Hey y’all, I wanted to publicly thank Quinn for getting me started in this endeavor. However, I am not a ghost. I am dead to the world, but I am alive in Christ. So, I am moving the blog over to http://hanswunch.wordpress.com/ . Please update your bookmarks, blogrolls, etc. and find me over there. Thanks!

From Movie Critic Richard Roeper. 

A tarnished compass?

“The Golden Compass,” opening Dec. 7, is under fire.

From a mass e-mail:

” ‘The Golden Compass’ . . . is written by Phillip Pullman, a proud atheist. . . . The movie has been dumbed down to fool kids and their parents in the hope they will buy this trilogy where in the end children kill God . . . This is just a friendly warning that you won’t hear on TV . . .”

Pullman’s popular trilogy, His Dark Materials, is a wildly imaginative story set in a “multiverse” of alternate worlds.

Humans have souls that take on a physical form. There’s this thing called Dust, seen as evidence of Original Sin, and there’s a Godlike entity, The Authority. The trilogy follows the adventures of Lyra and her friend Will as they — well, you get it. Like “Harry Potter” and “Narnia,” it’s a sweeping, fantastical adventure.

On the Catholic League’s Web site, William Donohue says, “The Catholic League wants Christians to stay away from this movie . . . because it knows that the film is bait for [the trilogy of books by Pullman] . . . unsuspecting parents who take their children to see the movie may be impelled to buy the three books as a Christmas present . . . no parent who wants to bring their children up in the faith will want any part of these books.”

To see or not to see

Pullman has said his books are not anti-Catholic, but there’s no disputing his anti-religion stance. Yet according to the Los Angeles Times, “there’s no mention of the church or Catholicism” in “The Golden Compass.” The article also quotes Donna Freitas, a Catholic and an associate professor of religion at Boston University, who says the film is “a thrilling, cutting-edge work of Christian theology. What’s distressing about Donohue’s message is he’s talking about [the book] as if it’s this atheist manifesto geared at children. He’s forgetting this is a wonderful literary fantasy for children.”

I doubt the calls for a boycott will have much effect. In the meantime, here’s a thought for the Catholic League. Instead of sounding terrified by the prospect of Christians reading Pullman’s books, how about saying something like this:

“While we vehemently disagree with the themes in Pullman’s books, we know children enjoy reading fantasy adventures. That’s OK because we have our own series of amazing stories. It’s called the Bible, and those who believe in it will have faith strong enough to withstand the readings of a thousand other books.”

In other words, have a little faith in your faith.

Here is what Al Mohler has to say about the GC.

Here is an article on Christianity Today entitled The Chronicles of Atheism.

I think it is safe to say that parents ought to think twice about taking their children to this movie. Unfortunately, in the commercials I have seen the GC has been linked to Narnia and Lord of the Rings in a positive way, when in reality it is quite the opposite. Yes we should have faith in our faith, while at the same time, we ought to be careful what we expose our children to. I think most would not say, well, I believe in saying no to drugs so much I am going to give my child some Meth just so he will know why he doesn’t like it. Dangerous.

I feel I must apologize. I said in an earlier post that I would not say any more about the 50/50 split. But, in light of a recent opinion piece in the Baptist Courier found here. I feel I must respond. So here is the response I sent to the Courier. Lets hope it doesn’t get lost this time

In Response the letter written by Ken Reid entitled, “Someone, explain the urgency”

What is the urgency of changing our CP percentages to 50/50? That is a great question. Allow me to throw out a few facts. First fact, there 6.5 Billion people in the world. There are 4.5 Million people in South Carolina. There are 1.7 Billion people who live in areas where they have little to no chance of hearing the name of Jesus Christ. There are 0 people in South Carolina who fit that description.

Second fact, over 95% of all Evangelical Christian money in the world is used to accomplish church work in only the United States. That is 95% of the money for 5% of the world’s population. Or stated in the opposite way, 5% of the money for 95% of the population. We get upset when 20% of the people in our church do 80% of the work. How much worse is 95% the population with only 5% of the funds.

Third fact, there are only 5,301 IMB missionaries for 6 Billion people! That is 1 missionary for every 1.13 Million people.

Forgive me for the numbers but they show a stark contrast between Christianity in America verses the rest of the world. Last time I checked the Great Commission applied to more than South Carolina. Some might say we are the “ends of the earth” but I would disagree. Here is the problem. The world’s population is exploding and our trying to reach them simply is not keeping up with the pace. And I firmly believe, that if we are about doing the Great Commission, then the other things will follow. So for every 1% we move toward 50/50, ½ of that money will go directly to International Missions.

