"Sorry Churches"

Click here to read an article written by Ron Littlepage of the Florida Times Union, about one of Jacksonville's city councilmen who proclaimed in a city council meeting recently that it is because of Jacksonville's "sorry churches" that government money must be spent to give underprivileged kids scholarships to the Don Brewer Early Learning Center. The city government has been seeking private funding of the center to avoid spending hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars to keep it open.

The councilman's name is Daniel Davis (picture at right) - and he said government will have to step up and help fund the center because of "sorry churches" in our city who don't "fulfill their mission", and are instead "building magnificent structures" and "tripping all over themselves to witness in foreign countries" but not doing what they should at home.

I'll lump FBC Jax in with the "sorry churches"...and I think reporters like Ron Littlepage and city councilmen like Daniel Davis don't even realize the extent to which what Davis says IS true.

Millions of dollars, TAX EXEMPT dollars...are spent on things like huge pastor and pastor wife salaries enabling them to live in exclusive neighborhoods and drive fancy cars and put their son on staff, spending money on 3000 square foot lavish pastor office suites for pastor and wife and dogs...all while neighborhoods just up the road are in need of the love of God and the resources of God's people.

OK, let's assume that FBC Jax needs to spend its $15 million budget primarily on buildings, salaries, and overseas missions. Where are the efforts to reach people in the poorer, crime-ridden areas of Jacksonville? The pastor is hot and heavy to broadcast video of his sermons in a branch church in southern Duval. He and Jim Smyrl are trying to convince hundreds of families to give up their Sunday nights to start home churches to evangelize their neighborhoods in southern Jacksonville so that next spring they can be used to start a satellite church in the wealthiest part of our county...but what if he used his influence to start a tutoring program for underprivileged kids like he told us over a year ago? What portion of our 15 million dollar budget is being used to help the poor and down and out in our city? Not much, not much at all. And I realize this didn't start with Brunson. However, his actions since coming just make it all the worse - spending money on projects that don't help the needy, BUT ALSO are not even in step with the mission and scope of our church!

This is why the news of our pastor accepting a $300,000 land gift from one of our richest members just three weeks after arriving here is so troubling - that certainly didn't help the needy in our community or further our church's mission. To accept such a gift so early in his tenure here in our city just sends a terrible message to the people of our city that we're all about enriching a man instead of helping God's people. Or that our pastor earns a $300k plus income along with his wife being on staff and we used $100k and 3000 square feet in our children's building to construct a lavish office suite for pastor and wife and dogs. Didn't someone ask "how does this office suite further the gospel or help those in need?"

We gullible sheep sit and watch as the pastor uses our church resources like his own source of project capital - taking $500k out of our church budget (not special gifts...OUT OF OUR MINISTRY BUDGET) to start a school in the fall of 2009 that will benefit only a very few in our congregation that can afford tuition to the tune of $8000 per kid...holding a special offering on Resurrection Day to collect $150,000 to put himself back on national TV...using our church website to market "Holy Land" trips to the very wealthy in our church...all things that might, MIGHT be worthwhile activities...but they don't help many people in our community and they are not within the mission statement of our church.

So dig deep people of FBC Jax that have been told you must tithe to experience God's blessings...because FBC Jax needs hundreds of thousands every week...you are the revenue source to keep it going. But not to worry, Mac "Jeremiah Wright" Brunson is praying that the federal government doesn't come here if a hurricane hits us, and he is "praising Jesus" that you all didn't get a raise last year because you're all so stupid you'd just use it to get further in debt. Mac's hurricane relief comment just shows what a blow-hard he is...if he thinks the church should "rise up", then why isn't he leading the charge?

Keep calling out the "sorry churches" Daniel Davis. But the only way these pastors and lay leaders will be held accountable is when God's people stop forking over 10% of their income while they carelessly watch the pastor and lay leaders spend it on the pastor and his family and on projects inconsistent with the mission of the church.

Maybe we need a "Sarah Palin"...someone to come in and stop the wasteful spending and hold "the good ole boy network" at our church accountable for the abuses at our church under Brunson.

