Fun and Games

Friday Challenge: Six Degrees of Jack Hyles

225 Comments

Hyles

Maybe it’s because I’ve been seeing a lot of Kevin Bacon while bingeing on The Following, but when a reader suggested that we play a game based on the classic Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, I couldn’t resist. This may turn out to be a complete disaster of a Friday Challenge but we can try it anyway.

For the purposes of this game a person who has a degree of 1 is anybody who has taught, preached, studied, or attended at Hyles-Anderson or FBC Hammond. Therefore both Jack Schaap and Steven Anderson would have a degree of one. Anybody who attended school with, was a church member of, or was in ministry with that person would then have a degree of 2 and so on.

So what’s your Hyles Degree? What degree did fundies you rubbed shoulders with have?

225 thoughts on “Friday Challenge: Six Degrees of Jack Hyles”

    1. The only thing better would be if it was a baptismal pool… with painted trees and a road.

    4. I beg your parden. T Pope is not worshiped and revered by any sincere catholics. Her is a mere man like you and I. Any person that does otherwise is sincerly wrong., We worship the triune God who is only worthy of our worship.

  6. I am three degrees from Hyles, which is not nearly enough.

  8. 1st degree Hyles. I was a part of his last graduating class and got a license to preach from him. 1st degree Schaap too, he ordained me and commissioned me as a missionary. Thank you SFL for helping me wash almost all of it off!

    1. Wow, spooky.

      You’ll have to share your experiences on the Forum. I’m sure it would make for interesting reading and contemplation.

      B.R.O.

    1. I never thought I’d be so happy to be a ZERO but SFL has made realize how fortunate I am to never have been associated with IFB’s.

    2. Wouldn’t zero degrees of separation mean you ARE Jack Hyles? Yikes! 🙂

      I guess not being connected at all would mean you have infinity degrees of separation? Hmm.

      1. Well, everyone (at least, everyone in North America who isn’t a hermit) must know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody … (continue a dozen or more repetitions) … who knew the Mighty Hyles.
        But if you have more degrees of separation than you can count on the fingers of one hand, count it all joy.

        1. Perhaps I should claim the imaginary number “i” which is the only number when squared equals -1. Since I have no known degree of connection to the Baptist Pope that obviously is significant negative in my life and probably means I’m going to hell from the IFB perspective. What a delightful thought for a sunny, Friday afternoon.

        2. I had thought this would be a good number of separation, but seem to have been beaten to it by thlipsis :
          √−1

      2. No, no, no. Dragon said he was 0! degrees away. 0! is zero factorial, which equals 1. So he is one degree away.

  10. My former pastor has probably a 3 or 4 (Bob Jones man) but in his own mind I’m sure he has an honorary 1st

  11. I’m not sure which number to use. Our Fundy High Administrator (one of the infamous Smith Brothers) was from FBCH, and the Great One spoke in chapel a lot, so I heard him many times. I probably even had a Bible with his autograph in it, although I don’t seem to have that one any longer. I visited HAC during high school, but he did not preach the chapel service we attended. I don’t know who did, but the message was something like “11 Reasons You Should Attend First Baptist Church of Hammond”. I even heard him preach at a Sword of the Lord conference in Atlanta some time during the 70’s.

    I guess that makes me a two, or maybe three.

    3. I guess I have to claim a 1, even though I did not attend HAC or FBCH–I just looked in my old Scofield and there it was—- Jack Hyles Dan. 12:3

      WOW narcissism abounds-Dan12:3-And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

  12. Two or three. I don’t think anybody who is in an IFB church could be more than 3 degrees from Hyles.

    Gives a interesting perspective on who exactly Jeff Amsbaugh’s lunatic fringe really is.

    1. Depends on the camp you are from. My first (and second) IFB churches were from camps that had no connection with Hyles, except from being from Texas. If I could trace it, the degree would be 5 or greater.

      Then I belonged to a church pastored by a HAC grad, which makes me a 2 — and chased me out of the IFB.

