Tuesday, May 19, 2009
May 17, 2009 meeting follow-up
I have tried to post the scans of the various Church Bulletins, and March 1, 2009 sign in sheet. For technical reasons I do not understand, I have thusfar been unable to post these scanned items. I will keep trying. However, should readers want to see them, feel free to either contact me by email and I will email them to you, or go to the Riverside Church library and archive, where you can view the relevant documentary evidence for yourself.
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Thought you might like to know someone's listening.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I moved to New York and joined Riverside while Tom Stiers was still acting as senior pastor. My father is a pastor and a life long fan of Fosdick and the Riverside Church. Once I moved to the area I was excited to join the storied congregation. My father also attends all of the national academy of homiletics, is friendly with Braxton so I was sorta excited about our new pastor. Unfortunately Brad Braxton is terrible. Turns out in real life Elmer Gantry was a Rhodes Scholar from Salem, VA.
I agree with most of your critique of Braxton and the direction of Riverside. However, as someone that grew up on a parsonage I have some more fundamental criticisms. It is very clear Brad Braxton only served one congregation prior to coming to Riverside (and that was a smaller church around a decade ago). His greenness is apparent in just about everything the man does. Sharing the dollar amount of his tithe, attacking critics from the pulpit, calling out other clergy from the pulpit...etc... It is also clear he has no idea what "interdenominational" means. He seems to think it is Baptist/AME worship where you play "white/european" hymns half the time.
We've left. Worship at Riverside became spiritually depleting. If you get tired of fighting the good fight we'll save a seat for you at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.