Tennessee Baptist Convention Update - Belmont Settlement

Yesterday's news of the settlement between the Tennessee Baptist Convention and Belmont University made the news across the country through the day and into the night. Here is a sampling of those reports:

• Associate Baptist Press included comments from Clay Austin, the Study Committee Chair,

  "One of the things that we must learn from this is that relationships are extremely valuable and that they are sometimes fragile, and I hope that we have learned that, as we have worked together as brothers and sisters in Christ, we will not always agree."

• Baptist Press points to a decisive meeting last week where the final agreement was hammered out,

  "From the very onset of the meeting, there was no pride from anyone demonstrated nor felt in that room," said Jerry Massey, pastor of First Baptist Church of Paris, Tenn., and president of the TBC Executive Board. "The four of us came humbly before God, confessing to him that we needed his help, for we do not know what to do."

• The Baptist & Reflector will wait another week before releasing the full story, but found space to print one side of the story,

  "Porch stressed that the convention did not force Belmont University to leave. “Belmont chose to write themselves out of the Tennessee Baptist Convention story."

• Concerned Tennessee Baptists mentioned the decision in a Tuesday session update and mentioned the service of the Belmont Study Committee,

  "Let us move forward. Those who did not serve on the Belmont Study Committee should be eternally grateful and those who did will be eternally worn-out. The committee did what they believed was in the best interest of the Convention."

• Perhaps the best quote in a blog comes from a post titled, Let's Just Kiss and Say Goodbye,

  "This was a case where two sides go their separate ways, but it doesn’t have to mean they can’t still be friends. If the Baptists and Belmont are sincere in their goals of ministering to people and sharing the Gospel, they can’t do that effectively by harboring any grudge towards each other."

• Mainstream Baptist sees this as a Sad Day for Baptists and Another Black Eye,

  "The greed of our leadership has stained us all with a huge red "G" on our collective foreheads."

• The Tennessean offers a few more details as to how the agreement came to fruition,

  "I think it hit both sides about how much good energy was being wasted that could have been used to advance the Kingdom," said (Mike) Glenn, a trustee and member of the school's negotiating committee with the convention."

  
  
• Very little discussion seems to happening across the non-Baptist blogs. There is an announcement and comments on Music City Bloggers. The announcement does appear in a few blogs and news papers with little additional commentary: Religion Claus , TennViews, NewsChannel5.com (Nashville), The Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Nashville Business Journal.
  

The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 issue seems to be the most contentious issue at the the convention this year. Jeff Wright reported on the discussion and the 407-400 vote not to change last year's decision to focus on the BF&M2000. Jeff includes a fair assessment of how that vote might be interpreted. Time permitting, I will re-visit that discussion in another post.

...and no news from Will in Guatemala,
TBC Elder

Breaking News - Belmont University and Tennessee Baptist Convention settle

Belmont News just released a letter from Belmont University Board of Trustees Chairman, Marty Dickens, announcing the terms of a settlement between the Tennessee Baptist Convention and Belmont University. From that story,

"The settlement concludes a 56-year relationship between Belmont and the TBC and provides gifts by Belmont to Tennessee Baptists of $1,000,000 next year followed by annual payments of $250,000 for the next 40 years. These gifts are an expression of gratitude to Tennessee Baptists for the financial and spiritual support that they have provided to the University over the past five decades. The funds will be added to an endowment at the Tennessee Baptist Foundation to support Tennessee Baptist missions and ministries."

The relationship with the Tennessee Baptist Convention is severed. I had hoped the the words of Philip Jett were true. In September of this year, Dr. Jett was quoted as saying, "money is not the object...the primary goal is to return Belmont to the Baptist fold." That didn't quite work out as some of us had hoped.

At least it is over. I am thankful that this page in history has turned and we have the opportunity to move forward as a convention without this dark cloud hanging over us.