2009 Pastor's Conference - Still Waiting...

To those of you visiting this Website who are looking for the registration web site for the 2009 First Baptist Church Jacksonville Pastor's Conference, you've reached this website, a blog that is devoted to attempting to hold Pastor Mac Brunson accountable for his abuses at our church. Browse just a few of the articles that are available in the right hand column to get the story of what has been happening at our church since you last visited FBC Jacksonville.

Unfortunately as of this writing, September 4th, our "Director of Special Projects" is late in starting the registration for our 2009 Pastor's Conference. We are now into September and the Pastor's Conference website has given a list of speakers, a rough agenda, but has not listed any of the workshop topics and no information on fees or the registration process. No information on the cost of meals, and the cost of the "upgrade" premium sessions. But we have made some progress in getting ready for the conference: with the help of our ace church marketing consultant from just up the road from Jacksonville in Nashville (Tennessee), we came up with the catchy slogan for the conference of "Healthy Pastors, Healthy Churches" with the a similar green apple and peel that he used for Mac's "Fresh" sermon series in 2006. Just my guess, but judging from the portly status of our pastor and sidekick Jim Smyrl, the "Healthy Pastors" is not speaking of physical health. Sorry, couldn't resist.

But I do want to offer an alternative for those of you who might be considering coming to the FBC Jax Pastor's Conference this year. Our church has problems, and it might be best to skip it this year and try another conference. You see, Mac and Jim Smyrl have spent the last year "lovingly" telling their congregation how stuck in the past we are, how traditionalist, how legalistic we are, and even Mac's church consultant has used the word "fundamentalist" to describe me on his website. (I've hyperlinked articles on this blog so you can see their dim view of the people of FBC Jacksonville). They are obviously very frustrated over the lack of progress they have had in transitioning our church from its current "legalistic", "fundamental", and "traditionalist" ways and now is just not a good time to learn much from FBC Jax. And why would you want to come and worship with a bunch of people who our pastor has described as a "hotbed of legalism" that "have a list but no real relationship with Jesus Christ"? According to Smyrl we're stuck in our traditions, and we need to be looking at the methods of churches who are reaching people with "flip flops and tee-shirts", and we are obviously not there yet (although Jim Smyrl "bravely" preaches without a tie on Wednesday - the crowds are beginning to build!).

Although still there is no information about the fees for the conference, you might anticipate an increase again this year as we saw last year. Earlier this year I received several emails from pastors disappointed in the huge increase in FBC Jax Pastor Conference tuition from previous years and I have permission to share one of them with you:

....In your blog, you mentioned the rise in registration fee from $100 with meals to $175 w/o meals. Has there ever been any reason given for the increase?

This increase is one reason why I did not attend this year [Feb 2008]. Instead, I went to Dr. John MacArthur's Shepherd's Conference in Southern California. I thought you might find this interesting. The registration was $300.00 for Wednesday through Sunday, although Saturday is a free day to be a "tourist". With that registration fee it included lunch for Wednesday-Friday, lite breakfast fare consisting of fruit, cold cereals, fruit juice, coffee, donuts, milk, chocolate milk, etc. We had snacks such as vegetable trays, cheese & cracker trays, bottled water cold drinks, such as coke, diet coke, dr. pepper, root beer sprite, Pepsi, etc. And these things are stationed EVERYWHERE you turn in multiple locations. But it gets better. (Sounds like a cheesy infomercial, doesn't it.) Every year they give you a gift, it may be a watch or a briefcase, this year it was a $50 gift card to the book store. Now, what pastor is not going to buy books at a conference? Nice touch, wasn't it? In case you tallying this up $300.00 registration minus a $50.00 gift card we're now at $250.00.

But in addition to all of that on Thursday of the conference at lunch they also passed out canvas bags full of books and resources to every attendee. In total there were 14 books a DVD and a CD. If you do the math real quick if you spent $20.00 for each book, alone, that is now $280.00 now I am in the black $30.00.

As you can see, it just made sense from a financial standpoint to attend the Shepherd's Conference and I was blessed immeasurably and will attend again. And just like you, at FBCJAX, I have to also be a good steward of the resources God has given me and the church I pastor.

So while we have no idea what the registration fee will be at FBC Jax even at this late date, I'm sure it will be at least as high as last year's $175 plus "premium" sessions and much higher if you add meals. We shall see, as soon as the Director of Special Projects and Maurilio Amorim get back to this project.

