Evangelical Lying

You've probably heard it by now. Henry Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention has been telling some whoppers. The National Baptist Convention denomination turns out to not have 33,000 churches and eight million members after all. It is more like 3,700 churches and less than a million members. A bit of exaggeration there, Henry.

I suppose one might argue such number stretching was all done for the kingdom's sake, of course. Henry's sake too. He is currently facing criminal investigation for accepting commissions as high as 75% from businesses trying to reach his denomination's members in marketing schemes for long distance telephone service, credit cards, and funeral services. When the story breaks we'll all be embarrassed that he is one of us, and we'll scold all denominational leaders who stretch the truth for financial or political purposes.

Sure, denominational leaders sometimes stretch the truth. They don't even have to tell outright lies to do it. Statistics provide a dozen ways to make bad numbers look good. We can talk about growing segments, growing elements, or worldwide growth (most denominations, faced with stagnant North American numbers and burgeoning overseas numbers, now prefer worldwide figures). It is simply putting a positive spin on the numbers. Face it, that's what Americans pay their leaders for -- boosterism, not bad news. Henry might have gotten away with his number stretching if he hadn't gotten into accepting commissions.

Get ready. Once the story breaks most ministers will loudly condemn Henry Lyons' fibs. OK, reporting numbers at a factor of eight is a little much, but the real question is what numerical beam sticks out your own eye? Local pastors sometimes lie too.

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