First Baptist, or Church of the Arrogant

Anonymous said...

The campus at First Baptist Church of Round Rock is used by many people, members and non-members alike. Many events, meetings, and other activities are held at the campus, and not all are specific to the church. There are not enough parking lot spaces, and thus the streets are used, just as many other places around town do. Certainly, anyone should follow the rules and use common courtesy when choosing parking and drop-off sites around the church, or anywhere, for that matter. These choices, however, are made by the individual and not by First Baptist Church itself. As both a member of the church and a daily visitor to other areas in the downtown Round Rock area, I agree that improper street parking or drop-offs can cause problems for others drivers. But, please, don't blame the whole church. Come visit us instead. You'll be very welcome!

In my humble opinion, it is up to the church to set guidelines for use of its property, no matter who is doing it. That should include instructions to treat the street as a street rather than the personal property of the church.

Now, about being made to feel welcome...

In October of 1985, I left my husband and entered the Family Program at the Texas Baptist Children's Home. The Program was a life saver for me, and I mean that literally. The participants in the program were required to attend church, and I chose to go to First Baptist, where the houseparents at our cottage were members.

First Baptist conducted Sunday School classes for all ages, divided into groups. There was the Singles' group, the Young Couples' group, the Seniors' group, etc. I, being a divorced person, was shuffled into a group called "Single Again." The other groups interacted fairly often, with picnics in the park, etc. "Single Again" consisted of half a dozen sad, frightened women from the Family Program at TBCH. Period. We were never invited to participate in any extra-curricular activities such as softball and movies and picnics. I felt segregated.

Wednesdays were Mission nights. We would gather in the Sanctuary (which you call the Auditorium) and listen to a speaker from a Baptist mission in some third world country (like Japan, LOL!), who was out on the talk circuit to drum money out of the faithful. Children were sent to their Sunday School classes to discuss the missions in an age-appropriate manner. They made little banks out of milk cartons, which they covered in paper to resemble churches, and took them home to collect pennies for the missions. Each week they brought them in, and it was not more than three weeks into our attendance at these functions when my girls decided that they didn't want to go. Upon inquiry into the situation, the girls told me that the other kids went around shaking everyone's little churches to see who had brought the most pennies. Now, I was a single mom, with two kids, and I kept a roof over our heads by cleaning houses. I was hard-put enough to convince my girls that operating a cleaning service was different from being somebody's servant. We didn't have a lot of pennies for their banks. By the end of the month, if I saved them well, those pennies helped us survive. I didn't begrudge what I could spare, but having my children humiliated, with or without the knowledge of the adult in charge of the class, was not something I was really happy with. I had to figure that the adult in charge was either neglectful or complicit in this bullying.

One of the houses I cleaned belonged to a Baptist missionary couple in Japan. They were purchasing the house for their retirement, and allowing their son (or daughter...it was a long time ago and I really don't remember) and family to live there. I got to work one day, and found the yard being torn up for installation of an in-ground sprinkler system. Quite a luxury in 1986. Turned out that Mom and Pop Missionary had sent home the money for the project.

At that point, I decided that the Baptist Missions must be doing pretty well, and could probably survive without my daughters' pennies.

Top that with the sermon delivered by the pastor at the time, in which he actually said that God wants us to enjoy the good things of this earth, and that, with Faith comes Wealth (and he actually specified material wealth, not spiritual), and I had had it with your church.

In the ensuing years, I have found out that all the people I knew and liked at First Baptist now attend other churches; even, in some cases, other denominations.

No, Anonymous, I'm not buying into your spiel.

It's easy to anonymously post a criticism of my opinion. Put a name on it, and we will talk.