After this Sunday’s exploits at the Anchorage Baptist Temple, I’m left with an uncomfortable level of nausea, disappointment, and anxiety about what might still be in store for the 38th Pastoral Celebration of Jerry Prevo, this coming weekend.
First off, have you ever had a church service take attendance? If that isn’t strange enough, has a reverend ever invited you to his VIP room to get to know you? And how many religious jokes came to mind just then? Well, check this bit out from Sunday:
Weird. Then again, as prominent as Prevo has been during his 38 year reign, he has reportedly lost quite a chunk of attendance, and this type of rhetoric has been commonplace over the past couple of months.
But how about this call to action, featured in a picture displayed right on the ABT website? This doesn’t look much like a bible study group. This looks like open enlistment, in a time where tensions already run deep enough to cause concern. Anyone here read anything about the Crusades, and how well that worked out? Can we ban the concept of reenactments, please?
The stomach turning sensation came into play when Reverend Glenn Clary was introduced this past Sunday, to advertise the big 38 Pastoral Anniversary event. Rev. Clary is one of ABT’s ministers and holds leadership roles, according to their website, in the areas of Administration and Maintenance. He also was a cosponsor of a 2007 statewide advisory vote, run by the Alaska Family Council’s Jim Minnery, which sought to reaffirm the Constitutional Amendment defining marriage in Alaska as between a man and a woman.
In addition, humorously, he runs the ABT’s Marriage Builders’ Adult Bible Fellowship, which according to their webpage:
“[P]rovides married couples a unique setting to learn Scriptural insights that apply to daily married life. Our class is multi-generational with couples from all walks of life, races, and socio-economic levels who are committed to growing in faith and reaching the lost for Jesus Christ. Everyone is welcome to experience the tremendous work God is doing in and through the Marriage Builders’ Class. Our social interaction activities provide everyone an awesome opportunity to enjoy great Christian fellowship and build friendships lasting a lifetime. Connect with us on Sundays at 9:45 a.m. in the cafeteria for Christ-centered, Biblically based teaching on marriage, money, family, friends, relationships, and religion.”
He is also, apparently, very proud of the charge Reverend Prevo led to fend off the vast liberal media and their homosexual armies. This is the video that hurts, but I think needs to be seen. Over and over again. Because it’s real, and it’s in our town. It’s our responsibility and reality to deal with.
Just to be very clear, when he talks of “love offerings,” he is talking about money. He is legitimately asking this congregation to buy Jerry and Carrol Prevo gifts. And he asks people to pray about what kind of gifts will adequately satisfy the love which parishioners should have for their fearless, gay-fighting leader. The good Reverend Prevo, himself, later talks about worshiping false idols. But, clearly, we should keep these two ideas separate. Like church and state, or Glenn Beck and Thomas Paine.
And then comes the man himself. Jerry Prevo. Incoherent, rambling, Sarah Palin-esque, he fumbled his way through another fear based lecture that referenced Revelations and Deuteronomy, stressed the end of days, focused on Scarred Earth and burning in Hell, and managed to work in stabs at Social Security, claims that homosexuality is an abomination, and the thought that going to church should take the front seat, while taking care of your newborn child could actually serve as a detriment to your commitment to your faith.
Mayor Sullivan, I will repeat that I asked you, back in June, at a town hall in my neighborhood of Fairview, to stand up to Prevo. I implored you to realize that the future of Anchorage needs to be a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive community. You said nothing, nodded, and months later sided with the people in these videos. You are making a lot of mistakes. But, in terms of legacy, is this the tie in which you wish to bind yourself? Do you really watch these things and hear these claims and nod in vacant agreement with many of the people in these videos? Do you truly want to be remembered as the Jerry Lewis to Prevo’s Dean Martin (and I apologize to Dean Martin for the analogy)?
We live in the age of Wikipedia. How do you want to live in infamy, sir? Because, as much as I am angry with you over your decisions thus far, I don’t want to believe this is your core. I think that you are siding with a base that has been historically safe and in the majority, but also has become impossible to ignore as wrong, and shrinking in size if not voice.
The Anchorage Baptist Church will never be your dream of unified support. They will abandon you the second you hint of dissent. They have no recognition or respect for your office; God’s law as interpreted by the ABT’s leadership is the only doctrine of substance to them.
What will it take for you to learn this lesson?
… And what happens next weekend?
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