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No
one was denied the right to speak at the BGCT 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). |