Bwahahahaha!!!

Truth is often stranger than fiction, but this fiction is strangely true!

Click to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ34Nl-XZRQ

Paul Williams Update

Does that photo send chills up your spine? Make you sick to your stomach? Well, it should!

The afternoon of April 7th someone contacted me to ask if a Paul Williams who wrote a paper for Union University back in 2002 was "the" Paul Williams. Judging from the photo and bio of the man, it was not.

However, that got me to wondering what the former Bellevue Paul Williams is up to. A quick Google search led straight to the Warren Community Church March 2011 newsletter. The story begins on page 2 and is continued on subsequent pages. I planned then to do an update, but within a few hours of forwarding this information to Christa Brown and others, Christa posted a very good article saying everything I could have said and more (and said it much better than I could have, too).

We knew he'd been hanging out at WCC several years ago, right after he left Bellevue. (He and his wife live in Somerville.) It was rumored back then that the pastor of WCC, Ken Culver, had even offered him a staff position. Several people were outraged at this news and at least one called the pastor, who eventually denied the rumor (after asking what business it was of the caller's), but he did reportedly say he wouldn't see any problem with Paul being on staff since it was all in the past (how does he know it's "all in the past"?) and how it's possible for people to be forgiven and restored. Yes. Yes, they certainly can, although that's generally preceded by repentance, confession, and asking for forgiveness, but there are consequences to our actions (ask Karla Faye Tucker), and one of the consequences of being a confessed child molester is that you are never, under any circumstances, allowed to be alone around children or, in the case of a minister or other church leader, ever be allowed to be in a position of leadership again. This is just common sense. Besides, I've never seen any evidence of repentance from Paul Williams. He never addressed the people of Bellevue and seems to have gone merrily on with his life as if nothing ever happened.


A few months later someone who lives in Somerville had taken her child to some kind of homeschooling activity they have at WCC, and she said Paul was "hanging out" there in the middle of the day during the week. Then he was spotted, alone, at a children's basketball game, just standing there watching.

Last I heard the victim still would not allow Paul to see his grandchildren, so those must be his daughter's children in the above photo.

So Paul is on the Board of Trustees of WCC now. That would be like... an "elder" or something, right? Remember what Steve Gaines said about elders?

What is an elder? It's a pastor. It's not some "super deacon." It's not some elevated lay person. An elder is a pastor is a bishop is a pastor is an elder is a bishop -- all the same stuff. There's only two offices in the New Testament -- pastor, which is also an elder and a bishop and deacons.

I realize the job of most trustees is merely to rubber-stamp whatever the pastor wants, but I'd be willing to bet there are no women on that BOT because, you know, women are excluded from "leadership" roles within the church (that don't involve only other women or young children). However, the bar must be set pretty low for men at WCC.

Paul Williams not only didn't go to jail, he was never charged with anything. (The statute of limitations in Tennessee, which has since been extended, had passed, and the victim was reportedly not willing to pursue any legal action.) Yet Paul Williams is a self-admitted pedophile! He should be listed on the sex offender registry, but he's not along with at least 95% of his fellow pedophiles.

And all this isn't even addressing what adult female victims of this man's lecherous comments (much more recent than any 17-21 years ago) have said his behavior has done to them, proving once again pedophilia and sexual abuse are rarely about "sex" but about exerting power over someone weaker. Make's 'em feel like real manly men, I guess. One of his female victims described his eyes, when he went into "pervert" mode, as "soulless."

In my opinion Paul Williams and that Hernando pastor, Eddie Prince, who was caught downloading child porn at the library should be sharing a prison cell. What would Eddie Prince's family's reaction be had it been one of their children exploited for child porn? And who knows if this guy has done more than "just look"? Besides, child porn is not a "victimless" crime. Someone's children were victimized to produce this perverted filth, and by seeking it out and watching it, you're just as guilty as the lowlife who produced it. If there wasn't a market they wouldn't do it.

Since Christa's article was published, several writers have published articles about this story, but it's no surprise we don't seem to find any mention of it in "conservative" SBC blogs or publications.

The Big Daddy Weave >> Southern Baptist church Selects Confessed Sex Offender as Trustee

Baptist Life >> SBC church names confessed sex offender as Trustee

Civil Commotion >> Pedophilia: Not a career impediment in the SBC

And shouldn't we all be ashamed that "the world" can see the problem, but so many in the church cannot?

Atheist Revolution >> Idiot of the Week: Warren Community Church, Somerville, TN

"Idiot of the Week," indeed.

Bellevue's in the Baby Convention Business Now?

