While Louisiana College Burns: Students and Parents Begin Signing Statement

Joshua —  February 11, 2013 — 26 Comments

LC Students OrgWhile Louisiana College burns, students and parents of students have begun to sign a statement that calls for the Board of Trustees to act immediately regarding several issues at the college.

I join my fellow graduate student Drew Wales in posting a “student statement” at LCStudents.org The one page site lists several issues that are causing students to consider leaving Louisiana College. The five statements of concern are:

 

  1. The latest non-reappointment of professors Jason Hiles, Kevin McFadden, and Ryan Lister.
  2. The potential for other non-reappointments in like fashion.
  3. The college’s recent lack of support for theological diversity within the limits of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
  4. The possibility that these issues will cause a split between faculty and students of the college.
  5. The potential threat these issues pose for reaccreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)

The list of signatures will only be seen by the administrators of the site and the Louisiana College Board of Trustees. It is our hope that the statement and signatures will send a clear message to the Board of Trustees that tuition paying students and parents are serious about seeking out other institutions of higher education.

We are blown away by the number of signatures gained within just 24 hours! Here are a few ways you can help:

 

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Joshua

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I am a disciple of the risen Christ Jesus, husband to Libby, grad student, blogger.
  • http://www.facebook.com/cameronshull Cameron Shull

    Anything alumni can do to help?

    • http://www.thedailybleat.com/ Joshua Breland

      Tell friends who may still be at college, parents of students, etc.

    • Tim Norris

      How about pray?

      • http://www.thedailybleat.com/ Joshua Breland

        Indeed! Pray much for cooperation and unity and that God’s perfect will would be done.

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  • Trey Cowell

    Josh, I appreciate your willingness to take a stand upon your convictions in this situation. I see you are attempting to rally students of LC around you on the issues at hand. However, I am a student of caskey school myself, and I do not support the signing of your petition. I personally stand behind Dr. Aguillard and His actions to stop the influence of calvinism at LC.

    • http://www.thedailybleat.com/ Joshua Breland

      Trey,

      You stand behind the action of firing professors because of their perceived Calvinism? I have not run into anyone who is calling for the firing of non-Calvinists at L.C. Where is the tolerance and cooperation, brother?

      • Trey Cowell

        Josh, I stand behind the endeavors of removing calvinism/reformed theology from dominating “non-calvinistic” institutions and/or a convention.
        I think we have tolerated and cooperated for some time now and could continue to do so. However, no one is changing no one’s mind on their personal theology and methodolgy. Therfore, some lines have to be drawn on where we stand and what we promote.

        • http://www.thedailybleat.com/ Joshua Breland

          Trey,

          What evidence do you have that Calvinism is dominating LC? Did you attend LC? This sounds like mere assertion, brother.

          • Trey Cowell

            Josh, I will not discuss my thoughts on the evidence via the blog. If you would like we could make contact in another manner. The other question was, “do I attend LC?” Here is a clip from my first post, ” I am a student of caskey school myself”.

          • http://www.thedailybleat.com/ Joshua Breland

            Trey,

            Please contact me through my contact page on the blog. You can access it at the very top of the page. We can speak on the phone if that is best. I understand you attend Caskey, but you are enrolled in the Pastoral Ministry program that is largely online and only on campus 1-2 times a month. I have taken multiple classes with all 3 of the terminated professors and have not seen nor heard of any evidence of “Calvinistic domination.” These types of assertions are just that, baseless assertions that are not rooted in truth. We as Christians and lovers of truth must do better than this. If one can make damaging claims against men in public, then one should be able to publicly defend such claims with evidence. If not, what takes place is nothing but a smear campaign against brothers in Christ.

    • http://www.facebook.com/drew.wales Drew Wales

      Trey: The professors at LC are required to affirm the BFM 2000 and the Chicago Statement on Inerrancy. Would you agree that Calvinism is within the confines of the BFM 2000?

      • Trey Cowell

        Drew, not knowing you, I’m not sure of your definition of calvinism. With many different terms being tossed around today on defining calvinism, I would hold that most defintions are Biblically out of line and not within the confines of the BFM 2000.

        • http://www.facebook.com/drew.wales Drew Wales

          so you think Dr. Al Mohler’s Calvinism is out of line with the BFM 2000?

          • Trey Cowell

            Drew, I am not in the poistion to claim Dr. Mohler as out of line with the BFM 2000. However, I do believe 5 point calvinism to be Biblically incorrect.

          • http://www.facebook.com/drew.wales Drew Wales

            So, if you are unwilling to say that Mohler’s 5 point Calvinism is out of line with the BFM 2000, then where do you get the notion that it is legitimate to release professors on theological grounds that are inside the confines of the BFM 2000? That is what some would call an authoritative interpretation, which is more in line with Roman Catholicism than the Baptist use and application of confessions.

