Unmasked blogger blames First Baptist, Sheriff's Office

[lindab]

Right. The two first coast news stations have mentioned it and it is on their web. Nothing from WJXT, Ch. 4 at this point.

[BridgeTroll]

This is perfect for FARK...

[thekillingwax]

This is so great. I'm sorry for Rich, it's got to be a pain but for his troubles, he'll get front row seats for watching FBC go down in flames. Okay, probably not but I'm hoping it at least goes sorta like how I'm imagining it in my head. I worked there for a few years and while there are some genuinely nice people there, the people calling the shots are rotten to the core. I thought things might've been different with Brunson- he came in with a mighty administrative shakeup and got rid of Pigg, the former administrator who was a two faced bastard but nothing ever changes, I suppose.

As America is slowly growing more progressive and less tolerant of this kind of BS, I'm hoping this completely blows up in FBC's face. For every evil blogger they out, 20 more will take his place.

Also, anyone know if they went ahead with that class/group for "sexually dysfunctional adults"? I remember reading about it a while back. I guess it was FBC's way to fix those dirty gays and those of us who watch r-rated movies.

[blizz01]

Evergreen Terrace (Jacksonville's hardcore specialists) had a track on their Wolfbiker album titled - "To The First Baptist Church of Jacksonville" - probably not my style, but fitting parting shot by those guys..........

[Karl_Pilkington]

He is the powerful husband of former council president Ginger Soud.  His two boys are both attorneys as well.

yes attorneys and one of them just won an election in November and is a brand new thirtysomething circuit court judge, aint this a great town.

[stjr]

These are some names mentioned in the "Next Mayor" thread.  How many are connected to FBC?

Jim Bailey, Jacksonville Native and Longtime businessman.  Owner of the Daily Record and a longtime booster of the downtown area.  Committed to historic preservation and a very civil kind of guy.  In many committee meetings with Jim, Ive always found him to be pleasant, positive and rock steady.

Dan Davis, City Council President, Northeast Florida Builder's Association.  Sincere, dynamic, goodlooking.  The few times Ive met with him, ive found him to be intelligent, quick to learn and recognizeably southern.

Ronnie Fussel.  City Council President. Smart and resourceful.  Been around a good long while and has a pretty keen insight into all the bullshit that keeps stuff from happening.

Mike Hogan.  City Council President, Tax Collector and I think another elected office.  Rock solid Baptist.  Very very nice man.  Clearcut conservative somewhere to the right of Milton Friedman.

Glorious Johnson.  A bit of a wild card, very colorful and fun.  Incredibly openminded and unpredictable.  City Councilmember, former republican now a Democrat.

Audrey Moran.  One of the more interesting, committed and intelligent citizens of the city.  Former cheif of Staff for Delaney, Head of the Children's Commission and was transition director for Sulzbacher.  Also part of a pretty powerful judicial family, she herself is a JD.  I have never sat down with Audrey that I didn't leave thinking that I was lucky to have taken some of her time, and I have never met anyone who didnt feel the same way about her. Very open minded, very positive and clearcut about goal achievement.

Jerry Holland.  Rock Solid Baptist.   Pretty nice guy with bigger ambitions.  Little League Coach and President of the City Council.  Supervisor of Elections.

Jim Overton, Duval County Property Appraiser.

Jerry Holland

Add Mike Hogan:     "First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Deacon, Department Director" at:  http://74.125.93.104/search?q=cache:egZjdKvtODcJ:www.myfloridahouse.gov/SEctions/Representatives/details.aspx%3FMemberId%3D4193%26SessionId%3D36+mike+hogan+baptist+jacksonville&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Although not listed, Matt Shirk, our recently elected Public Defender also is a member of FBC: "In 2004, Matt married Michelle Burney, step-daughter of John Gordon, former Undersheriff for Duval County. Matt and Michelle have a young son Pierce and are active members of the First Baptist Church." http://74.125.93.104/search?q=cache:h31IG6sXnjkJ:myclaysun.com/node/4921+audrey+moran+baptist+jacksonville&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[stjr]

From Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Baptist_Church_of_Jacksonville

In 1940, Dr. Homer Lindsey, Sr. was called to be the new senior pastor of First Baptist Church and completely revitalized the church. By the end of 1943, the church became debt free and continues to be debt free to this day. In 1948, the church built its first educational building debt free. During this time, membership grew as well as contributions which was the main factor in the revitalization process. In 1969, Dr. Lindsey's son Homer Lindsey, Jr. came to First Baptist as Co-pastor. The two Lindseys would lead the church together until Dr' Lindsey, Sr.'s retirement in 1975. The membership of First Baptist grew so much that a new sanctuary was completed in 1976. This sanctuary, the Ruth Lindsey Auditorium, was also State of the Art and could seat 3,500 people. The Miracle of Downtown Jacksonville, as First Baptist has become known as, continued in 1982 when Dr. Jerry Vines became Co-pastor with Dr. Lindsey, Jr. Up until 1988, the church had expanded to nine buildings and membership went from 2,385 to 14,172. In the 1980s, the church created the Pastor's Conference which is a 5 day conference for pastors from across the United States. In 1993, First Baptist had grown so much that a new State of the Art sanctuary was completed that could seat nearly 10,000 people. Dr. Lindsey, Jr. passed away in 2000 and Dr. Vines continued leading the church forward. In 2002, the Children's Building and Welcome Center was completed which allowed First Baptist to encompass 11 square blocks of Downtown Jacksonville. Dr. Vines retired on February 7, 2006 after serving First Baptist for 23 years. On February 19, 2006 Dr. Mac Brunson was called to be the new pastor. Today, First Baptist Church has a membership of over 29,000 people and an annual budget of $14 million dollars.

In July 2006, ChurchReport.com ranked First Baptist Church of Jacksonville 19th of the 50 Most Influential Churches in the United States. [3]

[Karl_Pilkington]

"Today, First Baptist Church has a membership of over 29,000 people and an annual budget of $14 million dollars."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNy6ziOyxoA             


keep tithing yo.

[jandar]

And how much of that 14 million dollar budget goes to help the homeless and drug addicts sleeping right outside of their door?

[brainstormer]

Un-frickin-believable.  I was just discussing this whole story with my partner and he went to the jacksonville.com website to read the story and guess what?!? It's been pulled!!!!!  I thought the TU finally had grown a pair, but I guess I was wrong.  You can only get to the story now by searching for it.  As of earlier this afternoon it had over five pages of comments.  I'm pissed!  This city is ridiculous.  I'm about ready to make some signs and walk my ass down there Sunday morning in silent protest.  Really make some noise on what I'm sure is their biggest profit weekend of the year!  Down with FBC!  They have no right to run this city.  

[stjr]

Un-frickin-believable.  I was just discussing this whole story with my partner and he went to the jacksonville.com website to read the story and guess what?!? It's been pulled!!!!!  I thought the TU finally had grown a pair, but I guess I was wrong.  You can only get to the story now by searching for it.  As of earlier this afternoon it had over five pages of comments.  I'm pissed!  This city is ridiculous.  I'm about ready to make some signs and walk my ass down there Sunday morning in silent protest.  Really make some noise on what I'm sure is their biggest profit weekend of the year!  Down with FBC!  They have no right to run this city.  

brainstormer, in fairness to the T-U, after about 24 hours, they rotate the articles off the web site's "front page".  Lake posted the article last night at 9:30 +/-.  It is still prominently listed under "News"-"Local", if you click there.  I would suppose by day break it will move to archives only after that or you can click on the link in this thread.  At its present 4,200 + reads and 5 pages of comments, it blows away every other article for the day including one about JEA rates that appears to be its only competition at 3,800 (the others are 100 to 300 reads).  Here it is again:  http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-04-08/story/unmasked_blogger_blames_first_baptist_sheriffs_office

If you want to see first hand what all the fuss is about, read the blog that started it all at:  http://fbcjaxwatchdog.blogspot.com/  Regardless of your opinions, this is entertaining reading!  Based on numbers of comments to his blogs, he has a very large following.