Baptist Backed Basketball Bounces Big Brother Bunch

It was an amazing week for the Atlantic Sun conference. The best of the Gardner-Webb, Belmont University, and Mercer University wins over big brother basketball programs is spelled out in Paul Newberry's Associated Press story. The quiet celebration that has been happening in the background is that all three of these institutions have historical Baptist roots. I know that some of the teams have experience in missions and evangelism, maybe it is time for these guys help heal the divisions in the world of Baptists by giving us a court-side place to yell and scream, besides at our annual state convention meetings (and at one another). *smiles*

Belmont University Extend$ Olive Branch to the Tennessee Baptist Convention

There is an update on the Belmont University website regarding the Tennessee Baptist Convention lawsuit. Tuesday's news includes a letter from Marty Dickens outlining a proposed financial commitment by Belmont University to the TBC and the structure of an ongoing Belmont University relationship with the convention. From Mr. Dicken's letter:

"Despite its firm belief in the strength of its legal position, Belmont has gone to extraordinary lengths to address the demands of the Belmont Study Committee without compromising the integrity of the University. To date, not one of Belmont’s efforts to preserve a relationship with the TBC has been favorably received by the TBC’s representatives. We believe that this situation hurts the witness of Christ and distracts all of us from the business of the Kingdom. Accordingly, we continue to search for a solution that honors our Baptist heritage and Jesus Christ."

I want to thank Belmont University for making this information public. I do not understand why the Tennessee Baptist Convention hasn't demonstrated the same kind of openness in revealing its proposals. It makes it look like they have something to hide. It also opens up a whole lot of unnecessary speculation and raises questions regarding accountability and credibility .

Two things strike me as important. First, the dollar amount is significantly higher than the originally proposed five million dollar amount that the convention turned down at the meeting over at Jerry's place: 12.5 million in funding and scholarships over the next 10-15 years plus other commitment expenses. The second part of the proposal is the most encouraging part. Belmont has proposed an ongoing relationship that involves a new Tennessee Baptist Heritage and Ministry Center, an endowed chair for Baptist Ministry Studies, and a place for ex officio members on the Board of Trustees. It is a different kind of relationship with the TBC but I believe it is better than the shunning and ostracism that we are currently witnessing.

Belmont has extended the olive branch to continue a relationship. If this is not about the money, I would expect to see some reciprocal action/motion from the TBC meeting in Kingsport. It is time for this dark era of legal entanglement to be resolved in a manner that will honor God rather than continued gambling with over a million dollars in cooperative program funds.

It is a rare day when Baptists seated around a table, drinking coffee, get angry with each other...more often, you'll witness laughter and great fellowship. Maybe it is time to introduce this secret weapon (coffee) into the TBC vs Belmont debate. $1.5 Million would buy a LOT of coffee *smile*.

Tennessee Baptists haven't learned much about 'control'

The Belmont University vs. Tennessee Baptist Convention mess will be discussed again at this year's TBC annual meeting in Kingsport next week. Lonnie Wilkey tries to be fair in dealing with the extremes in opinion on this subject and wrote about that effort just recently...it is as balanced a report that any employee representing an opposing side in a lawsuit could write and still keep his job. Thanks, Lonnie (I guess).

How the Tennessee Baptist Convention lost 'control?'
The core of the argument in the lawsuit is that the Tennessee Baptist Convention no longer has 'control' over the university. More specifically, the TBC no longer votes (or affirms) the list of trustees provided to the convention during the annual meeting. The delegates/messengers to the TBC have approved the list submitted by Belmont every year since that process began (and I doubt that many delegates have any recollection of the rubber-stamp process). The Belmont University board of trustees runs with the ball after that, making all sorts of management, financial, academic program, and operating decisions. One of those duly elected, 100% Baptist, boards ultimately voted to change the charter of the non-profit organization known as Belmont University to allow 40% of the board to come from other Christian denominations besides Baptists.

