David Tarkington has been silent since the story broke, refusing to speak to the news media, but did feel an obligation to speak to his church - very reminiscent of how Jerry Vines handled the controversy when his sermon at the 2002 SBC Pastor's Conference gained national news attention. Vines did not speak publicly on the controversy until he was in front of his people the following Sunday, when he gave a brief statement and has been mostly silent since about the controversy.
But Sunday David Tarkington did address the Lotto tithe gift controversy, and you can listen to his statement and his sermon by clicking here:
This link is a download of the entire .mp3 file, and it may take several minutes to download.
In his statement he explains that he did struggle with the decision, that he made his decision because God spoke to him through His word, and he stated that he is friends and pastor of the family offering the gift and they agreed with his decision. He said that since, his decision has been confirmed by people, pastors, and friends who have spoken to him. When I listen to David Tarkington I hear a humble man, a man who desires to be a shepherd of his people, a man who genuinely loves his people, who made a decision that was in the best interests of his church.
Lord bless you David Tarkington. You made the right decision, and God has been glorified, and you have shepherded your church well. May other pastors learn a lesson in all of this.
7 comments:
Contrast David's explanation of how he decided what to do with his gift (God spoke to David through his Word), with Mac's only pseudo-explanation of his gift (arrogantly saying last time Mac checked the government doesn't tell Mac where he can live, and Mac says HE pays for that house). Notice in Mac's explanation he says "I pay for my house"....which is technically true, but he did NOT pay for the $300,000 lot on which his million dollar home sits. Nice omission there Mac.
After thinking about this and listening to the audio clip I would like to publically apologize to my brother David T. and ask for his forgiveness if he read my prior comments. I posted them in haste and fully understand and support what he has done.
God will bless his work at FBCOP, I am sure of it.
I find it interesting that some people see nothing wrong with the church accepting money from lottery winnings, but do you think they would think it would be allright for the church to knowingly accept money from a drug dealer or an abortion doctor or a liquor company executive. Where do you draw the line or is there no line to be drawn at all if you use the money for the Lord.
Steve - As I pointed out last year in my blog, Mac Brunson caved in to some "influential deacons" who hosted a "Time to Stand with Israel" at our church, at which funds were raised for an Israeli hospital. As I blogged, Israeli hospitals conduct state-funded abortions (they are required to by law). I blogged that our church had no business hosting a non-evangelistic event in the first place...and furthermore that knowing the funds were going to an Israeli hospitl where abortions are funded - our church had NO BUSINESS AT ALL hosting the event.
But it shows that Mac has extremely poor judgement in these matters.
Pastor David did the right thing. He didn't cave in to the world's reasoning. I thank him for showing godly character. It reflects well on his congregation also. It does my heart good to see a church who isn't flirting with the world.
Just call me a heathen Dog but the first church of all things fishy will take that $$$. Heck, we could pave our driveway, put new carpet in the double wide and put in a new pool with that kind of scratch. John, dude we'll take all the funds from those questionable sources. Better in my fishy fins than some hick preacher that has never seen that much money anyway. Dog, tell Brotherrrr Dave to send the $$$ in in 50's and 100's
Your buddy.......BT
check this out: http://www.news4jax.com/money/17315671/detail.html
The last sentence sums it up well.
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