I have written many an article questioning the decisions and actions of those in leadership in our convention. I think it is one of blogging’s purposes and, if done rightly, a way that our big ol’ blogging mouths can serve the convention well. It is also important that we note leaders who lead well.
Dr. Paul Chitwood is one of those leaders. He is the Executive Director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and is demonstrating repeatedly that he should and can be an important leader for our denomination’s future. Last year, he sponsored a conference on Calvinism that attempted to bridge the gap and bring some positive discussion on that incendiary topic. Video of that conference is available, and is in my opinion well worth the time to watch.
There have been some disturbing stories from colleges related to Southern Baptists at one level or another. The fiasco at Louisiana College has been pretty well documented. Some confusing things have happened at Cedarville University. In the last week or so, there have been some disturbing reports about the goings-on at another SBC-related school, one supported by the missions gifts of Kentucky Baptists.
If you read blogs, you’ve likely heard the story. Campbellsville University in Kentucky has denied tenure to and cancelled the contract of a professor, Dr. Jarvis Williams, an associate professor of NT and Greek. He is by all accounts a bright young scholar, one who teaches (and believes) in line with the BF&M 2000. Disturbing reports indicate that the reason he is being released is that he is considered too conservative by other professors at Campbellsville.
And article by Patrick Shreiner summarizes the facts of the situation.
I know about Campbellsville only what I have read in the last week or so. I am not aware of the exact relationship between KBC and Campbellsville. And it is not my focus here to speculate on the facts of the Williams situation. I can say that he has received the highest endorsements from some of our best scholars.
I wish to focus on Dr. Chitwood’s response.
Dr. Chitwood leads as a convention leader ought to lead. You can read his response here, and article called, “Campbellsville University and the Churches of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.” It is measured, direct, and redemptive.
- He has scheduled talks with the leadership of Campbellsville to assess the situation. Get the facts first before he makes his response!
- He recognizes both the problem and the seriousness of the problem. No polishing the rotten apple! He is meeting the issue head on.
- He publicly announces the talks, but reminds us that such talks will be carried out in private. A balance between necessary confidentiality and transparency.
- His response is measured and calm. Not jumping to conclusions or shooting from the hip.
We have some great (if imperfect) men leading our institutions and entities. But Dr. Paul Chitwood has impressed me with his principled, irenic and visionary leadership. The Kentucky Baptist Convention is well served by a man like this.
I agree completely. I read Dr. Chitwood’s letter earlier this afternoon and thought it was about as perfect a statement on this kind of situation as anyone could have written. Makes clear there are areas of concern while also reminding us not to jump to conclusions. There are plenty of examples of poor leadership in all areas of life. We should celebrate and praise when we see good examples.
Isn’t this a matter for the trustees of the college to settle? I thought that was the purpose of the trustee system and not the convention leadership. I have heard that argument made more than once in other entity issues.
Depends on how the relationship is structured. But, if you read Chitwood’s column, he respects academic freedom. What is at stake is the money the KBC gives to the college.
Campbellsville receives funding from the Kentucky Baptist Convention. In November of last year, the KBC delayed a vote to defund Georgetown College, a KBC funded school that is no longer theologically or socially conservative. In fact, the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship school, relocated to Georgetown College’s campus in 2010. The Baptist Seminary of Kentucky openly acknowledges that it started in response to the conservative shift at SBTS.
Still wondering where our executive director is, down here in Louisiana…surely hasn’t spoken much, from what I’ve seen/heard…
No comment. But I do think Dr. Chitwood’s response is a template for others in such a situation.
Another way of looking at it is to say it is an issue for the trustees, so the state convention executive director should remain publicly neutral and out of the way, respecting the trustees to do their jobs. I find no less honor in this approach than in Dr. Chitwood’s.
Is there any reason to believe that Dr. Chitwood is doing anything to undermine the trustees? He tried to strike a very neutral position, while also saying he was taking seriously the accusations that there was aberrant theology being taught at CU. He simply said he was going to hold talks to figure out what was going on. If I was a Kentucky Baptist, I’d want the exec to check into things. As Chitwood said, if 1 million missions dollars from Kentucky Baptists are helping to pay the salaries of profs who are teaching contrary to basic Baptists beliefs, he… Read more »
It may be that other state convention executives have done the same thing–fact finding, having talks, etc., but have done so behind the scenes without announcing their efforts. Again, I see no dishonor in a state exec who takes a low profile approach.
