Paper read at Faculty Meeting on November 8, 2007
Dr. Robert Gromacki, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Bible and Greek
In my devotional on August 8, I encouraged all of us to be faithful stewards of what God and others had entrusted to us, to walk worthy of our divine calling, to walk as Spirit-controlled believers, to walk with enlightened Christian minds, and to walk as Jesus Christ walked.
In that message, I mentioned that I had concerns and suspicions over what had happened here at Cedarville over the past months. Those concerns and suspicions were in two basic areas: One -- Has anyone violated the doctrinal statement of Cedarville University? And Two -- Is anyone promoting the Emerging Church agenda on our campus?
To answer those questions, I needed to read, to talk, to listen, and to analyze. In the past three months, I have read five books: three by Brian McLaren (A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and The Secret Message of Jesus), The Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight, and The Truth War by John MacArthur. In addition, I have read papers and articles written by some of our faculty and others written by those outside of our school.
I have had conversations with President Brown, with administrators both past and present, with professors both past and present, with pastors, and with alumni.
The climax of my research came on October 10 when I met for three and one-half hours with Tom Hutchison, David Mills, Tim Gombis, Chris Miller, and Dan Estes. At my request, David Warren attended the meeting as an observer. David Warren is an alumnus, a past professor, and a present trustee here at Cedarville. We had open discussion within a warm Christian and academic atmosphere.
As a result of our interaction, both David Warren and I agreed that there has been no violation of the University Doctrinal Statement by anyone within the School of Biblical and Theological Studies. We further agreed that no one within the School of Biblical and Theological Studies is seeking to promote the belief systems of Brian McLaren and the Emerging Church movement.
We ended our meeting by affirming each other, by hugging each other, and by praying for each other.
Since that time, I have shared my conclusions with many interested people both within and without our school.
It is my prayer and hope that all of us would be knit together in love and unity as we seek to serve our God and the students of Cedarville University. May we always stand for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
