Message from President Turner
Released 12/3/18
Dear SBU Family,
Southwest Baptist University was founded 140 years ago as a Southern Baptist institution of higher education. Engrained within SBU’s history is a strong spirit of cooperation and support with Missouri Baptists. The Biblical worldview and perspective we provide at SBU matters. Founded upon and empowered by the perfect supreme authority of scripture, SBU sends students and graduates as caring individuals throughout the world who are responsive rather than reactionary to the worlds they encounter, and who are prepared to serve the Lord throughout the world through their chosen ministries, careers, and service within the church.
This last week a faculty member at SBU was provided a Notice of Dismissal that outlined personal behavior concerning conduct violations of SBU’s Faculty Handbook. The Handbook provides and directs that the faculty member has an appropriate venue and right to address the conduct within the Notice by an appeal. Unfortunately, in response to the Notice, it has come to our attention that information has been circulated that is inaccurate, false and which places what has occurred in a false light. We thank those with the wisdom to understand that a personnel matter is confidential and that the behavior and conduct of a faculty member should not be discussed in open forum at this juncture. Therefore, SBU cannot, at this time, respond to the misinformation. Please pray for the faculty member, his family, and SBU, as the decisions and processes are difficult on all who are involved.
We will continue to equip students with God’s word for servant leadership in their families, careers, churches, and communities. We will continue our longstanding commitment to Missouri Baptists. We will continue our mission of being a Christ-centered, caring academic community preparing students to be servant leaders in a global society.
Dr. Eric A. Turner
SBU President
Letter from Southern Hills Baptist Church
Released 12/2/18
Dear members of Southern Hills Baptist Church,
It is with great sadness that we report to you that one of our Pastors, Clint Bass, was dismissed from his position as professor within the Redford School of Theology at Southwest Baptist University. It may seem odd to announce such a matter in this format but because of the nature of his firing and because Clint serves as one of the Elders here at Southern Hills we thought it was important to give some details surrounding this incident. Please see here a brief explanation of the circumstances that have led to this dismissal, the intent within this letter is not to overwhelm with detail but to offer enough information for each member to have confidence that Clint Bass remains a faithful servant of Christ and to encourage each member to diligently pray and support the Bass family during this challenging time.
Clint has not been accused of any moral failing, illegal action or other sinful behavior that would lead to his dismissal. In fact Clint has never had a negative review or disciplinary action against him before this incident. Sadly now, he has been singled out for his strong convictions regarding the inerrancy of Scripture and as a Biblical view of matters such as eternal punishment and justification. In serving faithfully, within his teaching position at SBU, Clint has encountered professors that do not share his conservative biblical understanding of these matters. These views are not nuanced differences of interpretation regarding secondary issues, they are matters that deal with foundational truth from God's word which Baptists have gathered around such as the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. There has been a growing concern within Missouri Baptists about the doctrinal instability of the Redford School of Theology. Steps have been taken to try and bring these matters to the light and to attempt to address them through the proper channel - the Board of Trustees. Unfortunately, in October Clint was told he would be denied promotion with reasoning given to him that he was not supportive of the University - specifically pointing to an email interchange in which Clint made clear that there are some professors within the department that do not align with a traditional view of the error free nature of scripture. At this point it became clear that Clint was being punished for speaking out regarding these matters. Subsequently, he reported this to the Provost and President of the School. After supplying SBU Administration with detailed notes as well as numerous letters from area pastors and former students regarding the serious concerns of the doctrinal problems, Clint was assured a full investigation would take place. However, it seems the investigation was limited to interviewing those who were teaching the divergent views. Those in question denied the claims and it seems no other significant attempt to investigate the allegations was made.
Administration summarily labeled Clint Bass as unethical and cast doubt upon his character. They misrepresented scripture by attempting to thrust a poor interpretation of Mathew 18 upon the circumstances. Mathew 18:15-17 deals with confronting sin within the context of the local church and does not properly function without that context. Administration proceeded to fire Clint immediately. This is deeply concerning as we know the character of Clint Bass and strongly rebuke any attack on his character with no legitimate evidence offered. Dr. Clint Bass is a tenured professor and has the right to appeal this decision, he intends to do so.
Please pray for Clint, his wife Jackie and their children GT, Hillday, Verity and Clementine as they move forward throughout this process. Pray that Clint is quickly reinstated, that the serious issues at hand can be adequately dealt with and above all that God may be glorified both here at Southern Hills Baptist Church and with our neighbor across the street Southwest Baptist University. If you have additional questions regarding this matter you are welcome to address the elders of SHBC and to the greatest extent possible we will answer all questions of our church family.
In Christ,
Ted Bachman, Duncan Meadows & Kyle Lee
Elders - Southern Hills Baptist Church
The opinions expressed are solely those of the authors of each statement and do not necessarily reflect the views of Infuse Student Media or Southwest Baptist University unless otherwise stated.
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