Jackson Jambalaya

Memo to the blue hairs that are running First Baptist Church Jackson into the ground.......Frank Pollard was a rare breed. You are not going to find another one like him. As of Friday, you have now run off your 3rd pastor off who came in after Dr. Pollard. This is the second straight pastor to last only 18 months and leave due to philosophical differences with the Deacons. No one wants to join a church with a bunch of grumpy old people stuck in the past. Those of you who threatened to "pull your money" if Mark Smith and Matt Brooks did not do what you say ought to be ashamed. Threatening to pull your money is not acting like a church, it it acting like a business. Good luck finding your 3rd pastor in less than 5 years. No one is going to want to walk into the firestorm that is FBCJ!!! Move over blue hairs and accept the fact that it is time to change.

Did latest pastor leaving have anything to do with coaching son's baseball team on Sunday morning?

Just curious

Resignation battle going on at FBC Jackson.
Timeline Wed. 7/19/17 4 PM The Leadership Committee at FBC Jackson telephoned Senior Pastor Matt Brooks who was in Oklahoma on vacation and fired him. He was caught completely off guard.
Matt drove back to Jackson highly upset to sign his resignation letter and severance package on Friday 7/21/17 at 5 pm. The resignation letter went public after that.
Also, the committee let go was Lance Taylor executive pastor.
Top that the other executive pastor Bob Gladney resigned a week before this.
Worse that the Hugh Freeze debacule.
Dr. Frank Paige changed the by laws of FBC putting over all authority with the new Leadership committee consisting of 4 men & 4 women.

Went to First Baptist Church website & all photos of Dr. Brooks,Lance Taylor, & Bob Gladney are scrubbed off. They move fast at that church.

@10:11 If you only knew what Matt Brooks did to FBCJ, you would feel that the unanimous decision by those on leadership was made in a spirit filled way. Matt Brooks was running FBCJ into the ground in dramatic fashion, with dwindling attendance and few baptisms to show. Of course it is not all his fault, but now maybe that church can move forward with someone who can preach and someone people like. That is at least how I felt the times I went. I applaud their leadership for doing the right thing.

@10:27 no, but it did not help that he lied on a video, saying he was out of town when he was really coaching baseball in Jackson on a Sunday morning. That was small in comparison to how he treated people at the church.

The Lord changed my life at FBCJ. I am so blessed by many of the "blue hairs" who have taught me in SS, sang in the choir with me, and prayed for me in my many years. They made the right decision getting rid of Matt Brooks, and I am confident the Lord will use FBCJ in greater ways over the next several years with a preacher who can actually bring the Spirit into the room. I am humbled to say I am a member at such a wonderful place where there are Spirit filled people. Many on the leadership committee are people who I want to be like when I get older. God bless them.

It is never easy to ask a preacher to resign, and FBCJ really tried to make this work knowing this would be the third in a seemingly short time. The pulpit has to have a person with the church's best interests at heart. I will not limit God on finding a new pastor to lead this church. We need prayers instead of quick reactions to a situation that some do not understand.

Pastor Matt Brooks did not lie. His message saying he was out of town was pre-recorded that week & they were scheduled to be out of town after baseball games that were scheduled. The WEATHER pushed back the schedule of games so that he ended up being in town coaching. Get the facts before accusing someone of lying.

Facts - 6 staff members asked to leave First Jackson within 6 months. This church has a leadership problem. "Leadership Team" NOT the Senior Pastor leads FBJ - and that is not a good thing.

@7:56 then why was he on a video saying he was in one place when he wasn't, or why didn't he pull the video? I think someone else needs their facts straight.

@7:56. Not true. He did lie, claiming on a video that he was gone right then. That is a lie. All he had to do was pull the video. By the way, there wasn't bad weather that weekend so nice try...

6 staff members that needed to go. Good for the leadership to clean house.

Reply to 9:03 AM 6 staff members needed to go?
Do the math. 6 different GODLY men can't all be bad.
First Baptist Church Jax always prides itself in transparency. However, they are keeping tight lipped about this. We need to call on the Mississippi Baptist Convention to investigate into this. Dr. Matt Brooks was a great guy. Sorry to see him & his family leave. Dr.San Buckley was fired too after he went on vacation. Moral of the story. Don't take a vacation at FBC Jackson.
Go to Dr. Brooks facebook page where he declares he was force to resign.
Also, Dr. Ron Falvey senior pastor of Madison Baptist Church left FBC Jax & Dr.Mark Byrd left FBC Jax for senior pastor job at Ridgeland Baptist Church. Both of these GODLY men are growing their church in a mighty way.
Please FBC Jax what's going on?

@10:07 we all know it's you matt. Quit defending yourself. All those facts are pretty wrong.