If you want to find information about the Shepard's Conference at John MacArthur's church March 4th-8th, 2008, go here:

https://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/

Although their conference is a month later than ours, their registration site is open and full of information about the speakers, workshops, and theme. Not the big list of speakers, but perhaps you will hear from God at this conference from men who are not angry, who don't take advice on how to run the church from a church marketing consultant in Nashville, and you'll learn from lay and staff members at that church who aren't looking at churches who are winning souls with "flip flops and tee-shirts" to see what the latest Purpose Driven technique is to appeal to the masses. And you won't have your intelligence insulted by having to hear Mac Brunson talk about the evils of pastors who "negotiate salaries like an NBA super star" when he himself is a pastor earning the big dollars and accepting huge gifts from members of the church), and bragging about how he has the "skill, drive, and ambition" to be successful outside of the ministry...or hear him praise his son for "raising $100,000" to offset the costs of the conference when really the credit of any money "raised" goes to God and God's generous people at FBC Jax.

So in the absence of specifics on our 2009 Pastor's Conference at this point, use this as an opportunity to try a different conference next year. Maybe the Shepherd's Conference, or maybe one that is run by people in tee-shirts and flip-flops. Besides, you can still watch the Pastor's Conference from FBC Jax on the Internet, and you can come back to the Watchdog for some interesting analysis.

The Marketing of a Man....

After watching the Democrats' convention last week, I couldn't help but think about the danger of electing a man like Barack Obama, whose reputation in the minds of most Americans is based more on slick marketing messages than a true record of leadership and accomplishment. The purpose of their convention was to mask, through clever marketing and visual images, the fact that this man, Barack Obama, is THE most liberal Senator, and has zero executive and foreign policy experience. As William Safire has said, "When you hire a plumber, the one thing you want to know is if these are the first set of pipes he has worked on." Electing Barack Obama would be a tremendous risk, and he would likely make Jimmy Carter's four years look like a dream.

But that is the power of marketing, branding, and visual images. It can get a man hired in a very powerful position for which he is totally unqualified (see also "Adrian Soud").

Have you ever considered how Mac Brunson was pitched to us as a congregation? If you ponder that, you will realize we were sold an image of Mac Brunson and Team Brunson to gather our support and generate enthusiasm about him, and to prepare us for the fleecing that was about to begin. It was marketing. It was delivering a "brand" to us, something that Maurilio Amorim of the A-Group knows all about. We knew next to nothing about him - he was an unknown - had preached a forgettable sermon once at the pastor's conference in 2001 or 2002. And then we were told he was God's man for our church.

We received the marketing and branding messages about Mac Brunson in several ways: first we were shown a video introducing "Team Brunson" - their history, their marriage, their family. He was an everyday Joe, a guy from a small North Carolina textile town. He was a red neck. Then we were fed a steady stream of Mac stories by high-priced SBC preachers (most of them friends of Paige Patterson) about the wonders of Mac Brunson. We were told by Ergun Caner that he drives pick up trucks and eats Krispy Kreme. We were told by our previous pastor and others in the SBC that he was a fine bible expositor.

After we trusted our search committee and voted for Mac and put he and Honey on the payroll, the signs that they were something other than as advertised began to show immediately, and I mean RIGHT AWAY. After the vote in 2006 calling them as pastor, they promptly took a nearly two month-long paid vacation (who gets hired for a job and says "great, I'll see ya'll in two months") while their 3000 sf office suite was constructed, and we were treated to two months of high-priced preachers coming here to pave the way for Mac, all of them carefully orchestrating the message of what a great man Mac was while busting our pastoral budget line item to pay huge honoraria at the same time paying Mac's salary and benefits. Can you say "fleeced"?

David Allen, one of Paige's boys, was selected as one of the primary messengers paving the way for Mac. We paid David Allen to preach several times while Mac took his 2 month "sabattical" before arriving in Jax, and David set our expectations high. There were even some cute videos recorded to get us to laugh and giggle as we waited for the great Macsby to arrive. We were told by David Allen that "the cloud would soon move again" under Mac, but we found that the only "cloud" moving was actually the steam rising from his hot head as he angrily yelled at us for being "legalistic" and "stuck in the past". Oh yes, we did vote for 8 people to find the right man for the job, but by all appearances they focused like a laser on one man who was already selected by Jerry Vines and Paige Patterson, and it was not easy to convince Mac to come. We thought our search committee was being lead by the Holy Spirit, but they were led by men to entice one man. Entice him they did, and come he did, and we've paid dearly for it, and will continue to do so for a long time.