Well, I guess it depends on the situation. If the BF&M is at stake here, then I’d want my exec to be proactive. We saw what happened when schools were allowed to teach whatever they wanted without accountability.
Dr. Chitwood did not raise this issue. He is telling us what he is doing in response to a very public issue. To me, it is a great example of good leadership.
Rick, Let’s be perfectly clear about what’s happening in Louisiana so there is no confusion or ignorance. David Hankins is staying quiet in public because he is leading the charge to keep Joe Aguillard as president of Louisiana College. How is he doing it? Because, as Ex. Director, he is an ex officio member of the Board of Trustees at Louisiana College. So he sits in as a full voting member, while also being the Executive Director of the state convention. A conflict of interest? Anyone who denies the conflict is funnier than a West Georgia hoot! The man who… Read more »
SBC Historian / Is This Josh? If Louisiana Baptists, in their autonomy, have chosen to place their state executive on the trustee board of the college, they have the right to do so, and he has the right to influence their theology. If they felt it was a conflict of interest, I’m sure they would remove him. And how dare you steal Peter’s “West Georgia Hoot” line. I believe he has that phrase copyrighted. If, as you allege, Hankins wants to “purge” Louisiana of reformed theology, he is no less free to pursue that course of action than Dr. Mohler… Read more »
Rick,
You do realize, of course, that what Mohler expelled was liberal theology clearly at odds with the BF&M whereas what Hankins seeks to expel is conservative theology which conforms to the BF&M.
Your categorical slips are showing Rick. There is zero distinction between God’s grace and God’s love other than perhaps that one is a reference to God’s methodology and the other is a reference to his character. I beg you to prove you can distinguish the two concepts in any meaningful way. I’m not familiar, similarly, with “transformed” v. “reformed”. The “reformed” refers to an effort initiated by Luther to bring about changes in the predominant and presumed global church present in his day: the Roman Catholic Church. The 95 Theses clearly delineate his concerns. Implying that the spiritual nature of… Read more »
Rick, I’m unable to reply to your most recent response (dated 4/23/13 at 6.07am) so I have no idea where this will show up in the thread. Please note, though, it is intended as a response to your 4/23 comment. First, this is not Josh, but thanks for trying to guess. Second, no one is questioning whether Louisiana Baptists have the right to appoint their Ex. Dir. (which, coincidentally, is what I hope he becomes soon) to the Board of Trustees for LC (and, for your further enlightenment, it is not just one LBC entity, it is all of them).… Read more »
I am appalled that a person can insinuate Dr Hankins is dishonest and vindictive and not a word is said. No call for a retraction, no space taken to express righteous indignation.
Dean,
Sorry to cause you to be appalled. I am honestly unsure, though, where I called David dishonest. Could you point me to such a claim, explicit or implicit? As for vindictive, well, that comes from inside knowledge of what’s been going on behind closed doors in trustee meetings. You don’t have to believe me, but that doesn’t mean I’m incorrect.
And the only righteous indignation that should be pursued is against David, for saying if it was up to him, he would re-write the BFM2000 to exclude all persons who affirm reformed soteriology. We don’t fund enough missionaries as it is; just think how bad it would be if 20-30% of SBC churches were barred from participating in SBC life (and would, presumably, stop giving to the CP). There’s a cause for righteous indignation right there!
I don’t have any inside information, but I’m pretty sure that his release has more to do with Calvinism and less to do with being conservative. I went to Campbellsville, and not everyone there is as conservative as I am, but I don’t believe anyone would be let go for being conservative. However, Calvinism is very touchy subject.
Unless you have information that the issue is Calvinism, could we leave that out of this discussion?
