Congrats Brennan!

[BALAAM]

Tom Brennan has proven himself over the years, to be a class individual. I would value his opinion on Biblical matters over a lot of others even though I no longer go to an Ifb church.

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

Tom Brennan has proven himself over the years, to be a class individual.

You spelled "crass" wrong. 

 

[BALAAM]

Tom Brennan has proven himself over the years, to be a class individual.

You spelled "crass" wrong.

I stand firmly by my American Public School spelling!

 

[brainisengaged]

I understood that Tom was actually addressing the issue that some  members of his church were under the impression their children would do well if they could just  get chummy with Tom's children. Kind of like trying to befriend the smartest kid in class,  in hopes his/her smarts will rub off on you....Tom felt  it wrong that some people viewed the situation this way and addressed it on his FB page. Befriending his children would not be the magic key to success for these other children...Tom's feeling that a better key to success for these other church members' kids would be for them to be more faithful to the church services. That is what I understood out of all of this and it would seem some are misunderstanding and / or blowing things out of proportion.

 

[penhobby]

This comment seems beneath you sir. It certainly does not seem like the man I knew and respected just a few years ago. But then, I would not have thought you would have reverted to the Bride Circle type isolation being depicted in the OP.  With the utmost respect... Sir, what happened to you?

 

[AmazedbyGrace]

I think his comment  is snobbish and a slap in the face to church members who, for whatever personal reasons, might only choose to attend church once or twice a week. Just because he sets his own personal standard at Three to Thrive does not mean those who don't love God less.

" they can even hang out at our house in between services on Sunday if their parents come back on Sunday night."

So the church members' kids on this lower tier are unworthy to spend time with his kids? Wow.

 

[bgwilkinson]

I tried to keep my children away from the Pastor's kids as I was afraid the Pastor's kids were a lot like him.

I always kept my distance from the Pastor I didn't really want to know how bad he might be.

Now my kids are all in their 40s and 50s with kids and grandkids of their own celebrating their own 20 to 30 year anniversaries not tainted by Dave and his kind of vile preeeechers kid. Not one divorce, not one.

I am so very thankful to God for keeping my family away from the whole sordid mess.

The LORD is faithful and will answer your prayers for the protection and safety of your family.

 

[subllibrm]

Everyone knows that close relationships between children only happen at church when they are sitting quietly listing to bible stories and sermons.

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

I tried to keep my children away from the Pastor's kids as I was afraid the Pastor's kids were a lot like him.

I always kept my distance from the Pastor I didn't really want to know how bad he might be.

WHY would you attend such a church and WHY would you continue to call such a man Pastor?

 

[subllibrm]

I tried to keep my children away from the Pastor's kids as I was afraid the Pastor's kids were a lot like him.

I always kept my distance from the Pastor I didn't really want to know how bad he might be.

WHY would you attend such a church and WHY would you continue to call such a man Pastor?

Why are you unable to comprehend parody? 

 

[bgwilkinson]

I tried to keep my children away from the Pastor's kids as I was afraid the Pastor's kids were a lot like him.

I always kept my distance from the Pastor I didn't really want to know how bad he might be.

WHY would you attend such a church and WHY would you continue to call such a man Pastor?

Many of us just called him the Old Man, Dick Kennedy in particular, we didn't follow much of the stuff  he taught.

When one of us chided him he would say, "You don't expect me to practice the stuff I preach, no one can do that"?

Of course we couldn't and he didn't either, but the college students tried.

I find it appalling that people come and go from churches based on the pastor alone.

The pastor is just one part of the body and when he doesn't follow God you just bypass him and follow God anyway.

I was always afraid he was as bad as I had feared. Time has reveled the result of his ministry in his family.

You can judge a man's ministry based on how his family turns out.

You can serve the LORD in spite of the pastor.

You ignore the pastor and pay attention to the LORD.

I made my decision based on my faith in the LORD, not in the pastor, and his call that brought my father and then myself to FBCH.

