What Travis Does at GA

Scanning the articles posted on the Aquila Report, I noticed my name mentioned in reference to a speech I gave at the last General Assembly of the PCA. The author posted a link whereby, if you advance the player, you can watch my short comment.

The comment was made in the midst of debate on the funding plan for the Administrative Committee of our denomination. I have objected for years that there is something morally wrong with taking money from the poor and giving it to denominational leaders to live in the upper middle class. There is a funding plan which would make the current voluntary system (if you like the salaries, go ahead and pay the money) involuntary (if you don't pay the money, then you don't have a voice at GA).

Ironically, I think the funding plan is actually a way to force wealthier churches to give. The problem is that they are avoiding the issues by trying to force everyone to pay and their using denominational resources to promote the plan whereby they force churches to give. And then the Stated Clerk chides opposition bloggers for speaking out against their plans. It's kind of like Hugo Chavez taking over most of the media and then threatening the remaining voices as if he's a victim of harassment.

This clip is a good example of why I don't think I should go to GA and why one of our Ruling Elders is going to try to keep me going.

Here's the link to the article, which contains the link to the video.

The Stated Clerk Chides Bloggers

Dr. Roy Taylor gently chided bloggers for criticizing the Strategic Plan on the internet. During his report to the Assembly as head of the Administrative Committee Dr. Taylor noted that only twelve people have directly contacted his office with concerns about the Strategic Plan but many have criticized it online. Some of the criticism he found thoughtful, but other criticism was very mean spirited and personal. He seemed to be chiding both groups of bloggers, but the first group much more so than the second.

Dr. Taylor explained that they have taken the criticisms into account and have been changing the plan to reflect some of the concerns. He said that they had been revising the plan even during the Assembly in response to some of the criticism. This was confirmed to me by a friend who sat in on the Administrative Committee meeting.

The Administrative Committee certainly deserves kudos for being responsive to the people they serve and being open to suggestions. There was some irony, however, in the report.

As one of the bloggers (who is also a very committed pastor and published author) pointed out, the Strategic Plan is a public document and the Administrative Committee has produced videos and print media to support it as they have the denominational resources at their disposal. This isn't just about interacting with the Administrative Committee, its about whether the Assembly is convinced to adopt this plan. The AC understandability wishes to convince the Assembly to adopt the plan, but some wish to convince the Assembly to not adopt it. It's hard to convince people to vote no on the plan by sending private letters to Roy Taylor. Are not public documents best responded to publicly?

Another choice bit or irony is this, Dr. Taylor completely neglected to mention the bloggers who have taken up the task of defending the plan by fairly personal and uncharitable rhetoric.

There seem to be double-standards here on several fronts.