I am writing this as
an open letter in order to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” in that my
criticism of Dr. Larry McKinney (former president of the Simpson Universityy),
Dr. Robin Dummer (formerly interim and now permanent president of the
university), the board of trustees, and other key leaders of Simpson University
has been aired publicly. My beliefs have not changed about the difficulties we
have faced, and still face, as a result of their previous and present actions
and inaction. But I am still seeking an effective treatment, even cure, of the
conditions my alma mater/employer faces. Are some right to see this as hopeless
idealism? Perhaps. But I am who I am, and I believe I am where I have been
called to be. On that basis, I felt compelled to appeal to the same Spirit
seeking God’s will for Simpson University through others who are who they are,
where they have been called to be. (Romans 13:1 applies here, I belive.)
Dear Robin,
I am writing to offer my sincere congratulations on the
occasion of your appointment to be the fourteenth president of Simpson
University. As gratifying as such an honor must be, I can only imagine that it
comes with a very strong sense of the weight of responsibility, especially
given the university’s recent history and present circumstances. Therefore, in
what follows, I hope you find the encouragement I intend.
In each of the first two congregations I served, I was not
their first choice as pastor. The first, Dragerton Community Church in East
Carbon City, Utah had no other candidates
available to them, and they still voted against calling me. They had good
reasons. And their decision might have stood if they had been offered more than
one other option.
The Rev. Richard C. Taylor, Sr. (as in our campus’s
“Measell-Taylor Residence Hall”) only shared the details with me years later.
He had presented two alternatives to the church board. They could call this
“too-young” pastor (And I was too
young—twenty-two years old, having followed Jesus Christ for just over four
years at the time), or he could padlock the church and send “the dozen who’d
run the other two hundred off” over to join the Baptists across town. That was
what the District Executive Committee had voted to have Rev. Taylor do as
District Superintendent. And he would have, except that there was this Bible
college graduate who insisted that he felt called to the East Carbon City
church. So, rather than close the church, they allowed me to serve them.
Recently, thirty-two years later, the current pastor’s son—a Tozer Seminary
student—reported that the church perseveres as a strong Christian witness
amidst what is still a very difficult community in the Book Cliffs of central
eastern Utah.
My perception today is that any successes in those first two
congregations depended upon my naïveté. I was simply ignorant of much beyond
Dick Taylor’s admonition: “Love the Lord, love your people, and the rest will
all work out.” I had far more choice in my fate than did Esther, but I still
found myself blessed to be where I was, as I was, “for such a time as this”
(Esther 4:14) in both of those “redevelopment” churches.
My perception of you as the fourteenth president of Simpson
University, holder of a doctorate in Education, and the author of a
dissertation covering this institution’s history, cannot support any claim to
naiveté. Neither can Simpson’s board claim ignorance of the pattern that has
been followed, and which is now further ratified by their decision to appoint
you after two years of service as interim president. And yet, I still believe
that you are who you are and where you are “for such a time as this.”
Here’s why.
You may be familiar with a phrase representing the antithesis
of naiveté, “Only Nixon could go to China.” Those who would have been most
critical of the president’s attempt at détente
with the world’s largest communist nation were the very ones who were most
supportive of Nixon. Not just a conservative Republican, remember, he was the
U.S. president who had begun his congressional career on the House Un-American
Activities Committee, famously persecuting suspected communists, among whom
Alger Hiss was best known.
I believe the corollary holds up: “Only Dummer could lead
Simpson to repentance.” I believe that you recognize the duplicity inherent in
the university’s contradictory positions. Dr. McKinney asserted that we could
not follow the standards of Christian community (or even of the grievance
process as written into our own handbooks) on the grounds of our obligation to
the contract and employment laws of the state. Today, though, we continue to
assert that we are excused from our obligation to follow the laws of the state
on the grounds that we are a Christian community. (Need I mention that this
also runs counter to declaring the university “a business providing educational
services?”)
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| Dr. Dummer and Dr. Betty Dean, Board Chair |
I believe that you see the conflicting positions clearly. I
believe that you understand that a recommitment to integrity must form the
foundation of the desperately needed financial appeals to our constituency. I
believe that you do have the support
of the board that appointed you, and could therefore also weather the storm
that would accompany any reconciliation of the divergent positions we have
taken. And I believe that you would find greater support among staff, faculty,
alumni, and other supporters when it becomes clear that there is a single
direction in which we are being invited to pull together.
I hope that such repentance will be in the direction of
renewing our heritage of Christian community, ethics, and ministry. The
liabilities of such a course are clear. It would require us to address justice
and mercy in humility with those who have been ostracized from our community
for a variety of legal, political, and/or economic reasons. If for no other
reason than the potentially expensive restitution that would be required, I
accept that repentance might lie in a different direction.
The alternative seems far more reasonable to those whose
paradigms are formed through secular business involvements. It could be
possible to eventually unify the university in moving toward the business model
you have advocated in the past. That course, however, if it were pursued with
integrity, has its own liabilities. It would require us to come out from behind
the skirts of the ministerial exception and face the judicial consequences of
our previous actions.
Either choice would be difficult. But to continue on our
course of duplicity would be disastrous. If there is no change, we cannot
effectively appeal for support in prayer, fund-raising, and recruitment from a
constituency that highly values integrity and ethics. They are eagerly waiting
to hear that we are pulling together in the same direction. I also believe they
are anxious to see us pull together
in the direction of being “The Christian University in Northern California” as
more than our marketing slogan.
So, because I believe you are who you are and where you
are “for such a time as this,” I offer my congratulations and my support in
prayer for the man I believe can fulfill the calling incumbent in this moment:
“Only Dummer could lead Simpson to repentance.” I pray that you do. And I
commit to praying for you, either way.
Your servant for Jesus’ sake (II Corinthians 4:5),
Bill
