Southern Baptist and their own Mini-holocaust?
Live Blog from North Dakota.
I am incensed. I remember recently reading how Dr. Richard Land compared the ideology of Obama's Health Care Reform to the same ideology behind the Nazi holocaust. http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/10836.article I understand he later issued an apology.
This week I have witnessed firsthand the insensitivity and hypocrisy of Dr. Land's and my own Southern Baptist Convention and how it relates to some of its affiliated churches when it comes to healthcare for pastors and their wives. If what the Obama administration is guilty of is the same as that behind the Nazi holocaust then what should we say about our own SBC and it's unwillingness to address healthcare for pastors and church planters on the NAMB mission fields?
Dr. Land is perfectly free to criticize Obama's Health Care Reform Plan and its misguided objectives but is he not wrong as head of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission to ignore the plight of many of our own Southern Baptist pastors and their families in far flung areas of our Convention's work?
When he talks about the ethical vacuum in which the Obama administration operates I am inclined to agree with much of what he says but as Head of the SBC Ethics Commission should he also not have a responsibility to bring to light our own unethical treatment of some of our own pastors and their families?
I ask my fellow Southern Baptists - Is it ethical for Southern Baptists to call men as church planters or pastors and not provide health insurance for them and their families?
Is it ethical to pay substandard salaries for these same hardworking pastors while we lavish six figure salaries on our agency heads and many of our denominational leaders?
Is it ethical for Southern Baptists to turn a blind eye to the plight of pastors who are forced to accept food stamps and Medicaid for their families to survive?
I wonder if there is even any sensitivity to this ethical compromise within the hallowed halls of SBC leadership?
Shame on Dr. Richard Land for ignoring such an ethical lapse within our own Convention. But then again maybe if the Obama public option comes to pass the whole ethical issue of not taking care of SBC pastors and their families will become moot. It seems to me that the Ethics Commission should at least be on record as being opposed to our own denomination's negligence.
posted by Jim Shaver at 9:50 AM
2 Comments:
Wow brother. thanks for this insight. Having been a bi-vocational Pastor for most of my ministry, and having had a number of unexpected incidents raising my family, my lack of health insurance has been one of the most devastating things to happen to me concerning my income. I was once told by a board member 15 ago in a church south of here (concerning a proposed raise to $300 per week) that no preacher was worth that much. (He and his family own a chain of hotels.) The old adage "Lord you keep the preacher humble and we will keep him poor", is something that I still view as ungodly when compared to scripture.
I myself have witnessed this plight as a self-funded missionary in Cheyenne, WY. Yes the insurance plan was a relative steal at only $300 a month for me and my wife, but we couldn't afford that with what we were getting from our supporters on top of our school debt. likewise, my brother also encountered some family health issues with his son and wife as US2 missionaries. Yes nearly everything was covered along with some assistance programs from the hospitals, but having to be bi-vocational leaves him with insufficient time to spend with students as a BSU director. Furthermore (and this'll be the last point before I really begin ranting), as much as we boast in our missions programs as Southern Baptists; NAMB's majority of positions are self funded so unless you're either independently wealthy or have spent a large amount of time rubbing elbows for financial support it's as if young adults fresh out of college are discouraged from the ministry.
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