Welcome to Maurilio As a Reader of the Dawg...

We would like to take this time out to welcome Maurilio Amorim as one of our regular readers here at FBC Jax Watchdog. Maurilio is the blogging, twittering, church marketing consultant that Mac Brunson uses as his creative genius, and presumably to figure out new ways to convert the FBC Jax from a stuffy legalistic, traditionalistic, fundamental Baptist church into the new modern church that characterizes Maurilio's client base.

We know that Maurilio is a regular reader now after he posted an article on his blog about the "Top 10 Ways to Get in Trouble With Twittering", in which he took a swipe at some "anonymous", "jerk", "hateful" blogger who was critical of his twittering during his recent Vegas vacation. Like Mac did with his lie about Sheri Klouda, Maurilio doesn't refer directly to the Watchdog, but there is no mistake to his readers who he was referring to (do a Google blog search and you'll see I'm the only one he could possibly be referring to).

Yep, that's right. Maurilio, a fancy-pants consultant who draws a regular check from the people of FBC Jacksonville - has decided to use his blog to attack one of the members of FBC Jacksonville - yours truly. I don't mind, and I'm not bitter, but once again: "Team Brunson" (of which Maurilio is a member) has shown us what they're made of, and they will attack those who they don't like or those who might criticize them or attempt to hold them accountable.

Maurilio is not the topic of my blog, and I never intended to draw him into the blog. But since Maurilio believes he has the freedom to smear the Watchdog on his website, let's shine just a little bit more light on Maurilio and his relationship with the Brunsons and FBC Jacksonville.

First of all, let's talk about Maurilio's decision to be an avid "twitterer" and what that tells us about the man. What is "twittering" you ask? Twittering could best be described as "text messaging on steroids". It is essentially using your mobile device to text message to the world about your life. The people in Maurilio's life - his friends, his family, his clients, his clients' church members - they all get to follow the daily musings of Maurilio and all about his life as he text messages throughout the day. He texts about everything in his life as though people would want to read it. His meals, his exercise, his trips to Vegas, his visit to Cirque du Sulei, his client meetings, his 6-head shower in his bathroom, and on and on. I admit: I'm a reader of his twitter because I like to see how our church marketing dollars are used in the life of Maurilio - he is one of our "missionaries" - out there funded in part by FBC Jax and its great to be able to follow his jet-setting around the country.

Well, apparently Maurilio didn't appreciate me mentioning his Vegas twitters in my post called "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", and he admits he is very bitter about it. I assume he also didn't like me making the connection between he and two businessmen at our church who are selling Alibaster that Mac promoted one Sunday.So bitter is our FBC Jax consultant who we pay tens of thousands of dollars every year in consulting fees (trust me FBC Jax, if you knew the dollar amount we spend on Maurilio and his A-Group, you might fall out of your chair), that he decided to write the following about me (he's writing about a reason why he "gets in trouble" from twittering):

10. Post fun twits about your Vegas vacation and watch some crazy, anonymous, fundamentalist, jerk turn you into this money-spending, luxury-loving, pleasure-driven Satanist on his loser hate blog (Do I sound bitter?). I guess what happens in Vegas really should stay there.

Wow. That is the FBC Jax church marketing consultant writing that about one of the church members at FBC Jax. He lies about me: I'm not crazy, I'm not a fundamentalist (unless that means I believe the Bible and that Jesus is the only way to heaven - if Maurilio thinks me a "fundamentalist", maybe he's a "liberal"?), I don't have a hate blog, and I never painted Maurilio as a Satanist. Nor have I "turned" Maurilio into anything. I just shone a little bit of light on his twitters on my blog to show the people of FBC Jax what their church marketing consultant does with the money we pay him. If he's going to be bitter about people blogging about his Vegas vacation - hmmm...maybe as a grown man he shouldn't be twittering about the details of his Vegas vacation (and 6-head shower) like a pimple-faced teenager.

