The last couple of weeks have been momentous in the life of our beloved convention.
- Southwestern Seminary is still dealing with financial issues, exacerbated by the COVID-19 shutdown. Departments were reorganized and we understand there were some personnel reductions. Of course, the biggest news was their dealings with the fraudulent Dead Sea Scrolls scraps purchased by the Pattersons.
- Southern Seminary also made some significant budget cuts. Of course, what created the stir was that they laid off three professors due to the financial crisis and possibly a fourth is heading in that direction.
- A few days ago, LifeWay announced several actions, but the idea that they intended to sell Ridgecrest was not universally well-received.
- There were also rumors abounding when another staff member at the ERLC announced he was leaving for another job. There has been a significant turnover of ERLC staff recently and among those who claim but often fail to practice discernment, that is evidence of big news coming down the pike.
The responses to many of these have been predictable, but not encouraging.
- The conspiracy-theorist, black-helicopter Baptists have, of course, seen CRT/I behind all of this. Without a shred of evidence, they declared this an attempt by Mohlerites to banish conservatives from Southern and make it a safe-haven for cultural Marxism and liberalism.
- I have seen strong opinions expressed about the future of the ERLC, about Ridgecrest’s sale, and about the SBC in general, and I find myself feeling conflicted about it.
I would make the following simple observations.
1. Big things are happening in SBC entities.
If this blog existed simply to garner traffic and drive hits, we could follow the example of the nonsense bloggers like Capstone and the unsubstantiated insinuations of Jon Harris (and others) and drive traffic through the roof. The fact is that these are big stories, real issues. Major things are happening at our entities – perhaps as a result of the shutdown.
2. Getting our facts before going to press isn’t a bad idea.
I had a long conversation with a prominent journalist a few months ago and he told me about several explosive stories he was working on. He hasn’t published any of them yet, because a secular newspaper is careful to get their facts in order and check their sources before they publish their stories.
Why don’t Christians follow such an ethic? We seem to feel free to pass along rumors and insinuations, as long as they further our agendas. I read a tweet in which a pastor “expressed concern” about the appearance of bias at Southern. When challenged, he denied that he had lodged any accusations and his weasely wording gave him that option. He publicized false information in such a way that he could deny responsibility for it. Too often, we are masters at that. I do not believe it honors God.
We simply have to do better.
3. Having the facts doesn’t give us the right to determine motives.
The vortex of much of this is a guy named Jon Harris – no idea who he is or where he came from. I saw him the first time when he was pushing conspiracy theories in support of CBN. He declared that four conservative professors at Southern had been fired in a purge so that CRT/I could win the day.
The facts? There were three professors let go, and a fourth is a possibility. Is there any evidence that this has anything to do with CRT/I? Only his tinfoil hat theories. If you assume that Southern is an increasingly liberal, “woke,” CRT/I-sympathetic school, then you can assume these firings are evidence in support of your assumptions and publish them as fact.
But assigning motives to actions is hardly a godly thing to do. These “discernment” guys generally seem to regard themselves as having a nearly infallible insight into the minds and hearts of those they bite and devour. I have been told my ungodly motives by these fellows often, even though I was quite sure those were not my motives at all.
Did something happen at Southern? Yes. Did professors get let go? Yep. Has there been any evidence that it was a CRT/I motivated action? Who needs evidence when you have an agenda to promote?
4. The biggest problem in the SBC is not CRT/I (or any other issue) – It is SIN!
So many involved in SBC social media lie and spread false information and insinuations and conspiracies – all while claiming to honor God. They are dishonoring the Savior with despicable, sinful behavior. Can you imagine the toll these lies and false accusations take on men and their families? Yet bloggers and “ministry leaders” continue to bite and devour without conscience (all in the name of protecting the gospel). We can have a reasonable discussion over whether CRT/I can ever be used in any way by Christians. We could have reasonable discussions about race, about abuse, about many of the issues that divide us. But there should be no question that the character assassination, the lies, the false accusations, the absolutely satanic slander that is being spewed out by some of these sites needs to stop. Tearing asunder the Body of Christ is not acceptable, even if it furthers your agenda.
We cannot ask God’s blessing on our convention when we are walking in lies instead of the truth.
5. It would help a LOT if our entities would be a bit more transparent.
The fact is, our entities are far more secretive than they need to be or than they should be. The EC has been going into executive session far more than it should. LifeWay has given us its opinion that Ridgecrest is not a priority investment for the future, but making such a radical seems to me to call for greater explanation.
