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No one was denied the right to speak at the BGCT 
By David R. Currie,
Coordinator 

It has been interesting to read the statements by several fundamentalists that they were intentionally not recognized by BGCT President Clyde Glazener to speak during the discussion on the Seminary Study Committee report at the annual meeting of the BGCT in Corpus Christi. This is untrue.

Prior to the committee report, several other people including Phil Lineberger and Russell Dilday were at microphones ready to speak in favor of the report. Dr. Lineberger stood at microphone one and Dr. Dilday stood at microphone four. Like a number of others, neither was recognized and neither ever got to speak. It really upset me because I think they are two of our most effective spokesmen. Were they intentionally ignored by BGCT president Clyde Glazener?

No. They were victims of the "fairness" system used by the BGCT, just like the pastor of First Baptist, Dallas, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president Ken Hemphill and others who wanted to speak in opposition to the report.

The "fairness" system, used by the BGCT, works like this. Others were recognized to speak and time ran out. It is always disappointing to lose the vote on a critical issue. I lost them for years at SBC meetings.

The BGCT uses a very fair system. The person presiding does not pick who is recognized nor can he or she see who is at the microphones due to the bright lights. The parliamentarian tells the person presiding whom to recognize based on who pushed the button first and whether or not they need a pro or con response.

Glazener did tell some of the fundamentalist who are upset about not being recognized to let him know which microphone they would be at and he would see that they were recognized but none gave this information to Glazener (as Charles Wade had done in Orlando and was recognized by Paige Patterson).

January 2001