But this is instructive: Maurilio feels the freedom in his relationship with Mac Brunson, that he can lie about and attack on his blog one of the church members at FBC Jax. Surprising that Maurilio would feel the freedom to do this? Any serious, grown man out there that would publicly attack one of the members or employees of your client's organization? Of course not. But Maurilio is so bold and brash, and dare we say cocky, that he feels he can do it. Wouldn't a pastor be upset if his consultant lashes out publicly at one of his church members? Perhaps, but apparently not Mac. Maurilio's just doing what Mac does. Mac lied about Sheri Klouda from the pulpit, and never apologized. Mac attacks his congregation as being "hot bed of legalism" when out of town - and he never apologizes. Now Mac and Maurilio have pulled Jim Smyrl into the mess, who now preaches and blogs about the evil of our "traditionalism" and scolds the elder members of the church to inform them "YOU DON'T OWN THE CHURCH" (as though they thought they did). Now Maurilio throws out the "F" word (fundamentalist) to describe me. So we're "traditionalist", "legalist", and "fundamentalists"...and Maurilio and the A-Group are on the payroll to save FBC Jax from these awful "sins"!

Here are some of the churches that Maurilio consults with:

First Baptist Church Rogers - pastored by Wes George

The People's Church - pastored by Rick White

Faith Church in CT - pastored by Frank Santora

First Baptist Church Dallas - pastored by Robert Jeffress

If you're a staff member or church member at one of these churches, take note of what Maurilio has done at FBC Jax - he didn't like one of the members blogging about the pastor's decision to spend money on a consultant like Maurilio - who then turns around and twitters about his lavish lifestyle. I passed no moral judgements on Maurilio, quite the contrary - but Maurilio didn't like this, and decided the Christian thing to do was to lie about me on his blog, thinking all of his twittering followers would think it cute. So beware to the other clients of Maurilio and the church members of where Maurilio consults - even though your tithes and offerings are going to pay for Maurilio's air fare to come in and have "sessions" with your pastor and staff, if he doesn't like what you're blogging about he might take aim at you too! He might even twitter about "obese" staff members or members - he seems to like to make fun of the obese (read his twitter). So watch out, you or your church or church members might make it on to his blog and twitter line! If I used him as a consultant and saw this juvenile behavior, I would tell him that if he ever does that to one of MY church members - however recalcitrant they might be - he and his firm will immediately be fired. And if I were considering hiring the A-Group as a consultant, I'd surely pass now that I see what the man does on his blog, and how he text messages about the details of his life.

But it wouldn't surprise me if Mac is happy that his consultant has attacked one of his recalcitrant church members; maybe Maurilio can add that to his "portfolio" - I'll take care of your recalcitrants! I'm sure when Maurilio flies down for his next creative session with Mac at Deerwood, they'll all get a good chuckle over how Maurilio put the Watchdog in his place.

Maybe its time for the people of FBC Jax to demand an accounting: how much are we paying Maurilio and the A-Group, why is our website after 2 1/2 years still so far behind other churches' websites of similar size? Can Mac show us that we aren't paying out of our church funds for Maurilio's services on his 501(c)3 website, and that Maurilio's services on the Pastor's Conference website are not coming out of the church budget but out of the receipts from the conference? Why did we sole-source Maurilio's services? One of the very first moves Mac made when we voted him as pastor in March 2006 was he handed our church marketing and website design over to Maurilio - shouldn't we consider other firms? Why sole-source it? And finally, let's get the exact dollar amount: HOW MUCH DOES FBC JAX PAY MAURILIO AND THE AGROUP?

Does this make you even more bitter Maurilio? Maybe you can twitter about your bitterness. We'll be reading!

Update on Sheri Klouda

Readers: I wanted to give you an update on Dr. Sheri Klouda, the former professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) that I blogged about in the following posts:

Mac Lies About Sheri Klouda's Testimony

Sheri Klouda Responds to Mac Brunson and Paige Patterson

Her situation made its way onto my blog when our pastor, Dr. Donald M. Brunson, maligned Dr. Klouda during his July 13, 2008 evening sermon at First Baptist Jacksonville by completely mischaracterizing her testimony regarding the worthiness of her case in light of scripture (click here to listen to the audio of Mac's lie). Mac Brunson, who markets himself as a preacher of deep instense study and preparation and historical accuracy in his sermons, did not even bother to contact Dr. Klouda before his sermon (instead relied on testimony about Sheri's testimony told to him by Paige Patterson's lawyer) to get the right story of how she viewed the validity of her case. Still to this day Brunson has not contacted Dr. Klouda to express his regret over his incorrect statements made in his sermon. How sad, especially when considering that Brunson was her pastor at FBC Dallas as the saga at SWBTS unfolded.

