Author: art rogers
Troubled TN
Friday, January 19th, 2007 @ 2:24 am
While not as messy as MO, Tennessee’s state convention has found itself in court with a breakaway institution: Belmont University. You can read the full story here:
Subpoena of 100 churches by Belmont called ‘unreasonable’
Belmont University’s president, in 1951, signed an agreement that all monies received from Baptists would be returned if the University took away the ability for the state convention to appoint trustees. This move seems almost prescient in light of the last twenty years and all of the agencies and entities that have broken away in that time.
It seems that the state convention has a pretty open and shut case, in my opinion. They are not demanding that the University come back under control of TN Baptists. Rather, they are letting them go their own way, but they are asking the University to pay them back what they are owed under this contract.
It appears to me that the University is pulling specific churches into the legal mix for a spurious reason. Now, this is purely speculation, but I think the subpoenas are intended to create pressure from the churches on the state’s Executive Committee to just let the University go so that the churches will not be troubled. I think this will backfire, however, if our recent history informs me accurately. I think that the churches will blame Belmont for the whole mess and the subpoenas specifically.
Baptist congregations have tended to be upset with breakaway entities, for the most part. The subpoenas targeted the 100 top giving churches. Is this because the smaller, more rural TN churches are not as likely to be sympathetic to their ideologies? Perhaps. Regardless, I doubt that they will find much sympathy in the top 100, either. Also, the way mega churches have been giving, some of the smaller churches are bound to out give some of the larger ones.
In the end, though, they are not fighting for their own freedom. That is not under discussion. They are fighting to get out of a binding agreement that they should have planned for when they started this process. Or maybe this is their plan. I sure hope not.
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January 19th, 2007 at 9:08 am
Sounds real Christian getting the courts involved. I don’t get it.
January 19th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Binding agreements are not binding at all. Not anymore. People will sign their name to anything, without reading it. Then when they want out of it, they hire an attorney to find loopholes. That’s the way we are anymore.
Question: Does the document require Belmont to return all dollars ever given to them by Baptists? That’s a lot of scratch. The university just needs to settle and be done with it.
January 19th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Jason is right. That is alot of scratch.
If TBC refuses to settle, a LONG civil suit will be costly not to mention the inevitable appeals process. Nonetheless, I don’t think this case is open and shut. Not many cases are with a good lawyer.
I think they’ll settle eventually. It’s a process and sometimes tactics which may seem unChristian must be employed. Belmont may not need the info being supplied by the churches. It’s like when you sue a huge corporation and request a handful of documents during discovery and they send you 50 boxes of unsorted paperwork. I’ve been there. TBC may be nagged into settling.
January 19th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
I agree with Kevin. While I was disappointed to see Belmont involving churches in this mess, the real blame still lies with TBC for violating 1 Corinthians 6. I am saddened by the wasted money and negative publicity that has resulted because of the lawsuit. We need to focus more on inviting people to church instead of dragging them to court. We need to give our money for missions and not lawsuits. May God help us!
January 19th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
As a convention employee in another state convention….I just have to wonder how much of TN Cooperative Program dollars in being diverted to the lawsuit and not being used for ministry? What is going unfunded or underfunded because of the lawsuit?