Is "The Big One" just around the corner?

There's been speculation for well over a year that Steve and/or Donna Gaines will be somehow involved in or the focus of some big "miracle" presumably calculated to draw in the masses. Along with the "name it and claim it" topic of late, we now have a "miracle" of sorts. True, this one doesn't involve either of the Gaineses, but hey, I guess it's close -- considering it's Steve's deacon chairman.

With giving down and staff layoffs on the horizon a reality, could this be the precursor to "The Big One"?

Watch

Quote from Steve: "God is an encouraging God, is he not? And God will do those... ummm... now listen. He... he may not turn electricity on for you. But he might do something else... if you'll just look around, God is encouraging you. Sometimes, though, you're just not receiving it... because you're not looking for it."

What's next? Huckstering anointing oil and prayer cloths at the end of BBC's Sunday morning broadcasts? "Faith nails" and "miracle coins" in the bookstore?

Joel, Oral, and Benny would be proud!

Jesus Delivers to Your Home!

In both September 21st morning services, Steve Gaines told this story about Donna wanting a new dining room set. He claimed they couldn't afford to go out and buy one, so he'd been setting aside "just a little" money every month.

The scene: Steve is at home on Saturday afternoon, grilling in the back yard with the family, when the doorbell rings. (Just wondering if you can hear your doorbell in your back yard? Maybe they've got a speaker back there.) He goes to the door, and there stand two men with a furniture truck behind them.

One of them exclaims, "Hey, you're the preacher on TV! We watch you on television on Sunday morning!"

Steve said, "Who are you? Heh heh heh heh."

He said the man laughed and said, "Uh, my name is so-and-so. We're from High Point, North Carolina."

Okay, time out for a second here. If these men are from North Carolina, how do they watch Steve Gaines on television? Bellevue's services are broadcast on two channels -- Channel 3 and Channel 50, both local Memphis stations.

Back to the story...

He [one of the men] said, "We got a truck out here with uhhh... furniture on it that is discontinued. We had already made a couple of deliveries in the neighborhood, but we just decided to randomly go up and down the street and knock on doors and see if anybody needed any furniture."

Now, at this point, would a prudent, intelligent person not ask himself why two guys in a tractor trailer rig (from High Point, NC) would be going door to door in his Cordova, TN neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon selling furniture off their truck? Basically, there are two possibilities. The stuff is either junk or it's hot, perhaps both. Apparently plenty of other people, when confronted with the same scenario, have asked themselves that same question. Was this really "uncharted waters," too?

Here is a good article from 2005 on this same scam.

And while the price may have been attractive, and assuming it wasn't stolen, what about the quality?

9:30 Video

At the beginning of this version we hear Steve explaining why they can't afford a dining room set. "So we... you know... we didn't have... have... you know... we didn't... we... I'm not poormouthing... I'm just saying... you know... we got kids in college, 's with a wedding, and all that.... " Have you ever noticed when Steve Gaines is uhhh... "not embellishing"... he stumbles all over himself?

In this version he says, "We went out and looked at 'em [dining room sets]. Have you priced them lately? May... m... m... may I just say this to you? Sev... simply... five hundred dollars won't buy one."

Near the end he says, "I'm telling you, it was about a fourth [the price] of the stuff we'd been seeing out in these stores." (Compare these two statements to what he said at 11:00.)

He ends with, "And if you don't agree with that story, I don't want one letter about our dining room suit. Amen? Not one!" So much for talking with the pastor. He doesn't want to hear from anyone who doesn't agree with him about everything. And people have criticized former members for not going to the pastor? He's about as approachable as a rattlesnake. (Not calling him a snake at all.)

11:00 Video

In this version, Steve is again explaining why they can't afford a dining room set. He says, "And we've had a wedding lately. We have two kids in college, and we're buying cars and and things like that, you know... for... for kids and helping them with that and all that... so... so I said, 'Lord, you know, we just don't have it, Lord.'" I'm sorry, but Steve Gaines very conservatively has to be making at least $300K a year. He gets a housing allowance (tax free). The church gave him a new SUV. He certainly gets other perks. And he can't afford a dining room set?! Puhleaze!

Then he assures us (again) he's not lying. He says, "Now this is the truth. I'm not embellishing it. I... I... wish... you... you... could just see my heart to know that there's no embellishment in this whatsoever. This is not just a good preacher illustra.... This is the truth." Such Herculean efforts to convince us he's not "embellishing"!

Later he says, "Now you think I'm making this up. Am I making this up? She's [Donna] on the front row."

Then regarding shopping, "We don't have time to go look for that kind of stuff. We stay busy, and we don't have time to go shopping." Hmmm... at 9:30 he talked about shopping for and pricing dining room sets. Now they're so busy they don't have time to shop!

Moral of the story? "God delivered a dining room set to us with ten chairs and a hutch, and I paid $200 less than I'd set aside. God delivers when you seek him first. Amen? Amen!" {applause}

Or... there's a sucker born every minute.