I love Bro. Hyles, but you always had to take what he said with a grain of salt. He was a big talker and promoter.

You could not help but like him.

He told us of when he first started preaching, he would open his Bible and point to a verse and just start preaching. The read a verse and holler method. His words.

He would say whatever came into his head, some good doctrine, some off the wall, some way off the wall.

He never stopped doing that. He sure was a good entertainer. Highly theatrical. Like Billy Sunday, one of his heroes.

Of course this is my opinion. You can disagree if you like.

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

I tried to keep my children away from the Pastor's kids as I was afraid the Pastor's kids were a lot like him.

I always kept my distance from the Pastor I didn't really want to know how bad he might be.

WHY would you attend such a church and WHY would you continue to call such a man Pastor?

Many of us just called him the Old Man, Dick Kennedy in particular, we didn't follow much of the stuff  he taught.

When one of us chided him he would say, "You don't expect me to practice the stuff I preach, no one can do that"?

Of course we couldn't and he didn't either, but the college students tried.

I find it appalling that people come and go from churches based on the pastor alone.

The pastor is just one part of the body and when he doesn't follow God you just bypass him and follow God anyway.

I was always afraid he was as bad as I had feared. Time has relieved the result of his ministry in his family.

You can judge a man's ministry based on how his family turns out.

You can serve the LORD in spite of the pastor.

You ignore the pastor and pay attention to the LORD.

I made my decision based on my faith in the LORD, not in the pastor, and his call that brought my father and then myself to FBCH.

I love Bro. Hyles, but you always had to take what he said with a grain of salt. He was a big talker and promoter.

You could not help but like him.

He told us of when he first started preaching, he would open his Bible and point to a verse and just start preaching. The read a verse and holler method. His words.

He would say whatever came into his head, some good doctrine, some off the wall, some way off the wall.

He never stopped doing that. He sure was a good entertainer. Highly theatrical. Like Billy Sunday, one of his heroes.

Of course this is my opinion. You can disagree if you like.

All the more reason to ask:
WHY would YOU attend such a church and WHY would YOU continue to call such a man Pastor?

 

[Mathew Ward]

I tried to keep my children away from the Pastor's kids as I was afraid the Pastor's kids were a lot like him.

I always kept my distance from the Pastor I didn't really want to know how bad he might be.

WHY would you attend such a church and WHY would you continue to call such a man Pastor?

Many of us just called him the Old Man, Dick Kennedy in particular, we didn't follow much of the stuff  he taught.

When one of us chided him he would say, "You don't expect me to practice the stuff I preach, no one can do that"?

Of course we couldn't and he didn't either, but the college students tried.

I find it appalling that people come and go from churches based on the pastor alone.

The pastor is just one part of the body and when he doesn't follow God you just bypass him and follow God anyway.

I was always afraid he was as bad as I had feared. Time has relieved the result of his ministry in his family.

You can judge a man's ministry based on how his family turns out.

You can serve the LORD in spite of the pastor.

You ignore the pastor and pay attention to the LORD.

I made my decision based on my faith in the LORD, not in the pastor, and his call that brought my father and then myself to FBCH.

I love Bro. Hyles, but you always had to take what he said with a grain of salt. He was a big talker and promoter.

You could not help but like him.

He told us of when he first started preaching, he would open his Bible and point to a verse and just start preaching. The read a verse and holler method. His words.

He would say whatever came into his head, some good doctrine, some off the wall, some way off the wall.

He never stopped doing that. He sure was a good entertainer. Highly theatrical. Like Billy Sunday, one of his heroes.

Of course this is my opinion. You can disagree if you like.

All the more reason to ask:
WHY would YOU attend such a church and WHY would YOU continue to call such a man Pastor?

For the sake of the ministry, because of loyalty to the Man of God are two reasons that people are sold.

 

[Bravo]

I'm just wondering if he's addressing his church people why not just say it to them (or to their faces) instead of a Facebook post?

