Ethics Daily reports on The Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page and some of the chats he has had with GOP presidental candidates.

Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., recently told a group of ministers in Oklahoma the biggest surprise of his 16 months leading the nation’s largest Protestant body is the contact it brings with politicians.

Page said he has “met with almost all the presidential candidates” and has pledged that his “singular purpose” in those meetings would be to “tell them about Jesus.”

When I spent two solid hours in a private meeting with Rudy Giuliani, I shared Christ with him so much that at the end of that two hours I said, ‘Rudy, I’m not going to leave this place unless I give you an opportunity to pray with me to receive Jesus as your savior. Would you do that with me Rudy?’” Page recounted.

He said, ‘No, Frank, I’m not ready to do that. My daddy knows Jesus like that, but I’m not ready for that.’”

Page said he gave the former New York mayor his cell phone number and invited him to call “any time, day or night.” You just call me, and we’ll talk about Jesus, Rudy,”

Page recalled the conversation. “You’re a great leader, Rudy, and you may be the president of our country some day. But you’ll never be the leader you need to be unless you have Jesus as the heart of who you are.”

The ethical breech of trust here is mind boggling. While anyone in public office or running for public office is pretty much fair game, this smells. It is most certainly inappropriate behavior for a protestant minister and for the head of a denomination. 
I would never trust a minister who is willing to toot his own horn about ‘witnessing’ to politicians and then blabbing to the media or his congregation about the conversation.
This happened recently in a less blatant way when a Calgary minister bragged about his friendship with Stephen Harper recently.

The Southern Baptist Convention staff needs some ethics lessons, starting with it’s president and filtering through to it’s front line ministers.
Lesson: don’t tell an SBC leader anything you don’t want splashed around in media, the state of your eternal soul matters less than scoring points.

via: Big Daddy Weave:

It does not matter whether the person is the Mayor of New York or the Mayor of Hewitt, Texas. The conversation between Rudy G and Frank Page was of a very personal and private nature. As a Christian minister, Frank Page shouldn’t have shared in a public setting the details of their private conversation. Surely he took a course in ethics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary?

I really wonder if Rudy G’s conclusion is really the same as Frank Page’s - that Rudy isn’t a Christian??? After Frank Page’s ethical breach, I must question his account and Rudy’s understanding of the evangelical language that Page was using….

If Frank Page wants to be pastor to politicians like Billy Graham was perhaps he should take a lesson or two in ethics and confidentiality first?

This looks like Page is attempting to score some points for the divided leadership of the conservative Republican leaders as they hold a summit the next couple of days in Washington with GOP contenders.
The SBC Ethics and Liberty Commission President Richard Land has been raising his voice for Fred Thompson every chance he gets, but I haven’t read any public disclosures of private conservations.  
This is a self-serving unethical move, and pastoral conversations should fall under priveledged communication.  While it is probable or possible Frank Page didn’t intend to show a lack of integrity, he has. 

In the United States, doing good has come to be, like patriotism, a favorite device of persons with something to sell. - H. L. Mencken

The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity. - Zig Ziglar

Don’t flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become. - Oliver Wendell Holmes