I’ve been prevailed upon by family and will be there. Maybe I’ll rejoin the Y and acclimitize myself by getting in some sauna time. See you there brethren and sistren.
Frank Page was one of the best SBC leaders in a long time. His work will be missed. The IMB will have an easier time replacing David Platt than the Executive Committee will replacing our former Chief Encouraging Officer. If ever we needed someone with wisdom, diplomacy, and savvy, it’s now.
My state convention is the main driver behind two very large choral groups. My wife sings in one of them and they had a concert last night. It was fabulous. This is work that would likely not be done were the GBMB not behind it. It’s a great example of effective state convention ministry.
My church has a drummer. Sometimes he flails away at the poor drum heads con mucho gusto…so, they put him in a plexiglass cage, like something out of an old Twilight Zone episode. Looks like a pretty good solution to me.
It’s always good to put the drummer in a cage.
Georgia’s law is thankfully what we avoided here in Arkansas. Ours allows the church to act just like any other private property, where the “property owner” gets to determine who does and does not have permission to carry. Of course, there’s all kinds of fun sorting out who gets to act as “property owner…”
That’s the way NC does, Doug. Some southern states, as I understand it, still have civil war era laws the books *requiring* all able-bodied men to bring a weapon to church … shhhhh. In Virginia – it’s a mess. The law there doesn’t allow for anyone to carry a gun on a church campus except a certified law-enforcement officers/military… Except there is a caveat in the law that allows for people to carry a weapon at church for A “justifiable purpose”. justifiable purpose is defined as interpreted by the state wide elected Attorney General and locally by commonwealth attorney’s in… Read more »
“Virginia-it’s a mess…..” Only certified law-enforcement/military who have had more hours of training than is required in Oklahoma, which I believe is less than one day, can carry fire arms on a church campus. I’d call that sensible, but that’s me.
Wasn’t that part of the great commission? “Go and gain access to the halls of power.”
John the Baptist kinda lost his head in the attempt to Make Israel Great Again.
Paul managed to gain access to many key leaders during his years of imprisonment.
Clearly, gaining access to power was a high priority in the early church. If our clear message offends we must sheath it to gain and maintain access…and be able to write hymns about the greatness of our leaders.
In a real sense RM not having access is not making any difference whatsoever as SBCers who do have “influence” clearly aren’t (for whatever reason) influencing well.
In fact, except for Jeffress, I haven’t heard a peep out of one of the evangelists who have access. Congratulations RM.
If you want to know what Dr. Moore thinks about the power that comes with politics, listen to this chapel message from 9 years ago.
https://www.russellmoore.com/2009/03/17/the-devil-votes-christian-values-why-were-tempted-to-be-glorified-satanists-rather-than-crucified-followers/
Despite the bluster, I’m quite sure the pro-Trump faction in the SBC does NOT want Russell Moore having access to the White House. With the current SBC “luminaries” who have Trump’s ear, you can be sure he is not being confronted about his constant lying. You can be sure he is not being confronted about his bullying. You can be sure he is not being confronted about his sexual infidelity. You can be sure he isn’t being confronted about paying hush money to porn stars and playboy bunnies. You can be sure he isn’t being confronted about his insane war… Read more »
Bill,
You are quite correct here – in fact – One of the half profile Southern Baptist mega pastors who “has President Trump’s ear“ has no intention of dealing With any of the moral/integrity issues you mentioned ..see this video for incontrovertible evidence of that assertion:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5766490290001/?#sp=show-clips
As a result, our influence in the country will continue to wane.
If someone came into my church shooting innocent people, I’d be happy to have a good guy with a gun, no matter how much training he had.
Demand too much training, and many churches will have no one with a gun to defend others.
Many crimes have been prevented because someone had a gun, even though they had little training.
Concealed carry permit holders have shown themselves to be very law-abiding.
A “gun free zone” makes it much easier for a criminal with a gun.
But, thank God, American church shootings are relatively rare.
David R. Brumbelow
Theory is much easier to navigate than the reality; but are we—-in theory—-supposed to physically defend ourselves if attacked for the name of Christ? It’s been in the back of my mind for years that if attacked for Christ, we should passively endure or even die, but for any other reason, we should defend ourselves. What say you?
I personally don’t see that scripture teaches us not to defend ourselves. Plus if an attacker targets a church, we don’t really know if they are attacking Christians because they are Christians or simply because the church is a target of convenience. That said, I’m not a big fan of the “good man with a gun” argument. And I’m very much not in favor of relying on untrained civilians to protect me and my family. Protect yourself, fine. But don’t deputize yourself as a protector of others who never asked for it.
