Thanks for calling this to our attention. I went to the blogger link and read the sad story. I hope this is a very isolated instance of abuse. If this is anything like typical of mega churches, it's no wonder Christianity is on the decline nationally.
Retsel | 04.12.09 - 9:16 pm | #

Ugliness on all sides here. According to the newspaper article:

The Rev. John Blount, executive pastor of administration, said he contacted Hinson directly regarding increased “vitriol” on the blog about the same time mail was stolen from the Brunson home and someone was surreptitiously photographing Brunson’s wife. Also, someone had contacted vendors lined up for the church’s annual pastors’ conference and made critical remarks about Brunson to them, Blount said.

The blog does read like someone with a serious vendetta against the church's pastor, and combined with the other events I'd say they were justified in their concern.

I'm not sure whether Google violated the blogger's rights when they revealed his identity to the detective, or whether the detective did so when he revealed that information to the pastoral staff. But it was at the very least unChristian to unmask the blogger publicly.

I've never subscribed to the aspect of congregational church governance where a member can be ejected by a "discipline committee," but at the same time if this blogger has such a problem with this church, why would he want to keep going there?
Eric Seymour | Homepage | 04.13.09 - 10:07 am | #

By the way, regarding the $300K salary, that does strike me as very high, particularly for the geographic area. We ought not expect that ministers live in poverty, but someone could live quite comfortably on a third of that in Jacksonville, FL. Nevertheless, I see it as rather irrelevant to the blogger fiasco, aside from the fact that it was one of the many issues the blogger had with the church leadership.
Eric Seymour | Homepage | 04.13.09 - 10:18 am | #

Thanks for posting this. A sad story, all around. Among other things, a reminder that when the church becomes too closely entwined with the state, it isn't the state that changes.
Martin LaBar | Homepage | 04.15.09 - 3:37 pm | #