An attentive reader alerted me to the latest... gimmick?... money-making scheme?... new member drive?... at Bellevue. I'm not sure exactly how this fits into the grand scheme of things, but here it is.

Mid-South Baby Expo 2011


Bellevue isn't the main sponsor of this event (to my knowledge), but they are providing the facilities and will have a big presence. In the past this annual event, like most "conventions" of this type, has been held at the Agricenter International, but this year it's being held at Bellevue.

The question is... why? Mainly, I believe there's money in it for the church. I'm sure they get a percentage of the admission price. (Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that.) Someone -- the sponsors, the attendees, the exhibitors -- someone is paying for the use of the facilities, the utilities, the clean-up, traffic control, extra staff, security, etc. I believe money is the driving force behind much of what they do. Not all, but much. In a charitable nod, the church is providing bus service for women in "underserved" areas.

If they can attract some new members with this thing -- with kids (future replacement giving units!) -- then all the better. However, those in the age bracket having babies generally aren't the big givers. If they were smart they wouldn't have run off so many of the older givers, but that ship sailed ages ago.

To date there are over 60 exhibitors (Bellevue has reserved a booth 3 booths), and sponsorship packages are available. In addition to being an exhibitor, Bellevue is one of the "anchor" sponsors (hence the 3 booths as opposed to just one). "Anchor" sponsors appear to be a step above "participating" sponsors. I'm reminded of the FBC Jacksonville Pastors' Conference silver, gold, and platinum sponsorships. I wonder how much it costs to be an "anchor" sponsor.

I see four radio station logos on the sponsors page. Generally when radio stations are present at an event they blare their music from vans. Will the church parking lot be filled with the sounds of "maximum rock," "Gen X music," "classic soul," and the sweet strains of "today's best country"? What, no K-LOVE or "The River"?

Some of the activities and seminars include a babies and children's fashion show, a maternity fashion show, breastfeeding seminars, pediatric consults, an "infant safety zone," spa treatments for mom, and a "Daddy Zone" complete with "daddy obstacle course" where dads will wear the "pregnancy belly." (I think some of those guys wear the pregnancy belly all the time.) Turner Dairy will be serving up pickles and ice cream. Yum! And there'll be door prizes! And... if you run short of cash and want to buy more stuff from the exhibitors' booths, why there's an ATM machine right there in the west lobby.

As the trendy bracelets remind us... WWJD? I think there'd be some serious table-turning-over going on at Bellevue on April 2nd. But again, on second thought....

Bellevue Lo♥es Soda Cans!

This morning Steve Gaines announced that Bellevue has spent $3000 on a trailer to place on the church parking lot which will be used to collect aluminum cans. The proceeds from recycling the cans will be given to Life Choices, a local crisis pregnancy center. Now, that's a commendable goal which I cannot criticize.

However, did anyone really think this through before they dropped $3000 on what appears to be the type of flatbed, mesh-sided trailer landscaping companies use? Seriously? I mean, surely in those big outbuildings somewhere on the lush, manicured Bellevue "campus" there is already a fleet of trailers. We've seen the "Bellevue Lo♥es Memphis" trailer.


If nothing else and if you really want to recycle, tear down some of those old SCT, MPP, or VBS sets which will never be used again and have some volunteers build a big, secure recycling box.

Instead, the church, in their infinite lack of wisdom with their seemingly bottomless coffers, chose to spend $3000 on a brand new trailer. Oh, but wait! There's a catch. Life Choices will see no immediate benefit from this project. Rather, Steve says in the video clip that after the trailer is paid for all money collected from future recycling will be donated to Life Choices.

He did strongly hint that someone or perhaps a Sunday School class (or whatever they're calling SS now, I can't keep up) could dig into their own pockets and pay for the trailer immediately, but assuming that doesn't happen, let's consider just how many aluminum cans it's going to take simply to recoup the cost of the trailer.

A little research reveals that it takes about 32 of today's aluminum cans to equal one pound. It used to be around 24-25, but today's cans are lighter.

It varies, but from what I can tell, the going rate in this area for aluminum cans right now is about 30 cents a pound. Therefore, just to break even on the cost of the trailer and not factoring in the cost of getting the cans to the recycling center, it's going to take about 10,000 pounds (5 tons) of aluminum cans to recover $3000. That translates into 320,000 individual cans.

Put another way, the 13,333 cases of cans (24 cans/case) it takes to equal 320,000 cans would measure about 14,867 square feet or roughly 1/4 the size of a football field (if you include the end zones) if they were to be laid side by side in a single layer. Or if you were to stack all those cases in a single pile they'd reach a height of 5278 feet. One mile = 5280 feet.

