May 17, 2023

Bob Jones University: A Ministry in Flux with its Future Unsettled

In an email blast we have been informed, "The Bob Jones University Board of Trustees today appointed Dr. Alan Benson acting CEO, effective May 17, 2023." The BOT added, "Teaming with Benson will be Dr. Gary Weier and Dr. Bruce McAllister."

In recent weeks the Board of Trustees (BOT) has appointed four men to leadership positions. They are:
  • Samuel Dawson- Chairman BOT
  • Gary Weier- Acting CEO (temporary)
  • Alan Benson- Acting CEO
  • Bruce McAllister- Team Support (?)
Weier and Benson had been supportive of Steve Pettit's agenda. They signed the April 3 demands and ultimatum letter addressed to the BOT. Dawson is a bit of a mystery. Did he support Pettit's agenda? He has been on faculty at Dave Doran's seminary for many years.  We're hopeful he does not embrace Doran's rejection and redefinition of "militant" biblical separation.* Why the inclusion of Bruce McAllister? We trust his appointment is not merely a facade showing allegiance to separatist Fundamentalism.

The mixed bag of appointees, allowing Pettit's resignation to stand and a permanent successor to Steve Pettit yet unnamed indicates the BOT and the transition is in flux. Nothing is settled.

In a previous article Steve Pettit's Resignation Stands we asked, 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?
The wave of recent appointments and pending permanent successor to the former president suggests the answer is, "to be determined."


LM

*Dave Doran is no friend of Fundamentalism. Doran (and Kevin Bauder) has a track record of tolerating, allowing for, excusing and ignoring doctrinal aberrations and worldly compromise for cooperative ministry with the so-called "conservative" evangelicals.

Previous Articles in the Series
When we reflect on the definition of New Calvinism and note the radical shift in doctrine, practice and culture Steve Pettit engineered on campus we conclude he is a passionate advocate for the advancement of New Calvinism.  Steve Pettit stands alongside well known gurus of New Calvinism. New Calvinism is the driving force behind the departure from BJU's historic legacy.
Steve dismissed the importance of the meeting from the outset by recognizing the number of students represented by the pastors in the room as if to say, “you pastors are not sending that many students.” The better question would have been, “You pastors sent X number of students five years ago and only Y number now. What’s happening?”
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. 
As Transitional Fundamentalists crusade for change we must be aware that the change envisioned is not a return to orthodoxy and orthopraxy; it is a compromise of the truth. It is informative to note that mainstream evangelicals have gone on record as stating that there is no appreciable difference between Conservative Evangelicalism and Fundamentalists who are in transition.
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.
Dr. Mark Minnick said, "I shared with him [Steve Pettit], in all honesty, 'you need to know, I need to say, what I feel I have to tell people now.' I've never told people not to go to Bob Jones University. In most cases I usually end up saying, 'I hope that you're able to do that and if you can I want to encourage you.' But I had to tell Dr. Pettit that, 'parents are going to have to be far more vigilant, they're not going to receive the same kind of reinforcement if they've come from conservative homes, the same kind of reinforcement in many, many of the situations'."


at

No comments:

Post a Comment