Let's review that last paragraph just a moment and ask/answer a few questions:
1. Who is it that 'elected' the trustees who made the decision to alter the board's composition?
Answer: The Tennessee Baptist Convention messengers who had 100% control of the 'vote' during the annual meeting.
2. What percentage of that Belmont Board of Trustees who made the decision (i.e. controlled the decision) to change the composition was Baptist?
Answer: 100%
3. What percentage of a Board of Trustees would it take to 'control' the decision-making process on Belmont University's board?
Answer: Somewhere between 50% and 60%
4. What percentage of Belmont's Board of Trustees is currently Baptist (and mostly Tennessee Baptist) and controls the decision making process?
Answer: 60%

All of that question and answer information leads me to one point: Tennessee Baptists (particularly the politically organized, conservative resurgent parts) have forgotten how to seize real 'control' over an organization. It requires a strategy of patience, something like 20 years in the case of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Control Lessons Not Learned
Here is a similar Tennessee Baptist takeover strategy: form a group (let's call them Belmont University Board-Busting Accountability Saints - BUBBAS for short) and take the following steps:
1. Gradually replace members of the TBC Education Committee with fellow BUBBAS... that is fairly easy: call some of them doctrinally unaccountable, do a little back-room innuendo backstabbing and you're on your way.
2. Make sure the TBC executive board is controlled by a majority of BUBBAS. That is a little tougher...the BUBBAS might have to resort to name calling, labeling people as CBF'ers, calling them uncooperative, etc. in order to replace those members.
3. Over a period of time (remember patience?), replace Belmont Board of Trustee member nominations (via a BUBBAS controlled Education Committee and Excutive Board) with more and more BUBBAS until the BUBBAS have a voting majority on Belmont's board. And what percentage of a Board of Trustees does that take? Hmmm, something like 50-60%? Right?

Strategy Complete...Checkmate
There you go. With a BUBBAS majority on the Belmont Board of Trustees it is a simple matter to revert the non-profit charter back to its original status and return the board's composition to 100% Baptist. The current problem isn't Tennessee Baptist control over Belmont's board of trustees, the problem is the Tennessee BUBBAS do not have control over Belmont's board of trustees.

Forget Strategy, Let's Go to Court
Unfortunately, the current generation of conservative resurgent-ists failed to learn the 'control' lessons of the Patterson-Pressler era of SBC politics and decided instead, to skip steps one through three in the above strategy, and go right straight to court. That same group isn't even honest enough to admit that the litigation-as-last-resort posturing at the TBC meeting at Jerry's place was nothing more than a sanctimonious sham. It was easier for one Tennessee Baptist pastor (high on passion, short on facts and out-of-control), to stand before the TBC and call Belmont's Board of Trustees "Liars and Thieves" than it was to recognize all of the facts from a process that has been in the works for nearly 10 years and resolve this in a Christ-like manner.

And you wonder why there are Refugee Baptists among us...

This one fact you will never see in the Baptist and Reflector: The Belmont Board of Trustees is still, to this very day, controlled by Baptists...but evidently not the right kind of Baptists.

And, he has a dog named "Moses"

One ambassador for the Grand Ole Opry dies and a new generation rises and to be inducted to the group. Josh Turner has ties to Belmont University and Baptists... and frequently relates the influence that the university and his Christian walk has on his work.

• He was singing in a Union Baptist Church (SC) choir at age five.
• Long Black Train was written on Belmont's campus (and it makes for great sermon material)
  
• He married another Belmont student, Jennifer and is dedicated to finding a balance between family and career.
• He is making a living doing something that he loves... a major goal at Belmont University to help students find the intersection of their passions/talents and the needs of the world.
  
• He speaks about the good influences of his Belmont University experience.
• And, he has a bloodhound named Moses
  

Belmont University has every reason to be proud of Josh...and I'd bet that there are a ton of Tennessee Baptists who are proud of Josh as well. Congratulations, Josh, on becoming part of the Grand Ole Opry!

Baptist University Students Win Stock Market Challenge for Second Consecutive Year

Three Union University business students won the Fifth Third Bank Stock Market Challenge earlier this week here in Nashville. Twenty-five teams from private and public Tennessee universities participated in the competition. By the way...last year, the Belmont University team took top honors. Has anyone alerted Carson-Newman that next year is their turn?

Congratulations to Union University and to Belmont University. Tennessee Baptists have plenty of reasons to be proud of your accomplishments.