Petty? Maybe. What's $3000 out of an annual budget of almost $20 million? If you're one of the many families that doesn't even make $3000 in a whole month, it might be very significant.

Today was "Prove the Tithe" Sunday at Bellevue. Yesterday every Bellevue family received an automated, pre-recorded phone call from Brother Steve saying (paraphrased but close), "Tomorrow is 'Prove the Tithe' Sunday at Bellevue Baptist Church. God says, 'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,' says the LORD of hosts, 'if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.' Whether you already tithe or not, we're asking you to take one-tenth of what you make in one week and give that to our church in the form of a tithe. Blah blah blah."

That sounds awfully Benny Hinnish to me. Proof-texting one verse of scripture from the Old Testament to convince people they must give "one-tenth of your income, undesignated, to the budget of the local church" if they want to be blessed by God is not the generous, cheerful (i.e. without compulsion) giving taught in the New Testament.

If you're giving a tenth or more to Bellevue Baptist Church in an undesignated fashion and doing so cheerfully believing it's all going to do the work of the Lord, that's great. Keep giving. Give even more! I would think, though, that a prudent person would expect the church to be good stewards of that money, and I'm not convinced this example is one of good stewardship.

I find it ironic that Bellevue continues to pressure people to give more while every few weeks Steve Gaines is gallivanting around the country and even overseas to speak at conferences, lead Holy Land trips, and I've lost track of the weeks of vacation. (Time off for recent knee surgery is certainly legitimate.)

Barely a year ago they extended the platform in the auditorium, and now they plan to tear all that out and completely redo the platform and choir loft. (See the Vision 2010 Plan and the Love Offering 2010 mailing for artist conceptions.) They bought an expensive new center IMAG screen and projector year before last. Now they plan to replace all three IMAG screens.

Later this month Steve and four staff members from the church, David Coombs, Drew Tucker, Steve Marcum, and Russ Quinn, will be traveling to Gardendale, Alabama to lead "sessions" at the 2011 Alabama State Evangelism Conference, funded by Alabama Baptists.

Does it strike anyone else as a bit ironic that David Coombs is leading a session called Adding Water to the Soup (Budgets, Buildings and Adjusting to a New Normal)? It's described as a "hard look at how to survive and adjust in this new economy." I guess that means "spending money today like it's water because you might not have it tomorrow." Reminds me of the federal government. In fact, "nickels and noses" seems to be the common thread throughout the session topics at what is being called an evangelism conference. In a 20-page PDF file the name of Jesus is mentioned twice.

So guzzle those Diet Cokes everybody, and Life Choices, y'all hang in there. The check will be in the mail as soon as the members of Bellevue have collectively drunk a mile-high stack of cases of Diet Coke and the trailer is paid for in full.

Will they accept Bud Light cans?

Modern Interior Kitchen with Minimalist Dining Room

Merry Christmas!

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A Two-Day Oprah Show Event: 200 Adult Men Who Were Molested Come Forward

On November 5th and 12th, a two-part Oprah Winfrey episode will air which deals with the subject of child sexual abuse of males.

Watch the preview.

Read the comments.

David Brown, who was in the audience for the taping, says...

When Oprah read our emails detailing our stories of our abuse she was moved to make two shows on the subject. Understand this is NOT just about clergy abuse but child sexual abuse of males. Tyler Perry (abuse victim himself and 2nd highest paid person in Hollywood) is co-host. This is a very emotional subject and the fact they could get 200 men to stand as one voice in speaking about child sexual abuse is so awesome.

I know many will not be interested but let me beg you to watch. Have you ever seen 200 men in tears? You will on the 5th and the 12th. If you know of anyone that was abused as child you must watch.

One in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused in America TODAY!! There are 39 million victims of child sexual abuse in America. Those are very real numbers. There are over 600,000 convicted, admitted, credibly accused pedophiles in America. Over half that number swear, state, vow they attend church regularly.

This crime is not going away. And please do not think that it will never happen to your family. It may already have. The shows tell you how to look for those signs of abuse and how to deal with them.

This is not a crime in the past but of the present and future. Unfortunately there was so much shame that we have remained silent for way too long. It was 35 years before I began to deal with my abuse and yet another 9 years before I could really speak about it. Please watch these shows, not for me but for your families. And if you suspect someone you love or know is a victim call me at (901)569-4500. There is help available. They do not have to endure this crime alone.

Help is also available from any regional office of S.N.A.P.

Read the account of another man who was there for the taping.

In the Memphis market The Oprah Winfrey Show airs on WMC-TV Channel 5 at 4:00 p.m. In other areas please check your local listings for channel and time.