Elon Musk isn’t the only former PayPal employee who has big plans for Mars. Former SBC executive committee member Rod D. Martin expressed over the weekend that he wants to be the first to plant a Baptist church on Mars.
Apart from his involvement with the SBC, Martin is known for being part of the pre-IPO startup team for PayPal and describes himself as “a technology entrepreneur, futurist, hedge fund manager, thought leader and activist.”
Martin’s comments came in the context of a Conservative Baptist Network (CBN) panel discussion hosted by Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (MABTS) on Friday, November 19. The conversation also included SBC First Vice President Lee Brand, president of Founders Ministries Tom Ascol, Executive Director-Treasurer of Northwest Baptist Convention Randy Adams, former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) professor Russell Fuller, and SBC pastor Allen Nelson.
“I want to build the first church on Mars. I want to build it. I want it to be a Baptist church. I’m thinking of calling it ‘The Cathedral of Saint Paul Pressler.’ I might get Paige Patterson to be the first bishop,” Martin said with a smile. “We’ll see, you know.”