Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Thomas "Brother Jim" Spencer

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was Delete. Encyclopedic notability not established.--Eloquence* 22:37, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thomas "Brother Jim" Spencer

Notability in question --NMChico24 21:42, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

• delete on grounds of lack of independent verifiability (I don't trust an obit) and questionable relevance to other articles in Wikipedia. Also, please sign your postsCaptainktainer * Talk 21:35, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
• Delete. as per no sources beyond an obit and, most importantly, nothing to indicate a need for inclusion. There have lots of good men of God from all faiths that did alot for thier communities, but that does not make them inherently notable. youngamerican (ahoy-hoy) 00:04, 2 July 2006 (UTC)
• Delete not notable. SM247^{My Talk} 00:08, 2 July 2006 (UTC)
• Delete as just another local man of God. The place for this is the local newspaper, not an international encyclopedia. SilkTork 16:02, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
• Comment There are many lawyers, professors, and teachers who have biographies on Wikipedia, but very few ministers. There are only about 15 Southern Baptist ministers with bios. Pastor Spencer was a substantial minister in the central Louisiana area for three decades. I will try to get more information this week. Here's hoping you won't delete him just yet. I looked over the list for deletion, and I must say that nearly everything there on first appearance looked as if it did not belong. -- Billy Hathorn 14:02, 4 July 2006
  • What you have to remember is that, to be included, verifiable notability must be established. I am certain that some of the lawyers, professors, and teachers you mention do not belong in Wikipedia. Likewise, I am sure there are ministers who do belong, but have yet to be added. The key to adding a successful article to this encyclopedia is the notability of the individual to a broad population. If the person is only notable to a specific, limited number of people, then the person's article is likely to come up for this kind of review. --NMChico24 02:10, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

• Keep: Here is a link under "Teachers" that I pulled from random:
  Paul Geisert was a biology teacher in Chicago in the 1960s, a professor in the 1970s, an entrepreneur and writer in the 1980s, and the co-developer of learning materials and a web sites for teaching religion in the public schools in the 1990s. He also attended the Godless March which subsequently led to his coining of the noun bright and co-directorship of The Brights Net.
  
  Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Geisert"
  
  How is this person more worthy of inclusion that a pastor known throughout central Louisiana? -- Billy Hathorn
  • Comment: Here is another person under "American academics" who would seem to have notability only within his academic area. In fact, he is an ADJUNCT professor at Rice. Pastor Spencer was in the field for some four decades. It seems to me that we are setting a higher bar for ministers than for other professions.
    
    Jack Dongarra
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    Jack Dongarra is a University Distinguished Professor of Computer Science in the Computer Science Department [1] at the University of Tennessee. He holds the position of a Distinguished Research Staff member in the Computer Science and Mathematics Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory , and is an Adjunct Professor in the Computer Science Department at Rice University. He is the founding director of Innovative Computing Laboratory.[2]
    
    Jack Dongarra received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Chicago State University in 1972 and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1973. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of New Mexico in 1980 under the supervision of Cleve Moler. He worked at the Argonne National Laboratory until 1989, becoming a senior scientist.
    
    He specializes in numerical algorithms in linear algebra, parallel computing, the use of advanced-computer architectures, programming methodology, and tools for parallel computers. His research includes the development, testing and documentation of high quality mathematical software. He has contributed to the design and implementation of the following open source software packages and systems: EISPACK, LINPACK, the BLAS, LAPACK, ScaLAPACK[3], Netlib, PVM, MPI, NetSolve[4], Top500, ATLAS, and PAPI[5]. He has published approximately 200 articles, papers, reports and technical memoranda and he is coauthor of several books. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, ACM, and the IEEE and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
    
    Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Dongarra" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Billy Hathorn (talk • contribs)
  • Here's another entry under "Christian pastors" that in my view is not stronger than the one for Pastor Spencer here:
    
    Apostle Arturo Skinner, known as the "Father of Deliverance" in black Pentecostal circles, founded the Deliverance Evangelistic Center of Brooklyn, New York, in the 1950s and founded other churches, or centers, in cities such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Newark, New Jersey; and other large and small cities up and down the East Coast. Skinner's ministry, which Pentecostal in nature, focused on salvation and divine healing. There was also a strong element of the prophetic in Skinner's ministry and in the ministries of the evangelists and other clergy who received ecclesiastical training at his centers.
    
    Hundreds of pastors credit Skinner, also known as "Apostle Skinner," as their spiritual guide as well as for being the man under whom their ministries started. Skinner is believed to be the first Pentecostal to employ the title apostle as an indicator of the spiritual gifts at work in his churches. This use has been emulated by many of his spiritual sons and daughters as well as by people unaffiliated with his movement, and even by some who are unfamiliar with his name and history altogether.
    
    Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Skinner"````Billy Hathorn````

• Comment I think you may have uncovered more candidates for deletion. Doesn't change anything about this article though. SM247^{My Talk} 03:34, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.