Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Yes, but what are his qualifications?

Yesterday, Baptist Press announced Ronnie Floyd as the person to be nominated (unopposed I assume) for the presidency of the SBC. The following are the stats listed in the article
  • Floyd has been pastor of the Arkansas congregation [FBC Springdale] for almost 20 years. Under his leadership, the church grew from 3,700 members to more than 16,000 members and baptized more than 11,700 people.
  • [FBC] has planted 17 churches in the U.S. and overseas in the past seven years.
  • Floyd...earned a master's degree and a doctorate degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He and his wife, Jeana, have been married 29 years and have two married sons and one grandchild.
  • FBC Springdale lists 819 baptisms [for 2005].
  • The church gave $32,000 through the Cooperative Program and $189,000 to SBC causes distributed through the SBC allocation budget.
  • [FBC] had total undesigning receipts of $11,952,137 and total mission expenditures of $1,637,503, including $54,261 for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and $9,516 for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.
  • FBC Springdale conducts an average of 12 international mission trips annually, and has started a total of 25 churches across America and the world since 1992.
  • Floyd speaks daily on “Winners,” a TV ministry broadcast around America and the world by the Daystar Television Network.
  • [Floyd] has written 17 books and another, "The Top 10 Lessons Every Minister Needs To Know," will be released later this year.
  • Under Floyd FBC Springdale added a second campus, the Church at Pinnacle Hills.
In addition to this information, we are given a quick glimpse at his resume of involvement with other SBC committees and organizations. They include service with the Executive Committee, a member of the selected seven-member committee that restructured the Southern Baptist Convention, the search committee that called the president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, president of the 1997 Pastors’ Conference, and as a trustee of GuideStone Financial Services.

I don't know anything about Ronnie Floyd other than what I have just read. I assume that he affirms the Baptist Faith and Message. I trust Johnny Hunt, who is bringing the nomination, to make an informed nomination when it comes to basic Baptist doctrine.

While these are commendable accomplishments, there are other things that I would have liked to have heard in this article about Floyd. I imagine that most members of SBC churches and their pastors for that matter will find this information adequate to form their opinion of whether or not Floyd is suited to be the SBC president. I wish that when we were choosing our leaders we were given more than just a list of accomplishments. The truth of the matter is that none of the facts given are any proof of a biblical view of the church, the ministry, or the gospel. In our day of doctrinal and methodological laxity, stats alone cannot substantiate a biblical and Christ-honoring ministry. These same things could be said of T.D. Jakes and even greater numbers could be posted about Benny Hinn.

I do not want anyone to draw parallels between Floyd and Jakes or Hinn, but I for one would like to know a little more about our SBC president before I vote for him. I will take the time to find out what I need to know, but how many of our voters will do the same?

p.s. This makes that whole bru-ha-ha over Johnny Hunt at the Founders Website pretty funny now doesn't it.

5 comments:

Jeremy said...

Well keep us updated on what you find out.

Paul Lamey said...

Is he above reproach, a one woman man, not given to wine, hospitable, etc.?

My view from "outside the camp" is one of continued sadness but sometimes it's just funny to see what those SB get all worked-up about.

I would love to see a humble pastor from the back woods get nominated for the job but then again he would be over-qualified.

The Bishop said...

Thank you Paul for mentioning the bible. This is exactly what I'm talking about.

And Gavin, I love the new site - and I was never ashamed. If you ever put up a fire engine baptistry that shoots confetti, then we'll talk.

Anonymous said...

I would appreciate being updated as well, and I especially want to be updated on the arrival of Baby Charles. Looking forward to both.

Anonymous said...

Adam, I really enjoy the insight to your thinking. Thanks for the blogs. Sorry about the anonymous post.... I forgot to add "Auntie Susan.