FBC-Jax: "Big Brother meets Big Church"

As reported in the Florida Times-Union, a Jacksonville police detective used the power of the Sheriff's Office to subpoena records from Google to identify an anonymous blogger who has been critical of Rev. Mac Brunson, the pastor at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville.

The church made a complaint about “possible criminal overtones” on the blog, and the police detective launched an investigation. As it so happens, the police detective is also a member of FBC-Jacksonville and a “body guard” for pastor Brunson.

Conflict of interest? Uhhhh…. yeah…. it sure looks that way to me.

But of course, FBC-Jacksonville is one of the largest and most powerful mega-churches in the whole Southern Baptist Convention. Criticism had to be stopped!

There appears to be no record of exactly what criminal activity or “overtones” were used to justify getting the subpoena. The records of the subpoena request were destroyed, purportedly “according to the policy.”

However, it’s undisputed that the detective found no wrongdoing. The blog made no threat of any kind. (Wouldn’t you think the detective could have just looked at the FBC-Jax Watchdog site and figured that out before getting a subpoena?)

Nevertheless, even though the detective found no wrongdoing, he still provided the name of the anonymous blogger to First Baptist Church of Jacksonville -- i.e., to the detective’s own pastor and church leaders.

The church then issued a trespass warning against the blogger and his wife, banning them from the church. I’m told that the couple has three children.

So… the leaders at FBC-Jacksonville finally got what they wanted. They had been upset about the blogger for quite a while, even issuing a rather ridiculous resolution against him. After all, the blog included “criticisms of Brunson’s $300,000 salary… his construction of a ‘lavish’ office suite, accepting a $307,000 land gift from church members… and putting his wife on the payroll.”

The church claimed the criticism was “a violation of Scripture” and of church bylaws. (Remember those bully bylaws?)

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has issued a statement, defending their detective’s conduct. But, in my mind, this official attempt to defend the indefensible only makes the whole saga all the worse.

And exactly how do they explain the fact that they also subpoenaed records from Google about Tiffany Croft’s blog and the New BBC blog?

Croft, who has never been anonymous, blogs about the scandal involving Jacksonville pastor Darrell Gilyard, who is now charged with lewd conduct and child molestation. Despite numerous allegations of “sexual improprieties” at his prior Texas churches, former Southern Baptist president and celebrity evangelist Jerry Vines encouraged Gilyard in his ministry and “agreed to forgive” him for his out-of-state troubles. So, the Gilyard scandal reflects back on Vines, who was pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville until just a couple years ago. Perhaps the church didn’t like seeing criticism of its prior pastor either.

And what about New BBC? That’s a blogger who writes about still another scandalized Southern Baptist megachurch, Bellevue Baptist in Memphis. It’s the church where senior pastor Steve Gaines kept quiet about another minister’s admitted child molestation. Yet, even after it all came to light, Gaines didn’t face any serious consequence; the church still keeps him as its senior pastor.

What possible justification could there have been to subpoena records on an anonymous blogger in Memphis… other than maybe the fact that these Baptist good-ol-boy high-honchos stick together and try to help one another out?

“Big Brother meets Big Church.” That’s how one columnist aptly described this over-the-top use of power at FBC-Jax.

About now, I figure you’re probably wondering what the FBC-Jax mess has to do with clergy sex abuse. After all, the Watchdog blog never made any accusations of that kind.

But consider this: If this is how a Baptist church handles criticism about the pastor’s salary, how do you imagine it would handle a more serious accusation involving sexual abuse?

Well, I can tell you how Baptist churches typically handle those sorts of accusations. Essentially, they try to stone the accuser back into oblivion. Church leaders circle the wagons and no one in denominational leadership will intercede. It gets ugly.

Power without accountability leads to abuse of power. It’s a pattern we have seen in Baptist churches all across the country, and it’s a pattern that allows all manner of clergy bullying and abuse to go unchecked.

It’s why Baptists desperately need a denominational review board to foster clergy accountability and to provide a safe place where people can report abusive ministers. It’s the sort of accountability mechanism that most of this country’s other major faith groups already have.

Incidentally, this isn’t the first time I’ve raised my eyebrows at a story involving Jacksonville law enforcement and First Baptist Church of Jacksonville. When Jerry Vines was pastor, one of the church deacons was arrested on molestation charges. Even though the deacon originally faced 13 felony counts, he got a plea bargain deal of only one year in jail followed by 5 years on probation.

Victims’ families urged a longer sentence, but according to a news report, the deacon’s “associates” urged leniency. I wonder exactly who those “associates” were. The article doesn’t say, but I can’t help but wonder whether some of First Baptist’s leaders may have been among those who convinced the prosecutor and judge to give their deacon-pedophile a light sentence.

The mother of two of the boys said the light sentence victimized them all over again.

The former deacon was back in court less than a year ago, asking the judge to make his light sentence even lighter by waiving the last part of his probation period.

After the hearing, one of the deacon’s victims told a reporter how difficult it was: “It’s hard knowing this man stalked me and my friends for three years and did the things that he did, and then he can walk around the streets and drive around Jacksonville and carry on like nothing ever happened -- it just kills me.”
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Column updated and revised 4/14/09.

See also: Authorities expose blogger who has been hounding FBC-Jacksonville," Associated Baptist Press, 4/15/09