Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday September 20, 2007

A few weeks ago Frank Page, President of the Southern Baptist Convention really got on the case of certain clergypersons within that organization for inflating membership and attendance records.

A Christianity Today editorial, "Statistical Shell Game," insists, "The numbers we report are a matter of integrity." Dr. Page is quoted: "I never talk about 16 million. That is ridiculous; I teasingly say the FBI could not find 5 million of our members." We Independents would add, "And believe me they are looking for some of them."

The 1.4 page editorial runs the gamut of things fudged on, exaggerated, ignored and in a few cases outright lied about. Before you get comfortable in the saddle, I admit to being an Independent Baptist, but alas, the litany of transgressions in the editorial fit right in to any group. We should not take comfort in this sad truth.

This article is not about Southern Baptists, Independent Baptists or even Muslims. It is about you and me. Am I a man of integrity? Can I trust you? Can you trust me? In his grand book, "Spiritual Leadership" Henry Blackaby gives several pages to the subject of integrity. He thumbnails the subject with:

"Integrity doesn't happen by accident. It happens on purpose."

To assume that many if not most people willfully depart from integrity and dive into the muck and mire of little white lies is somewhat of a stretch. I have talked to many men and a few women who love Jesus and in the midst of serious trouble, they have asked, "Larry, how on earth did I get here?" Having been "here" I help folks in this type of mess to retrace the path. Invariably the memory of a willful departure surfaces, leading to the next question, "How did I miss that?" In time, when they climb out of the River of Denial, the painful recollection of exactly when floods their mind and heart as they recall the conviction of the spirit, a particular verse of scripture or in rare cases the warning of a friend who had the courage to say, "Don’t do this."

The pressure to deviate from a position of integrity takes many forms, sometimes it is greed couched in the lofty thought of inordinate return. Other times it means an acceptance by a person or group and again the ever present truth; "We do it this way, get with the program."

A major contributor to a lapse or to a practice that is less than the standard of integrity is the term, IMAGE. We must maintain the image. This equals idolatry.

The editorial closes with this line based on Matthew 7:24-27:

"One day, the elements will test what we have built in our churches, crusades and mercy ministries. The greater the exaggeration, the greater the fall."

The verses are not talking about ministries, but building a "Life." How we do in this is of eternal consequence.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit.

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