What were some of the other marketing images fed to us by the SBC preacher boys and the A-Group to get us to buy the Brunson brand? We were told of Mac's humble beginnings, from a small town in North Carolina. We were told Mac was a conservative preacher, an expository preacher, who loved to just preach. But we found out he is anything BUT expository - he hunts and pecks and regularly misuses scriptures to fit his points rather than preaching the text and letting the Holy Spirit speak. He preaches topically most Sundays. We were told he is a historian who pours over his sermons for hours and hours - but he regularly misrepresents historical facts in his sermons and even has slandered a former church member from the pulpit. As I said we were told he drove a pick-up truck and ate Krispy Kremes; a regular "red neck" from the South. We had no idea that when he came to Jacksonville this "red neck" would live an hour away on the Atlantic Ocean beach on exclusive Amelia Island for a year in a multi-million dollar condo, all the while building his million dollar mansion in a gated community. That wasn't part of the marketing message, that they loved the high life, the VERY good things.

Part of the branding was the "Team Brunson" concept. We were told he and his wife were a "team", that they counseled together and for that we were glad. This led us to believe his wife would have a lay ministry like other minister's wives at our church who serve without salary but serve along side their husband and teach and lead and model ministry. We had no idea that "Team Brunson" meant "Two Salaries" and a huge new office suite on the ground floor of our new Children's Building - the most prime spot of space for ministry - an office suite which by the way is about twice the size of the average church member's HOUSE...for Mac and Honey to have a private office suite for them and their dogs.

We were sold a bill of goods. We had no clue that Mac's first move would be to hand over our website design to the Nashville based A-Group run by Maurilio Amorim - to take our website backwards and that in the next 2 1/2 years we would never archive one single sermon on the website; and to this day our flash demos of ministry are over 3 years old, still featuring ministers long gone. While our website is stale and floundering, Mac invested thousands with Maurilio in revamping the Pastor's Conference website.

We were told about how close of a family the Brunsons were, how they did everything together, and for that we were glad. But we didn't know this meant he would immediately would put wife and son on PAID STAFF in newly created positions...that his son would become the Director of Special Projects at age 22 right out of college and would be handed the responsibility of coordinating and raising funds for the Pastor's Conference and then be praised at the 2007 conference for "raising $100,000" to help pay for it. Who knew that Mac's wife would be put on paid staff, earning a reported $100,000 per year working a very light schedule with no specific church ministry responsibilities, and who takes time off to sit on the IMB board and to travel with Mac.

We didn't know that we would be asked to contribute money for Mac's son's wedding reception, whom we didn't even know..and that Mac would immediately push his Holy Land trips to the very wealthy in our congregation...we had no idea that our preacher would damage our church's reputation by accepting a $300,000 land gift upon his arrival showing that he cared more about building his personal wealth out of the box than hitting the ground running as the new preacher in town. We had no clue, this man would turn our Wednesday night services into a "Church History" night when he arrived - causing Wednesday night attendance to plummet and from which it has since never recovered.

We had no clue that this redneck from North Carolina would be building a million dollar home and he and wife would be driving Jaguars and BMW's instead of the pick up truck that Ergun Caner told us about. Neither could we have possibly seen that his preaching schedule the first year would be sporadic at best, vacating the pulpit without notice, even being so arrogant as to announce that his new book was keeping him from preparing his sermons necessitating a guest speaker...then we read the book and find out he doesn't live by the precepts on money and greed and gifts he puts forth for other pastors.

