The Numbers Game
Quotes from leaders of the ICC, detailing their obsession with competitiveness and recruiting more people
“Some of you have lost your competitiveness…Some of you have so little competitive ambition…You’re dragging your sorry little butt around with five baptisms a month…Listen brother, you’re a man of God. You better get your head up, and you better start being something, and get some competitive fire. Nice guys finish last…You’re a wimp, you’re a sissy.”
— Marty Fuqua, The Cutting Edge, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
“We’re talking raw ambition, here! I’m talking about the attitude of ambition! Some of you, you’ve lost your competitiveness! You say, `Well, I don’t want to be competitive with anybody.’ HOGWASH!!! I spent my whole life as a child of God being competitive! As a student, I wanted to have the most fruitful Bible Talk. I didn’t want anybody’s Bible Talk to out-baptize mine! NO MAN!! NO WOMAN!! I remember one time one of the sisters was out-baptizing me. I said this is not acceptable. And we sat down and I said, `I want to know everything you’re doing.’ And she told me everything she was doing. And I did it better and out-baptized her.”
— Marty Fuqua, The Cutting Edge, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
“Some of you guys, you go, [mockingly] `Well I don’t, I don’t, I don’t want, I don’t want to be that way.’ [laughter from some of those listening] Man you’re a wimp. You’re a sissy. You’re the kind of guy in wrestling that I prayed for. [more laughter] Oh, please, please, please give me one of them, baby! Hah, ho, baby! I’m just gonna tear his head off, man!!! This is gonna be glorious!!! He’s not even gonna fight very long! You gotta get some ambition! You get that world report you got in your hand and you look at every church on the dad-blame thing that’s close to yours! And you find out who they are and just out-baptize them!
— Marty Fuqua, The Cutting Edge, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
“My goal has always been to have the biggest church wherever I’ve been”
— Kip McKean, The Super Church, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
“I think that the kind of radical goals that we need to lay before our churches are number one: To be the largest church in the city. I think it’s a sin to let any denominational church be bigger than us.”
— Kip McKean, Preach the Word, Johannesburg World Leadership Conference, Aug 95
“We need to make sure on the foreign field that we are the biggest church in that nation.”
— Kip McKean ibid
“You say, `Well bro, then your goal is to be the biggest in L.A.’. You betcha.”
— Kip McKean, The Super Church, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
“The Super Church was a part of the New Testament mind set; the large numbers. Even the small towns of Listra, Iconium and Derbe were there. In many of these small towns you got churches of five hundred and a thousand. And I don’t want the cotton-pickin’ Baptists to have the biggest church in town.”
— Kip McKean, ibid
“I do believe if you are the lead evangelist you better have the hottest show in town.”
— Kip McKean, ibid
“The lead guy better have a ministry that glitters. Say, `Well let’s look again right here. Well which one grew the most percentage wise?’ Well let’s look again. 75%….say `Why is that?’ Cause I was in there.”
Kip McKean, ibid