      3. Yes. Since the lower the number, the closer you are to Hyles, “0” = “You are Jack Hyles.”

  14. Well, I went to Bob Jones. I was in the Plymouth Brethren for a good while, then joined a Baptist Church when there was no Brethren Assembly for me to go to.

    So I don’t know if I even have a number. I suppose you could call me really, really blessed in that way!

  15. I think 4:
    I heard him peach in person once.
    Worked with a kid that went to FBCH.
    Friends with a guy that went to HAC.
    I have preached Camp meetings with preachers who preached from the same platform as Jack Hyles.
    note:my phone keeps wanting to autocorrect his name to Jack Holes.

  17. I attended church where the pastor had a doctorate from Hyles Anderson. I also attended the Christian School. My Dad used to preach with Dr Hyles once or twice a year in a Burden for America Conference. I might have just earned an honorary doctorate from SFL. :))

    1. Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body of Christ, save me; Blood of Christ, inebriate me; Water from the side of Christ, wash me; Passion of Christ, strengthen me;
      O good Jesus, hear me; within Your wounds, hide me; let me never be separated from You; from the evil one, protect me; at the hour of my death, call me; and bid me come to You; that with Your saints, I may praise You forever and ever. Amen.

      (that’s an exorcism prayer…)

    1. Lift thy head, even the greatest of men stooped to such a lowly place… Different outcome, nonetheless…

  23. Well, I worked directly for Wally Beebe in his later years, that counts for something, right?

    1. A son in law of Wally Beebe was my floor monitor (leader/ra, whatever they call them now) for a semester at Maranatha. He was always posting newspaper articles of his wrestling accomplishments on his dorm room door.

    2. My parents were friends with the Beebe’s. I remember dinner with them several times. Even attended Dr. Beebe’s funeral in 2002. Not sure what degree of separation that gives me but its closer than I’d like.

      1. A pretty young lady named Phoebe,
        Was to marry a doctor named Beebee;
        But first they must see
        What the minister’s fee
        Be, before Phoebe be Phoebe Beebee.
        (thank you…thank you… I’m here all week. Drive safely.)

  25. The Doc is a 3…..

    Christian school in Durham, NC where the majority of the staff were educated at HABC….

    But… I did have supper with the great Schaap (another story, another day) so let’s call me a 2.5er……….

    I bet you all wish you were me now… I broke bread with the man! In your face!

  26. I guess I would be a 2, since a former pastor of mine was an HAC grad.
    But he was anything but proud of that fact. He never brought it up publicly, and with those who were aware he would joke that he was one of only 3 HAC grads who preached exegetical sermons. He was (and is) actually a great guy.

    2. I had a good friend a few years back who was a HAC grad. I was one of the few who knew that. It wasn’t the part of his past he was most proud of. He was definitely out of, but not part of, that ilk . I could trust him around my wife and daughters with no qualms.

  27. 2. My sister attended HAC. My pastor is a HAC grad. I attended several conferences and went to chapel at HAC a couple times.

    Agh! 2 is too close! That being said…as a sheltered homeschooled kid, I learned all the racial slurs for blacks, Muslims and other minorities, and graphic descriptions of sexual crimes from the men behind the pulpit. It’s a good thing I wasn’t allowed to watch tv…kept me pure, right?!

    1. That’s one of the things that shocked me about some Hyles-style preachers: they were so FOUL. Preachers in my circle tended to speak with more decorum and not use the crudest of epithets in their preaching.

  28. 2nd degree. I went to school with one guy who ended up at HAC, briefly dated one who later went there, and went to a youth conference at Trinity-Jax where Hyles spoke. At my school, I couldn’t get away from Hyles if I tried.

  30. My church supported a spanish church where the pastor was from Hyles. Does that make me a 3? (He spoke no English, we spoke no Spanish, what we each did in our service was largely unknown to the other. Give me a break.)

    1. How did that dude go through HAC if he didn’t speak English? That school isn’t bilingual, is it?

  31. (2)
    My children attended Christian school and I knew their 9th grade math teacher (and I use that term in the broadest and loosest possible way imaginable) who was a HAC grad and whose hero was Jack Hyles. NO, they didn’t even get half way through Algebra I that year for all the sermonizing and moral character homilies that were taught rather than eht subject at hand.