We were told he would be more of a loving "pastor", a man of the people unlike the other pastors. Who would have thought that this new loving pastor would repeatedly beat us up and charge us as being "legalistic", and "worshipping the past" and "worshipping previous pastors"? Who thought that this loving pastor would tell the pastors in his old stomping grounds of North Carolina that we are a "hotbed of legalism"? And who can forget about the way our bylaws were clandestinely changed to give him more power, calling for a vote with no explanation of the changes given to the congregation? And we know he wants a school, so he holds an unannounced vote to take $500,000 from the church offerings to start the school. We've spent hundreds of thousands to put Mac on INSP network so that Mac can put on his bio that he is "heard around the world on radio and TV"...and of course he allowed some "influential deacons" use our church facilities to host a "Time to Stand With Israel" to raise funds for an Israeli hospital where abortions are performed...yes, under Mac's wonderful leadership our church facilities, built by saints of God over decades with sweat and sacrifice: have been used to raise funds for an Israeli hospital that performs abortions. I must have missed that part of the David Allen's sermons describing what we had in store with Mac Brunson.

Have I made my point?

Now we are stuck with Mac. With the bylaw changes there will be no getting rid of him until he gets tired of dealing with us recalcitrant sheep and he moves on to something else. He won't humble himself to address any of these items with his church, and thus he has damaged his ability to lead.

I hope our country doesn't make the mistake of hiring Barack Obama. If he is elected, we're stuck with him for 4 years...but at least in his case there are checks and balances to not let him have total control of our government and the damage he wreaks can be muted.

Not so with Mac - no checks and balances, he is "God's man" and has the keys to the church. And he leads us into a satellite ministry while our church is at less than 50% capacity. We are spending $500,000 of the church's money on the school start-up, and the architects are nearly done with the renovation designs and cost estimates that we'll have to vote on.

So get ready folks...it is going to take one heck of a marketing campaign to sell all of this to the church - good thing Mac has the ace church marketer Maurilio Amorim on his team to help make the sale to the gullible sheep of FBC Jax; even Maurilio is going to find this a tremendous challenge.

Happy Birthday Watchdog!

Readers: Today, August 30th marks the first anniversary of the Watchdog website. In the first year, the site has logged over 100,000 visits, and a quarter of a million page views from all over the United States, and countries all over the world. There is extreme interest among Christians in our city and all around the SBC of what is happening at our church under the leadership of Team Brunson.

Thank you to the readers of the Watchdog who have kept this site going. I ask that those of you in the Jacksonville area share this site with others so that they can keep up with what is going on at FBC Jacksonville, particularly as it pertains to the "Life Links" and "South Campus". I will continue to share on this blog what is happening at our church, and my personal observations and analysis.

Blessings to all....

The Watchdog

Satellites and "Life Links" - It IS All About Mac After All

Just some brief notes (and questions and observations) about the FBC Jacksonville's plan to expand their church through the use of what they call "Life Links" and satellite churches. I received several emails from congregants who attended an informational meeting Sunday 8/24 about these plans. The meeting was poorly attended, only 50 or so people showed up. Below are some answers you might have about this ministry.

- Why Satellites? 'Cause Mac is AWESOME! Jim Smyrl gave several reasons for going the satellite route versus a mission church; main reason? According to Smyrl, few if any preachers in Jacksonville or the country, are preaching spiritual truth in wonderful sermons like Mac Brunson. There you have it...we actually need to get more visibility for Mac in ALL of Jacksonville. He's just so darned talented in his preaching!! Our model for church growth? Build the brand of Mac Brunson. Can Jim point us to an example of where a stagnant downtown church, one that is legalistic and traditionalist, has achieved growth through a satellite ministry? Aren't most satellite concepts born out of necessity, a growing, vibrant, alive church busting at the seams needing more space?

- Where will the Satellite Be? Where the rich, er I mean the "unchurched" are, of course. The first satellite, the "South Campus" will open up Easter Sunday 2009. I'm not sure, but from the information I have it might be at Nease HS or some other location on 210 near Nocatee.

- Can You Be a "Life Link"? Only if you give up the beer and illicit sex! In advance of launching the satellite the church is enlisting volunteers to be "Life Links" - holding bible studies or in-home church, including child care, in their homes on Sunday evenings to disciple new believers. But you do have to sign a pledge card which I'm told were passed out at the informational meeting! On the pledge card you have to agree to the following:

