Someone Needs to Jump Off the Merry Go Round

It seems that one of my fellow IMB trustees, Mr. Jerry Corbaley, has taken offense to the fact that while I have affirmed the report adopted at the last IMB meeting regarding my recommendation, I also pointed out that it was not an investigation into the merits of my recommendation. The report speaks to IMB policy, and it is quite accurate on all counts, but there was no 'investigation' conducted into the major concerns I had expressed in the recommendation itself. In fact, I was told that the report was not an investigation by an administrator at the IMB, a fact that led Mr. Corbaley to call that man an idiot on his blog before he realized it was Dr. Rankin. This unfortunate and intemperate use of language is often characteristic of the blog world, and I'm sure Mr. Corbaley regrets his decorum in the matter. I am hopeful that he will soon realize that we IMB trustees need to go on with our work in the area of missions, and reject all attempts to politicize our board meetings. If an investigation is needed, and it may or may not be determined at the SBC that one is, then an outside ad hoc committee will be created by the President of the Convention in consultation with the Executive Director of the SBC Executive Committee -- the very thing I asked at last year's convention. The IMB Board of Trustees should not waste their time in these matters, just as the IMB report affirmed. We need to put this matter behind us as a Board, let others deal with it as they see fit. Below is a comment I placed on Mr. Corbaley's blog which he refused to publish.


Saturday, February 10, 2007

Mr. Corbaley,

I believe that you are aware that my recommendation for an investigation into matters at the IMB called for an investigation committee formed by the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. At the convention I did not oppose the Committee on Order of Business in recommending my recommendation be referred back to the trustees. The IMB trustees and administration chose to simply issue a report on policy and why they could not investigate matters raised by my recommendation.

I wholeheartedly agree with the IMB report addressing my recommendation. I would have voted to affirm the report had I been at the meeting, simply because I never thought, just as the report said, that it was within our purview to investigate matters of concern outside of our Board. There is no disagreement among anyone with whom I have spoken regarding the following:

(1). Nobody investigated to see if the head of another agency sought the removal of Dr. Rankin.

(2). Nobody investigated if the trustee nomination process was manipulated by sitting trustees to insure that only likeminded people were placed on the board.

(3). Nobody investigated as to why the policies were pushed contrary to administration’s desires.

(4). Nobody investigated the manipulation and coercion of an agenda contrary to the President’s by outside influences.

In fact, administration of the IMB asked me to remove the phrase "investigation committee" from my post - because there was not one. The person who asked me to do this you called an idiot, and I'm sure that you regret that now that Dr. Rankin has emailed and identified himself as the one who told me there was no investigation committee and asked that I remove that phrase from my blog.

That's what I mean when I say there was no investigation committee. You will find IMB attorney Matt Bristol agrees with this assessment as well. If I were you I would leave things alone and stop emailing other trustees seeking to create controversy or you will find yourself making even more mistakes than you did last year.

I, like you, believe that the trustees of the IMB should get on with the work of missions. The SBC and the Executive Committee will handle other matters, if they choose, just as I originally asked them at last year's SBC. If the Executive Committee of the SBC receives this report of the IMB and makes a decision not to investigate the concerns raised by my motion, so be it. However, one should stop saying the matters above were investigated because it becomes, as Dr. Rankin says, a matter of integrity.

Thanks for your service to the IMB. I look forward to seeing you in Memphis.

In His Grace,


Wade