TAMPA, Fla. (BP) – Trustees of the International Mission Board, during their meeting in Tampa, Fla., March 20-22, overturned their action in January to recommend that the Southern Baptist Convention remove trustee Wade Burleson of Oklahoma.
By Michael Chute
Baptist Press
TAMPA, Fla. (BP) – Trustees of the International
Mission Board, during their meeting in Tampa, Fla., March 20-22,
overturned their action in January to recommend that the Southern
Baptist Convention remove trustee Wade Burleson of Oklahoma.
The decision, which was unanimous, rescinds the
earlier vote asking convention messengers to remove Burleson during the
SBC annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C., in June.
The trustees took the action on Burleson in
executive session. When the meeting reopened, trustee Lonnie Wascom of
Louisiana read the trustees’ decision into the official record. Wascom
made the motion to rescind the previous vote on behalf of the board’s
executive committee.
In January, IMB trustees said Burleson’s removal was
needed due to “issues involving broken trust and resistance to
accountability.” Burleson had posted comments on his weblog disagreeing
with recently passed missionary policies concerning baptism and private
prayer language.
“The wisdom of the board is evident in this action,”
Burleson said after the decision. “I also reiterate that I stand by
every word, sentence and paragraph of that which I have blogged. If I
am ever shown something I said that someone thinks is not true, I will
immediately defend it or [if proved wrong,] change it and apologize.
“I am grateful that the ‘Wade Burleson issue’ may be
put behind us in order that our focus and attention can be where it
should be at all times: the fulfilling of our mission to reach the
nations for Christ. That is what we’re about and side issues should
never distract us.”
Board chairman Tom Hatley of Arkansas said trustees
understand that processes are now in place for dealing with trustee
interpersonal relationships that were not previously established.
Those new processes were included in a recommendation
trustees passed during the meeting.
“By dealing with this under the new guidelines for
trustee relationships,” Hatley said, “we have now led our board and
Southern Baptists at large to refocus our attention on the needs of
reaching this world through our mission force. We want the attention
back on the task.”
While the earlier board action was rescinded, Hatley
said he would continue not allowing Burleson to serve on trustee
committees. The concern of trustees, he said, was that trustee
relationships with Burleson would be built over a period of time and he
could be brought back into committee involvement.
“As chairman, I gave the board my assurance that I
would extend the exclusion of his participation in committees through
the May meeting,” Hatley said, “which would allow a new process time to
bring its sway over the current situation and, hopefully, to resolve
it.”
During the meeting, trustees also approved the
selection of 45 new missionaries who were appointed March 22 at Tampa’s
Idlewild Baptist Church. The appointment service kicked off a West
Africa Summit at the Idlewild church. The summit drew participants from
75 Southern Baptist churches that gathered to receive information and
training for IMB work in West Africa.
In other action, the trustees learned IMB officials
are predicting possible record giving to the 2005 Lottie Moon Christmas
Offering. The reporting period for the 2005 offering ends May 31.
As part of his board report on March 21, IMB
President Jerry Rankin showed trustees a videotape of a chapel address
he presented to IMB staff discussing the “distraction” and “diversion”
caused by media attention to those measures.
“The spiritual nature of our task of reaching a lost
world is so critical and important to the heart of God that our enemy
is not just going to roll over and relinquish the dominions of darkness
and power becoming the kingdoms of our Lord,” Rankin said in the video.
Rankin said submitting to leadership and being
accountable to those in authority is often a struggle for Christians.
He reminded the staff of the constant battle between “the “flesh and
the spirit” that the Apostle Peter talks about in 1 Peter. He said the
“nature of our carnal flesh is self-centered – focusing on us.”
“There’s only one thing I have control over and
that’s my heart,” Rankin said in the video. “Whatever is happening
around us, whatever it is, however harmful or hurtful or painful it
might be, or however untrue or slanderous it might be, we don’t lash
out, we can’t attack, we can’t defend ourselves. That’s the fleshly
nature. All we can do is guard our heart.”