If you’ve been keeping up with SBC life lately, many in the SBC-blogosphere and Tweet-osphere (see the tweets on #clarklogan, HT: SBCvoices) have been turning up the pressure on Dr. Morris Chapman, President of the SBC Executive Committee, to be forthcoming regarding the reasons for Clark Logan’s recent “resignation.” While the clamor against Chapman is at a high pitch, there has been almost complete silence from Dr. Chapman (except for a release on 7/7/09 where he states that Logan did not do anything legally or morally wrong).
Why this silence from Dr. Chapman? An article (dated 8/30/07) on his website titled “FIRST PERSON – Courteous, Cautious, and Caring in Speech,” may shed some light. In this article, Dr. Chapman discusses his decision to have his name and statement pulled from SBCoutpost.com (The situation, apparently, is that when SBCoutpost started up again, Dr. Chapman provided a quote (see article) affirming the usefulness of blogs for SBCers to communicate and calling for bloggers to communicate in a manner worthy of Christians. When the site did not live up to its promise to watch it rhetoric, Dr. Chapman had his statement retracted). Dr. Chapman uses the article to state his reason for his actions, saying:
Throughout the years when problems have arisen among Southern Baptists, I have most often tried to answer questions and resolve issues quietly, but definitively. In this instance, I at first felt a more public statement would take the matter to a level that the occurrence did not justify, causing even more confusion among the members of our Southern Baptist family. It has become obvious to me that my reluctance to make a public statement has offended some, and I believe they deserve a more public response (emphasis mine).
Fastforward almost two years later, and Dr. Chapman is in a somewhat similar position, yet more dire and potentially damaging in that his actions have been called into question by fellow SBCers. If we take what Dr. Chapman said two years ago, he may indeed be seeking to clear the Logan matter quietly with the intentions of avoiding further confusion, or controversy, or whatever. Nevertheless, his “reluctance to make a public statement” today is causing confusion amongst the SBC family. Whatever perception one may have had of Dr. Chapman before, I believe that it’s safe to say that his continued silence is hurting Dr. Chapman, and not helping. As such, I pray that, as he did two years ago, Dr. Chapman breaks his silence and provides a public response to those who have called upon him to answer. Until then, the clamor will only increase, causing further distraction in a denomination fresh off a future-changing Convention in Louisville.
Again, as I’ve said before, I hope for a quick resolution to this issue so that we may get back at the task set for us at SBC Louisville. I pray what we see here is not a return to typical SBC bickering; instead, I hope this is just a bump in the road as we ride the winds of change that began blowing just a few weeks ago from the Bluegrass.
***Note: As I write this, I can’t help but think that I am guilty of the very thing I hope against – perpetuating distraction. So, where is the balance in voicing concern over and calling to accountability of Dr. Chapman, and leaving the issue to work itself out while focusing on other things? A conundrum I have no answer to at the moment.
In the meantime, visit www.sbcvoices.com and read Matt Svoboda’s “From One Resurgence to Another“; an interesting comparison of the Conservative Resurgence and the GCR. The comments have some interesting perspectives as well in regards to the GCR, with some being cautiously hopeful of the future of the GCR.***
Filed under: SBC | Tagged: Clark Logan, Morris Chapman, SBC, SBC Executive Counsel, SBCvoices