Extravagant? Or embarrassing?

The past two Sundays have brought us some real gems. In the 9:30 service Steve Gaines referred to his version of something as the "Steve Gaines version." In the 11:00 service he said the "King Steve version," then quickly said, "Cut that."

From a sermon entitled "Extravagant Worship" we have these embarrassing (and admittedly embellished) moments:

About the Music

On Plagiarizing Sermons

On Leaving in a Hurry

Preaching to the Choir (and Orchestra)

From this Sunday night's sermon, entitled "Corrupt Priests, Crooked Politicians, and Courageous Preachers," we heard these:

Is this from the "King Steve version"?

This is just so wrong!

The "New" Bellevue

Update: The uncut, unedited version has resurfaced.

On Sunday morning, July 13th, both services at Bellevue opened with a rousing choir number with a stage full of young, barefoot, writhing, cavorting, "interpretive" dancers. Apparently several people in the congregation walked out then, and the church office received a number of complaints on Monday.

By the middle of the week, the video archive of this service had been edited, with the baptismal service and dance number cut out. However, we have now been provided with an uncut version. So here, for your viewing... uh... pleasure... is the mysterious, vanishing dance video.

Steve Gaines, who was not present for the performance, apologized to the congregation the following Sunday. He wasn't out of town or anything; he just attended another local church. Yet this Sunday night he stated, "You can't find anywhere in the Bible where a layman told an elder what to do." Sheep have no voice. Not as long as there are still the "elders we didn't know we had."

*********

The Legacy of Paige Patterson and Paul Pressler

There's an interesting thread going on the FBC Jacksonville blog regarding Dr. Sheri Klouda, the Hebrew professor at SWBTS who was fired by Paige Patterson because she happens to be female. While the article is written in the context of FBC Jax's Mac Brunson being less than truthful when he used Dr. Klouda's lawsuit as an illustration in a recent Sunday night sermon, it provides an opportunity for Dr. Klouda to respond to allegations that she was offered another position at SWBTS for the same pay and that it was somehow her fault that her family experienced financial difficulties.

Wade Burleson wrote a detailed article about the case here.

SBC Outpost has more relevant commentary here.

How did we get to this point?

What is "church"?

This Is Church

by Scott Wesley Brown, Dwight Liles and Niles Borop

Sunday morn, Africa, hear the children sing.
Before an altar in the bush they praise the King of Kings.
Pastor stands, prays a prayer, earth beneath his feet.
Thank You, Lord, for You are good; You bless us when we meet.

(Chorus)
This is church when we gather round to praise the Lord above.
This is church when we walk in truth
And show each other love. Not of wood or bricks and stone, but of people first;
Anywhere God’s children are, brothers this is church.

Sunday morn, Siberia, deep within the wood.
Under blue cathedral skies they read the Holy Book.
Pastor kneels and prays a prayer, sun upon his face.
Thank You, Lord, for You are good to meet us in this place.

(Chorus)
This is church when we gather round to praise the Lord above.
This is church when we walk in truth
And show each other love. Not of wood or bricks and stone, but of people first;
Anywhere God’s children are, brothers this is church.

Sunday morn, Jerusalem, many years ago,
the first believers gathered there and the Spirit flowed.
They broke the bread and prayed a prayer, met each others’ needs.
The Father saw that they were one
And His heart was pleased.

There has been some discussion lately about what the purpose of church is and I think would warrant a good discussion.

Questions:

What is the purpose of church?

1) For sinners to be saved?
2) For believers to worship God?
3) For believers to learn about God?
4) For believers to fellowship?

How often should we be in church? Is "Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night" scriptural or a fairly new tradition?

How do the SBC and Cooperative Program line up with Scripture regarding a church's responsibilities?

Is there a "better way" to "do church" than we are seeing? What should change? What should stay the same?

Thanks to "concernedsbcer" for this topic idea.

"Love is patient, love is kind... er... "

This billboard recently appeared along the south side of I-40 between Whitten Road and Sycamore View. It faces east but doesn't stand very high and is partially buried in a stand of trees behind the Century Center Business Park, so a lot of people probably haven't noticed it.

One might mistakenly conclude from reading this sign that those are the words of Steve Gaines! There is no reference to Scripture at all. No mention of God or Jesus. In fact, the first time I caught a glimpse of it from the interstate, I didn't see the reference to "Bellevue Baptist Church" because "Steve Gaines" is in much larger type.

That "quote" is the first half of I Corinthians 13:4 and the first part of verse 8.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

This is only my opinion, but it just seems that plastering your photo on a billboard while plagiarizing the Apostle Paul tramples all over that "does not boast, is not proud" part. Maybe that's why we don't see the rest of the verse on the billboard. The irony would have been too much.

Notice it's not a regular billboard, rather it looks like a big tarp wrapped around a billboard. It appears it could be taken down and reused. Will it pop up somewhere else next month? Are there more of these around town?

Am I seeing things, or is that Thomas the Tank Engine peeking out from underneath the corner of Brother Steve's photo?