Now for the update: Dr. Klouda emailed me today to let me know that she recently received a check for $280 from Wade Burleson of monies donated to the the Klouda fund by members of FBC Jacksonville and readers of this blog, which will help pay off past medical expenses incurred from the health problems of her husband. Dr. Klouda expressed her deep thanks to the readers of this blog for giving to help her with her husband's medical expenses.

The Klouda's are still in need of additional monies (around $2000) to draw down their medical bills so that her husband can get a much needed defibrilator more quickly. If you wish to donate money to help the Klouda's, you may still do so by sending your check to:

Emmanuel Baptist Church
2505 West Garriott
Enid, Oklahoma 73703

Designate your gift "Sheri Klouda Fund". Your gift will be tax deductible, as Pastor Wade Burleson has set up a benevolent fund for the Klouda's through his church and 100% of all monies received will go to the Klouda's.

Thanks in advance for your generosity in helping the Klouda's even more. I will provide updates in the future as Dr. Klouda keeps me posted.

Non-Tithers, Criticizers, People Who Don't Visit...All in the Hands of an Angry God

Many people who come to Christ do so from a religious upbringing where they were made to fear God, that God was some sort of heavenly dictator who was interested in "zapping" them for their misdeeds. Some, even in Catholic upbringing, were taught that their sin as believers was storing up wrath that God some day would unleash on them. This is a perversion of the gospel, that Christians are storing wrath for themselves that God will unleash on them eventually for their misdeeds. Its such a dangerous perversion because it does set up a huge barrier to people who have been manipulated in this fashion from ever considering the true gospel.

Well, leave it to Mac Brunson to carelessly handle scripture to present this sort of perverted gospel to his congregation on Sunday morning while he attempted to preach out of Romans 2. I have noted in the past month several occasions where Mac has carelessly handled history and facts in his sermons and even spread a lie about a former church member - and my point was if he is so careless to handle history as a "historian", then its likely he will mishandle scripture as a "preacher". And Sunday this was on full display.

I recommend my readers listen to this excerpt from his sermon:

God is Gonna Zap Ya!

I will be accused of taking it out of context I'm sure, but I invite people to visit Mac's 501(c)3 website Inlight Ministries, Inc. where you can listen to the full sermon.

In this clip Mac starts off by talking about Christians:

"When you don't visit, and you don't tithe and you criticize, and you slander..."

Obviously talking to Christians...he mentions "tithe"...and of course the Watchdog who is a "criticizer" and "slanderer"...

continuing:

"...and God doesn't pour wrath out on you, do you take lightly the forbearing of God?"

Then he describes how Israel had enjoyed the benefits of God, saw God move and pour out blessings....how God didn't pour out judgment in their disobedience...and then he says:

"..and this is what they thought: 'Because God has not judged us, God will not judge us'. That is a twisted, perverted theology of God's kindness, forbearance, and patience. And you sin in your sin and you never come to an altar, and you never go and say I have sinned, I want to make it right because God hasn't zapped you in the past and you think because God hasn't zapped you in the past God will not bring judgement on me in the future. That is perverted, perverted, perverted. He's talked about perversion in Chapter 1, he's now talking about a perversion of presumption upon the patience of God."

Interesting...so those of you who are not tithing, who are not visiting, who dare to criticize the pastor for his abuses of the church...you all, including me, are in danger of God's judgement. In fact its perversion, to not understand that God's wrath will not come.

Mac then goes on to quote his history professor from North Greenville College about the wisdom of "gods" and their "grinding mills":

"Because God has not judged you in the past does not mean the judgment of God won't fall tomorrow morning. The mills of the 'god's' grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine...in other words God may not have judged you yet, but when it catches up to you, only God can help you then."

Still think Mac is on par with Adrian Rogers, Bro. Whitmire? What wonderful theology from Mac the SWBTS graduate. The Catholic church used that scare tactic, that manipulation, for years...God's gonna get ya! You better tithe...or God's gonna get ya! You don't visit? God's gonna get ya eventually? Why not teach it from a biblical perspective of sowing and reaping? That if we sow seeds of sin or disobedience, then we will hurt ourselves and we invite God's discipline as His Children...is God really waiting to zap Christians? Isn't he a loving heavenly Father who chastises his disobedient children?

