The conclusion to his statement is as follows,
Furthermore, we are establishing clear policies and procedures to prevent a similar instance in the future. In the end, we want to ensure BJU family and friends that this will not happen again.At Facebook Pettit's statement is being absolutely blasted by hostile critics. Clifton Cauthrone, raised a poignant observation.
As an observation, it amazes me (as a 90s alumnus) how many current students and staff have commented on this thread that they need someone to explain to them what is wrong with this young man's presentation. Perhaps some 'chapel talks' on this are appropriate.No doubt Dr. Pettit's statement was going to stir a hornets nest. If spiritual discernment had prevailed the fashion designs would not have been shown and his statement unnecessary.
This event was the latest and most egregious betrayal of the school's legacy to date. While the statement is welcomed should we believe all has been made right and move on as if there is nothing more to see here? Seven years of these issues and only now on this single incident does Dr. Pettit proffer regret. We believe this should be followed by many more apologies and corrective actions.
Dr. Pettit's statement does not fully address the glaring weaknesses in the school. The fashion show, Midsummer Night's Dream and the Franklin Graham incidents reveal a stunning lack of spiritual discernment across a wide swath of faculty and administrators. "Policies and procedures" will not stop this kind of thing from happening. It's rather evident that people not only failed, BJU faculty, administrators and its president failed badly.
Deadly Enemies of the Cross of Christ
Knowing Franklin Graham gives Christian recognition to the "enemies of the cross of Christ" (Phil. 3:18) how does Steve Pettit enthusiastically support Graham's Samaritans Purse? Doesn't that reveal a lack of discernment or even worse, has he personally moved in the direction of compromise with ecumenicals? Either way should a man lacking discernment on such a vital issue occupy the president's office?
Steve Pettit is president of BJU, and the responsibility for what takes place at the university ultimately rests with him. With a seven year track record of engineering or allowing for a long list of disconcerting issues how does Pettit not offer his resignation?
So much trust has been lost. Years of men pleading to stop the slide ignored and loyalty betrayed. A statement over a singular event will not regain trust. Friends who love the BJU of past years believe the university has been irretrievably corrupted. A surgical procedure on the fine arts department alone won't restore the body.
Unless the board of trustees ousts Steve Pettit, the institution is not recoverable. Surely, this hard lesson was learned with the closure of Northland Int'l University at the hands of then president Matt Olson.* At BJU there needs to be a critical, deep shake up within the administration and the deans of the various schools. Faculty and staff who enabled events like the fashion show and Midsummer Night's Dream should be released. Any member of the administration who organized, participated with or encouraged entangling the university with Franklin Graham's ecumenical movement should be called upon to resign.
Steve Pettit is president of BJU, and the responsibility for what takes place at the university ultimately rests with him. With a seven year track record of engineering or allowing for a long list of disconcerting issues how does Pettit not offer his resignation?
Will Pettit's statement simply buy him more time to continue erasing the university's Fundamentalist, separatist legacy?
So much trust has been lost. Years of men pleading to stop the slide ignored and loyalty betrayed. A statement over a singular event will not regain trust. Friends who love the BJU of past years believe the university has been irretrievably corrupted. A surgical procedure on the fine arts department alone won't restore the body.
Unless the board of trustees ousts Steve Pettit, the institution is not recoverable. Surely, this hard lesson was learned with the closure of Northland Int'l University at the hands of then president Matt Olson.* At BJU there needs to be a critical, deep shake up within the administration and the deans of the various schools. Faculty and staff who enabled events like the fashion show and Midsummer Night's Dream should be released. Any member of the administration who organized, participated with or encouraged entangling the university with Franklin Graham's ecumenical movement should be called upon to resign.
Apart from measures such as described above, recovery is highly unlikely and trust will never be restored. Too much for far too long has been tolerated. The long standing support base of churches have been alienated. Many churches that once sent their students no longer do. Any attempt to return to the school's fundamentalist, separatist legacy will alienate the Southern Baptist, New Calvinist and compromising evangelical students Pettit has been pandering to. They would leave en masse.
Short of a major shake up we believe the best hope for the university is that it close rather than continue on its current trajectory of becoming the next Liberty or Cedarville.
Yours faithfully,
LM
LM
This is the result, predicted result, of Matt Olson’s experiment with the “new wave” of new evangelicalism. In the closure letter Daniel Patz wrote, “In the last two weeks, Northland has faced unexpected events that led to this decision.” To any objective observer of what Matt Olson was doing to the former Northland Baptist Bible College, it was clear that the school would not survive Olson’s changes. The last two weeks event NIU a Gift? Thanks, but No Thanks was the final of many nails Matt Olson and his team had already pounded into the coffin of a once fine, fundamental, Baptistic, separatist school.
Related Reading:
The irony of this 2001 article can't be missed
Board members of those institutions share the responsibility for steering those schools from the fundamental moorings of their founders. They have moved away from their alumni and constituents, and gone adrift in a morass of pragmatic ideas that are void of spiritual principles.
Cooperating with Franklin Graham was an act of sinful disobedience to the Word of God. It is an egregious example of ecumenical encroachment at BJU that was heartily endorsed by Steve Pettit.
After being the premier fundamentalist academic institution for eighty-seven years, BJU elected Dr. Steve Pettit in 2014, as the president who steered the University out of separatist Fundamentalism into the inclusive, Broad Evangelical movement,
The Corona Virus of Ecumenical Compromise: Are You Infected?
Sadly, I believe that nothing will be done that will actually stop such things from happening again. This is emblematic of a far deeper issue at the university that needs more than just "policies and procedures" revamped. As you note, this is a people problem. People with little to no spiritual discernment allowed this to progress from thoughts in these students' minds to an actual show, without making stops along the way. As Dr. Pettit noted, this is "sacrilegious and blasphemous," so why did no faculty member see it as such throughout the whole process?
ReplyDeleteAnother concern which you bring up, is the slowness in addressing this. The fashion show was back in early December, we're now more than a month away from the event and it is only now being addressed, too little, too late?
Under Dr. Pettit the university has a growing list of compromises to its founding principles which you have touched on some of them. And with each one, nothing has been done by the board of trustees to stop the progress. I do believe that the university has gone done the road of compromise too far to be reclaimed. The damage has been done and its irreversible. I have no confidence in my alma mater. Sadly, I stopped recommending it several years ago.
Brian:
DeleteI believe the fashion show controversy brought the university to the crossroads. There have been many reasons why decisive and deliberate action should have been taken long ago, but now the tipping point has been reached. The controversy with the direction of BJU has boiled over. Unless decisive action is taken now, the school is irretrievably lost. It may not to close, which many would prefer. I see a more likely outcome being the university becomes the next Liberty and Cedarville. Steve Pettit has moved essentially with carte blanche to take the school half way there already. Sad and disappointing.
LM