• you cannot allow any of the current church members to attend your home church (you wouldn't want us anyways, we're so traditionalist and legalistic). Church staff will be driving by and doing spot checks to make sure none of the downtown legalists infiltrate your home church;
• you must agree to abstain from consumption of ANY and ALL alcoholic beverages and any illicit sexual activity (at least until you stop being a Life Link leader). Maybe that's a wise policy, but can we get any more legalistic than that? So a person at our church who might enjoy a glass of wine isn't qualified to hold a Bible Study at his house? Get REAL! Not only is that legalistic, its so hypocritical! Mac in 2 1/2 years has never, ever from the pulpit encouraged his congregation to abstain from alcohol. But he needs to put that legalistic yoke on the Life Linkers? Is that the same requirement for Sunday School teachers? Has the "No Limits" class adhered to this policy?
• You agree to do everything you can to ensure the safety of children. Strange that this would be on the commitment card - isn't that common sense? Is this to limit church liability if someone gets hurt on the property? "We told them to ensure the safety of the children!!" Good question for a LifeLinker to ask Smyrl: does the church's liability insurance cover me while I am hosting a FBC Jax sponsored event in my home?
• LifeLinkers must agree to do everything they can to launch another LifeLink home within so many months. They also agree to submit required data on their meetings Monday morning, attend all LifeLink organizational meetings, attend church downtown Sunday mornings...you know, a list...a legalistic list that is preached against Sunday after Sunday.
• Have to agree to not send any anonymous emails to the pastor, or read any of the Watchdog blog entries, must bring your Bible to church, and you must "stop sitting there and do what the pastor says". (OK, I made this one up...but I hear the above parts of the commitment are true).

- Who Will Preach The Services? Who Else? Our Rock Star Preacher! when the South Campus opens there will be 2 services, a 9:00 am service where Mac will preach live, and that sermon will be recorded and shown in a 10:30 service. Yep, we're exporting Mac Brunson to southern Jacksonville! This is going to be tough for Mac, since he only averages about 1 sermon a week lately. We need to pray for him that he can do it! But research does show that sheep beatings are much less effective and motivating when delivered by tape or satellite feed. Might need to invest in some Bose speakers to get the full affect of Mac's anger.

- What About Life Links in Other Parts of the City? Smyrl said that they are interested in Life Links all over Jacksonville, not just the southern part. Perhaps the longer range plan is to start campuses in other parts of the city...which makes sense, because if these other preachers aren't preaching the Word like Mac does, then by golly we need to get satellites all over Jacksonville and quick! News flash: like many of you, I've heard pastors all over this city, from the independent fundamental baptists to the "seeker friendlies"...and Mac doesn't have anything on most other preachers in this town...except that he is angrier, yells louder, assumes the worst of his congregation, doesn't make Jesus the center of most sermons, doesn't check his historical facts, and even tells an occasional slanderous fib about former church members. Seems to me that Mac is what we could call a "hybrid preacher" - he has combined the worst of "fundamental" and "seeker friendly" preaching styles....in short: angry, negative preaching, and not much Jesus. Not sure who the target audience in southern Jacksonville is for that brand of preaching.

On Sunday morning Mac told of a wealthy man that he had breakfast with earlier in the week - he was a professing Christian, but not a Southern Baptist...and this man stroked a check for a large sum of money ($20,000 I believe) to help pay for a FBC Jax satellite in Jacksonville. Mac used this little story as proof of there being a great demand for our church in southern Jacksonville. This made me wonder: would Mac would have accepted the $20k if the man had tried to give it to Mac personally out of "love and affection"? Hmmm....Mac, be sure to give this man's name and number to our Director of Special Projects - a good source of cash when he needs to raise another $100k for the pastor's conference like last year.

Well, that's what I know about the Life Links and Satellite plans for southern Jacksonville. Sorry, if you need more info you need to contact Jim Smyrl. Churches in that area, you have about 8 months to prepare for the "FBC Jax Southern Campus" invasion...yes, we're concentrating on just new converts now, but you can bet there will plenty of sheep stealing going on as we start the new campus in 2009. But not to worry, once people get a dose of Mac Brunson cruising in his "luxury car" from his "executive home" to preach Sunday mornings, and his anger and animus and arrogance from the pulpit, they'll be longing to return to their humble shepherd pastor down the road. Besides, the FBC Jac members are a "hotbed of legalism", so who would want to link with that kind of church anyways?

Life Link converts: Just be careful of the Kool Aid that will be supplied by the church and served at the Life Link locations; I hear its quite addictive. ;)