    (oh, btw he was later quietly moved out of the church due to inappropriate behavior towards female students. Nothing physical [you know just like his hero], but enough that he became a liability to the cause of Christ and the ministry at the church and school)

  32. 3rd degree as best as I can calculate. Possible 4th depending on your interpretation of what an association is. As you know fundys can split the hairs on a gnat when they need to associate or dissociate with someone.

  33. I must be a double-2.

    I attended a school where the Bible teacher was a HAC grad. He was widely perceived as a weirdo and lasted exactly one quarter of one school year.

    I also went to a youth group at the church that ran the above-mentioned school, and the youth pastor was a HAC grad. His 20-something married son, who was assistant youth leader or some other such nepotistic nonsense, knocked up one of the girls in my class during our junior year of high school.

    2. You mean, “He raped one of the girls in my class during our Junior year of high school.”

      The only thing HAC seems to excel at is churning out sexual predators.

      1. I’ve asked this before, but is the number of sexual predators from HAC really greater than any other school?

        I’ve heard this a lot, but I don’t know if anyone has actually run the numbers.

        I know many HAC grads who were NOT predators.

        1. I’d be very surprised if there’s any school that keeps count (on purpose) of how many of their graduates and faculty turn out to be sex offenders, convicted or otherwise, and/or adulterers, so there’s no sure way to answer the question of who has the most.

        3. “I know many HAC grads who were NOT predators.”

          I’m sure you do– but that’s what my Dad likes to call “damning with faint praise.”

        4. Yes. There was an interesting article that I have unfortunately lost the link to – a piece of investigative journalism out of Chicago. it traced the number of convicted predators coming out of HAC. It was very well done. Bassenco might have the link.

  34. 1 for me!!
    Was a hacker for 2 years.
    Had/ Have multiple bibles signed by him.
    Personally handed him Reese peanut butter cups!
    Been to 7 youth conferences in Hammond.
    Attended 5 Pastor schools .
    My wife is a graduate.
    I have 3 specific rule in rule book because of my antics as a student.
    My wife touched his hair one time when putting a mask on him.(it was crunchy and full of hairspray!
    I won one of his neckties in a bus contest.

    2. I heard numerous times in Fundy High chapel about the two 18′ hairs he had that he would weave together to cover his head.

      Which even back then as a kool-aid-a-holic, seemed hypocritical to most of us. If our hair could be pulled down over our ears, no matter how we wore it, we would fail hair-check. If it was long enough to touch or fall past an ear, it was out of limits according to the short-hair-shame verse. Yet, His Greatness was above the mundane rules for the simple masses.

    3. You won… one of his neckties?

      Every time I think I’ve heard everything from the IFB, I hear something else…

      Also, do please enlighten us, I want to know which rules those are that they had to add!

  35. Degree of 2 🙁 Old pastor went to his school and was a personal “friend”. (In quotation marks because I don’t think he had genuine friends, just people he had to impress.) Pastor seemed to think he was the fourth member of the trinity.

    He also had a giant photo of him in the foyer, so that picture above is quite nausea-inducing.

  36. Hmmm second degree I think. I went to HAC for two years, but after Hyles died. I did go to hear him preach several times when I was younger though, including a couple of youth conferences, and I have at least one bible with his signature in it. Oh and the last two pastors of my former church were Hyles grads.

  37. I guess I might be a 2. I worked for the company that used to sell all the buses to HAC back in the 70’s and 80’s. I didn’t work there until the early 2000’s, but have known the family/company since birth. The older generation (grandfather to kids my age) of the family was a (supposedly) sizable contributor to HAC/FBCH and some kind of associate member of the church, I think.

  38. I guess I’m a two. Some of my SFL pals went to Hyles Anderson “College” and/or otherwise basked in the radiance of Jacko himself. So I hang out on the internet with people who …

    By the way, I’m also a “two” with Flannery O’Connor, because I knew a priest (now deceased) who had been a friend of hers.

