IMB: Trustees are at it again!

Nothing has really been accomplished as a result of the IMB Trustees meetings in Albuquerque: the bickering and debate continue; blogging as an acceptable forum is still unacceptable, to some dinosaurs; men continue to act childish, pride dominates decision making process; doctrinal "narrowing" continues unabated ... the Lord is still not please and those serving overseas get the short straw.

Trustees of the International Mission Board elected John Floyd, a former top administrator of the Southern Baptist agency, as trustee chairman - raising questions about a possible conflict of interest.

Meanwhile, outgoing chairman Tom Hatley leveled additional criticism against blogging trustee Wade Burleson, whom the trustees previously tried to have removed from the board.

The IMB trustees have been deeply divided in recent months over the leadership of IMB president Jerry Rankin, stricter policies governing new missionaries, and Burleson's accusations of agenda-driven political machinations behind the scenes. Trustees tried again to get Burleson to quit blogging about trustee meetings.

Here's the rub for Burleson and Marty Duren ...

Immediately after Floyd's election, Burleson and fellow blogger Marty Duren raised concerns about his new role. "Is there a conflict of interest when a former staff administrator of the IMB becomes the chairman of the board?" Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., asked May 23 in his blog ... .

Burleson and Duren asked if it is appropriate for Floyd, who currently receives a pension administered by the IMB, also to sit on the committee that controls IMB pensions.

Floyd "may turn out to be the best chairman the IMB has ever had," Burleson conceded. But he added, Floyd's service could be a violation of a Southern Baptist Convention bylaw, which states:

"No person shall be eligible to serve on any one of the above entities from which he/she receives any part of his/her salary, directly or indirectly, or, which provides funds for which he/she has a duty of administration. When such conditions become applicable, that person shall be considered as having resigned and such vacancy shall be filled in accordance with established convention procedure."

Duren, in sbcoutpost.com, wrote May 23: "I'm sure the question will be raised if pension is the same as salary, but should they be differentiated in these cases? In my mind, no."

Not all at the meeting agree with Burleson's or Duren's recollections on the meetings.

This senario is understandable in this latter-day period of the judges, written law is not really law. So it's not surprising the SBC might spin its rules to fit the situation.

For example our immigration laws, both state and federal, are seen as laws for all nationalities other than those who represent a potentially powerful voting block. Take for example Cardinal Mahoney's immigration stand in his Los Angeles diocese.

The SBC is not immune to the common practice of "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" [Judges 21:25].

Outgoing chairman Tom Hatley, concluded his final report to the board by saying Burleson had breached trustee confidentiality in his blog. Previously, Hatley endorsed a trustee request that no blogging about the IMB sessions be allowed, "out of respect for the trustees."

Burleson quickly stepped up to a floor microphone and asked for evidence of his offenses. Hatley said the issues were not for discussion in open meetings and had been misrepresented. He then asked for Burleson's microphone to be turned off.

Soon after, Burleson approached the journalists in the back of the room and encouraged them to report "every word" of the meeting. "The issue is free and open debate," Burleson told Baptist New Mexican editor John Loudat. "While I may abide by the request not to blog, it is ludicrous to ask everyone not to blog."

Burleson also said the trustees' controversial policies for new missionaries - involving proper baptisms and speaking in tongues - impose doctrinal restrictions that go beyond the "Baptist Faith and Message," the SBC's official doctrinal statement.

"I've drawn a line in the sand," Burleson said. "We must drop the narrowing of the parameters."

Though I must comment at a distance, I agree with Wade on this one; to ask a Southern Baptist to "shut up" unless you speak in closed ("secret") session is oppressive for a free people [John 8:36; yet we must all couch our freedom in 1 Peter 2:16].

Bowden McElroy at Interregnum offers a view on these "shenanigans" that has the ring of truth to it.

The shenanigans at the Board of Trustees meeting are not surprising. Appalling, but not surprising. The central issue is neither blogs nor personalities. The central issue is a struggle for the vision and future of the IMB.

Satan, not as dumb as some pretend, would not choose blogging or freedom of speech as his targets, if given the choice ... he'd have his sights on more far reaching elements of the boards work and mission. Wouldn't he?

His fingerprints have been all over this fiasco ... since its inception. Pride, that old sin from the Garden, has reared its head in the midst of our people at the IMB for all the world to see, and now we must deal with more than foreign missions. God have mercy on us all!

You are the lens in the beam. You can only receive, give, and possess the light as the lens does. If you seek yourself, you rob the lens of its transparency. You will know life and be acknowledged by it according to your degree of transparency, your capacity, that is, to vanish as an end, and remain purely as a means. Dag Hammarskjold - Swedish diplomat; Secretary General of the United Nations until his death (1905 - 1961)

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. God (from eternity; also see Hebrews 4:12-13)

Please stay tuned, knowing what we know about man and his nature this is surely not over with yet!

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RELATED: Scott Birdwell removes minutes of Trustee meeting brom his blog, Moral Contradictions, Comment posted at SBC - Outpost, friesville - former IMB missionary comments, Toward the Goal

TAGS: Baptists, Christianity, IMB, International Mission Board, Marty Duren, Missions, Polity, Religion, Sin, Southern Baptist Convention, Wade Burleson