Dave, I understand you wanting to leave Calvinism out of this, but I believe it is a misrepresentation of the school to say it was because of conservative theology, and I’m not sure where your source is coming from. I sincerely hope I’m not proven wrong about that. That being said, I will also be disappointed if the issue is confirmed to be Calvinism, as Jarvis is a solid guy teaching theology within the bounds of the Baptist Faith and Message. I think the whole conservative theology thing came up because some say Campbellsville continues to employ professors who hold… Read more »
Do you have any evidence beyond speculation that this is a Calvinism thing?
No I don’t. But no one has any evidence that it is because his theology is conservative either. In the orginial blog post by Patrick Schreiner he wrote that an administrator of the school told Jarvis privately that it was because of his theology. But that’s all we got. No one has said what exactly about his theology they found to be a problem. I find this to be a strange reason anyway, because they would have known his theology from the start. From my own experience with Campbellsville I don’t think it would have to do with just being… Read more »
I am sure you were talking to Jon right?
I have to admit that I am weary beyond belief of the Calvinist/Traditionalist food fights. I deleted the comments that took this into the food fight direction. Don’t want to go there.
It is amazing how fast those conversations get ugly.
First, a state exec or anyone for that matter should go to the Trustees. Thisnisnthe way the SBC is set up. Second, since it involves an employee, this should not occur in public. There are federal regulations that deal with that. Third, public speculation is worthless.
The tweeting and promotion of public outcries to investigate trouble me greatly. Regardless if it is LC or Camp, there is a process set up and the public path is only a last resort in extreme situations.
Just my two cents worth, or three.
I’m beginning to think that there is very little good use of Twitter.
Actually, I’ve always thought that.
Bill, there is much good uses of twitter. There are also poor uses, but no more than found on blogs.
Oh, wow. Looks like threading(or at least sorting) is broken with only 18 comments.
I would do away with threading, but when I tried, it unthreaded all previous comment streams as well, which was chaotic. So, for now, the imperfect threading remains.
As a developer (and, nowadays, a web developer), this looks like a code problem to me, and I wonder if there is a newer version of WordPress that might fix the problem. I develop in Drupal, though, not WordPress, so I’m not that familiar with the WordPress environment. (And I’m sure that upgrading WordPress is probably beyond your tech-fu)
Makes sense to me, Ben. I’m betting that the comments themselves are in SQL. These pages exist simply as templates filled in with the data. Alter the template, and the display of every page is going to change. This is likely just as true for the sort order (and indentation) of comments as it is for changing a color in the theme.
Of course, I suppose it is possible to put some sort of a date-based hack in place:
<?phpif (post_date
I don’t know enough (since I know absolutely nothing) about this professor, his theological convictions, the theological convictions of his supervisors, or the circumstances of his departure to opine in any way whatsover about what his departure means and how others should (or should not) respond to it. I would, however, like to take up the question of how the trustee system ought to operate in a matter like this. 1. It is true that the decision to employ this professor is the business of the trustees of the university. It is not the function of the KBC, its employees,… Read more »
Is it Calvinism? Is it conservatism? I see no reason to conclude that it must be one or the other. It could be both. It could be neither. It could have something to do with how well one person got along with another—who is whose friend. It could be that, in the shadow of Southern Seminary, conservatism and Calvinism have become more closely associated with one another than they ought to be, such that for this controversy to be about one it would have to be about the other, also. I do know with absolute certainty that there is at… Read more »
As usual, words of wisdom from the good Dr. Barber.
I do also know that there are some good folks who love the Lord who serve at Campbellsville, for what it’s worth.
Dave You ask if someone could provide evidence if it is a Calvinist thing. I don’t know about colleges in other states. Nonetheless, I know about Georgia. I know of one of our colleges that let a teacher go because of his strong Calvinist background. It had nothing to do with being conservative. To many preachers and associations and already complained against him. The college was already struggling and they did not need anymore controversy to could finally destroy the school. Though I disagreed with the strong Calvinist theology of the teacher he was still my friend. When I tried… Read more »
Dr. Williams preached during one of the sessions of a Desiring God Conference last year, and I was impressed. However his appearance at the conference did strike me as odd at the time.
This comment stream appears to be headed into the black hole, so I am shutting it down.