Christa Brown (attorney, abuse victim, advocate for abuse victims, and critic of the SBC Executive Committee) has written two opinion pieces for Baptist News Global about the SBC sex abuse crisis. She wrote in both that the Executive Committee’s efforts, as well as the SBC’s, have been totally futile, a waste of time and money. Now, I’ll grant that the EC’s efforts in regard to addressing the crisis have been ineffectual, at least so far. It always seems like one step forward, two steps back. Still, I disagree with Christa Brown that the whole effort has been a waste. We have seen good come out of this. Many churches have addressed the sex abuse problem by putting preventive measures in place. At the church I formerly served, we adopted Ministry Safe and Caring Well. We were not using Ministry Safe before the crisis broke. I believe that was true of lots of churches, but they have now implemented preventive measures. That is surely a good thing. So, while her criticisms of the EC and Task Force’s efforts seem justified, I do believe the responses by thousands of churches have been a positive development.
This semester I’ve taught a master’s level missions class at Southwestern Seminary. The class meets on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, so I’m on campus twice a week. I have not attended a chapel service. I thought I might share my observations. My class, International Church Planting, has a good enrollment. The students are interested and engaged. They ask lots of questions, and I have answered some of them. Dr. David Dockery serves as the president of the seminary, but he has not moved into the president’s home on campus. I’ve heard that he promised the Board of Trustees that he would serve for five years, health permitting. So, the fact that he has continued living in his personal residence seems to confirm that. I’m told that the faculty like and support him. Certainly, I do, too. I’m delighted that he and O. S. Hawkins have committed themselves to restoring the seminary to health. When I was a Master of Divinity student at Southwestern (1972-1975), it was the largest seminary in the world, and 55 percent of all the foreign missionaries appointed by the SBC’s Foreign Mission Board studied at Southwestern. I pray that Southwestern can regain its former effectiveness.
Sam Rainer at Church Answers wrote an essay for The Baptist Review. He titled it, “The Unraveling of Our Cooperation.” He’s written a perceptive critique of our current situation in the SBC. He documents how we have been in a steady decline for decades. In his view, with which I concur, the SBC has moved from a Cooperative Model, which emphasizes the Cooperative Program, to a semi-societal model in which the various SBC agencies receive Cooperative Program money, but they also engage in institutional fundraising. I agree with his analysis, and you can read it for yourself at thebaptistreview.com.
I read on Baptist Press that Jeff Iorg, longtime president at Gateway (Golden Gate) Seminary has agreed to be nominated as the new president of the Executive Committee. This is a wonderful development in my opinion. I’ve had several conversations with him and been in meetings with him. He’s intelligent and knows how to administer an institution. He did a good job at Gateway, and he’ll serve well at the EC. Now, I can’t imagine why he would be willing to take on the “hot mess” the EC is now. Still, he has agreed, and the EC should hurry and elect him before he changes his mind.
John MacArthur—“God treated Jesus on the cross as if he lived your life so He could treat you as if you lived His.”