More Tennessee Baptist Convention v. Belmont University Information Released

Just a week or so ago, before one of the Baptist & Reflector press deadlines, Belmont filed a response to the Tennessee Baptist Convention's lawsuit. I have asked my TBC Elder friend to see if he can divide the 53 page document into smaller pieces. I found a link to the full document on the Tennessean web site yesterday evening. There are communications between the Tennessee Baptist Convention and Belmont University that the messengers at this year's TBC annual meeting need to read before they vote to spend any more money on legal fees. No kidding. All we have heard so far from the Belmont Study Committee focuses on the missing-in-action, 1951 document that the TBC committee wants to use in a high stakes gamble. Folks, there is evidence in Belmont's response that demands your attention. I doubt seriously that we will read anything but one side of the story in the Baptist & Reflector and there is something terribly wrong with that when there are hundreds of thousands of missions' dollars at risk.

By the way, I do not blame Lonnie Wilkins for the lack of balanced coverage on the Belmont vs. TBC issues. I suspect that he has orders not to discuss the lawsuit. And, in fairness to Mr. Wilkins, I understand that the folks at Belmont University were given similar instructions several months ago.

Tennessean Interviews Belmont Students About TBC Law Suit

Colby Sledge, staff writer for the Tennessean, writes: Most Belmont Students Don't Pay Attention to Lawsuit. One of the students interviewed for the article had this to say,

"Mikey Brackett, a senior majoring in religion and the arts who transferred to Belmont two years ago, has spent much of his time trying to rebuild the Baptist Campus Ministry after many of its leaders graduated. That put the BCM behind to begin with, and the lawsuit didn't help. "People thought, 'The Baptists? Aren't they the ones who are suing us?' " Brackett said."

I would surmise from that conversation that Tennessee Baptists aren't exactly helping the students who belong to the Baptist Campus Ministry. I would love to ask someone in the Tennessee Baptist Convention what they have against the Baptist students on Belmont University's campus? It is one thing to have issues with the university's administration and trustees...it is shameful to think that Baptist students at Belmont do not have convention support for their ministries.

Should the Tennessee Baptist Convention receive a monetary judgment from Belmont University, I find it ironic that there will be families of Baptist students whose monies will be repaying 50+ years of gifts that other Tennessee Baptist families contributed. It makes my head spin.

Tennessee Baptist Convention's Gambling Budget

I must be reading something wrong in the Baptist and Reflector (print copy only). There is a line item in the Tennessee Baptist Convention's proposed Cooperative Program Budget for something called the Belmont Study Committee. Last year, this line item was three quarters of a million dollars ($750,000). This year's Budget Committee Recommendation is Three Quarters of a Million Dollars ($750,000). I am not the best mathematician in the pew, but that sounds a lot like 1.5 MILLION Dollars in Cooperative Program funds from the people sitting in the pews of our TBC churches.

Before my blood pressure gets the best of me, I want to get the following off my chest just to get some perspective on the Study Committee's allocation:

1. We have yet to see anything that resembles accountability or an accounting of where those mission dollars for the Belmont Study Committee have gone. We do not know if the $750,000 allocated last year was fully expended or if some of those funds have been carried over. Just how much studying does $750,000 buy a Baptist convention, anyway? I think we have a right to know.

2. At the last gathering where the Belmont University situation was railroaded discussed, we were told by Clay Austin that the chances of winning the case against Belmont University were something like 50-75%. The committee has had a year+ to study the situation. From what I am hearing, the odds have changed significantly. Are we as a convention ready to gamble with another $750,000 if the odds have worsened? And do not let anyone sugar-coat this, or lie to you...this is a gamble.

3. Our statewide Golden Mission Offering goal for 2007 is $ 1,640,000. The amount allocated this year to the Belmont Study Committee is 45.7%, nearly 50%, of the total goal amount for the statewide mission offering. I may be the only Tennessee Baptist who is having a problem with that... but I am not willing to stand by and let it happen repeatedly without letting someone understand that I believe there are "liars and thieves" among us, and they aren't on the Belmont side of the aisle.

