“Righteousness demands truth.”
That’s what Southern Baptist pastor Randy Robertson preached from the pulpit on Sundays. But during the week, he was spending his time at strip clubs where he spent thousands of dollars.
When Oklahoma City’s FOX 25 news brought this duality to light, it became obvious that Pastor Randy Robertson didn’t really believe what he preached. He certainly didn’t want the truth of his own conduct revealed.
You can see it all on video here:
KOKH FOX 25 :: Special Reports - Pastor strip club investigation
In this story, we can see many parallels to the stories involving Baptist clergy sex abuse. Here are just a few:
There is no effective oversight for the pastor. For months, pastor Robertson was able to spend many hours away from church duties while he frequented a strip club.
The pastor behaves as though he is two separate people. In the video, pastor Robertson even uses a phony name to chat with another man in the club. He says that his favorite strip club is the one that takes credit cards. Why? In pastor Robertson’s words: “If you’re really wild … and sometimes I’m just horny as hell and I … pay with a credit card.” (The FOX report raises the question of whether pastor Robertson may have used offering plate dollars to pay for his strip club visits. FOX doesn’t get an answer to that question, but let’s hope that the church will have the good sense to at least look closely at its past credit card statements.)
There is no one at the church who will receive an inquiry or complaint involving the pastor. At First Baptist Church of Anadarko, Oklahoma, when reporters wanted to inquire about pastor Robertson's financial dealings, no one could even identify the current financial secretary of the church even though there was an office door, clearly visible, that said “Financial Secretary.”
The only way people in the pews find out about their pastor’s conduct is by media exposure. Yet, rather than being chagrined by the church’s own failure to exercise oversight, and rather than being grateful for the information afforded by the work of the media, there are some within the church who instead blame the media for “casting a dark cloud on their church” and say that the media have “no business broadcasting a story about their pastor being in a strip club.”
When exposed, the pastor minimizes his conduct. Pastor Robertson wrote an apology letter to the congregation, but he didn’t mention that the “club” was a strip club, and he spoke as though he had only gone a couple times when, according to the FOX news report, pastor Robertson had actually "been going there for months." And get this . . . Pastor Robertson didn’t even have the gumption to stand before his congregation in person to make his apology. He sent a letter for someone else to read out loud.
State denominational leaders disclaim any oversight and claim it’s a “local church matter.” Nevertheless, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma stated that it stood ready to provide “assistance and resources” to pastor Robertson.
There is nothing surprising in any of these patterns or in pastor Robertson’s story. And the story certainly isn’t “beyond belief” as one Baptist leader asserted.
Having seen an endless stream of stories about Baptist clergy who sexually abuse kids and congregants, I felt only relief that pastor Robertson’s story was merely about strip clubs.
Continued>>>
http://stopbaptistpredators.blogspot.com/2010/09/pastor-in-strip-club.html-------------------
Originally posted by Joanne98 in Editorials & Other articles
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