 

[subllibrm]

I'm just wondering if he's addressing his church people why not just say it to them (or to their faces) instead of a Facebook post?

That is kind of the crux of this thread (and SFL awarding him space). Some might take it as him speaking to his congregation but most (myself included) took it to be broader based and directed at the community. That explains all the rabbit trails about neighbors and ball teams.

Now if we are all wrong and he is addressing his church family, then your point is better than any we made. Why would you take something like that public?

 

[Bravo]

I'm just wondering if he's addressing his church people why not just say it to them (or to their faces) instead of a Facebook post?

That is kind of the crux of this thread (and SFL awarding him space). Some might take it as him speaking to his congregation but most (myself included) took it to be broader based and directed at the community. That explains all the rabbit trails about neighbors and ball teams.

Now if we are all wrong and he is addressing his church family, then your point is better than any we made. Why would you take something like that public?

Who else would he be talking to? It's not like friends from far away are going to try to be close to his kids.

 

[subllibrm]

I'm just wondering if he's addressing his church people why not just say it to them (or to their faces) instead of a Facebook post?

That is kind of the crux of this thread (and SFL awarding him space). Some might take it as him speaking to his congregation but most (myself included) took it to be broader based and directed at the community. That explains all the rabbit trails about neighbors and ball teams.

Now if we are all wrong and he is addressing his church family, then your point is better than any we made. Why would you take something like that public?

Who else would he be talking to? It's not like friends from far away are going to try to be close to his kids.

He has no neighbors? No kids live on their block? No school chums? No little league team mates? No interaction with the community around them? That would make it worse not better.

 

[Bravo]

I'm just wondering if he's addressing his church people why not just say it to them (or to their faces) instead of a Facebook post?

That is kind of the crux of this thread (and SFL awarding him space). Some might take it as him speaking to his congregation but most (myself included) took it to be broader based and directed at the community. That explains all the rabbit trails about neighbors and ball teams.

Now if we are all wrong and he is addressing his church family, then your point is better than any we made. Why would you take something like that public?

Who else would he be talking to? It's not like friends from far away are going to try to be close to his kids.

He has no neighbors? No kids live on their block? No school chums? No little league team mates? No interaction with the community around them? That would make it worse not better.

He addressed neighbors, ball teams, school mates, the community, from his personal face book page? They would all see that?

 

[T-Bone]

Well after eight pages of speculation...has anyone who is truly concerned about this contacted Tom....it's not like he is some celebrity preacher who is unreachable.  Personally, I am not concerned about his, as Tom has shown that he is a man of integrity and compassion on this and the old forum.  I have not always agreed with him or his approach, but he has proven his heart and his love for The Lord, his family & the church...in this case that is good enough for me.  Just MHO

 

[bgwilkinson]

I tried to keep my children away from the Pastor's kids as I was afraid the Pastor's kids were a lot like him.

I always kept my distance from the Pastor I didn't really want to know how bad he might be.

WHY would you attend such a church and WHY would you continue to call such a man Pastor?

Many of us just called him the Old Man, Dick Kennedy in particular, we didn't follow much of the stuff  he taught.

When one of us chided him he would say, "You don't expect me to practice the stuff I preach, no one can do that"?

Of course we couldn't and he didn't either, but the college students tried.

I find it appalling that people come and go from churches based on the pastor alone.

The pastor is just one part of the body and when he doesn't follow God you just bypass him and follow God anyway.

I was always afraid he was as bad as I had feared. Time has reveled the result of his ministry in his family.

You can judge a man's ministry based on how his family turns out.

You can serve the LORD in spite of the pastor.

You ignore the pastor and pay attention to the LORD.

I made my decision based on my faith in the LORD, not in the pastor, and his call that brought my father and then myself to FBCH.

I love Bro. Hyles, but you always had to take what he said with a grain of salt. He was a big talker and promoter.