Let's see how this theology preaches to Mac: Hey Mac, do you think that just because things are going great for you now...nice home, big salary, family on staff, going on nationwide TV next Sunday...that God will not judge you for your abuses at our church? Mac do you think you can use the sacred desk of our pulpit to spread a lie about Sheri Klouda and never apologize to us and to her, and God won't judge you? Do you actually think you can use our church finances to put yourself on nationwide TV and God will just let it go, no big deal? Do you think you can slander our congregation to pastors in North Carolina and call us a "hotbed of legalism" and God will stay patient with you? Do you not fear God, Mac? Mac, whatever "gods" you were referring to that have a slow grinding mill...know that those same mills of the "gods" grind exceedingly fine.

Yes, slowly they grind. Ask Darrell Gilyard how slow they grind. He abused women at his churches for decades, while men in his church stood by and waited for "God to handle it". Ask Bob Gray how slow they exceedingly grind. He abused little boys and girls for years, and instead of men stepping in and putting a stop to it they shipped him off to Germany where he likely abused more boys and girls. The mills of these "gods" grinded so very slow for Bob Gray. And they're grinding quite slowly at our church right now.

I know the answer from some of Mac's defenders is that Mac wasn't talking about Christians here, but was talking about the lost. He didn't make it clear...his mentioning of tithes and visiting left his listeners with the idea that God is going to zap them unless they repent. Not a loving God wanting to discipline them - no, "zapping" by God.

We've gone from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" to "Non-Tithing Christians in the Hands of a Zapping God and Angry Preacher." God help us.

On a lighter note: I'll close with a clip that fits the category of "much truth is spoken in jest" - listen to this clip where Mac says: "What about this church? God gave you Dr. Lindsay Sr, Dr. Lindsay Jr, Dr. Vines, do you think lightly of the kindness of God....now that he's brought judgment on you [followed by nervous laughter]"

Mac: I am Accountable Because I Say I Am

Sunday night August 3rd, in Mac Brunson's sermon from Genesis 39 on "accountability", Mac took time out to explain how HE is accountable to all 28,000 members of his church. In fact he said he has 28,000 "bosses". He said to someone who said he doesn't have a boss: "I don't have but 28,000 of 'em".

Some other gems from his confession of accountability:

"I have to listen to every...single...person that comes to me. And a lot of 'em come to me that ain't even members of this church."

"I try to answer every single email myself, personally, that comes into my office. And THAT is a full-time job, in and of itself. That's what you pay me for....I am responsible. I am accountable"

Click here to listen to the audio clip yourself

Well, its a step in the right direction, Mac publicly announcing he is accountable to his congregation.

But here's the problem with Mac's little confession of accountability:

- I sure hope he is not himself answering every single email. Mega church pastors will tell you that they receive hundreds and hundreds of emails every single day, and its not practical for everyone of them to be answered personally by the pastor. Someone must screen them and answer the easy ones, and maybe pass a small number to the pastor. Those that have sent emails to pastor@fbcjax.com tell me that its quite obvious that someone other than the pastor is responding. That's OK...not a problem...but why tell us that he answers them all? Maybe that explains why he has had trouble with his fact checking in his sermons, he's too busy answering emails all day. He's either a poor steward of his time answering every single email, or he is lying.

- The bigger problem is this: accountability is not measured by whether he "listens" to people, or answers every email himself. Its measured by the totality of his management and leadership decisions over time. Its how he does or does not share information, how he implements change, what he says in and out of the pulpit, how he treats his congregation and speaks about his congregation...all things that he has shown to have problems with all the while never explaining himself or apologizing.

Many of the things highlighted on this blog are demonstrations of his lack of accountability to the "28,000 bosses" in our church:

1. Changing our bylaws and church governance: if he felt that he was accountable to his congregation, he would have at the very least explained the changes to our bylaws prior to asking for a vote on them in December 2007;

2. If he felt he was accountable to his congregation, he would explain why he accepted a $300,000 land gift from one of our church donors just weeks after his arrival as pastor, while his book tells other pastors to avoid doing the very same;

3. If he felt he was accountable to us, he would apologize to us when he stands in the pulpit and lies about one of his own former congregants as he did about Sheri Klouda;

4. If he felt he was accountable, he would apologize for or at least explain when he is found to have called us a "hotbed of legalism" while speaking to out of town pastors.

and other actions he has taken with no explanation to his congregation.

