As most of you know, the IMB has on its website links to several papers concerning the recent policies enacted concerning Baptism and Private Prayer Languages among Missionary candidates. I will, of course, be addressing these daily over the next several days. Tomorrow I will address the statement released yesterday and the timing of that release, accompanied by its sister papers. On Friday, I will address the open letters posted by Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Tom Hatley. Over the weekend I will post concerning the two position papers and their underpinning work, the definition of a church by the IMB.

Still, I promised you an open letter and Kevin, for one, has been patiently waiting for the goods, so I can no longer delay.

The main IMB issues are now twofold. The first issue is the adoption of certain policies, narrowing yet again the parameters of involvement in our missionary enterprise. The second issue is the topic of my open letter. Wade Burleson publicly dissented from majority views when he openly opposed these policies. As many of you know, I think he was right to do so. As many of you also know, some of the BOT disagree. My concern has been that some members of the Board will seek to silence public dissent in an attempt to keep Southern Baptists from calling them on the carpet the way they have been recently.

To that end, I wrote this Open Letter and emailed it to every Trustee. Some members did not receive my open letter. About half a dozen emails came back to me as bad addresses or, in the case of one in particular, their inbox was full and they were not receiving any more mail. Still, I tried to include everyone to the best of my ability to do so.

Here is the Open Letter, exactly as it was sent:

Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006

Dear IMB Trustees,

Firstly, I would like to thank you for your service to the Southern Baptist Convention and specifically to the International Mission Board. I truly believe that each of you is giving his or her best effort to do what is right for the IMB and I am grateful for the time and energy that you are so faithfully rendering.

It has been a matter of speculation among my peers that there may be a move at the upcoming meeting of the IMB Board of Trustees concerning the process of handling principled dissent within the Board and that it may be addressed at this month’s meetings. Speaking for myself, I am concerned that there may be a move to silence all dissent from the majority in public arenas.

I am concerned about this as a result of several recent news items. James Guenther, a Nashville Attorney and a counselor to Southern Baptists, was quoted in the Baptist Courier stating that such “minority reports” would be inappropriate. Chairman Hatley was then quoted in the Times Dispatch saying, “If you want to be a critic, you need to ask if you should be on the board; if you want to be an internal critic, criticize internally,” referring, of course, to Wade Burleson’s situation.

This seems to stand in contrast with the words the Chairman used when quoted in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette on the same weekend saying, “We’re not
against his blogging or anyone else’s communication in public.”

You can see that these public statements could be confusing as to what the Board may be thinking on this issue. My concern is that public dissent from the majority will be “outlawed” by the adoption of a policy that restricts dissent in any arena, blogs or otherwise.

I would like to openly oppose any move in this direction. Frankly, I think it is my right, as a Southern Baptist, to know all of the hearts of the Trustees of our entities on any given issue. Obviously, I have no desire to know those things that need to be secure for the sake of our missionaries in dangerous places around the world.

This issue is not just about me and my peers, though. It is about this Board and all the subsequent entities of the SBC. We stand at the edge of a generational gap that has widened beyond all expectation. The main separation is that the “Busters” and those following have come to loath backroom politics. This is especially true when it comes to doing God’s work. A move to silence public dissent, I fear, will alienate the coming generation beyond all hope. If the Board is seen as completely controlling the flow of information, I fear the trust of the SBC will rapidly fall. I know that mine will.

I would like to further ask you to reply to my email and offer any assurances that you can concerning this topic. If you intend to move in this direction, please let me know your rationale.

I feel it is only fair to inform you that I plan to make this an “Open Letter” to the Board within a period of seven days.

By His mercy,

Art Rogers
FBC Russellville, KY

The responses I received were varied. I received two endorsements to reprint their communication and will do so, in order of their reception now:

Hi Art,

I found your blog, scanned it, and will read it more carefully.

Blogging is communication. It is morally neutral.

At any given time the IMB Trustees are considering 50+ issues that are in process. They are reasonable people, just like you.

It is absurd to conclude that the IMB Trustees will prohibit communication. God has a lot to say about “how” and “what” we communicate.

Consider this email to be open to anyone on the planet who bothers to read it.

Your brother in Christ,

Jerry Corbaley
corbaley.blogspot.com

And from another Trustee:

Dear Brother Art,

As a trustee of the IMB I opposed the action taken against Brother Burleson as well as the policy changes in regard to “prayer language” and baptism that occasioned it. I feel strongly that while none of us should engage in “gossip” or “slander” (the charges made in the official motion regarding our brother) we must remain free to communicate with the SBC family so as to be seen as true representatives of the people we serve rather than a particular political agenda. This communication, though at times “seasoned with salt,” should always be couched in language constructive to fellowship and in no way detrimental to our higher calling that being the enlisting, encouraging and strengthening our mission force around the world.

I am seventy-four years old and have been blessed to have had the privilege of serving Southern Baptist in a wide variety of capacities over the years. During this time however I have never been more concerned that now over what I perceive as alienation of many younger pastors from the various organizational entities and structures that for many years have served the SBC so well.

Both Jimmy Draper and Morris Chapman, along with many of the rest of us, have articulated the concern that we could loose several generations of leadership if steps are not taken to eliminate the largely mistaken perception that decisions and appointments are driven by political rather than purely spiritual considerations.

I want to assure you brother Art that some of us old “gray heads” are doing all in our power to see that you younger leaders like yourself are afforded the same opportunities we have had, namely to serve the most Bible centered and I trust Christ honoring denomination on the planet Please pray that we will be successful in our efforts and that the doors of every SBC entity, as well as the rational behind every decision we make will be remain open for inspection and constructive
criticism by the Baptist family.

I am sure that this letter expresses at least in part the thinking of numbers of our Board members who, like myself, want noting but the best for the IMB and complete openness and accountability on all issues affecting our mission work and its
support..

If you feel inclined feel free to share this note with other younger leaders who, like you, may wonder if the Convention and its agencies will remain open and accountable to its constituency.

God’s blessings on you my brother,

Dr. John Click

The other emails I received did not give permission to release their details and therefore I will not post them publicly, but will refer to them generally and not identify the senders.

I received one email that was completely dismissive of the situation. Frankly, the email was more or less dismissive of me, but that’s another issue. Two other emails asked for prayer, saying that the situation was serious. One email said that he thought the issue would come up at the meetings. Finally, I received a few emails that addressed Wade personally. These emails said that dissent was never an issue, but the way Wade dissented was the issue. These seemed to echo the accusations that Wade had done something unchristian in his dissent. They said that the proof of such would come later. We have heard that before.

In the end, I remain unconvinced. Those talking about dissent seemed to refer to private dissent and did not make the distinction between that and bringing disagreements to the SBC if in the minority. I am continuously reluctant to think that this will go unaddressed.

In fact, the movement to handle Wade’s situation internally by the Executive Committee of the BOT leads me to believe that the issue for them is publicly airing issues to the SBC, as opposed to privately disagreeing but then publicly supoorting the majority. If they were not afraid of the SBC weighing in on the situation, then they would have left the issue on the table for the SBC to deal with in Greensboro. We now know that is not the case.

My recommendation? Continue to voice to the BOT of the IMB that we want to know what is going on there. Security issues aside, what they do is our business. They need to know if they handle this in Executive Session that we will know they are hiding dark deeds. There is no other reason for them to do this. From this point forward, all business of communication and dissent must be treated with Christian integrity and done in public forums.

2 Cor 4:1-3
4:1 Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
(from New International Version)

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