4. I believe you can get a sense of an institution's purpose, mission, and priorities by looking at where they choose to invest the gifts that they receive. The chart below lists selected budget line items from the proposed 2007-2008 TBC budget:

Belmont Study Committee	$750,000
TN Missions/Ministry Worship	$620,082
TN Missions/Ministry Prayer	$488,224
TN Missions/Ministry Fellowship	$583,207
Harrison Chilhowee Academy	$483,618
TN Baptist Adult Homes	$267,466
TBC Meeting & Committees	$360,511

From that chart, I am not seeing priorities that match up with my concept of putting my money where my heart is. Is the Belmont Study Committee a higher priority than our total budget allocation for TN Missions and Ministries Prayer??

There was a day when Tennessee Baptists fought against those in our state house who wanted to bring gambling to Tennessee in the name of supporting education for our students. I never thought that I would see the day when Baptist infighting would distract us from stopping gambling from becoming legal in Tennessee. Now, we appear to be willing to gamble with $1.5 Million Dollars of Cooperative Program dollars in hopes of winning the Belmont Lottery. I find that utterly disgusting. I am counting on the fired-up bunch of conservatives who will rule the convention after this year to demonstrate how Bible-believing men will correct this error in our ways. Surely the new and improved, conservative resurgent budget will be void of gambling dollars and focused on missions and ministry.

One last thing... In light of my personal annoyance with the name "Belmont Study Committee", can we simplify that to just "BS Committee?"

Song of the Season for Belmont University

Well, I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. Belmont is home to a lot of creative people and one very large school of music... via email today, a student sent along the following parody to the tune, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer:

Belmont the Baptist school here,
is a place that we all know.
And if you had to draw it,
you would surely say it grows.

All of the fundy Baptists
used to bash and call it names.
They wouldn't let poor Belmont
have a say in boards they claim.

Then one muggy 'tober eve,
lawyers came to say:
"Belmont you have lost your rights,
we'll file-a big complaint tonight."

Oh how the Baptists loathed them
ousted each and all trustees.
Belmont the Baptist school here,
maybe soon they'll set you free!

Finals MUST be over. This student has far too much time on his hands! I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry...OK, I'm laughing!!

Paige Patterson on Non-Conservative Baptist Colleges

I have seen a couple of references to a 'let moderate and liberal colleges go' statement attrubuted to Dr. Paige Patterson, but did not know of a source until a Refugee Baptist reader sent me this link (thanks, Charles).

In an EthicsDaily.com post titled, "SBC Leader Says Fighting Over Baptist Colleges a Waste of Time", Dr. Patterson is quoted as saying:

"Most of the colleges and universities that have chosen not to move with the conservative movement are not going to move with the conservative movement," Patterson said. "[There's] nothing you can do that will do anything but create more hostility and more difficulty."

Please excuse my cynicism, but I believe that most of the colleges (and seminaries) who moved with the conservative movement did not do so by 'choice'...although, there were some colleges who did. Patterson clarified his position in later sections of the story:

"I thought frankly when we started out that out of the 56 Southern Baptist state-run colleges and universities we wouldn't get (emphasis mine) more than four or five of them for the conservative movement," he continued. "We've actually ended up with about 15 of them."

"There's no use fighting that battle any further in my estimation," Patterson said. "The thing to do is keep our own house clean."

In the cases of Belmont University and Carson-Newman College, I believe that Paige Patterson's estimation is correct. "We" (whoever-the-heck 'we', is) probably won't 'get' Carson-Newman or Belmont into the conservative movement. The question of whether battling institutions can cooperate in ministry after the dust settles from the feuds still remains to be asked or answered. I am still hopeful that partnerships between Belmont, Carson-Newman and the Tennessee Baptist Convention will happen in spite of the rift between the institutions. I cannot image that anyone in the ranks of Tennessee Baptists view Belmont or Carson-Newman students as a mission field that should be thrown out, discarded, or abandoned. There are examples of non-affiliated institution who completely abandoned their Baptist heritage, and there are examples of institutions who remain Christian with Baptist roots who continue the cooperative spirit that once was the glue that held Southern Baptist Churches together. I am willing to allow those who wish to "follow the conservative movement" to do so, and am still willing to find common, cooperative grounds for ministry...it is what I see that makes Baptists different from other denominations.