Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Not Too Promising So Far

The IMB report has just concluded. At the end of the report two messengers asked questions of new IMB Board Chairman John Floyd. The first question was related to the Wade Burleson issues, especially the policy passed in March prohibiting trustees from publicly expressing disagreement with policies approved by the board. Floyd's response was basically that he is not aware of any suppression of the rights of any trustee. So, does this mean that the board did NOT pass such a policy in March? Apparently not. So prohibiting trustees from expressing principled dissent to their greater SBC constituency is NOT suppressing their rights? Apparently that's what Floyd thinks. Hmmm, something is not registering here. I wonder how the Conservative Resurgence would have fared if our entity boards had such policies in the 1970s and 1980s.

As amazing as Floyd's response to the first question was, his answer to the second question simply floored me! The second question asked how the board could be really accountable to the SBC if executive sessions are used so frequently. Floyd's response was that the board DOES NOT use executive sessions on a regular basis. I wonder if he was at the last few board meetings; he said he hasn't missed any, but how could he be unaware of all of the executive sessions that took place. And then, despite all the controversy surrounding the board over the past few months, he basically suggested that we should just trust the board. The context seemed to indicate that he meant a blind trust.

It appears that John Floyd is as blind to what's going on as his predecessor was. Looks like 2006-07 may be a busy year for the blogs as we try to hold the IMB accountable to the convention.

5 comments:

Paul Burleson said...

Tim, It was good to meet you and thank you for quick and insightful posts. I watched you and several others work as hard as I've ever seen anyone work at the convention and I've been to several. You and all the others have made a tremendous impact for the good in the spiritual health of all Southern Baptists many of whom may not recognize that as of yet. I do and I want to say..."Thank You".

Paul Burleson

Kevin Bussey said...

Tim,

It was great hanging out with you! I will be praying for your situation.

Anonymous said...

Good to meet you, Tim!

I too, was very confused by Dr. Floyd's comments concerning the executive session question. He said that there were no executive sessions at the last board meeting. I was not there, but this should be easily checked out. I thought there were around 2 different executive sessions. If that is correct, either, Dr. Floyd has a very poor memory, to the point of concern about his ability to guide the IMB Board of Trustees, or he stood in front of the convention and lied.

Could someone check this out? Maybe he was right, but it does not fit with what I remember.

Tim Sweatman said...

M in Europe,

Interesting. From the floor I was unable to see what you described. There are several witnesses, both trustees and observers, who have reported that there were quite a few executive sessions during the past year. Perhaps Floyd and/or Rankin misunderstood the question, although it seemed to be a clear question.

Anonymous said...

I discovered the blog universe before the convention. I felt more informed before I went. I see God using this medium to hold our leaders accountable. God bless your part in this work. May God bless the work of faithful pastors and churches in supporting missionaries and ministries throught the CP. Thanks and keep up the good work.