FBCJ needs to quit hiring men to appeal just to "young families," and hire men who can preach the gospel at a level that First Baptist Jackson needs. Scripture is not meant to be preached just to young families. Yes, young families are needed to keep a church going and vibrant, but so are the more mature Christians. Sermons made up of personal stories about your toddlers don't feed a flock of Christians who are hungry for scriptural answers in today's secular world; just as songs that are made up of 11 words sung over and over seven times don't cut it with those brought up to revere the well written words of spiritual hymns and the intricate quality of sacred music.

4:34 is right on. The contemporary trend being embraced by the Southern Baptists is turning me off. Sunday morning service at Colonial Heights is like a rock concert. And call me old fashioned (I'm 57), but seeing a minister of music in blue jeans at a Sunday morning service seems to show a certain disrespect for the occasion.

There are several problems at FBC Jackson. Most of which is a pride problem which is idolatry. I have actually heard someone there say, "We are first baptist and we don't do it that way!" This made a big impact on my impression of FBCJ. I was a member there for a few years and no matter the pastor the same pride problem existed. Now, any church is going to have its issues but where the rubber meets the road is how leadership deals with it. I know that is a rhetorical statement for most people but some may not realize it. Someone made the statement in this thread that FBCJ has always been transparent and that is simply not true in any sense. It is often ran like a political campaign/office. Gotta make sure the right or worng person doesn't get offended or is privey to certain information etc... FBCJ is the most politically charged environment I have ever seen. That is no small statement considering the number of churches I have been a member of! Now, to be fair there are many many godly members that want the overflowing Spirit of God! Unfortunately there are so many in leadership that run successful businesses and "know" how things should be ran. Also, there is staff leadership that think they "know" how it should be ran but can't see beyond their own ambition to step out of the way and let the right humble, godly leader step in and lovingly shepherd the body of Christ. There needs to be some repentance, and humbling, and getting out of the way that needs to happen. It is hurtful and sad what has happened both to the members and staff. It has been like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I do not know if this blog entry will make it to anyone substantial but I hope someone sees it and considers the admonition given here.

This is really dumb. Traditional Baptist churches have become the hall of the Pharisees. The church will be given sermons about forgiveness and loving one another. A way to brush over hurting Matt and his family and ministry. May God judge this false church.

Is the Leadership Committee voted on or appointed? Why do just a few select people get to have knowledge. If the Church is not allowed to know why he was let go, then the Church should not have the ability to vote the next pastor in. Just let the Leadership Committee decide. There may need to be replacements on this Committee. People outside the Chuch knew he was leaving before members did. What a mess!

Leadership is held by a gag rule, and cannot reveal what all Matt Brooks did to ruin FBCJ. They are appointed by a deacon led committee. It is unfortunate that the world cannot find out about what a false prophet Matt Brooks is. I hope the Lord changes that man's heart, because he led FBCJ into the ground.

Please provide examples of the false prophet.

I heard he changed the name of the church from First Baptist Church of Jackson to First Jackson. I heard he wanted to do a $50.0 million overhaul to the entire church.

Are there more details?

One thing's for sure. FBCJ needs to stay away from V...... Pastor Search, or whatever is the name of that group that the church hired. And they need to stay away from ministers that want to turn the church into a movie theater with a rock group on stage.

4:51,
Matt Brooks wasted thousands of $ after the youth were supposed to go to the beach for youth camp. He demanded that he go, and after the church provided a Motel 6 he said it wasn't good enough. He then wanted a condo so they booked him one. He did not go down there for weather, yet all youth and volunteers did. This wasted FBJ thousands when Brooks did not even go. Was he going to serve or for vacation?
He did no funerals or weddings, no one liked his sermons, and fewer baptisms since the 1950's. All he wanted was to make FBJ Oxford, Starkville, like Pinelake so he could be a celebrity.
When he refused to witness to people when people would email him is when many determined him to be a false prophet.
Even the people who brought him here realized how bad he was and voted for him to leave.

This has certainly been a sad series of events over the past few years for FBCJ- a church I love and attended when I lived in JXN.

The question remaining is- where did we go wrong? And where do we go from here?

Pray for the Brooks family. Pray for FBCJ.

How should they choose their next pastor? Not through a hiring company- through prayer. Seek out a man of God who is devoted to the advancement of the gospel. This man might not fill pews. Church of Brook hills in Birmingham took a huge hit in attendance when David Platt came. But you know what? The gospel was preached and the gospel is sometimes offensive. And true believers came to faith- and the gospel was sent out all over the world.

Since this is anonymous- I will say that this church needs to be careful about allowing church members with financial pull to make ministry decisions. Especially using threatening/blackmailing techniques. Those people need to be rooted out and disciplined for their drama causing. It's not spirit lead- and it's obviously a hinderance. Someone has to call these people to repentance.

That being said- I personally know many Christ followers who attend this church. Band together. Fight the good fight. Don't seek the approval of men- but of God. Ask him to redirect the ship for His glory. He can do it. Don't give up on this body of believers. Just set the bar high and battle in prayer.

Love this church and this body,

Praying expectantly