I gotta say, even when I was there fifty years ago, I always thought that "how many sermons I've preached" claim (and number) was very dubious. I also thought it was unnecessary. I mean, why make that claim?
Oh yes, fundy FBC counting.....I know for a fact! Because I was there and complicit at the time.....a big Sunday in May of 1978...I worked in Calumet City doing church at an outdoor park....service after service after service...and we counted the same people over and over.....if someone stayed for 4 of the mini services, they got counted 4 times! And reported as if they were 4 different people....I remember we shocked when told to do it...but we did it..... And then at evening service when they announced the HUGE numbers for the day, I just rolled my eyes.I gotta say, even when I was there fifty years ago, I always thought that "how many sermons I've preached" claim (and number) was very dubious. I also thought it was unnecessary. I mean, why make that claim?
IFB accounting has always been very slippery. I also wondered how we NEVER missed a big attendance goal. Somehow, we could always get the numbers to work like a Chicago politician.
At bottom, the entire movement was obsessed with numbers and they played fast and loose with them.
I will be a 'fundy' until I die, but I got over the numbers racket years and years ago. I remember those days as I attended a large IFB church in CA. The numbers were your status for the pastor/church. We used to compete against Chappell, Trieber and one or two others. I was a sham. I would always roll my eyes when we had the teachers/officers meeting and discuss attendance. Church attendance was always bumped up between 3-500 people or more. I knew the guy who put the stats sheet together and he would get excoriated if the attendances weren't 'right'.