Steve Pettit's Resignation from BJU Stands

On Friday Bob Jones University staff was notified, as later reported by Fox Carolina News Steve Pettit resignation stands despite the change of Chairman of the Board of Trustees. With that settled questions over the direction of and/or survivability of BJU following Pettit’s tumultuous tenure remain.

Will the revamped BOT:

• Roll back Pettit’s disastrous agenda?
• Restore integrity and trust?
• Restore a balance in biblical separation?
• Reach out to and reassure the disenfranchised base?
• Put in place safe guards and boundaries for leadership as conditions of remaining employed?
• Opt for a status quo hoping the university survives in any form?

In his Reflection article Dr. Travis Smith wrote,

"I have observed 'from the back pew, a repetition of the same failures at Bob Jones University that initiated the demise of CCC [Clearwater Christian College] and other Bible fundamental colleges. Unfortunately, led by the current president of the university and his administrators, the same compromised ideologies (and many of the same personalities) that drove those institutions to their demise are perpetuating the same at BJU. They have rejected the university’s fundamental Bible legacy and voided the disciplines that shaped and instilled Christian character in generations of graduates."

If history has taught us anything every time new leadership came to a fundamentalist, separatist school and set out to erase that legacy the school ultimately closed its doors. Pillsbury, TTU, Clearwater, Calvary Seminary and Northland all suffered the same fate. The fate of BJU is yet to be determined, but it may not be long before its fate is settled.

Steve Pettit was on staff at Northland through the early years of Matt Olson's tenure as President. He left prior to Northland's demise. With the 2014 announcement Pettit would become BJU president objective observers instinctively questioned whether the agenda that led to Northland's ruin might be attempted at BJU. We didn't have long to wait to find out. Spiritual sanctification was sacrificed for secular pragmatism, pandering to millennials became the guiding principle, Reformed & Covenant theologies quickly permeated the school, with New Calvinism the underlying driving force behind it all. The disastrous results of the Pettit and executive administration agenda brought BJU to the current crisis. 

New Board Chairman Sam Dawson

With Sam Dawson's biography and affiliations we may have some indication of what lies ahead for BJU. Sam Dawson's biography includes, "studied at DBTS [Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary] and received an M.Div. and Th.M. He went on to earn a Ph.D. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and joined the faculty of DBTS."

Dawson's educational roots are firmly planted in Reformed theology and non-separatist evangelicalism. One man who has known Dawson for years says he (Dawson) is "very much influenced by Reformed theology." Dawson may be hard wired to Dave Doran's disdain for fundamentalism, novel interpretation and practice of separation. Dawson is more aligned with Pettit than the previous chairman. It's entirely possible he will push the university ever deeper into Reformed theology, evangelical and ecumenical compromise. One thing is certain- We won't have to wait long to know Sam Dawson's intentions for BJU.

With new leadership and an incoming president (not yet named) we hope an end has come for those, "embarrassing, antithetical things, historically uncharacteristic things, which would have never happened in the past...." Dr. Bob Jones III, No One Wins Unless the Cause Wins

LM

Previous articles on the crises at BJU include- 

Steve Pettit Resigns BJU Presidency

We Deserve our Troubles, But He Deserves NONE...

The Issues Nearly Everyone Would Be Familiar With

Steve Pettit's Break with the "Conservative" Base

The Driving Force Behind the Departure From Its Historic Legacy

Reflections