Farewell, Jerry Corbaley

Jerry Corbaley, Director of Missions for the North Coast Baptist Association in California resigned yesterday, September 9, 2008, from his trusteeship on the International Mission Board because he is moving from California to Hawaii to beome a pastor of a Southern Baptist Church. I do wish Jerry Corbaley the best in his new ministry, and would like to articulate the reasons why I believe this move is good for the International Mission Board.

It was trustee Jerry Corbaley who wrote the initial "paper" for IMB trustee leadership that proposed you could not possess true "Baptist Identity" and have a private prayer language. It was Corbaley, John Floyd, Tom Hatley, and about twenty other trustees who pushed very hard for the International Mission Board to exclude missionary candidates who professed to having a "private" prayer language, and to further exclude those missionary candidates whose baptisms did not occur in a Southern Baptist Church. Corbaley was so confident of his ability to speak for all Southern Baptists on the issue of private prayer language that he wrote on his May 29, 2007 blog these words.

The IMBoT has defined glossolalia. I am confident that about 95% of Southern Baptists would agree with that definition. That would be 19 out of every 20 people. If the vast majority of Southern Baptists agree with the definition of glossolalia that the IMB has adopted, then the tiny minority who advocate glossolalia have a monumental task. You will have to convince the vast majority. I doubt that rhetoric alone will succeed.

In summary, the attitude of Corbaley and other IMB trustee leaders could be expressed this way: "Farewell, those of you in the tiny minority of Southern Baptists. You will not be able to cooperate with us in mission work. We know what true Baptist Identity is, and you don't meet the standard." No longer was the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message the consensus doctrinal statement for cooperative missions. IMB trustees had doctrinally "backdoored" the SBC and narrowed the doctrinal parameters of SBC missionary cooperation without full Convention approval.

Three days later LifeWay come out with their survey that 50% of Southern Baptist pastors believed glossolalia was a legitimate gift of the Spirit of God and glossolalia could be used in private prayers. Conveniently, Corbaley removed his blog post that trumpeted 95% agreement in the Southern Baptist Convention with his cessationist views.

It was Corbaley who also called Dr. Rankin, a man who possesses a private prayer language, an idiot. Corbaley said that the IMB administrator who told me that there was "no internal investigation of the IMB" as had been required by the 2006 Southern Baptist Convention was an idiot. That administrator was Dr. Rankin. Corbaley deleted the offending blog post shortly thereafter.

It was Corbaley who publicly threatened David Roger's job as an IMB missionary because David Rogers, son of Adrian Rogers, dared to question IMB trustee leaders' rationale and authority to implement "doctrinal policies" that exceeded the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Corbaley wrote to Rogers (19th comment from the top):

I find such (criticism) intolerable.

Please immediately contact your Regional Leader and discuss your need to criticize the IMBoT publicly. That is my strong preference. I think he would concur.

Or, please ask me directly to contact the trustees and ask the proper subcommittee to consider your criticism of the Board of Trustees. I will not choose to “rat you out”. Nor do I particularly look forward to the public accusations that will come my way should you outright ask me to contact the trustees. If you want it to happen this way, and have me involved in it, you will have to ask me directly.

I will not insult your sincerity and integrity by asking you to stop criticizing the Board of Trustees. That is your choice.

Of course, the implication was clear. You choose to criticize, you lose your job. Mr. Corbaley is like others who held trustee leadership positions from 2005-2008; all of whom were not comfortable with being challenged. They seemed not to be able to understand that there is a difference between Southern Baptists challenging a "position" and Southern Baptists attacking a person. For whatever reason, Mr. Corbaley believed that for someone to challenge his "position" on tongues, was an attack on his personal integrity.

It was Mr. Corbaley who, without even once approaching me personally about his intended actions, made the extraordinary motion to remove me from the International Mission Board. Less than 60 days later that motion was unanimously rescinded by the trustees of the International Mission Board due to the uproar in the Convention over such a drastic action to silence a minority view. Mr. Corbaley sought to defend his repeated, over-the-top actions to silence anyone who disagreed with him by starting a blog called The Most Excellent Way. Corbaley said of his blog.

"Dozens of articles were written, comments were posted, and the interactive exchange of information continued through the months and years.

However, I became a lightning rod in an electrical storm of half-informed voices who interpreted patience, kindness and gentleness as an opportunity to attack. So I have ceased addressing convention political issues, deleted the vast majority of articles, and closed this blog to comments.

Truth has a way, in the end, of standing the test of time. When it is difficult to defend one's positions under the intense scrutiny that comes when one declares he speaks for 95% of Southern Baptists, then the temptation comes to remove the blog. When it is frustrating to realize that you have to answer tough, penetrating questions from people who challenge your assumptions, then it is tempting to call those who question you "half-informed voices" and close all comments to your blog. When it is obvious that not all Southern Baptists hold to your "doctrinal" views, and will not sit by and allow you to impose your "doctrinal" convictions that exceed the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message on all Southern Baptists through forbidding those who disagree from serving on the mission field, then it is tempting to threaten the employment of those who dare challenge your "authority."

But truth, in the end, will stand the test of time.

I wish Jerry Corbaley the best in his new efforts in Hawaii. I pray his ministry prospers and his family enjoys serving Southern Baptists as a pastor of a local congregation. I also hope that Jerry will be able to express more tolerance to members of his congregation who may disagree with his teaching, or at least, allow members to question him without assuming it is a personal attack.

Our International Mission Board is one step closer to overturning the two "doctrinal" policies that have ripped the thread of cooperation from the fabric of Southern Baptist cooperative missions. For that, I am grateful. In time, they will be overturned. That time can be measured one trustee at a time.

In His Grace,


Wade Burleson