I would love to speak at length with anyone who really would like to understand the heart behind the motion I made in 2006 and the motion Kirby Winstead made in 2007. Allow me lastly to address the rumor that those who are encouraging this are from low CP giving churches. I cannot speak to others, but I can speak for myself and many others. Calvary Baptist Church, Ware Shoals gave 15+% to the CP last year (2006). We also went on a church wide mission trip and gave to the Lakelands Association. This year we increased our CP giving to 21%. Now if that is a small percentage to you, then I would love to hear what a large one is. We will give another 3% to the Association and we went on a church wide mission trip and sent others to international trips this year. My point is, we are not a low CP giving church. Neither is the church the Kirby Winstead is at nor many other of those who agree that if we keep missions at the heart of the CP then all the other wonderful ministries will flourish too.

Here is a link to a BP article written by our own Todd Deaton. Entitled WRAP-UP: SC moves toward 50/50 CP split. Now I know, any forward or backward motion would be “movement” but would inches, or crawls, or something of that nature been more appropriate than “moves”. Honestly, I pray we get there, but I think I will have a few more gray hairs by then.

I have, what I believe is the final comment (at least from me) on the 2007 South Carolina Convention. It is interesting that the theme of the convention was “A Story To Tell, A Life To Live”. And I say interesting because, while I was inspired by the testimonies given Tuesday night, I was disappointed in the business of Tuesday Morning.

I guess the one thing that stuck out the most to me was an idea raised by a fellow pastor. That the convention seemed selfish. Instead of go and tell, it was more, what’s in it for me? From “I move that any change in distribution not be sent to the National convention, but given to the Ministries for the Aging”. To a comment against the amendment to move to 50/50 saying “I wish we could vote to keep 90% in the state and send 10% to the national” which garnered numerous “Amens!” How can we call ourselves a missions minded people with such selfishness? The “me” generation has moved out of the counterculture and into the pulpits of SC.

I am sorry, I didn’t grow up Southern Baptist. But one of the things that brought me to the conclusion that God would have me become a Southern Baptist was the convention’s desire to go tell a lost and dying world about Jesus Christ. And its conviction to tell everyone, everywhere. I wonder have we lost our focus? Have we become too inwardly focused? Do we really care that 1.7 BILLION People have little or no opportunity to even HEAR the Name of Christ, much less have a opportunity to accept Him as Savior? Our selfishness speaks volumes.

Well, the convention is over. The convention speaks rather funny in Florence. In the morning session we had the election of officers. Tuesday night saw an Exodus that Moses would have been proud to lead but Wednesday, well, it had some new faces and each position that had multiple candidates was different. In the race for president, you had a small church high CP giving pastor who had a great nomination speech. And a large church slightly less CP giving pastor who had an average nomination speech. The latter won.

In the race for 1st VP you had a SURPRISE! Not 2 but 3 candidates. A small church high CP giver from the Florence area, a larger church lower CP giver from the upstate and (drumroll please…..) a DOM?! Yes, but not just any DOM, I am proud to say, my DOM, David Little who is truly an inspiring and great encourager who loves the Lord.

In the last race that had multiple personalities. You had yours truly. Who’s name was used in vain due to another pastor having to explain why the convention was doing what it was doing and taking over 1/2 and hour to do it. And I am from a small church, in a small town in the upstate and we are a high CP congregation 21% (not total, 21% to CP). And the other candidate is a great guy who I went to Seminary with who also comes from a small church in a small town, and whose church gives a good bit to the CP as well. Well, Brian will be going to the meetings this year and not me.

Would I have liked to have been elected 2nd VP? Sure, I wouldn’t have let my name go forward if I didn’t. But I can truly say the slate of officers for the SCBC in 2008 is a great group of folks. And I will be happy to lift them in my prayers as I hope you will.

I said, I would be willing to give up 2nd VP if it meant we moved ahead in CP giving. Well, I got a fraction of my wish, but it was still worth it. Oh and I have one footnote, while I could not have asked Ray Elder to do a better job of nominating me (because he did a great job especially with what he had to work with), Tim, the guy who nominated Brian did such a great job, I wanted to vote for him!

Well, I must admit, Tuesday got off to a bad rough start. My wife and I woke up late and it didn’t get any better until late afternoon. If you were not there, Kirby Winstead’s motion to amend the report from the Executive Board went down in flames only rivaled by the Hindenburg. Man have I been there, when I first made the 50/50 motion back in 2003 it went down in the same ball of flames. That being said, even after 30 minutes of why we should pass the report basically debating Kirby before he had a chance to make his motion, I don’t think Jesus Himself could have gotten us to move on CP giving. Not to mention that many of the figures offered by the convention were padded. Leaving out 2 conventions that give more than us and only giving it a passing acknowledgement to make us look better is in my book less than honest. THAT SAID.

