Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions . . .

Let the sun shine in.

It is our standard policy at The Baptist Blogger not to direct our readers’ attention to another blogger’s musings. This is not some law of Medes and Persians, mind you, nor because we eschew the consideration of other bloggers’ thoughts.

Rather, we are aware that The Baptist Blogger boasts the most literate, informed, and intelligent readers in the Baptist blogosphere.

Which is to say, if it’s worth reading, you’ve probably already read it.

But as anyone familiar with the Patterson era at Southwestern Seminary knows: rules are made to be broken.

So without further ado, we direct your attention to the following:

Surviving SWBTS- Life As A Female Employee and Student In A Pattersonian Culture — by Diane Montgomery

Coming into seminary, I naively believed that we would all be unified spiritually and everyone would be kind and godly since we were all called to ministry. But, I was desperately wrong, and my first year at SWBTS was difficult to say the least. The leadership and administration reminded me of all the characteristics of “church people” that turned me off of the gospel in my younger years. Arrogance, hypocrisy, narcissism, and the “Good Ol’ Boys” club mentality permeated most every part of the SWBTS culture to which I was exposed. It was then that bitterness, hurt, and anger began to take root in my heart towards the leadership at Southwestern which embodied all of these distasteful characteristics.

Thankfully, God rescued me from that bitterness and introduced me to wonderful and godly students and staff who helped shape and mold me into the person I am today. Nevertheless, the environment continued to be filled with toxic air stemming from its toxic leadership. The Patterson’s were to be feared and obeyed – or risk suffering the consequences. You were either in line with Patterson’s 100% or you were the enemy. It was an environment of fear and intimidation.

Click here to keep reading . . .

(Note: Any number of the claims made in the post above could trigger an accreditation review for Southwestern Seminary.)

In two weeks, Southern Baptists will have descended on Dallas in preparation for the annual meeting scheduled to begin at 8:15AM on Tuesday morning, June 12. In the coming days, there will be lots of talk about potential motions from the floor, resolutions proffered by this or that messenger, and growing speculation about whether this year sets a new course for the future of the SBC.

Already there are lots of questions.

Like whether SBC President Steve Gaines will be able to avoid an awkward photo-op Sunday morning, June 10th at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth during the handoff from SWBTS theologian-in-residence Paige Patterson.

Or whether the Interim First Lady of Southwestern will replace the First Lady Emerita as the emcee for Tea at 3, the seminary’s mentoring program hosted during the annual meeting.

Actually, nobody has been asking that last question. I just like to bring it up.

In the coming days, The Baptist Blogger will be posting on a few fronts:

1. We will be posting the text of motions we’ve helped craft for messengers to offer on the floor of the annual convention. These motions deal with everything from convention bylaws to the proposed order of business and SBC entity reports. To put it bluntly, we’re laying our cards on the table.
2. We will be publishing a series of letters pertaining to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary that have come into our possession.
3. We will be providing links to relevant archived material that promises perspective and contextualization for present developments across the SBC.
4. We will be publishing interviews we conducted with two prominent Baptist leaders.

Stay tuned . . .