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The
Man Who Should Have Been The man who should have been elected to be the Executive Director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma never became one. He is Dr. Robert Haskins. Anthony Jordan succeeded Bill Tanner to this position but it should have been Dr. Haskins. Robert Haskins, now retired, joined the BGCO staff in the Department of Language Missions in the late 1960s. He had been pastor of Knobb Hill Baptist Church in south Oklahoma City. Upon the retirement of Dr. J. T. Roberts, he became the Director of the Department of Language Missions. When I completed seminary in 1974, I returned to Oklahoma and was appointed as a Home Mission Board supported missionary to the Indians. I became the pastor of the Indian Baptist Church in the small northwestern town of Canton. Working as a home missionary, I answered directly to Dr. Haskins. Dr. Haskins is one of the most gracious and godly Christian men I know. Missions, according to the Great Commission, was his passion. His desire was always to build and grow the Kingdom of God on earth. He was never a "climber," and did not use denominational politics to gain favor with people. He was not a controller of people. Rather, he treated all people --i.e. pastors, missionaries, and local church members-- as colleagues in ministry. He did not use people as a means to gain positions of power. His desire as Director of the Language Missions Department was to see all of the ethnic groups in Oklahoma come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He worked tirelessly and without desire of attention to advance the cause of missions in Oklahoma. When Dr. Joe Ingram retired as BGCO Executive Director in 1986, William G. Tanner succeeded him. Tanner had been the General Secretary of the Home Mission Board. Tanner served as BGCO Executive Director for seven years. Under Tanner, Dr. Haskins was promoted to Associate Executive Director of the BGCO. He was serving in this position when Tanner retired. After he retired, Haskins should have been the man to become the next Executive Director of the BGCO . He had faithfully served Oklahoma Baptists in the Baptist Building for nearly 30 years. He was the most logical choice in all of Oklahoma. However, he was not chosen. Instead, Anthony Jordan became the Executive Director of the BGCO. Why was Haskins not chosen for the job? Why was a man with 30 years of faithful service to Oklahoma Baptists passed over in favor of a man who had zero years of experience in the Baptist Building? The simple answer is power politics. Robert Haskins' philosophy was always that the office seeks the man. Anthony Jordan's philosophy is that the man seeks the office. Anthony Jordan is a power-hungry, denominational politician after the mold of the Pressler-Patterson SBC takeover faction. He plays hard-ball denominational politics. He uses people to accomplish his agenda. He plays for keeps and does not share unless people are blindly loyal to him and his agenda. As evidence of this, during the time Jordan was president of the BGCO, Joe Ingram, former BGCO Executive Director, became active in the Cooperating Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma. Dr. Ingram wrote a letter to Oklahoma Baptist pastors, supporting the CBFO. Ingram invited them to attend a CBFO meeting. Jordan and his camp were incensed by this letter and it set off a controversy that led the BGCO to attempt to silence Ingram. Jordan publicly condemned Ingram for this action. Jordan led a committee to discipline Ingram for writing the letter. Of course, this is the modus operandi of Southern Baptist fundamentalists. When the Executive Director Search Committee was chosen to replace Tanner, Jordan became a member of the committee. By then, he had already served a two-year term as BGCO President. He was at the apex of the political power structure in the BGCO. Being the most powerful man on the committee, he was chosen to be its chairman. It didn't take long for the committee to choose the next Executive Director of the BGCO, because Jordan resigned as chairman of the committee and submitted his name as a candidate. It was a masterful display of power politics. How was a committee that Jordan already controlled NOT going to choose him to succeed Tanner? He had the committee in the palm of his hand. Never mind that he had zero years of experience in leading Oklahoma Baptists. Never mind that Dr. Haskins had 30 years of distinguished service and experience. Never mind that Dr. Haskins was the obvious best choice. In Oklahoma Baptist life, power politics trumps faithful service nearly every time. The man who should have been the BGCO Executive Director never became one. The man who used power politics did. Such is life in today's Southern Baptist Convention. Such is life in the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. -- December 11, 2002 |