          • Trey Cowell

            Again, as my final comment to you, I am not in poistion to call Dr. Mohler out. However, I do stand behind Dr. Aguiilard on His view that calvinism will not be conveyed or influenced on the LC campus. You have your thoughts and I have mine, no point in going around in circles. If Dr. Aguillard feels the leaning of calvinism is to strong on the campus of LC, then He as the overseer has the duty to protect the institution. While at the same time calvinist can teach at and attend Dr. Molher’s seminary, which is under the SBC umberalla as being known for a strong calvinist leaning. It’s been nice chatting with you. Good luck in your studies, may God bless.

        • http://www.thedailybleat.com/ Joshua Breland

          Trey,

          Is Al Mohler’s 5 point Calvinism out of line with the BFM2000?

  • Tim Norris

    Josh,
    You list 5 concerns as your reason for developing a statement for students & parents to sign in order to do what? Help La. College? Do you not think that what you are doing is quite the opposite of your intent? I believe that you are helping to divide & harm La. College at the expense of your being a Calvinist & not getting your way. I know that you are a very smart young man & should know that sometimes in life we don’t always get “our” way. Using concerns like Theological Diversity, Accreditation (SACS), only stirs up old fights that La. College has been through in the past. You probably also know that there are many liberals who will jump on board with you because they are Joe Aguillard haters & they long for the day when La. College will turn back to its’ liberal days. You may want to blame Dr. Aguillard for the division of the school, when it is you & others who want to bring the school down if it doesn’t bend to your own beliefs. La. College is not a Calvinistic School! Why don’t you find one, take your friends, attend it, and get on with your life? I want to get along with you and other Calvinists, but not at the expense of an Calvinist agenda designed to take over La. College, or any other L.B.C., or S.B.C. entity or institution. Sure, the leaders of Southern Seminary, Mid-Western Seminary, & Southeastern Seminary, are allowing the influence of Calvinism to thrive. I believe that Non Calvinists will be addressing their concerns with this problem. While Calvinists & Non Calvinists have “lived together” for years, there has never been an aggressive attempt before now to try to & move the S.B.C. or the L.B.C. to become a Calvinistic Denomination with Calvinist Institutions.
    I will close now, but know that I am formerly from Pineville. I grew up there. I am a graduate of Pineville High School, La. College, & New Orleans Seminary. I have served on the board of trustees at La. College in the 90′s, as well as many other entities of the L.B.C. I am a born again believer, & a supporter of La. College, the L.B.C., & the S.B.C. While I do not agree with your Calvinism, I fought for your freedom to believe as you do in the Conservative Resurgence. If you meant what you said, that you love and respect Dr. Aguillard, & you care about La. College, why not admit that not only Dr. Aguillard, but a majority of La. Baptists do not want La. College to become a Calvinist School. Why help destroy what you say you love?

    Blessings,
    Dr. Tim Norris

    • http://www.thedailybleat.com/ Joshua Breland

      Tim,

      I notice you belong to the same association as Trey Cowell, Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association. Are you at First Baptist Church Livingston with Trey?

      Your comment reads las though you are angry and I suspect a conversation about this with you will only prove to be unhelpful. I am just going to post a list of your assertions that are baseless and false.

      1. “I believe that you are helping to divide & harm La. College at the expense of your being a Calvinist & not getting your way”

      2. “You may want to blame Dr. Aguillard for the division of the school, when it is you & others who want to bring the school down if it doesn’t bend to your own beliefs.”

      3. “I want to get along with you and other Calvinists, but not at the expense of an Calvinist agenda designed to take over La. College, or any other L.B.C., or S.B.C. entity or institution.”

      4. “While Calvinists & Non Calvinists have “lived together” for years, there has never been an aggressive attempt before now to try to & move the S.B.C. or the L.B.C. to become a Calvinistic Denomination with Calvinist Institutions. ”

      I stand with Dr. David Crosby’s recent call for cooperation and unity among non-Calvinists and Calvinists in the Louisiana Baptist Convention. I recommend reading his wise words. http://www.sbcfocus.net/2013/02/08/nola-pastor-david-crosby-calls-for-cooperation-amid-diversity-in-louisiana-baptist-convention/