I realize that our entities are governed by their trustees and are not required to account to the convention for every action, but if they were less secretive, less guarded, more transparent, it would be better.
6. The entities are complicit in creating the environment in which the distrust has grown.
These “discernment” folks who lie and attack and assign false motives and make false accusations and engage in character assassination and personal destruction – you know who I am talking about, I doubt I have to name names, right? – will give account to God for their wickedness one day.
But the soil in which that kind of distrust, that viciousness, that evil grew has been fertilized by the entities who have treated the people of the SBC as if we shouldn’t know what is going on. The person saying this has argued (to great hostility, even somewhat from other contributors here!) that I do not think entity salaries need to be published. Still, I think too much is done in secret. Too many executive sessions. Too much behind the scenes politicking. Too many public statements that we all know do not reflect private actions.
Trust the trustees. That is an operational principle for the SBC because we have no choice! But if the leadership wants the SBC to trust the trustees, they need to create an atmosphere of sunshine. Their secretive ways cause much of the distrust.
I was preparing a fairly explosive article one time and I talked to the chairman of the trustees of that entity about it. He was so open and honest with me that I decided to hold back the story. He told me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (time had upheld that belief) and I realized he was dealing with it. His openness inspired trust in me.
Obviously, some of these folks won’t behave in a godly manner because their hearts are full of sin. They want to get their way and they will not be satisfied by godly people behaving in godly ways. But there are a lot of good and godly people who have been swayed by the liars and accusers because of the atmosphere of distrust that exists in the entities.
I want the SBC to work. I think our leaders are good men who love Jesus and want to do right. I sometimes disagree with them but then again…gasp…they may sometimes disagree with me! That’s okay. We simply have to do better all around or we will continue biting and devouring one another until there is nothing left to bite and devour.
God help us.
Dilly dilly
No beer talk, heretic
This was an excellent email to read and particularly the portion about the so called discernment guys who really have no discernment to begin with.
Thank you for your efforts to get people to stop and think before remessaging this type of stuff.
In my experience, much assigning of motives, positive *or* negative, seems to spring from what I call ‘Omniscient Imagination Syndrome’. As in, “If it occurs to my imagination, It Must Be True!”, because my imagination is omniscient. We are at times, too apt to speak confidently of things on which we actually have only sparse information.
A+
I anticipate this will get me blasted and maligned on this site. I have 3 questions 1) I wonder if SBTS if any of our SBC entities have large endowments or reserves. 2) I wonder if our leadership has been very effective or financially thoughtful( making all these cuts so soon) 3 when we get thru this and we will by Gods’ grace will these entities going on a hiring splurge like it seemed SWBTS did after President Gateways hire.
My instinct is to delete comments that complain about moderation just for the fun of it.
However, though I do not share your perspective, I think you have the right to share those questions. I think the level of endowment/reserve varies. I believe, though I am not sure of this, that SWBTS ran through some of theirs in recent years, in the later years of the Patterson admin.
In general, I think our leaders have been pretty responsible, though I do not always agree with their decisions. There is one exception to that, a recent removal from an institution in Texas. Time seems to be showing that he did not manage the seminary’s money well. That is my impression – not a trustee, of course.
I think your third point borders on the unfair. Yes Greenway (not Gateway) reduced the faculty at SWBTS. He did hire SOME new faculty, but calling it a splurge seems to me to be pejorative, unfair, and an insinuation that comes close to assigning motives.
Dr. Greenway made a 25% reduction in faculty and then hired a few new faculty back. I do not know the exact # of hires, but the overall reduction has been been in the neighborhood of 20% or more.
i apologize for the name mix up. i counted 12 hires on Baptist press at SWBTS.
The numbers released were more than double that. I do not have exact figures.
Did SBTS offer any explanation for who they cut?
The BP article just had this line: Responding to a question from Baptist Press, Mohler declined to provide details on the number and nature of faculty and staff layoffs, saying the “implementation is still underway” in some cases, and that he wanted to respect private personnel situations.
