IMB Trustees to Recommend Reversing Action on Burleson
February 15th, 2006 | Posted in » Baptist Issues
Baptist Press News reports that the Executive Committee of the IMB Trustees will recommend reversing their January 11th motion to ask the Southern Baptist Convention to dismiss Wade Burleson as a trustee of the IMB. According to the article, the committee has decided that it is best to handle the matter of trustee discipline internally.
The article asserts that Wade had refused “trustee requests to stop the practice [of blogging about IMB issues] out of concern that inaccurate or confidential information was being disseminated”.
A few things:
1. I’m glad the trustees are planning to recommend rescinding action to remove Wade. I can’t help but wonder the motives for this, though. Is this action simply to save face, or have they truly had a change of heart about their reaction to Wade’s actions? My skeptical side leads me to believe the former, but my hopeful side prays for the latter.
2. The article spends quite a few sentences dwelling on Wade’s promise to stop blogging if the trustees make it a policy, so I can’t help but wonder if this is the next step. What a sad day it will be if / when that happens… blogging is an awesome way for our trustees to keep their fellow Baptists informed about IMB happenings. If anything, we should have MORE trustees blogging!
3. The article indicates that this controversy has resulted in several blogs (I’m guessing it’s much more than several!) maintaining frequest discussion of the matter, and of many Baptists calling for a large turnout at the convention in support of Wade. Isn’t this a good thing? I’m ELATED that young Baptist leaders (who seem to make up much of the group reacting strongly to this) are interested in the direction of our convention.
4. Did anyone else get the impression that the article seems to take the trustees’ side in this? I certainly didn’t come away with a feeling that this was a balanced article on the situation.
Anyway… will be interesting to see Wade’s response in his blog.
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