Joel Gregory can only help...

[William Thornton]

...moderates, if only because he will present a model of an outstanding preacher, something missing from mods, or so it seems to this humble mod observer. I admire him for (a) his bootstrap period, selling cemetery lots door to door post DallasFBC [side note: the father of a friend died recently. The most Christian thing that could have been said about this good man, was that after a business failure in his middle years, he took up a paper route to pay bills rather than to declare bankruptcy] (b) his ability to preach, and (c) his skill in writing. That he is now divorced twice, a biographical note openly reported in his appointment at Baylor, is apparently not a problem. It would likely be a problem with many BGCT churches.

[Ed Pettibone]

[Norm]

William: ... That he is now divorced ....

And Charles Stanley?

[William Thornton]

[mlovell]

[Norm]

William: Maybe I haven't heard the right moderates preach ....

Although your experience is as valid as that of any other, we are now to believe it is limited, too?

[fox]

Thread Drift
ATTN JEP:!!!!

Mlovell already a thread started on Gregory going to Baylor.
Why is my firend William allowed to get away with this egregious slap in the face of Mlovell\s thread and when are you gonna let me know where you put my post that you found so alien thread?????

[William Thornton]

[wilkey]

[gil_TX]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Ed Pettibone]

[gil_TX]

[Ricky P.]

[John]

[Ricky P.]

[bobfrgsn]

[Ricky P.]

[mlovell]

Does it matter that Stanley told his church (after the separation from his wife) that if he were ever divorced, he'd ?

[Sandy]

Before SBC flag wavers begin criticizing the appointment of Gregory as a homiletics professor because he is twice divorced, they need to look at their own house and make sure they haven't condoned divorce among their own leadership. Stanley has never disclosed the grounds for his divorce, and if it was for a scripturally allowable reason, why would he keep it a secret and let it be held against him by his critics, one of which is his own son? Then there is the thrice-divorced Roger Moran, the highly revered attack dog who weaves webs of phony connections to level accusations and who was rewarded for his work by being selected to serve on the SBC executive board. I believe Midwestern also had a thrice-divorced trustee but of course, his conservative theological views and his willingness to vote the way Paul Pressler told him to excused his adultery.

Gregory isn't serving as a pastor, and he's not a trustee of denominational institutions. He's a professor, and a good one at that. He was once introduced at seminary chapel as "one of Southern Baptist's greatest orators," and I have no doubt that if his experiences at Dallas' First Baptist Church hadn't opened his eyes to the truth of the real ugliness of conservative, fundamentalist Baptist life and he hadn't had a "conversion" experience, divorced twice or not, the fundies would still be using him.

As to moderates not having any "models of outstanding preachers," that's a matter of opinion as to what "outstanding" preachers are. Personally, I don't think Southern Baptists have any, since I think most of their big names live off their celebrity status and not their preaching, most of which is people pleasing, compromising, mega-church entertainment and not real preaching. Few Southern Baptists could match Winfred Moore, James Denison, James Dunn or either of the Sherman brothers, Bill or Cecil. Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, has turned a declining church that was on its last leg into a thriving congregation where the median age must be somewhere around 30 and is influencing an entire generation of future moderate church leaders. Brett Younger, pastor of Broadway Baptist in Ft. Worth, is a better preacher, IMHO, than any Southern Baptists I've heard. And it won't be long before Steve Wells, at South Main in Houston, will become known as one of the leading "pulpiteers" among moderate Baptists.

I'm glad Gregory is on board at Truett. He, along with the other great Southwestern profs and leaders that were run off by the fundies and wound up in Waco, will help continue stuffing Truett to capacity with Texas Baptists and others who want a real seminary education and not just fundamentalist indoctrination.

[gil_TX]

[William Thornton]

[jerryl]

[Norm]

William: ... Stanley ... is not being paid by anyone other than his congregation ....

Moran attends SBC committee functions/meetings entirely at his own expense?

[Ricky P.]

I have heard theologians debate the verse. No one knows for sure polgamy is what Paul was talking about. That is some peoples view. Christ taught on divorce. He wasn't that keen on it. I believe at that time marriage within the church was based on the Biblical model. So, then is it what Paul was trying to say.

Stanley offered his resignation and the church asked him to stay. Go back and look at the situation. He was ready to leave.