Missouri Mess, Part 3: Coverage and Concerns

April 15th, 2007 | Posted in » Baptist Issues, In the News...

Last Wednesday, the MBC Pathway indicated in its news coverage of David Clippard’s dismissal that the report presented to the Executive Board leading to his dismissal may be available later in the week. Unfortunately, it has not been as quick in coming as many would have liked… the latest word is that it will be released on the MBC Pathway website tomorrow.

The problem with this? In this age of near-instant information, Missouri Baptists are rapidly growing frustrated at the lack of concrete information regarding the reasoning for Dr. Clippard’s dismissal. Couple this with the turmoil our convention has been through in recent years, the questions surrounding the process of Dr. Clippard’s dismissal, and now secular news coverage of the situation that seemingly provides more detail than our own state paper, and, well… let’s just say it doesn’t do much to defuse the situation.

Now, I know patience is a virtue, and I’m certain that everyone is doing their best in this. But I can’t shake the impression that public relations portion of this situation has been very poorly handled (if not flat-out botched), and it concerns me more about the action taken. I’m anxious to see the report, and hope it has not been “sanitized” to the point of uselessness in informing Missouri Baptists as to the real reasons behind Dr. Clippard’s dismissal.

My biggest concerns?

• Why wasn’t Dr. Clippard given an opportunity to address the Executive Board in regard to the report? I can understand him not being present while the Board was considering their course of action, but during report presentation and after their decision, what would have been the harm?
• If there were no ethical, moral, or legal failures, what was so damning in the report that the Executive Board would dismiss Dr. Clippard within such a short time of hearing the report (if I understand correctly, there was roughly a two-hour period for the report to presented, the Board to discuss it, and action to be taken)? How much time was really spent in prayer, carefully considering the decision?
• If this was simply a leadership issue (it happens), where did everyone go wrong in allowing it to grow to this point? Do not other MBC staff and the Executive Board also bear much responsibility in this matter (put differently, why just cut off the head)?

I don’t know… maybe I’m letting this situation bother me too much, but it just doesn’t smell right to me, as an average Missouri Baptist layperson. No matter how hard I’ve tried to look for the best in everyone in this, it simply continues to look like more of the same stuff our convention has been dealing with for the past several years.

I hope and pray that I’m wrong.