    Here’s a question: If you didn’t know JH, but you ever had to watch Schaap polish a shaft, what does that make you (besides unfortunate)?

  39. A number so large that I can’t calculate it, but “over the hills and far away” seems like a great place to be from Jack Hyles, based on the stories I’ve heard here.

  40. He came to MBBC and our home church (which were in the same town) about every other year so I heard him ALOT plus my dad had several of his books so, using a bit of Kentucky windage here, I think I’m about a 2.5.

    Never had him sign my Bible that I can recall. (Phew!)

    1. I don’t really remember. I remember more the little catchphrases we took from him to mock with.

      Whiskey bad, mama, whiskey bad!

      and

      I don’t know WHY He did it, but He did. I don’t know HOW He did it, but He did.

      and etc.

      Interestingly, I remember a friend of mine our senior year at the Maranatha Academy saying he was dreading the upcoming Hyles meetings because he felt like Hyles would manipulate people for maximum alter call success. Which friend had far more insight into the goings on than his teachers and me.

      That was the year the scandal broke.

      1. To his credit, Dr. Weniger saw through Hyles’s attempt to buy him (he offered Doc a brand new van), denounced him from the chapel pulpit and MBBC never had Hyles back again.

  42. I think I still have some of his books in our “library”, as we call the front room. They have been moved from the devotional and theology book cases to the humor section, though. Not that they are so much humorous, as they are so far from the truth even the non-fiction shelves refused them.

  43. Thankfully I’m pretty low – maybe a 6 or 7. My parents had some of Jack Hyles books on their shelves, but that was as far as it went. Years later, a friend of mine at church told me she’d attended a year at HAC. I had no idea what that experience was like as HAC wasn’t on my radar. GARBC and later BJU were my influences.

    1. Wait: would parents receiving Sword of the Lord for years and years and years move me one step closer?

  44. sadly….2. my old mog and his wife, youth pastor and his wife, and sunday school teacher and his wife were all from there. ss was interesting…he always started his lesson with a quote from hyles and then proceeded to challenge anyone in the room who thought that hyles could have ever had an affair to a parking lot brawl. wow….that makes me shake my head just reading what I just typed.

    1. So all of your scripture readings were from the Book of Hyles?
      Yes, that’s consistent with Hyles’ theology.

      I think Hyles could have had an affair (for that matter, I think almost anybody could), but how is that worth a fight in the parking lot? He did or he didn’t regardless of who has a better left hook.

      1. Yeah, it was sad. Sometimes he even wore his 100% Hyles button (or whatever it said) that they mass-produced during the whole affair debacle. Just sad.

  46. I don’t know!

    My Xtian school competed against Hammond Baptist in athletics. During my college years, I went to church with a young woman who went to HAC.

    Would that be 2nd or 3rd degrees of separation?

    Wait! My FIL attended Midwestern, which had Hyles speak/teach on occasion. That would be 2nd degree, right? Hyles>FIL>me

  48. I’m a third – degree! My mom attended school the same time as Jack Schaap (not Hyles-Anderson).

      1. Then we might have mutual acquaintances! I would like to hear his memories about what happened there.

        1. Wouldn’t we all!?!
          E.g., was Schapp openly a pervert back in college, or did he come out of the closet later?

        2. I’ve heard a story about his time there, as told by my mom and a few others…

        1. I don’t have words to express my disgust for men like this who lord over God’s people and pervert the gospel.

          There is going to be a very hot corner of hell for men like this.

          B.R.O.

  49. Rock-solid “2”; former “MOG” drunk deeply at the Hyles well; we regularly sent our young people to that college, and some were hired as staff, so I was steeped in Hyles stuff. The “MOG” even preached some of the same heresies as Hyles.

    Although they preached standards, the only one that really counted was “soul-winning”. You could be an adulterer (and we had some), but if they were a “soul-winner”, they got an easy time of it.

    1. You wish. The answer is always 6 or less.

      With that level of pride, I say you are a 3.

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