What Would You Do?
January 23rd, 2006 | Posted in » Baptist Issues
So… you’ve followed the IMB trustee issue, and you’re aware that there is a movement by other trustees to remove Wade Burleson. Here’s your chance to offer him some advice.
Check out his blog, and let him know what you would do if you were in his shoes.
Personally? I’m proud of how Wade is handling things, and can’t come up with much of anything he could do differently. Commenters on his blog, however, have come up with some pretty good things, some quite entertaining! Again, check it out.
2 Responses to “What Would You Do?”
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By Jim Sadler on Jan 24, 2006
What would I do? I would never be in that position. It’s a great way to cause division. I am not a Southern Baptist though I do have great respect for their stand. However fundamentally speaking I am a Baptist and did not realize the dangerous trail I’m on, all along I have been thinking I was a Bible believing, God honoring separated Christian. But…. One thing I know for sure, Humor has its place but it certainly is not in this matter. It dosen’t matter in my life what you do but it sure disappoints me that you as a new member of the Missions Board seen fit to cause this problem. One more thing I struggle to find any doctrine to be non-essential. I know you are a good man and a great Pastor but we all make mistakes.
By John on Jan 24, 2006
Jim,
Just in case there was a bit of confusion, I’m not Wade, but the links in the post above do lead to his blog. He specifically asked for advice, and planned to give “awards” for the best he received, grouped in four different categories: the Solomon award (for the most clear and articulate resolution, that honors God and betters the convention), the Bob Hope award (for the funniest advice, laughter is good medicine, even if the situation is serious), the Marty Duren award (for the shortest advice with the most meat; Marty is another blogger, who posts at the “SBC Outpost” link to the left), and the Albert Einstein award (for sound advice that had not entered his mind before). I posted the above in order to funnel people to his site, so that anyone with advice could offer it directly to him.
If you haven’t clicked on the link above and read the post where he asks for advice, I suggest doing so in order to get a better understanding of just what he’s looking for. In addition, I suggest clicking on the “wadeburleson.com” link to the left, to see the entirety of his website and find out more about why he is doing what he is.
Personally, I believe that this conflict is not entirely of Wade’s doing, and that any Christian serving as a trustee of the IMB who takes their role seriously as a representative of the convention as a whole might have done the same thing that Wade is doing… taking a stand on behalf of the membership he represents against policies which he sees as going beyond Biblical requirements. By doing so, yes… it looks like he is causing problems… but his concern is for the betterment of the IMB and our convention as a whole, and you can’t fault him for that.
Anyway, I don’t know all the facts here… the trustees as a whole are neither giving reasons for their stance on the new policy nor their reasons for moving to dismiss Wade. It is entirely possible that Wade is clearly in the wrong… but Baptists as a whole deserve to hear both sides prior to taking action on whether to dismiss Wade or not.
(BTW, I don’t find this issue a laughing matter, but I do appreciate attempts to bring a bit of needed levity from time to time. That’s all I was getting at by the “some are quite entertaining” part of my post.)