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First Baptist of Hammond, IN

TCassidy

Late-Administator Emeritus
Administrator
Their website lists John Wilkerson as the senior pastor. According to Wikipedia, he followed Jack Schaap, Jack Hyles's son-in-law.
Brother Wilkerson had been pastor of First Baptist of Long Beach, CA. He took the church after the Chapel fiasco and helped them heal and get back on track. I think he was a good choice for FBCH. I don't agree with him on everything but he is a godly man and a good leader.
 

Pastor Sam

Member
Brother Wilkerson had been pastor of First Baptist of Long Beach, CA. He took the church after the Chapel fiasco and helped them heal and get back on track. I think he was a good choice for FBCH. I don't agree with him on everything but he is a godly man and a good leader.
Glad to hear that. They needed a great deal of healing. My last meeting with Dr Hyles before I left and came down here didn’t go well. I heard he died after I moved but I haven’t been following things. My prayer is they worship God not Jack Hyles.
 

John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Brother Wilkerson had been pastor of First Baptist of Long Beach, CA. He took the church after the Chapel fiasco and helped them heal and get back on track. I think he was a good choice for FBCH. I don't agree with him on everything but he is a godly man and a good leader.
I've met Bro. Wilkerson and heard him preach. I agree that he is a good man, and just what FBC Hammond needs. He's much less bombastic than the two previous pastors (both of whom I knew).
 

John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Glad to hear that. They needed a great deal of healing. My last meeting with Dr Hyles before I left and came down here didn’t go well. I heard he died after I moved but I haven’t been following things. My prayer is they worship God not Jack Hyles.
I know what you mean. We were supported by FBC as long as we were in Japan, but did not have a good experience when we went there on furlough in 1986. I preached in training union and and offering was taken up: "All of this will go to the missionary." Whoever was in charge of that offering, we never saw it. And in the service, Bro. Hyles glared down at me and said to everyone, "Now you'll hear some real preaching."

(Never told this before on the BB or in public.)
 

Pastor Sam

Member
The last time I met with him I questioned him about some things that were going on. He told me it doesn’t matter because “I am Jack Hyles and nobody tells me what to do.” That is when I left the cult.
 

John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
The last time I met with him I questioned him about some things that were going on. He told me it doesn’t matter because “I am Jack Hyles and nobody tells me what to do.” That is when I left the cult.
Along about when that controversy started, he sent a card to all of us missionaries requiring us to sign it: "Dear Dr. Hyles: I believe in the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Hyles-Anderson College, and the leadership of these institutions. Not only am I not disloyal to the First Baptist church of Hammond, to Hyles-Anderson College and to the leadership of these institutions, but I openly defend them when attacked. I do not believe the rumors that have been spread about these institutions and their leaders.”

I didn't sign. How could I? I had 49 other supporting churches, and FBC Hammond wasn't even our home church.
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
The last time I met with him I questioned him about some things that were going on. He told me it doesn’t matter because “I am Jack Hyles and nobody tells me what to do.” That is when I left the cult.
So sad :Frown

May things go much better now
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
Along about when that controversy started, he sent a card to all of us missionaries requiring us to sign it: "Dear Dr. Hyles: I believe in the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Hyles-Anderson College, and the leadership of these institutions. Not only am I not disloyal to the First Baptist church of Hammond, to Hyles-Anderson College and to the leadership of these institutions, but I openly defend them when attacked. I do not believe the rumors that have been spread about these institutions and their leaders.”

I didn't sign. How could I? I had 49 other supporting churches, and FBC Hammond wasn't even our home church.

I wouldn't sign it either.
 

TCassidy

Late-Administator Emeritus
Administrator
I didn't sign. How could I? I had 49 other supporting churches, and FBC Hammond wasn't even our home church.
When all this nonsense came to a head a good friend of mine, pastor of a church about 25 miles from me asked me if I was "100% for Jack Hyles."

I said no, "I was not even 100% for me! I know me too well!"

He stopped fellowshiping with me. Oh well. :rolleyes:
 

John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
When all this nonsense came to a head a good friend of mine, pastor of a church about 25 miles from me asked me if I was "100% for Jack Hyles."

I said no, "I was not even 100% for me! I know me too well!"

He stopped fellowshiping with me. Oh well. :rolleyes:
That's sad. That whole thing damaged Fundamentalism. And Jack continued to do so as he became really radical in some areas. After Granddad died, several well-known preachers told me that they thought JRR held Jack in from his radical tendencies.
 