William, I’m glad to know that you’ll come to Dallas in June. I promised to buy your lunch one day, and I mean to fulfill my promise. I also hope to meet the Voices contributors in person. Does everyone have to wear a lime-green suit. If so, where can I order one?
This year we’re all wearing gatsby/newsboy hats
The plexiglass cage is actually a pretty common solution from a technical standpoint to balancing the drums with everything else on stage so you don’t have to turn everything else up. Because percussion gives you volume spikes, it’s easy to lose control of even small drums. Put them in a place where they can’t be heard and mic them so you can gate and compress their sound into submission. Pray like crazy that you have a good sound person who knows how to do this well and also have the proper sound equipment. My church has a sound board set… Read more »
We did the cage thing simply because the drummer would not moderate his volume. It was more judicious than kicking him out.
That can be difficult, both on a technical level and a personal level. On the technical level, just the nature of percussion, you have to change the style and timbre to reduce the decibel variances acoustically. That is to say that where you are trying to maintain a maximum level of 80-85 decibels, a moderate drum strike will easily exceed 100 dB, at least in the vicinity of the stage, which will pollute any nearby microphones. You have to switch to brushes or something to keep that from happening and you end up with a ballad or soft jazz sound… Read more »
Just another option here. In my last church with a sanctuary tha yet seated about 350 (so not huge, or tiny)…we used drums without a cage, but only ever used “cool rods”. They are bundles of small dowells wrapped to become the size of drumsticks. Nice bright sound, but much lower volume. It worked well for us. We did put up a drum shield one one side of the drum set only on Sundays when the choir sang, to give separation from the super-sensitive choir mics. Otherwise the balance was pretty good. I really prefer the live sound. For every… Read more »
We have the digital drums, so it’s all run through the board.
Never mind about the drums. What about the lime green suit?
While I’m not anti Russel Moore, but for the life of me I don’t know why the president would want to give him access to the white house. He owes Dr. Moore n nothing.
As far as the gun policy goes, we allow all CCL holders to carry a concealed firearm in the church. I really see no problem with this policy. In fact, in Oklahoma CCL holders can carry in public places that prohibited firearms, except for schools and Federal property. But, even if a church prohibited firearms, a CCL holder could still carry there.
OK law permits concealed guns even if private property owners prohibit them? An owner couldn’t eject a CCL carrier?
Don’t know about that, William – but since the judicial edicts and fiats from on high have informed us that owners of private businesses can’t deny a cake or a photograph on the grounds that public business owners must endorse the supposed constitutionally protected behavior of the customer since they’ve entered the public realm ….it seems to follow then that business owners who’ve entered the public realm can’t choose to eject/refuse services to someone who is practicing an actual enumerated constitutional right to posses weapons …. But – I’m sure political liberals can continue to find a way to perform… Read more »
William,
In Oklahoma and Texas you are allowed to ignore no firearms allowed signs in public (not private) places. A church is a place open to the public. For instance, you can carry a gun into Walmart even though most of them prohibit firearms.
…thanks John. That’s a headscratcher but then it’s the wild west.
John Wylie: That is not true. http://newsok.com/article/3724415
Debbie,
The article you linked are rules concerning OPEN carry, not concealed. CCL holders can carry a concealed firearm in spite of no firearms signs in public places other than schools, government buildings, and Federal property.
Debbie, I stand corrected. They changed that when they implemented open carry in Oklahoma. Back when I took my concealed carry class, we spent over 4 hours on the laws, and back then you could ignore a no firearms sign. Thanks for the correction.
There were no “gun cowboys” in attendance when 26 innocent people were slaughtered at FBC Sutherland Springs. Further carnage was stopped by a “gun cowboy” who lived across the street and thankfully chose to exercise his second amendment rights. Sage enough for you, Mr. Thornton?
Yes, and thanks for the comment, although your example does not address the issue I raised. Not a few pastors and others are concerned with the state law that forces churches with armed security to also permit ANY others who carry. There is much more that needs to be thought through.
Personal safety in the pews is indeed a complex and delicate matter that demands thoughtful deliberation. Negative stereotypes like “gun cowboys” and “armed to the teeth” are the language of prejudice, not reason. Surely we can navigate such a sensitive issue without them. My best to you sir.