I did see something Dr. Cabal (great guy & one of my first profs at Boyce back in 1999)
QUOTE https://tedcabal.com/index.php/2020/04/24/the-truth-about-my-relationship-to-sbts/
But yesterday persons unknown to me described online my layoff as a purge of the last theologically conservative faculty at Southern. The idea that those remaining are heterodox shocked and angered me. The rest of the piece got worse, presenting many Southern Baptists I love and respect as if they were heretics. Before day’s end other bloggers repeated the falsehoods, but none consulted me regarding any of their content. I affirm my SBTS colleagues and the others I know to be exceedingly fine Christians in purity of life and doctrine. To besmirch them in this way is to reveal ignorance and/or dishonesty.
I took Jon Harris to task about this on Twitter. His only response: more is forthcoming.
I wish they would. That gets to my point that there’s a tendency for them to act as if they have no obligation to inform the masses. Personnel matters are tricky.
“We let Professor McGillicutty go because he is a substandard, lackadaisical professor.” Probably wouldn’t go that well.
But in the absence of a definitive statement, the insinuators will insinuate.
I am hopeful that further clarification on the Russell Fuller situation will be forthcoming. I know him to be an excellent professor and man of great conviction and integrity. I have no insider info, and I don’t have a dog in the CRT fight. I just wish I hadn’t heard about the dismissal from the so-called discernment bloggers, for whom I have no respect. This supports your point. Better to hear from Dr. Mohler on this than Capstone. Praying that Fuller finds a good landing spot.
Dr. Fuller was a campus favorite when I was down there (2003-2006) and Dr. Cabal was my Dean at Boyce college (1999 – 2003). I think they are both outstanding and will do well in any teaching context. I hate the idea of politics and the seminary, but that’s always been the reality of SBC. Admin would do well to explain (since they depend on alumni donations).
Wise words as “we” independent churches and “we” as a convention move forward from the uncertainty of the times we find ourselves in to the surety of being held accountable for the actions we chose to take on this side of Heaven. May God keep us humble with a focus on doing His will and a determination to share the Gospel.
Our word for the day…
Ultracrepidarianism– The habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one’s knowledge.
Ultracrepidarianism is a scourge on humanity that arguably goes all the way back to The Garden. It reached global pandemic proportions with the rise of social media.
Are we talking about giving medical advice?
Well said
may have to start using one.
I had to laugh at the very thought that Dr, Al Mohler is banishing conservatives from Southern and making it a safe haven for liberalism and “cultural marxism.” If that ever happened, we could probably count on the end of the world being right around the corner.
He expended a lot of energy turning the school conservative. They idea that in his final years he would want his legacy to be the firing of conservatives to make Southern liberal is a mind-boggling idea.
Well, the definition of conservative is changing. Old-school conservatives are the new liberals. Look at the CBN. In that group, conservative pretty specifically means full throated support for DJT. In his latest endorsement, Mohler seems to be attempting to straddle between old-school and the new conservatism.
Yet many will join that chorus
AM put everything on the line when he started that purge. People need to really ponder just what was at stake at that time
Every decision made in your bullet list at the top appears to be purely financial.
Now, I have my personal beefs with the SBC concerning CRT/I and softening complementarianism, social justice (Gospel)… I could make a longer list of issues that bug me.
But, the reasoning behind the decisions in your list are all about the $$$. There’s nothing there based on any issue other than declining income and to turn it into more than that is irresponsible.
And I believe (just an opinion) this is just the tip of the iceberg of difficult financial decisions to be made by the SBC in the next year.
So, your points 5 and 6 are key.
The SBC needs to quit giving its detractors ammunition. Now is the time to have solid, written, published rational accompanying every hard financial decision. That will build trust and understanding.
I read BP and all I see is LifeWay is selling Ridgecrest and the Seminaries are cutting staff. Those press releases should tell us why the property is being sold and the reason behind which Seminary staff members were cut.
Otherwise every crackpot conspirator is going to publish irrational reasons and misunderstanding.
1 Peter 2:13
Perhaps part of the problem here (and I get there are employment issues) is that SBTS has said nothing about why these particular professors were the ones let go. A little bit of direct talk would quell so much speculation and so much “discernment.”
As an aside, while I share your concerns about the so-called discernment that is taking place here, I trust you see the irony when the following two sentences are placed next to each other? “I have been told my ungodly motives by these fellows often, even though I was quite sure those were not my motives at all.” “Who needs evidence when you have an agenda to promote?”
Yeah. That’s exactly the same.
Sigh.