Pastor Sam

Member
When all this nonsense came to a head a good friend of mine, pastor of a church about 25 miles from me asked me if I was "100% for Jack Hyles."

I said no, "I was not even 100% for me! I know me too well!"

He stopped fellowshiping with me. Oh well. :rolleyes:
Very sad you can fellowship unless you are a 100% for Hyles. I wasn’t a 100% either and I attended refresher school there. I had to drop out because I couldn’t continue to support what was going on
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
When I managed a radio station in Green Valley, WV - over the course of time, I met two pastors who were grads of H-A. I had informed them of each other. I visited them ( to get them to buy programs on our station) several months later - and as of that date- they had not met each other.
Hmmmmmmmm
 

CertainSound

New Member
Site Supporter
I heard him speak at a local pastor's fellowship during the time of the steep downward slide. He said he was against pastors fellowships except for the one in Hammond. The host pastor sat there dumbfounded.
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
I heard him speak at a local pastor's fellowship during the time of the steep downward slide. He said he was against pastors fellowships except for the one in Hammond. The host pastor sat there dumbfounded.


Sounds like he was trying to say that there was no need for a General Manager of a six-star restaurant to go to a meeting of McDonalds General Managers!
 

JonC

Moderator
Moderator
What happened is not uncomon. Men, unfortunately, sometimes exceed and overshadow the ministry God has given them - it becomes about them and not God. I don't think they realize when this occurs, but I suspect God gives them a "thorn" of sorts, which is often ignored as an adversary rather than an aid.
 

agedman

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I was going to stay out of this thread, but am compelled lest anyone misunderstand silence for approval.

First, what Hyles did was ungodly, and the people of the assembly agreed to it. They hurt their own and have remained unrepentant and not restoring what was taken from those they allowed and agreed to damage. The people of that place need to repent. They need to shut the doors and disband FBC Hammond, sell all assets, and then perhaps reorganize under the authority of another church until such a time as God will again be present in their midst.

They have sinned, greatly and remain basically unrepentant, and excuse begging blaming others for their own pride and sinfulness.

Second, The name Hyles is on much published materials. Such should be recalled, destroyed, and the minister held in discredit. He was NOT a good man, and he should never be allowed to be emulated. He was a con from the time he was at Miller Road Baptist Church, and sought his own glory and his own will placing himself in the authority of Christ.

Third, those that did harm to others (both physical, emotional, and slander) should be held in contempt by the churches until such a time as they have brought "fruit" demonstrating the worth of their own repentance. Good, Godly men who stood against Hyles were protected only by the Grace and Mercy of God from the savageness of those that sought to destroy them. And, the problem is that these same continue as if in some honored memory of Hyles they must denigrate those Godly people who chose righteous accountability over human favor.

Fourth, The schools and programs founded by that assembly and Hyles need to also be shut down, property sold, assets distributed and the restoration made to Godly professors and staff that had to withstand horrible onslaught because they dared to confront the unbiblical man and policies.

Fifth, God's judgement will remain upon that assembly, and although His word will still not return void, the expectations of approval and His leading will be in vain. God left that place. He left it with warnings that were ignored, with men who proclaimed the truth and were dismissed, and with examples of families devastated by the ungodliness of their children. They proclaimed they were right with God, but their god was Hyles.

Hyles was an adulterer, embezzler, liar, swindler, cheat, and was that way from the days of his youth. As he grew older, he became more belligerent, and protective of his empire just as any unrighteous person. He gloried in people's adulation and the power of being in total control of others. A full narcissist is better than the man.

IF he was saved, there is little evidence of his being lead by the Holy Spirit.

There is one redemption point.

He wasn't his son! That man was and is far worse than his father.
 

Salty

20,000 Posts Club
Administrator
From Wiki: Hyles' other daughter, Linda Hyles Murphrey, is a motivational speaker[42] who presented her story titled "From Cult to Courage" at a TEDx event, discussing her hardships as a child of Jack Hyles.[43] She has spoken out against the church Hyles led during his tenure and after his death[5]

After Hyles' passing in 2001, Beverly Hyles moved to Texas and served as a Sunday School teacher in the Missions Minded Department Senior Women's Class at the First Baptist Church of Dallas under Pastor Robert Jeffress.[37]Beverly Hyles died at the age of 88 on August 30, 2017.[38]
 
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