Faith on View

Louisiana Baptist Executive Director David Hankins: The Consolidation and Corruption of Power

Guinn Auditorium at Louisiana Christian University

I have to confess that when I left Louisiana I had a real distrust of SBC Pastors and Theologians. I felt betrayed by some. I saw the true lack of character in others. And, in others still, I saw them stay quiet in the face of evil, seemingly for their own personal benefit and self-preservation. I always thought it was odd that “The Art Guy” was the one standing against the blatant wrong-doings while those with seminary degrees stayed quiet or even helped the institution take Christ’s name in vain. One person who has done a great deal to restore my faith in ministers and theologians is Jay Adkins. Jay serves on the Board of Trustees for Louisiana College and has been willing to speak truth while still honoring his duty to the school. His latest blog post, On Power and Protection, shed’s a great deal of light on the situation in the Louisiana Baptist Convention.

David Hankins laying handson Joe Aguillard

I heard this from several sources last week but Chairman of the Louisiana College Board of Trustees Tommy French spoke directly to the Town Talk on the issue of Aguillard’s contract. According to French the Executive Commitee is looking to extend Aguillard’s contract. When commenting about the committee’s discussions French said, ““But I saw no opposition. There were not any negative points there to say we would not renew because we think he’s done a good job.” French also did not expect money to be an issue. Saying of Aguillard, “He doesn’t work for money, he works for the Lord.” That said, in 2012 (the most recent numbers available) Aguillard was paid $216,556. According to Chris Gherz, Chair of the History Department at Bethel University, on his blog the Pietist Schoolman Aguillard’s pay was 7th highest among Council of Christian Colleges and University schools and 79th highest among the 500 schools in the study, when compared against the schools budget.

Dr. Joe Aguillard in his office standing next to a 10 commantments plaque

Today The Alexandria Town Talk ran a story on the recordings of comments released on this site almost six weeks ago in the article, “Aguillard in his own words: Will the real Joe Aguillard please stand-up, please stand-up, please stand-up?” In that article were recordings of Louisiana College President Joe Aguillard saying some very shocking and narcissistic things such as:

The employee was “here to serve the President and show 1000% loyalty to whatever he does.”

“I am the employer and I sign your contract. You don’t work for the College. The College is not an employer. It’s a place of work. The employer is me and the employee is you.”

“Every office on campus is mine. (pause for effect) Every office on campus is mine.”

“There is no freedom of speech here. I didn’t make that up. That’s the law. When a student says, “I have freedom of speech…” We have three attorneys who will laugh them into the ground because there is no such thing here.”

“I’ll put loyalty over competency with everybody that I allow to voluntarily work here, including student workers.”

“I’m going to make it very clear before people re-sign up. Don’t sign up here if you aren’t on board with Joe Aguillard. Cause it ain’t going work, it’s just not gonna work. That’s the way it is. Like my Momma and Daddy, you gonna live under my roof and eat my food and wear my clothes you will live by my rules.”

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Am I a Liberal?

Today the Town Talk ran an article about the issue of forged documents at Louisiana College which I reported on yesterday: “Documents: Former Louisiana College employee was paid to keep quiet” One thing in that …

David Hankins preaching at Louisiana Christian University

The problems at Louisiana College are well documented at this point and likely even more details will become known over the coming weeks. What, I believe, remains unclear for many is how did this all …

Woman preacher slaying a man in the spirit

There has been a lot of buzz in Louisiana Baptist circles recently about an alleged attempt by “Calvinists” to take over Louisiana College. Both the Alexandria Daily Town Talk and the Baptist Message, have helped …

Sadly, a war over Calvinism has been brewing in the SBC for a long time. Louisiana seems to have decided to be the main battle ground for this war. Last year, forces within the SBC that want to wage this war put forward “A Statement of Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation” to be voted upon at the national convention in New Orleans. The statement was introduced to the world at SBC Today by Eric Hankins who is a pastor in Mississippi and son of Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director David Hankins. Both David Hankins and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelly were signatories on the statement. There were fears among some that the statement would become a litmus test for employment of religion faculty at the state convention owned Louisiana College.

After the national convention, fervor over the issues subsided as there seemed to be a clear message of unity coming from the national SBC leadership. However, Louisiana College President Joe Aguillard has recently thrust the issue back into the spot light. Aguillard released a position paper on Calvinism in which he states, “My love for all Baptists including Calvinists, does not constitute our approval of its being advocated at Louisiana College.”

I really should cut the Facebook habit. But, there have been times in the last couple of years when Facebook was link to sanity, my link to people who thought more like me, and my …