You could not help but like him.

He told us of when he first started preaching, he would open his Bible and point to a verse and just start preaching. The read a verse and holler method. His words.

He would say whatever came into his head, some good doctrine, some off the wall, some way off the wall.

He never stopped doing that. He sure was a good entertainer. Highly theatrical. Like Billy Sunday, one of his heroes.

Of course this is my opinion. You can disagree if you like.

All the more reason to ask:
WHY would YOU attend such a church and WHY would YOU continue to call such a man Pastor?

For the sake of the ministry, because of loyalty to the Man of God are two reasons that people are sold.

All the more reason to ask:
WHY would YOU attend such a church and WHY would YOU continue to call such a man Pastor?

Ok, that is a fair question. I did a very poor job of expressing my reasons.

I'll try to do better.

1. I have never used the "pastor" of the church as the sole criterion of where I attend.

2. All the time at FBCH the pastor has not been that high on my list, God was at the top, family next, family friends and then others including the pastor.

3. The leading of the LORD has always been my sole criterion for where I go to church.

4. I have been a member of two churches where I was the youth pastor (don't laugh this was decades ago), I was not a paid employee I supported myself, I always have. I have always had to trust the LORD to bring in the jobs and not man. It is much better trusting the LORD.

5. The pastor at the most, provided no more than an hour and a half of biblical nourishment per week. Very shallow at that. A mile wide and an inch deep. I can not survive on such a small amount of vacuous Bible teaching, I need much more than that. I would usually read the bible instead of listening to the yelling (Bro. Hyles) and screeching (Schaap). I did not listen to the shaft sermon live as it was at a YC and I was not there. Their teaching did not control my beliefs or theology. I do not believe any theology was taught at FBCH, just a jumble of Bro. Hyles philosophies disjointed and not even close to the systematic theology I learned in college.

6. When I was in college I learned how to study the Bible and provide spiritual nourishment for myself and my family. I taught my children to think for themselves, and to try the spirits if they be of the LORD. My family was able to avoid most of the junk because it did not pass the scriptural smell test. I am a Baptist by conviction.

7. I am very strong on individual soul liberty, I taught that to my family since they were young children. I am also very strong on the priesthood of the believer. All believers are equal at the cross. We may choose someone to be the shepherd, but he is not the lord or the man of God. All Christian men are men of God and all Christian women are women of God. We all have equal access to God. We all have the Spirit that guides us as we study the Bible. No one has a monopoly on the truth. If a pastor teaches something it better past the scriptural smell test. It must be plain. If it is something that only the pastor can easily see it probably is not a valid scriptural teaching. It is just his opinion. Schaap sure had a bunch of dumb stuff that he thought sounded so scholarly, not, it was just stupid.

8. A church is not the pastor, he is only a small part, it is a called out assembly or congregation of believers. If there was no pastor it would still be an ecclesia. Members would then perform the function of the pastor until one could be selected. The pastor is selected and ratified by the members and can then perform the ministry of a shepherd. We experienced two times since 2001 when FBCH did not have a pastor. We were still an ecclesia. We still assembled together for fellowship. It was our family reunion three times a week.

9. If I had been living in England I would have been one of the dissenters, wanting to follow the Bible and not the church of England. At FBCH the basic beliefs are close enough to my own that I can get along nicely. We are however quit a bit like the Church of England. We do use their official government translated bible. We have many other characteristics that are right out of the Church of England, such as our hierarchy type of structure. First Baptist Church of Hammond is an official government corporation. We take money from the federal government in the Obama food program. We are controlled by the federal government as to the food we can serve at HB. We can't do politics from the pulpit or on church properties. And on and on. We are truly a state-church organization much like the church of England.

10. I never bought into either Bro Hyles or Schaap, even though Schaap was always angling for us to buy into him, it always sounded so hinkey and weird. I will not buy into any earthly man, only the God-Man Christ Jesus.

I hope I hit a few of the reasons.