Friday, December 21, 2007

Muzzling the Dog: No More Munching on "Ole Roy" (the Walmart Dog Food That Is)

His Barking Dog began at the instigation of Durable Data's Glenn Layne. Durable felt that it would be valuable to have a wider range of reporting and commentary on ABC related issues, particularly given the paucity of reliable information from the standard denominational sources. Few organizations have a greater corporate ethos of self-protection and ingrained denial than the American Baptist Churches (IMO). Corporate actions often bear only a passing resemblance to what is actually reported. And, the corporate culture over decades has shielded decision makers from the consequences of significant ethical and moral lapses.

Given the fact that several of my friends continue to serve in the hierarchy, it seemed a natural idea to begin blogging. And for a time, my keyboard clattered away with piece after piece, offering an evangelical commentary on all things ABC. When my judicatory, ABCPSW, voted to withdraw from the larger family, my postings dropped significantly, both in volume and as a percentage of topics tackled in this venue.

This week, it came to my attention that some of my blogs and message board postings have had damaging repercussions on the cause of Christ and involved people I love in legal complications. Now that I am somewhat an insider at Transformation Ministries as Treasurer of the organization, this will simply no longer do.

When my postings end up being referenced in attorney's letters to people I care about, enough is enough. Since there is no practical way to avoid legal repercussions arising from comments about the way VF does things (even when the statistics and reporting are strictly accurate), I have concluded that it might be better to retire from reporting and commenting on the ABC entirely. Ultimately, it really doesn't matter anyway. And, the cost to people I care about is too great. An important lesson to be learned from the original Star Wars movie comes from the advice C3PO gave to R2D2 when Han Solo advised him that angry Wookies pull their opponents' arms out of their sockets: "New strategy R2, let the Wookie win." With respect to the politics of the ABC, C3PO's admonition is just as valuable.

His Barking Dog will still speak on issues of importance and consequence from an evangelical and Baptist perspective at this web address. However, there will be no more comments about the organization known as ABCUSA.

4 comments:

revdrron said...

Good... I look forward to hearing more from the dog's evangelical perspective on issues of mutal importance and consequence!

enjoy, ron

Dave Miller said...

Dennis, know that you have provided a valuable service to many within the ABC. I look forward to reading your take on many other issues as the new year dawns!

J.R. Maz said...

Hey Dennis - I have appreciated your efforts at keeping us informed. Even if ABC items will no longer be under your microscope I will keep reading to see what you are barking at!

Jerry Graham said...

Dennis,

Sorry that things have turned out the way they have for you over the ABC/USA. You have really helped many of us get a perspective that we could truly get no where else and I fo rone am very grateful to you for it. Unfortunately for the rest of us it leaves us with more voices of spin than not. Thanks for all you've done in providing information- true information. Grace and peace to you and your family.