russkellyhd@yahoo.com
March 17, 2011
January 2001: Russell Earl Kelly’s book, Should the Church Teach Tithing? A Theologian’s Conclusions about a Taboo Doctrine, was published and his web site went up shortly thereafter. At that time his book was sent out to all SBC seminary and he received “thank you” notes from all of them. Dr. Daniel Akin at SEBTS was especially interested and asked for two copies. In less than two months after being listed on Amazon.com the book has remained in the top five slots and is usually in the top two.
July 2003: Christianity Today published an extremely glowing review of the book in a letter to the editor. “Next to the Bible this book will change your life. It is that theologically sound and powerful. There are many good theological books on this subject, but this book (theological, academic, not for the faint of heart) should be read by anyone wanting the ‘facts’ as related to scripture, time and history and the church.” The Ancient Rise and Recent Fall of Tithing was origianlly on June 5, 2003 and was republished on August 8, 2008.
2003 to 2004: Three significant advances occurred. First, the Church of Scotland reaffirmed its opposition to tithing and listed Should the Church Teach Tithing? for recommended reading. http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id152.html. Second, The Worldwide Church of God (formerly Herbert W. Armstrong) reversed its doctrine, stopped teaching tithing and listed Kelly’s book for suggested reading. Third, New Jerusalem Ministries, a major home church web site, listed the book for suggested reading. http://newjerusalemmin.tripod.com/id7.html.
12-12-2004 Dr. David Alan Black at SEBTS published an essay in tithing in agreement with Kelly
April 2005: Kelly was contacted by Rob Fox and asked to join the Tithing-Study blog as Yahoo Groups. After posting a link to the blog on all of his emails, the group has added hundreds of participants
August 2005: David Croteau first contacted Dr. Kelly to assure him that his prayer for seminaries to research tithing had been met. Croteau had just received approval from the SEBTS to produce a Ph. D. thesis in agreement with Kelly’s position. His teacher was Andreas Kostenberger and his reader was Craig Blomberg of Denver Seminary, an independent Baptist school. Croteau graduated with a Ph. D. later in 2005 and was employed by Liberty University in 2006.
March-April 2006: Christianity Today secured agreement with Randy Alcorn to debate Kelly in its pages. However, after reading Kelly’s rebuttal of his views, Randy Alcorn refused to debate. The editorial staff refuses to print only his viewpoint (although it often prints the pro-tithe viewpoint alone).
March-April 2006: The SBC Facts and Trends magazine published a survey on tithing. Twenty per cent (20%) of both SBC pastors and SBC members do not agree that tithing is as mandate for the church.
November 6, 2006: Biblical Foundations published an article by Dr. Andreas Kostenberger and David Croteau of SEBTS, (SBC) Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, NC opposing tithing.
Dr. Croteau now teaches at Liberty University, Lynchburg, Va.
November 27, 2006: Moody Broadcasting’s Prime Time America, broadcast an interview with Kelly and Howard Dayton of Crown Ministries. The book was mentioned. This interview has since been re-aired many times.
February 2007: Russell Kelly was included in the original Trevor Glass (New Zealand) video documentary, Suffer the Children, about financial abuse in the church. Glass visited Kelly’s home in Georgia.
November 23, 2007: The Wall Street Journal published an article by Suzanne Sataline, The Backlash Against Tithing, in which Kelly had been a major contributor of material for almost a year. She was unaware that references to him had been edited out.
November 27, 2007: In response to the WSJ article, the BPNEWS, Baptist Press, published an article, The Bible and Giving, by Dr. Daniel Akin, President Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on The Bible and Giving. Except for his opening statement, the article is exactly what Kelly teaches in his book and on his web site. http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id126.html
12-04-2007: A week after Dr. Akin’s article in BPNEWS, Dr. Andreas Kostenberger of SEBTS published his own article on his own website in opposition to tithing. See http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id129.html.
2007: WAVA-FM in Washington, D. C. mentions Russell Kelly, his book and web site. See http://www.wava.com/11567702/http://www.wava.com/11567702/
December 18, 2007: The Wall Street Journal publishes a letter from Russell Kelly, Here With Another View on Christian Tithing. http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id132.html
March 2, 2008: As a result of the WSJ articles Kelly was featured on the CBS Sunday Morning News cover story, To Tithe or Not to Tithe. http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id141.html. The video has remained very popular online.
March 7, 2008: BPNEWS, Baptist Press, published a long rebuttal of Kelly’s 2 minute CBS News comments by Dr. Kenneth Hemphill in which both his name and book were mentioned. Kelly has since repeatedly attempted to persuade Dr. Hemphill to dialog with him and Hemphill has refused. Crosswalk.com also published the article. http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id142.html
March 11, 2008: Charisma Magazine mentioned Russell Kelly and the CBS article on the first page of its online edition. http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id143.html
July 18, 2008: In a rare occasion the Texas Baptist Standard (SBC) printed Kelly’s comments in response to a tithing article. http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8275&Itemid=9&fontstyle=f-larger
September 14, 2008: The St. Petersburg Times mentioned Russell Kelly and his book, Should the Church Teach Tithing in a news article. http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id151.html
August 2010: Kelly was invited to Chicago, Il byChris Washington for 2 professional video taping sessions of 45 minutes each. The sessions will first be aired on CANTV in Chicago on September 22, 23, 29, 30, 2010.
September 3,2010: Kelly was interviewd live on National Public Radio on WBEW0FM, Chicago at 4:20PM CST.
9-16-2010: Revelation TV in London, England contacted Kelly for availability to fly to England for a live debate. They are looking for somebody to debate him.
On March 27-29, 2011 Russell appeared on two live radio programs at Premier Christian Radio in London.
On March 30, 2011 he participlated in a very successful live 90 minute tithing debate in London on Revelation TV. Teh trip was paid for by a friend, Michael Mantock.
4-21-2011: David Croteau and Broadmen Press, publish Perspective on Tithing, Four Views with very minor suggestions from Russ Kelly.
Apr 2011: Healh, Wealth and Happiness (a critical exposition of the prosperity gospel) agres with and references Russ’ book.