Another most recent example of his lack of accountability:

Mac is back on nationwide TV starting this Sunday on INSP network. He will be broadcast as "Inlight Ministry at First Baptist Jacksonville". Check him out here. He took a special offering on Easter Sunday 2008 to put himself back on TV, but as I recall he has not given us updates as to how much was given. According to Mac he needed around $180,000 to put himself on the INSP network. So did he receive the $180,000 as a special offering, or did he dip into our budget for a part of the $180,000? If he felt the need to come to us for a special offering, if he were accountable he would at least tell us that he is going back on TV, and he would explain where the money came from. Also, if there was one single person in our lay leadership that held him accountable, they would insist that his 501(c)3 organization name NOT be featured on the telecast. If its OUR church that is funding the program, it should be called either "First Baptist Jacksonville" or perhaps our church should have its own 501(c)3 name that we give the telecast. But Mac and Maurillio Amorim know the power of "branding", and thus his Inlight Ministries name must be on the telecast. NEWS FLASH TO MAC: As soon as YOUR 501(c)3 organization raises the funds for the INSP network telecast, you can put your Inlight name on it. Until then, the name of our ministry alone should be featured. But more on this later. We don't get the INSP network here in Jacksonville, but I'll get a report from an out-of-towner who will tell us about the broadcast.

Mac accountable to his congregation? I don't think so.

Good Gifts, Bad Gifts...

Interesting contrast in the news this past week about two different kinds of gifts that have gained media attention. These two gifts show two extreme sides of human nature: one side of gifts of corruption, greed, conflict of interest and quid-pro-quo....and the other side of gifts that are given to really do some good, to help those in need, and to honor those who have given much.

First, the gifts of corruption: Senator Ted Stevens from Alaska, who was indicted this week for accepting gifts from VECO, a firm that had been known to lobby Stevens for government action on their behalf. The gifts in question totaled around $250,000, and included renovations to homes, gifts to Stevens' family members. The indictment alleges that Stevens' lied on his financial disclosure forms by not reporting these gifts.

Second, the "good gift": This week CSX Chairman Michael Ward donated $1 million of his personal fortune to the "Wounded Warriors Project", to help support their Training Rehabilitation Advocacy Center (TRAC) which helps wounded veterans transition back to civilian life. This was not Ward's first sizable gift given to help his community.

Both of these stories were in the news here in Jacksonville this week, as well they should. Both of these gifts deserve to be shown - one an example of the decency of mankind, the other an example greed and entitlement.

The coverage of these two stories makes me wonder why the $300,000 land gift given by J.D. Collins to Mac Brunson in 2006 hasn't been covered in the media. Both are highly visible public figures. The gift wasn't needed by Brunson as he already was given a lavish salary and benefit package by his church. On the deed the gift was shown for "love and affection" and yet apparently they barely knew each other since it was given just weeks after Brunson's arrive in Jacksonville. For some reason the congregation was never told about the gift. There is perhaps a possible conflict of interest in Mac accepting this gift, since the giver of the gift is one of the donors of the 501(c)3 organization (FBC Jax) that Mac was hired to lead; then about a year and a half after the gift Mac Brunson aired a testimony/commercial (hyperlink of the audio of the commercial that played in the middle of Mac's preaching on Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane) during the worship service highlighting the business of J.D. Collins' sons - this commercial also aired when Mac's sermon was broadcast on TV in the local Jacksonville market the following Sunday. What a coincidence that the only commercial in the HISTORY of FBC Jax ever aired in the middle of a sermon just happened to be for relatives of the man who gave the preacher a $300k gift! Not saying its quid-pro-quo...just that it looks an awful lot like it is.

I commend Michael Ward for such an incredibly generous gift - no doubt when this kind of gift receives media attention it serves as a seed for others to follow suit. While we don't have all the facts yet on Stevens' gifts, it sure looks like he broke federal laws in accepting his gifts and not reporting them.

What kind of gift was Mac's? Doesn't it at least deserve the scrutiny of local media to determine why the gift was given, and why it was accepted and what good it did for the community for a leader of a 501(c)3 organization to accept a $300,000 gift from one of his organization's donors?