Dear First Baptist Dallas,

Ok, I've been doing a lot of thinking about this post. I've been thinking about my criticism of this church's plan to spend 120M on a building. My buddy KJ and I had a long talk this afternoon about this post, and the question he asked me to ask my self was this: "What good, if any, does criticizing this church's plan do?"

It's a good question. A sucky question for me to saddle up to, but a good one.

The thing is, I lean both ways on the subject. Here's my pro and con list about this post:

Pros:
-It's important to keep some prespective. Sometimes we lose site of how rich we are.
-Jesus' and Scripture are clear in our obligation to be selfless servants - always helping those in need. I was having a hard time seeing how this campaign was doing that.
-Scripture should not be used out of context.

Cons:
-I'm making some big assumptions - litterally or subconsciencisly
-I make no mention, or even attempt to find out what good will come from such a structure.
-I have no idea what kind of other moneys this church is spending to help those in need.

Both lists are valid.

Now, mom said, "If you don't have anything good to say, then don't say anything at all." But, she also said, "You should always take a stand for the things that you believe in." So where's the line? I believe the line is drawn in tact.

Let's face it, criticisim will get us no where if it's not shared in love. So, for you're veiwing pleasure, I have re-wrote this blog post the way it should have been, had I'd been as wise as my friend KJ.

A color coded key so you can see the differences:
(white) what i wrote origianlly wrote
(yellow) what I have added
(red) ***original items that should have never been in there.***
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Dear FBC Dallas,

***Don't.***
Really?

Here are the facts that keep me awake at night:
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• Children under age 18 make up 49 percent of the population of the world's least developed countries, compared with 21 percent of the population of the world's industrialized nations.

• More than 2 billion people lack access to electricity and modern forms of energy.

• More than 1 billion (one in five) people live on less than U.S.$1 a day.

• Every day, 1,600 women and more than 10,000 newborns globally die due to complications that could have been prevented.

• The annual world economy breaks down like this:

Low Income, $825 or less: 37%
Lower Middle Income, $826 to $3,255: 38%
Upper Middle Income, $3,256 to $10,065: 9%
High Income, $10,066 or more: 16%

• Approximately 143 million children in the developing world (one in 13) are orphans.

• More than 10 million children under age 5 die each year. Two-thirds of these deaths — more than 6 million deaths every year — are preventable.

Sources: www.unicef.org, www.unep.org, www.one.org, www.who.int, www.freeworldacademy.com, www.nationmaster.com

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FBC Dallas, I'm having a really hard time understanding how you can decide that this building campaign is a good idea. ***FBC Dallas, please, please, please reconsider,*** and stop using scripture out of context. Does your congregation need this building more than children need food and clean water?

I'm asking my self these questions about the things I have in my life.

I got those facts from Compassion. You should click the link and sponsor some of these children.

***It sure is pretty though, however*** God isn't glorified by buildings. Now I'm certain that you have every good intention in place for these new facilities. And I have no idea what you're church is currently don't to help those in need. I'm just wondering if this is the best way for your congregation to spend such a large chunk of change. I'm praying that you are petitioning the Lord at every single turn about this decision.

A Concerned SBC Church Member,

Taylor Robinson,
Click Here to watch some videos about their new building campaign.