NOTE: Please see the addendum at the bottom about our plan for the “Help CB and Karen Scott” Fund.
Rumors began to circulate yesterday that CB Scott had been reinstated at Brewton-Parker College. I have verified that the Interim President, Dr. Charlie Bass, has reinstated Dr. Scott to his position as Vice President of Alumni, Advancement, and Church Relations.
Let me say two personal words here.
First, I couldn’t be happier for my friend, CB. He was an inspiration to me during this time. He acted with courage and integrity and stood strong when others around him did not. I was horrified at the way he was treated by the college, by the injustice of it all. I am thrilled now that CB has been reinstated to his position.
Second, I hope someday to meet Dr. Charlie Bass and give him a handshake. If he is in Columbus, I’d like to buy him a cup of coffee or lunch or something! I appreciate that the first act he took when he stepped into his position as president of this college was to bring CB back on board. I’m sure I’ll get to know him. I tend to hang out at the BPC booth a lot trying to straighten out CB (if he is there).
The wording of this is key. CB has been “reinstated.” That means that his employment will continue uninterrupted. He got an unplanned sabbatical, I suppose.
Of course, this means that we have about $2475 in a fund that we aren’t sure what to do with – we raised it for CB’s transitional expenses and COBRA and such. That need has disappeared. I have an idea about how to handle that money which I will announce after conferring with some others. We will try to do what is right and just. Thank you for your amazing generosity on this matter. I know that CB and Karen appreciate it as well.
Once again, this is the best news I’ve had in a while in the Baptist world. Well done, Brewton-Parker. Well done, Dr. Bass. Congratulations, CB Scott. And Karen, if you have any trouble with that troublesome man you married, let us know. We’ll do what we can to straighten him out.
Addendum: Because we love and respect CB and Karen, and not knowing that this reinstatement would happen, we set up a fund to help him with living expenses and to help with ongoing health insurance costs. As it stands, he is going to receive his pay and his insurance will continue uninterrupted. This is unexpected.
So, we have $2475 in graciously and generously donated funds for a cause that seems to have evaporated!
I talked to CB this morning about this issue. His initial suggestion was that we simply refund all the money to donors, but I asked him (frankly, I kind of pulled out of him) and found that just before he was terminated, doctors had prescribed a new wheelchair for Karen. Even with insurance, the costs to the Scotts for that wheelchair will be in the neighborhood of $4000.
So, we have changed the parameters of the fundraiser. The goal is now $4000 and it is for the purchase of a wheelchair for Karen Scott. We believe this is a worthy cause to which to donate. Karen is a great and godly woman. If you are not on her daily email devotional list, you should get them. Plus, she has been married to CB all these years, which has honed and polished her character in amazing ways! So, the idea of using this money to purchase a new wheelchair for her seems the best use of these funds.
If you are okay with that, you need to do nothing. If you are not okay with this change, simply email me at pastordave@southernhillsbc.com and I will arrange for a refund of your donation. No questions asked. To be completely frank, we are still trying to figure out how this site works, so I can’t promise that you’ll get your refund tomorrow or the next day. But we will make sure you receive it.
I changed my mind. Since comments are already open on the other “Help CB” site, there’s little point in closing them here.
But let’s not pick the scabs or anything, folks.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to note that this will sit better with SACSCOC than the firing would have. In case anyone is considering that angle. Or for someone to have changed direction once they realized the damage they were doing to their own cause.
I think this is especially important given the comments that the previous president made about the importance of accreditation. As a reminder, it is a self-regulation process that includes third-party oversight of the self-regulation commitments. And many of these have to do with how personnel matters are handled. Being transparent with these kinds of decisions and building them on a solid, thoughtful, respectful, and deliberate process is good for the College. I see them as confirming their commitment to the recently reaffirmed accreditation.
Well, I think CB and others pretty much got the SACS stuff cleared up before this all happened.
They did.
But the firing likely would have undone the good will generated through the effort to address the proposed removal of accreditation. Precisely because there is no way they followed a deliberate process to fire CB. I give them credit for recognizing that it not only was wrong but wasn’t good for the institution, either. And I presume the trustees specifically were involved in addressing the situation which implies a level of institutional cooperation in righting what was perceived as a wrong. All good things.
This really is an encouraging end to a convoluted story. I’ve never met or talked to CB, other than I’m sure at some point in the comments section at this website. But I’m glad for him and his family. I think the money going to his wife’s health care need is a great idea.
I’m glad to see Brewton Parker do the right thing.
Thanks be to God for His goodness. A lot of people have prayed and hoped for CB’s situation to be resolved.
Thank you, DAVID, for organizing financial support in the interim. Now, all shall be well.
As a Georgia Baptist (where BPC gets about $1m annually from the CP), I’m pleased with the decision. I know that personnel decisions are administrative but both the trustees and interim president should be commended for the change.
For heavy critics, BPC was far more communicative through this mess that our entities usually are and exactly when was the last time we saw something like this reversed, fixed? I’m not recalling any.
