Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

I was asked by Wade Burleson and and Smith and Helwys to review Wade’s new book Harball, Feeling the Fury of Fundamentalism. I was excited to do so. I must tell everyone up front that I may be biased because I consider Wade and his family my friends.  I spent time in Greensboro with Wade and Rachelle and they are gracious people.  Wade’s father Paul has done two revivals at my former church and he did an amazing job.  I also spent a day’s adventure trying to meet Billy Graham with Wade and Marty Duren a few years back. I believe Wade is misunderstood by those who haven’t had the privilege of meeting him and talking with him. I don’t believe I could have taken the path that Wade has but that is why I enjoyed this book so much.

Wade is a unique individual who has the backbone to stand up for what he feels is right. He is a conservative, Bible believing pastor who dared to ask questions of those who were running his denomination, The Southern Baptist Convention.  I began reading Wade’s blog Grace and Truth to You in 2005 after Marty Duren had pointed to me it.  I had been one who had stayed away from SBC politics and tended to believe what I heard from the Conservative leaders because my theology is Conservative. But as I read Wade’s blog I began to question and investigate myself.

Hardball is a chronological journey with Wade from how he became a Trustee for the International Mission Board of the SBC, to his audacity of daring to ask questions as a “rookie” Trustee, to his beginning to blog, to the Greensboro SBC convention, to the San Antonio Convention, to many Trustee meetings, to his being censured by the IMB Board of Trustees, and finally to his resignation last year. 

Now to be fair, this is Wade’s side.  There will be many who say that Wade has an ax to grind.  I don’t believe that because I know him.  I believe Wade truly has a heart for the missionaries oversees. He is a crusader against what he sees as the narrowing of parameters of what it means to be a Southern Baptist. If what Wade details is true then this should be a wake up call for those who care about Foreign Missions and their denomination.  Many have accused Wade of trying to destroy the SBC. I believe he is trying to save it from what he feels is the extreme.

I highly recommend this book whether you believe Wade or not. It is a must read for anyone who is going to serve on staff at a church because it gives a glimpse of the politics that occur.  I give Hardball 4.9 Hockey Sticks.

You can order the book here:  http://www.helwys.com/books/hardball_religion.html

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