      • Tim Norris

        Josh,

        Trey is not at First Baptist Church, Livingston. I am the pastor of First Baptist, Livingston. Trey is pastor of Faith Baptist Church located close to French Settlement. While we are friends, he has nothing to do with my posts. I post my concerns. By the way, your statement about Trey makes me think that you are trying to imply something. Well, are you? if you are, why not just come out and say what you mean?
        Go ahead & try to discredit me by suggesting I am angry & that my conversation with you would be unhelpful. That’s your assertion which is false & baseless. I am not angry at you. I am not angry at anyone or anything. As you have a right to do what you are doing because of your passion & belief, I have a right to be concerned about issues which are dear to me & to even oppose those actions when necessary. I posted my thoughts on your site to appeal to you & your friends to reconsider your actions which I believe are divisive. You say Dr. Aguillard & others are dividing the school. Well, aren’t you? I believe it would be helpful for you to listen to someone who disagrees with what you are saying and doing. If you are set on your course of action, then maybe my appeal to you isn’t helpful, but Josh, I haven’t attacked you I just disagree with you!
        Josh, saying that my assertions are baseless and false because I can not prove them does not mean that my “suspicions” are not true. Hey, my beliefs do definitely effect my behavior. For example, I am writing this post because of what I believe in. I also believe that your beliefs effect your behavior, therefore you are doing what you are doing partly because of your calvinistic beliefs, & that is your right. I just disagree with you, brother. I am making an appeal to you. You are calling for cooperation & unity? Good! Withdraw your statement, & begin supporting Dr. Aguillard, the administration, & La. College as the institution that the majority of La. Baptists want it to be.

        • http://www.thedailybleat.com/ Joshua Breland

          Tim,

          I am calling for non-Calvinists and Calvinists to keep their positions at Louisiana College. If this is “divisive” and “dividing the school,” well, I fail to see how.

    • http://twitter.com/Pilgrim_99 Chris Poe

      Dr. Norris,

      I pray that the Lord is richly blessing your ministry there in Livingston. I am an alumnus of Louisiana College and a native of the Cenla area. I wonder if you could answer some questions for me.

      As Dr. Aguillard noted in his statement regarding Calvinism and LC, he was chosen in part because he is not a Calvinist. As you know, another leading candidate for President at that time is a Calvinist and many on the Board of Trustees at that time did not want to see a strong Calvinistic influence at LC. Why then has Dr. Aguillard (until now) aided and abetted the Calvinistic influence at LC since 2005?

      Since the liberals left the religion/theology department, (and I wholeheartedly supported that long overdue change) I’m not sure if there has ever been a time in which the majority of the full time Biblical Studies faculty have not been Calvinists. Given their educational background and other factors, everybody knew or should have known that these men were Calvinists. Why is this only now becoming an issue? Are there no non-Calvinist faculty who could have been brought in instead? If a football coach is directed not to bring in certain kinds of players and he repeatedly does it anyway, what should be the result? If LC has indeed become “Geneva on the Red” as some Louisiana Baptists have alleged (according to Dr. Aguillard,) who ultimately is to blame for this development?

      Moreover, why was a Oneness Pentecostal on the LC faculty for several years? He was not on the religion faculty but he hosted a campus radio program that addressed spiritual topics and thus had a spiritual influence on the students. Getting rid of liberals and replacing them with those who are associated with heretical ministries isn’t quite the kind of change I can believe in. (That’s the case for me even if it has only happened once.) It calls into question the level of commitment to the stated goal of returning LC to its Biblical and Baptist roots. Am I to infer from this that having a faculty member who is affiliated with a non-Trinitarian ministry and who had a spiritual influence on the campus is not seen as a serious issue by Louisiana Baptists? (I can assure you that some impressionable students as well as others will draw that conclusion, sadly.) This too should have been no secret as the man in question had a regular column in the Town Talk that noted his affiliation with a Pineville congregation that is affiliated with the United Pentecostals.

      Do you believe, as you wrote, that the accreditation issue with SACS “only stirs up old fights that La. College has been through in the past”? It appears to me that it is very much an issue of the present and a more pressing issue now than ever before.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/nathaniel.king2 Nathaniel King

    Joshua, good for you to strive for unity in these times of adversity. I hate to see us (Baptists & Christians) fighting and splitting over such non-essentials as Calvinism. There are many bigger and far more serious concerns facing us as Christians and Baptists, such fights as these are just sad. We non-Calvinists and Calvinists have existed in harmony since the founding of the convention, I see no reason for that to cease now. It seems to me that those opposed to Calvinism are the ones who are most violently opposing the other side and it is largely Calvinists seeking unity. This is embarrassing for all of us. May God grant us unity and cool heads in this time.

    • http://www.thedailybleat.com/ Joshua Breland

      Nathaniel,

      Thanks for stopping by. We Louisiana Baptists need more LBC leaders to come forward with calls of unity and cooperation. David Crosby (FBC NOLA) has and I hope many more join him. I also hope our LBC Executive Director Dr. David Hankins will come and lead us to cooperation. As of now, he is missing in action.