WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Baptist Blogger announced today a unilateral publication cease fire with the administration, faculty, staff, and trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“After a nearly ten-year hiatus, we resumed publication one year ago this week with an open letter to former SWBTS President Paige Patterson requesting an end to the embargo of a 2006 chapel sermon by Arlington pastor Wm. Dwight McKissic.

Over the course of the months that followed, we have disclosed factual information concerning Southwestern Seminary under the Patterson regime, including details of financial irregularities, abuse cover-up, and institutional mismanagement. With the election of Dr. Adam Greenway as the ninth president of Southwestern Seminary, The Baptist Blogger is hopeful these and other matters will be thoroughly investigated, publicly disclosed, and systematically resolved in an appropriate manner.

Therefore, we will suspend until after the next Southwestern trustee meeting (Apr. 8-10) the publication of any information, commentary, or analysis regarding the Fort Worth school to afford its new president the opportunity to make substantive and necessary institutional changes. We trust these changes will be reported as they occur, whenever appropriate, to the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Later today (2/28/19), The Baptist Blogger will publish the second and final installment of our two-part series on the Feb. 18-19 meeting of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. In this post, we will examine the doctrine of church autonomy in light of recent challenges and offer a more compelling proposal for addressing the sex abuse scandal than the hasty and poorly-conceived constitutional amendment passed by committee trustees in this month’s ramshackle meeting in (G)nashville.

UPDATE 2.28.19 @ 4:40 PM ET: We’ve received a phone call that disclosed information pertinent to our planned post.  Stay tuned for the updated version, likely tomorrow morning (Fri. 3/1/19).