I never said they were exactly the same. Irony doesn’t require that. And while I am undoubtedly much more concerned about certain issues in the SBC than you are, I don’t take much of what the discernment guys say as meaningful and I’m not coming here to defend them. However, it comes across as odd to me to claim your motives are not what someone else said then make a statement that clearly impugns someone else’s motives while assuming you know their motives. If I am misunderstanding what you wrote say so. But please give me the courtesy of a real response.
By the way, I also get the irony that I’m complaining about the irony of your statement but I am not assigning any motive to your response other than the need to be sarcastic.
How could that be done and at the same time protect the confidentiality of the professors? If the cuts are related to budget issues, which seems to be the case, there could be multiple reasons for the specific choices. Maybe they taught courses with fewer students enrolled, or they had less tenure and seniority, or they had a lower score on a professional evaluation than someone else.
The speculation about motives and agenda comes from the fact that there is a long history of their use among trustees in the hiring of personnel to staff the entities owned by the SBC. That’s the kind of thing that keeps the Baptist press busy, especially on the editorial pages.
I wish every single Christian church would urgently address Christian speech. Because we evidently don’t believe we are the body of Christ, or that He is near, standing at the door; and evidence shows we don’t believe what He says about our words.
I’m a retired attorney. Words are evidence. We’re putting out evidence – magnified and repeated and forever etched on the Internet – of how we are and what we believe. We’re compiling individual records of evidence, and a collective record. Many of us seem to be OK with slander, mocking, derision, insult, speculation, gossip, accusation, prejudice (which is whenever we pre-judge someone), judging, partiality, assumption (as noted), attempted clever argument, wrangling about words, and all the evils of the tongue. We either use it, or we read it regularly, helping it to become popular. We are that populace. We don’t believe what God teaches.
What an effective way to purge and drive away sincere, gentle Christians of all ages! I work in the welcome ministry of a fast-growing Bible church that teaches and practices strong faith and gentle speech. (Not ‘no speech’ – our input is welcomed!) We are getting long-time Baptists in droves. They are wounded and traumatized by word wars, factions, opinions, and lack of transparency leading to sudden crises. I understand that.
I have seen more than 1 blogger/ social media guy argue that angry, mean words are of God.
So many variations of – If I don’t tell you why you are stupid and possibly demonic then I’m being a feminine pearl clutcher.
I have too. James 1:20 – the anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God. I mean, either we believe that or we don’t. I had to write all the Biblical speech commands and proverbs in one place to get the gist.
I think that type of teaching attracts already mean men and women. They use it as an excuse to be combative and abusive in their words, calling it truth and if you stand up to them concerning their bullying and abuse then you are “not wanting to hear the truth”. They then take scripture out of context such as the itching ears verse to “prove their point.” Yet is they who are in error.
To them 1 Corinthians 13 means they are being loving by telling them this abusive “truth.” In fact, they say, they are more loving than we are because they are expelling truth whether it hurts or not. What they don’t get is it’s a lie from the pit of hell using scripture as a battering ram. We are the ones expelling truth and loving them by confronting them hoping they will have the desire to change.
Thanks sister. Your words here are edifying, truly discerning and full of grace and truth. Keep on speaking up when led to by the Holy Spirit.
I’ve heard more and more people say that being in the SBC is a bummer.
Some people have decided recently not to join our church over it. Not because the SBC is too strong but because of division and questions about the faithfulness and long term direction of the SBC.
We are not considering leaving.
But these trends are not good.
What would you say are some specific “divisions and questions about the faithfulness and long term direction of the SBC” would be?
No denomination is immune from human influence when it comes to favoritism, bureaucratic politics and even nepotism when it comes to who gets the jobs and the SBC has had more than its fair share of such in recent years. But if you’re referencing the concerns that have prompted the formation of groups such as the frequently referenced “CBN” or the “Founder’s Ministries” and other assorted bloggers in the same ilk, and their concerns are the same as what is prompting those people in your church not to join it, then I would say your church is better off without those people, who would do nothing but bring a divisive spirit into your fellowship and not the spirit of unity that the scripture supports.
The concerns that I see raised by some of these splinter groups aren’t based on anything related to conservative theological orthodoxy. One group appears to be motivated by personal loyalty to a once prominent and influential personality, the other to hostile arguments over doctrinal minutia. The general consensus that I hear regarding being in the SBC is that it will become a bummer if any of those vying for power ever get control of it.
Are you not doing exactly what you accuse these “other” guys are doing?
Thank you for this!!! Excellent, excellent. For all of us, our biggest problem is sin.