Today is a victory albeit a small one. I don’t know if the Board (or a small group on it) came up with their plan in hopes of it being defeated or not, but by bringing pressure on it, they had to stand behind their work. In otherwords, they will have to be accountable. And in 5 years hopefully we will be AT LEAST 2% closer. Time will prove whether we should have made a bigger stand today or not. But I will tell you this…. Last year the convention said it would give 50% of all funds in excess of the budget to the National CP. That should in all honesty (or at least in the expectations of some) be a fraction of a percent. BUT, so far this year we are $781,000 ahead of budget. If this trend continues we will be $1millon and change over. This is how great God is. Even with our faith and not sight movement last year, He Still Blessed! And because of it, we will be giving in all likelihood an additional $250,000 to international missions and $110,000 to North American missions. And we will be giving (gasp) an extra 1% of our budget to the SBC. It will be interesting to see if we move back or forward next year.

WOW! That is all I can say is WOW! The day started off with Braxton Hunter who did 1.5 hours worth of preaching in 45 minutes. When did this guy take a breath? What a powerful message about not only knowing what we believe but equipping our church members to explain what they believe! Awesome stuff.

Then Aubert Rose preached on the Promises of God. Did you know there were 8810 promises in the Bible? I sure didn’t. And Aubert just picked 10 promises. And the last one, that God promises our whole house to be saved. Folks right now I am praying for 3 family members who need Christ. Would you join me?

Then the powerful testimony and sermon of Elliot Oswitt. Man, I can’t say enough about this guy. He was great, and man I walked away from that message thinking my childhood was rough in ways, but it was a picnic compared to his. He got saved looking at a Gideon Bible in a Hotel near Boone, NC.

Then Harold Hunter brought a message about baptism by Holy Ghost fire. And where you have to be willing to give up everything and you need to expect trials when you stand up for Christ. And he gave his personal testimony about that. Again it was a great sermon.

Then Richard Lee preached a wonderful message. In it he made an announcement that stunned all of us… Even Sam Davis, and that was that Sam was now on staff at First North Spartanburg (not First Spartanburg), easy mistake and that is what it was. But Dr. Lee preached on the fact that there aren’t small churches, just small visions.

Then came Sam Cathy. He had some great one liners. One of the best being in my opinion that he hated the choir sitting behind him because then you can’t scratch! Sam talked about giving. And one of the points was that in order to see the fire of God fall you have to be willing to give up the thing you love the most. And you have to give in order to receive the blessings of God. And give with a cheerful heart.

And lastly was Bobby Welch. Who we expected to preach on winning the lost and he did not disappoint. He read a letter from George W. Bush honoring our Vets. This was a great sermon.

In the midst of all this New Vision, Joyful Sound and the Anderson University Gospel choir sang and did a great job I might add. We have a bunch of great college students representing our wonderful universities.

We now begin to pray for Howard Allen, Ron Lynch and Bryant Sims as they lead the Pastor’s Conference next year.

Tomorrow looks like it is going to be a historic day for the SC Baptist Convention. I hope to see you there.

Well, I am here in Florence, SC for the SCBC Annual Meeting. It is my desire to post a little something about the proceedings each night. I have got to tell you I am excited about the Pastor’s Conference tomorrow. It should be a great day. I hope to see you there. If I don’t I hope to see you here

The following is a letter I wrote to the Baptist Courier and sent via email on Oct 22nd the Monday after the previous Courier came out. I spoke with Don Kirkland earlier this week and it had never crossed his desk. It disappeared mysteriously.

In Response To The Executive Board’s CP Allocation Plan
First, let me say, I appreciate the hard work and long hours that the Executive Board’s budget, finance and audit committee put in this year in looking at the motion I made at the 2006 SCBC Convention in Taylors. I have nothing but respect and admiration for these fine folks.

That said, the proposal they have brought forth really does not address the motion I made. There is no plan for changing the percentages, just for keeping the Status Quo. Not to mention that for most South Carolina Baptists this plan will not only be less than inspiring, it will be down right confusing. I fear we are being asked to walk by sight not by faith.

There was a key piece of information left out of the press release. The fact that the South Carolina Baptist Convention has over $27 million in reserves. From the way the article was written it sounds like the convention is living pay check to pay check and that there are not any funds for the natural ebb and flow of the incoming Cooperative Program Funds. Nothing could be further from the truth! Is it really stepping out on faith when we have this large a safety net to catch us if it does not work?

I know moving to 50/50 is a big goal, but we have a big problem, the fact that many in our state not only don’t know what the CP is about, but frankly don’t care. Lets take this opportunity to as William Carey put it “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”
Hans Wunch
Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Ware Shoals, SC