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Louisiana College: Heads will Roll, 10 Steps for Moving Forward

Joe Aguillard in a suit with his hand in his pocket
President Joe Aguillard
President Joe Aguillard

Rumors are flying that President Joe Aguillard has been given the choice of stepping down as President and being allowed to take medical retirement or being fired. For seemingly personal reasons, not ethical standards David Hankins has apparently removed his long-standing and important support of Joe Aguillard and that is proving to make the difference. A year ago, when it looked like Aguillard may no longer be president I wrote an article entitled Louisiana College…Moving Forward. That is an important article for people to go back and read. It explains why the wrongs LC has done over the last nine years can’t just be swept under the rug. But, I thought in this post it would be helpful to republish my thoughts about how LC can move forward.

  1.  Remove Aguillard from the Presidency. I don’t see any way around this. There is so much baggage with his presidency. As bad as what has been made public is…there is so much more. I pray that Aguillard will repent and turn his life around. But, whatever happens he should not remain as president.
  2. Publicly Admit Wrong. There has been so much damage over the last decade that has been swept under the rug. People’s lives have been destroyed and students have been emotionally and spiritually scarred. There are serious trust issues with LC right now. The only way for LC to get past these issues is to admit they blew it. Anything else will simply look like more of the same. Public sins need to be dealt with publicly.

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Am I a Liberal?

Reading aesthetics in a redwood forest

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 …

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Louisiana College Professor Kevin McFadden Makes First Public Statement

Dr. Kevin McFadden
Dr. Kevin McFadden

The non-renewal of the contracts of Kevin McFadden, Ryan Lister, and Jason Hiles caused a real stir a few months back. This was especially true since the non-renewals coincided with public statements from President Aguillard about his position against “hyper-Calvinism”.  It was assumed by all that the non-renewal had to do with the tensions between Arminian and Calvinist camps within the Louisiana Baptist Convention. As more information became available and further conversations where had it became clear to me that Calvinism, at least in the case of Jason Hiles, was used as  a smoke screen to hide that Aguillard was trying to hurt Dr. Quarles for blowing the whistle. Aguillard chose to attack Quarles by attacking those under him. It is a little less clear with Mcfadden and Lister if the primary motivation was hurting Quarles or if they simply  got caught in the situation and it was more theological for them. If it was theological, it was also misplaced to fight over a secondary doctrine, or tertiary as McFadden argues.

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Louisiana College, The SBC, Calvinism, and Ethics

Guinn Auditorium at Louisiana College

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 forwardA 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.”

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