The Star-Telegram is saying that Reverend Brett Younger is leaving Broadway Baptist Church, the church where I've been a member for a couple of decades.
I can't blame him. He's resigning at Broadway to teach at an Angel Factory in Georgia called the McAfee School of Theology. (Hat Tip to Doug Dickens for the phrase "Angel Factory" in reference to Seminaries and Divinity Schools.)
If you're new to this site click here and then do some Googling. You'll get the picture.
Here's something Brett emailed me when I asked him about going to hear Bruce Springsteen in Dallas. Good stuff.
He wrote it for the church newsletter.
Wouldn't it be great if every preacher, priest, rabbi and Imam saw the rest of the world this way?
Do you think that Iraq, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Iran, Tupelo Mississippi, and The Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints' YFZ Ranch would be more pleasant if that were the case?
Here's a Springsteen lyric from a song called "Reason To Believe". It's on the Nebraska CD, which for my money is the best album ever recorded by a Yankee.
There's nothing on it but Bruce Springsteen, his acoustic guitar, and a harmonica.
A man is standin' over a dead dog that's lyin' by the highway in a ditch
He's lookin' down kinda puzzled, pokin' that dog with a stick
Got his car door flung open, he's standin' out on Highway 31
Like if he stood there long enough, that dog'd get up and run....
It struck me kinda funny, seemed kinda funny sir to me,
Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe.
So good luck, Brett, and good luck to whoever is next in line to poke us with a stick.
Sometimes, if you stand there long enough, we do get up and run.
I promise.
6 comments:
Just happen to check my email a few minutes ago and saw something from Brett where he confirms that he's leaving Broadway.
Sad, but not surprising, given what he and, more significantly, his family have been through for the last few months.
I do not envy whoever is in charge of appointing a pulpit committee.
And appointing the committee will be the easy part !
I've said from the moment the petition thing started that Brett was gone. It might be two months or two years, but unless he was nuts (and he isn't) he'd be leaving ASAP.
The question is, what kind of place are we going to be?
I hope we've answered that question.
Dr. Liz says:
I remember the Whited Sepulchre saying that Brett was gone. It is sooner than I had expected.
I wrote Brett that I felt he is truly my pastor.
Well, stormy days ahead.
I was a member at Broadway from 1995-2001. I lived through much of the last interim, which was not BBC's finest hour. They're going to have a helluva time finding anyone who'll want to come there and stay.
Nahhh...
We'll find somebody.
I'm starting to believe that what we're going through is normal for whatever person or organization has guts enough to lead the parade.
Think about it. There are probably 50 churches in Fort Worth/Tarrant County with higher membership than Broadway. But Broadway's issues are the only ones that make the front page of the newspaper.
Why?
Because Broadway matters.
I sincerely hope that BBC continues with it's gay-friendly attitude. Given the fire-storm that has occurred in the last several months, it would be all too easy to take a step back. But, maybe that is inevitable. I think that with the constant decline in attendance recently, the congregation is developing a sort of "herd" mentality. They see people leaving, so they do the same thing. We have a great opportunity to move forward and take a stand on what is right, fair, and good. As an out member, I sincerely hope that the pulpit committee keeps this in mind!
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