Had a conversation with a BPC alumna the other day. The word was, “Can we have a little stability now?”
You know what, let’s hope this is a fresh start and a good one at that!
That’s a great question. I can’t think of any time you’ve seen a problem like this fixed. It’s usually damage control and move on.
Kudos to the folks who made the right decision and to those who persuaded them to make the right decision.
Praise Jesus for some good news and for justice. I would like to say congrats to CB on his vindication and hearty well done to Dr. Bass. Hopefully BPC can continue to recover and become an institution that makes much of Jesus and the Gospel.
Very glad to see the reinstatement. This is a good and necessary first step toward clearing the air so healing can begin.
Some other issues need to be addressed and cleared up as well.
I am still not clear on exactly what specifically the college did not want CB to say, but understand CB’s principled stand not to be bought.
I am glad that he has been rehired, and I think the proposed use of the money sounds great. I did not know that CB’s wife had medical problems.
I wish him and his wife the best.
Here is the story reported by BNG (ABP):
http://baptistnews.com/ministry/organizations/item/29833-baptist-college-reinstates-fired-vp
Dave Miller is mentioned, as is Dwight McK.
In the past entity trustees could ignore negative reaction by saying nothing and letting critics write a letter to the state paper. Now entities have incentives to deal with critics or be soiled by ballooning bad news spread widely.
While we celebrate how social media played a large role in helping an injustice be corrected in this instance rest assured one day, maybe soon, we will lament social media being used to soil the reputation of one of our leaders who has done nothing to merit such an attack. Let’s celebrate while we can.
This is why we need to support transparency in the work of the Convention including questions from secular media no matter how inconvenient they might be: “Never Had I Been So Blind”: W. A. Criswell’s “Change” on Racial Segregation Please note that I am NOT saying I agree with this telling of the tale. But when my parents were members at FBC Dallas and when I would visit there with my cousins, one of the distinct memories I have from the 60s was of the parking garage providing parking to church members almost entirely staffed by Blacks while there were rarely Black members/attenders inside (though there was one notable older woman whose name I knew at the time but I since have forgotten who normally sat on the main floor in the middle.)
We have had a problem with racism in the past. The convention was largely racist at its beginning and strongly supported–in fact formed after a split over the appointment of slaveholders as missionaries–slavery that could and should be viewed today as hideously racist. Any form of transparency into that situation and any form of public repudiation of such behavior ought to be welcome up to and including the Freeman paper and to a certain extent regardless of how “balanced” it appears from a journalistic perspective.
I’ll return to one of my favorite examples: some people defended the pedophile missionary serving in Indonesia on the grounds of the value of his missionary work in the publishing house in Bandung writing books for the age of children he repeatedly molested. My understanding is that Henry Blackaby himself was moderating the meeting when this was revealed to the Mission as a whole in the early 1990s and he cautioned against overlooking the grievous sin the man committed on the grounds that he had done things “in the service” of God. And doubly so because of the children who were harmed by his actions (many of the survivors of his molestation activities already were in adulthood at the time of that meeting after being molested some 22 years previously).
I would agree and I actually would take that further: as long as we are actively sinning, God CAN redeem our sin in any number of ways to further his kingdom. But we ought not stand tall and attempt to take credit for that. We deserve repudiation when we sin. And all of our (own) righteousness is like filthy rags especially when we are actively, willfully sinning. And the Bible is clear that the one thing the power of the blood of Jesus Christ does is give us the freedom to choose not to sin…and yet we still sin.
I’m not a fan of idolatry in any form. Worshipping heroes or seeking to protect them from the chastisement they are deserving because of their behavior is an especially virulent and metastatic form of idolatry in my opinion. And for those who are unjustly accused–if there really IS such a person given our proclivity to continue to fall into temptation and to sin even once redeemed–God will see in private and recompense them the Bible tells us.
P.S. My comments pertain exactly to the two men mentioned above. Please do NOT construe this as in any way related to the BPC situation. It’s just a return comment regarding the fear of “social media” taking down beloved leaders. As William Safire used to say: “the truth outs”.
It’s interesting to note that BPC’s motto is “Resurgam”–“I shall rise again.” While I’m thinking that this is a reference to a commitment to the risen Lord, it’s also a good word to the future of BPC under new, bold leadership with a renewed sense of purpose and direction. I pray for the best on behalf of BPC.
I’m very glad to hear this good news. Congrats, CB. Brewton Parker College is better off for doing this.
David
Well, I posted this once. I will try again. I am glad to hear about CB’s reinstatement at Brewton-Parker. No one ought to be treated as he was, cut off without a severance package, etc. There are others that have to be considered in every situation. Nearly 50 years ago I had part in an associational meeting where the Superintendent of Missions (as we called them then or was it Associational Missionary) was fired. I spoke out against firing the man without a severance package, moving that they pay him for a period of time until he could find another place of service. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said something to the effect that when you have the opportunity to get even with an enemy, “Don’t do it.”