Post #605 On Sand Springs

So what if there are already 604 blog posts out there about Centennial Baptist Church and the land-grabbing bureaucrats in Sand Springs, OK who want a Home Depot more than a Holy Depot? I'll just write #605.

I've enjoyed the mind game of contrasting Rev. Roosevelt Gildon and his Centennial Baptist Church with Cottonwood Community Church here in OC, which fought a long hard eminent domain battle a couple years back. Home Depot is one common denominator between the two stories, God is the other.

God's the more interesting of the two.

Cottonwood is a big church, and it went about its campaign powerfully. Lawyers and PR guys helped the church; lawyers and PR guys helped the city. It was big and nasty and emotional. Eventually, there was a win/win settlement.

Roosevelt Gildon is a little guy with a little church, just 50 folks. Here he is in a national spotlight and what does he say? Here's his quote from today's NYTimes:

He said he was "praying over" the question of a counteroffer. "If I have to move," he said, "we're not going out of existence."

Mr. Gildon, 48, who works full time for a machine tool manufacturer and is paid $520 a month by the church, said he was not leading a crusade on the issue and made a point of not bringing it up it up in his sermons.

"I've had to say, 'Don't let it go to your head,' " he said he told congregants. "We're not celebrities. We're here for God."

But he said he was no pushover, either. He taped the meeting with the Cinnabar agent, John Thomas, and said he told city officials, "The Lord did not lead me here to sell out the church."

Rev. Gildon's response is worth seven theology books, at a minimum. Prayer, humility and strength are at the core of any Christian spiritual walk, and by his actions, Rev. Gildon is giving his congregation -- and now thousands watching from around the country -- a valuable lesson in how a Christian is supposed to respond to a crisis.

He never asked for this test, but he is being a terrific witness for the faith as he works through the test.

As for the law in this matter, what happened in New London cannot be allowed to stand, and with the new Supreme Court composition, property rights advocates are searching for the next test case. Sand Springs may be it; it may not. But it is Rev. Gildon's test, and it's his congregation's test.

So far, they're getting an A+. Let's pray that they continue doing so well.