BGCT HURT MORE BY TRUTH THAN LIES

I love that old politician’s story that says, "I don’t worry about the lies people tell about me. I worry much more about the truth.” I believe that is what is plaguing the BGCT these days. Oh, yes, there are still lies being told. Thinking churches and church people will only believe lies so long and then they start asking the questions that will lead them to the truth.

The greatest testimony to the gullibility of Baptist people is the large number of churches that listened to their pastor and disassociated themselves with the BGCT. These churches were told lies and took action without ever giving anyone from the BGCT the opportunity to answer the charges.

In a couple of churches I know about, laymen even said before they voted to leave the BGCT that the church ought to at least give the BGCT an opportunity to defend herself. Those laymen were summarily dismissed by their pastor/moderator and the vote was taken.

In a couple of places the BGCT was asked to come and answer the charges made against them. In at least one church the answer by the BGCT staffer was so compelling that the church dismissed the pastor for lying to them. In another case I know about, a fine church was led out of the BGCT by her pastor. That pastor left and a new man came on the field. When he inquired about why the church was not in the BGCT he was told, “Our preacher told us some things about the BGCT we didn’t like so we voted to leave.”

When asked if the church had made time for someone from the BGCT to come explain what was said, the new pastor was told they had not. He then asked if it would be O.K. to have someone come and let the people hear for themselves. Bottom line…the BGCT rep came and the church voted to come back to the BGCT.

There is no doubt many lies have been told about the BGCT by pastors eager to have the church leave the convention. I don’t even doubt that some of these pastors believed what they told the church, because they had been told it by a friend. Lies about being soft on homosexuality, promoting women pastors, and several other things, were and are being told.

However, the greatest problem the BGCT has these days is not the lies being told, but the truth. The truth is that the so-called “watch-dog” organization, set up to counter the arguments and lies against the BGCT and to protect her from the evil fundamentalists, has now become what they have hated. They are moderate fundamentalists, using the same tactics in the BGCT that the far right used in the SBC. At least that is how it looks from outside their inner circle.

The TBC has now moved from protecting the convention to trying to run it. They promote individuals for officers of the convention, seek to get majority TBC people on important committees, and generally control the processes.

That is one truth that damages the credibility of the BGCT. Another truth is that the BGCT has hurt itself terribly by sweeping the Valleygate mess under the rug. Keeping secrets is never a good idea in the grand scheme of convention business. If the intent was to protect some individuals, it was done poorly. Keeping the investigator’s report a virtual secret was bad advice.

Oh, I know technically it was there for anyone to read if they would make the effort to go to either the BGCT offices or the Baptist Standard. And then they would be guarded carefully while they read. That is NOT the Baptist way. What happened to the journalistic integrity of our state paper?

I cannot imagine that E.S. James or John J. Hurt would have kept that report under wraps. They would have editorialized about it over and over again. They would have held convention leader’s feet to the fire to make them explain their extreme stupidity. I have high regard for Marv Know, but I think he dropped the ball on this whole mess. And for what? To protect someone’s backside?

Yes, lies are damaging, but they hardly hold a candle to the hurt that truth can bring.