MBBC President resigned under pressure

John, I'm not of the charismatic faith; I actually taught in a Baptist seminary. Remember with Jimmy Swaggart, it took sometime for the whole truth to finally come out. I suspect Dave Jaspers shares more with Jimmy Swaggart than anybody would like to admit.

 

Actually, jbrown, I was going by your public profile and church membership stated therein. But hey, please give Dr. Jaspers the benefit of the doubt here. Wouldn't you want it given to you? "Innocent until proven guilty?"

 

Let me say a little bit more about Jimmy Swaggart. In the 70's I would listen to him sometimes on his TV show. I wasn't a fan of his preaching but he played a great gospel piano.

When he first fell he wasn't ready to deal with his sins; (who of us are? God waited about 9 months before he sent Nathan to confront David). So Jimmy made shallow repentance undoubtedly feeling that his church and school could not exist without him. BTW, he was right. They couldn't exist without him; but that's another story.

The lessons of history are clear. When you publically fall; stand like a man, admit your sins and absolutely MAKE NO EXCUSES. The pain will be unbearable for a brief time but if you just 'fess up to the whole enchilada and do it without excuse you'll be forgiven.

But Jimmy didn't do that and the Assembly of God acted in a very Biblical manner and disfellowshipped him ( or whatever you call it).

You might think Dave Jaspers has come totally clean; Sadly, I'm pretty sure you'd be wrong. jb

 

And do you actually know Dave Jaspers?

"Love thinketh no evil." I have no illusions about any man's perfection, but I believe the Bible teaches that we should not think evil of a person when the evil has not been proven. So I gave Swaggart the benefit of the doubt until his sins were proven and I will do the same with Dave Jaspers--just as I would hope people would do with me.

Lives and ministries have been destroyed by false accusations. Can you guarantee the accusations are not false??

 

Moderator Note>

JofJ is correct. This is a Baptist Only section of the BB. To post here one must be a Baptist and belong to a Baptist church. Others may post in any of the other sections of the BB.

Roger
C4K
Moderator

 

Changing Membership

I went ahead and changed my membership last nite! So I guess I'm back

 

OK - so what do 'we' do with men that have failed? I know that the SBC has taken care of some, and just about ruined others. Can this president survive, be reconciled, or what do we do for him or against him?

 

We don't even know if Dr Japers failed - other than a lack of wisdom in keeping himself above reproach.

 

You are correct. I meant the statement more generically. To include all men that have lost favor and or failed in ministry.

My apology and my thanks for setting me and the record straight.

 

In reply to what you are saying about Dr. Jaspers, you are completely out of line. Gossip is what you are participating in. You do not know anything more than anyone else, but yet you must have had some great revelation for you to come to the conclusions that you have.

It would be the same as me saying, "Those who talk about another's sin must have greater sin himself in that area. I know for a fact that this is probably true, even though I can't state facts. Therefore, Jbrown, you are guilty of a greater sin than Dr. Jaspers in the area of which you talked about."

What kind of reasoning is that? It is pure slander and gossip of the worst kind. Insinuations have a way of starting a train of thought that is not based on truth, but said often enough becomes fact in people's minds.

 

He did do something wrong - no one denies that.

He did not use wisdom in seeking message therapy and doing so is such a way that he did not keep himself blameless.

He may be guilty of more than that, but we haev no proof, until then I will accept his word.

 

I agree. Any more than this is pure speculation.

 

I trust the board, myself. They are good, godly men. Since they "remained quiet," they must have believed they had a Christian duty to do so. Who are we to criticize, bereft of their information?

 

I feel badly for Jaspers and his family and the institution.

No, IMHO, remaining silent would not give anyone closure or answers. When Jaspers goes to his next interview and is asked why he left, what is he to say? If there is total silence on the issue, he would feel the devil's pressure to lie . . . Unfortunately, he is given the freedom to tell the truth. I went and got a massage for back pain. This therapy went against what the board considered good for the school. Anything more is not necessary.

I have found that being clear is always better than being not clear - had the board been silent, the secretaries could have spread the news like wildfire. Had they been allowed that opportunity to fail, and the did fail, the gossip would have been devastating to the school, the student body, Jaspers and his family.

Humbly yours

 

Broader considerations

I know Dave Jaspers and have the highest respect for him. Although I do believe he made some unwise choices and did wrong actions, there is no evidence that he has committed moral sins, which would disqualify him from the ministry. On the other hand, it has destroyed his credibility as a college president and cost him one ministry, the presidency of MBBC.

The gossipy armchair seers who read between the lines and are insinuating the worst possible scenarios disconcert me. I agree with JoJ and C4k in their wise, perceptive and balanced views expressed on this subject.

Rather than continuing the dissection of minutiae and detail filled with supposition and speculation, would it not be better to look at the broader picture and consider how this situation speaks to us who are in ministry? When another leader, whom I revere and admire, falls into trouble, I generally take stock and consider myself so that I don’t fall into a similar trap. All of us have feet of clay too.

One of the things that Dave Jaspers mentioned was pride. We are all susceptible to the deceitfulness of pride. This is the risk of leadership. Throughout Fundamentalism, many leaders have done unwise things that tended to discredit an otherwise fruitful ministry. When you are being praised and fawned upon, it is easy to acquire a feeling of invincibility and do foolish things. Perhaps we need to be continually reminded of the danger and results of pride (Proverbs 11:2; 16:18; 29:23).

Furthermore, we may well consider how our expectations put pressure on our leadership. We expect leaders to produce results. I am not sure that our results oriented viewpoint is Biblical teaching. It seems that God’s emphasis is upon faithfulness rather than results. Someone questioned the extensive traveling of a Christian college president. This is simply part of the promotional and recruitment aspects of the job. He must travel to raise the funds and to get the students. He must produce the results.

What do you think?