[thekillingwax]

And how much of that 14 million dollar budget goes to help the homeless and drug addicts sleeping right outside of their door?

None as far as I know. The security keeps them from hanging around. When I was younger and a member there I asked about why there wasn't more charitable work done and was basically told that if you give an inch, they want a mile. That's one thing that never bothered me. They used to and probably still do a lot of stuff for elderly and home-bound members but it's organized at the department level, there isn't some big church office of charity. There was one older lady that wasn't able to attend and I remember our study groups taking her groceries and supplies on a fairly regular basis and we even had a christmas dinner at her place one year. The last thing downtown needs is some other place offering handouts, if they want to start that at their new satellite churches, have at it.

[BridgeTroll]

Disappointingly... this seems to have not attracted any national attention.

[BridgeTroll]

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/columnists/mark_woods/2009-04-10/story/churchs_use_of_power_is_troubling

Church's use of power is troubling

By Mark Woods Story updated at 6:29 AM on Friday, Apr. 10, 2009

Unmasked blogger blames First Baptist, Sheriff's Office
I remember sitting around the dinner table as a kid, hearing my dad talking about the daily soap operas at his "office" - the church.

Mr. Johnson didn't like part of last week's sermon. Mrs. Jones was all worked up about the changes in the potluck protocol. Others were grumbling and whispering about this or that. There always was something.

So as a preacher's kid, I certainly can understand why First Baptist Church Pastor Mac Brunson would get frustrated by having a parishioner setting up an anonymous blog to criticize him, his preaching style and his $300,000 salary. (The latter which, trust me, this preacher's kid didn't grow up with.)

Beyond that, as someone who puts his name and face behind his opinions, I'm not a big fan of the nameless, faceless criticism that is everywhere these days. From "Rants & Raves" to message boards, it seems way too easy to fire shots under the cover of anonymity.

Still, what happened in the case of a previously anonymous blogger is a troubling use of power.

In case you missed it: After the church filed a complaint about a blog, a police detective - who also is a member of the pastor's security detail - opened an investigation. Detective Robert Hinson got a subpoena from the State Attorney's Office requiring Google Inc. to provide information about whoever was behind the site. Names, addresses, etc.

It's important to note that the blog never threatened violence. Was it harshly critical? Sarcastic? Unfair? That's a matter of opinion. But it never threatened violence. And the detective closed the investigation, finding no criminal wrongdoing.

He also provided the church, his church, the identity of the blogger.

The church then issued a trespass warning against Thomas A. Rich and his wife.

Most chilling about all of this: Those in power - from the police to the church leaders - not only defend this chain of events, they say it's how things should work.

The Sheriff's Office says there wasn't a conflict of interest and that the detective did the right thing by passing along the blogger's identity to the church.

The State Attorney's Office says there wasn't anything unusual about the subpoena, which made it possible to figure out who was tapping away at a computer keyboard. Happens all the time. Not just with blogs. With e-mails, text messages, etc.

And I'm not sure what to make of one detail of the saga, other than perhaps the irony of it, but one form of communication that wasn't part of this investigation - face-to-face talking with the blogger.

This isn't necessarily unusual, police say, especially considering that no criminal wrongdoing was found. But what if, as the blogger believes, the ultimate goal of this process wasn't to find wrongdoing but to find him?

As someone who has been on the receiving end of anonymous criticism, part of me is tempted to celebrate something that might give pause to nameless, faceless critics. But a bigger part of me is troubled by a slippery slope where Big Brother meets Big Church.

[copperfiend]

Good to see Mark Woods writing about it but I doubt this goes anywhere.