“Iron Lady” Mindy May – Best Qualified For the Job or Another Case of Loyalty Rewarded by Thomas White?

In this article, I will be examining the long-term friendship between Thomas White and Mindy May. Thomas White is a protege of Paige Patterson, this relationship has influenced Thomas White to such a degree that he operates in much the same way Paige Patterson operated; this is especially obvious in the way White surrounds himself with a small cadre of individuals who are fiercely loyal to him. White rewards their loyalty with long term employment, not concerning himself with the fact that his friends may not be the best choice for the job, or even qualified for the job.

White and Patterson also have a strong sense of entitlement. Rules are for the serfs, not the royalty. Lying and covering up are justified in their minds, as demonstrated in the Anthony Moored scandal. White wanted to give his good friend, Anthony Moore, a job, the fact that Moore was a sexual predator did not phase White in the least.

One of Cedarville University’s core values is integrity. I believe Thomas White has demonstrated a serious lack of integrity in his conduct over the years. It will be interesting to see if the Cedarville Board of Trustees upholds the core values of the institution. If White retains his job as President of CU you can be sure that a majority of men on the BOT lack integrity. At that point, they will have demonstrated to the world that Cedarville University’s Core Values are nothing more than hollow words.


The “Iron Lady” Mindy May says she highly values integrity. One, therefore, wonders if she feels at all conflicted working for her great friend and role model, Thomas White? Has the revelation of Thomas White’s lack of integrity which has come to light over the past few months shaken May’s devotion and fierce loyalty to Thomas White?  How can Ms. May justify the enforcement of the Student Code of Conduct while winking at Thomas White’s lack of integrity in the Anthony Moore scandal and the participation in the cover-up of the Megan Lively rape?

-Link to the above article.

 


-Link to the above article.

 

[youtube]https://youtu.be/0K4y23_NSl0[/youtube]

“Jennifer Beck was the director of the counseling center there at Cedarville when Dr. White became president. Jennifer Beck was independently licensed as a clinical therapist since 2008. When Dr. White came in, she was just the interim director. They actually interviewed several people and hired a new interim director. And it wasn’t Jennifer Beck. And she said at the time that she got asked a lot of questions from the administration, felt like there wasn’t a lot of trust with the professional counselors that they had. And the person that got the position, which I know is going to come up a lot in your story, is somebody by the name of Mindy May. Mindy is not a professional licensed counselor. So she was hired as the head of the counseling department and she’s not a licensed professional counselor. Beck told me that during a meeting with administrators and some of the counselors at Cedarville, when they announced that Mindy May was going to take over some of the counselors said, “Well, is this a problem, that she’s not a licensed professional counselor?” And the response that Beck said that they got from an administrator was that that was baffling that they would ask that, and that reportedly, the administrator said that the state licensure is just the state imposing its standards and worldview on a Christian institution.”
-Julie Roys, “Rape Victim at Cedarville Asks: “Where was my protection?”

I recommend that everyone click on the link above and listen to Julie Roys’ interview of a former Cedarville student who suffered greatly during her short time at the institution. Pay special attention to the lack of loving care she received from Mindy May, Jon Wood, and Thomas White. This trio were close friends at SWBTS and White recruited his pals to work for him at Cedarville. 

Cedarville faculty members immediately raised concerns with Thomas White regarding the hiring of Mindy May for the position of “Director of Counseling.” Chief among their concerns was the fact that Mindy May was not a licensed professional counselor in either Texas or Ohio. (May did go on to obtain a Ph.D. in Biblical Counseling from SWBTS, which is a version of the nouthetic approach.) Concerns were also raised that May would be supervising licensed counselors as their superior/boss. White brushed off their legitimate concerns. (More about this below.)

Faculty and staff quickly realized that if you were not a member of White’s inner circle of friends (see photo below) questioning him on any subject could elicit a harsh response and possibly even be a career-threatening move. Here is an example cited by Ruth Lowrie Markham, a former professor:

“Several weeks later, at a town hall meeting with faculty, one individual who was on the tenure committee asked Reno why so many faculty who had been approved by the university tenure committee had been denied tenure by him. He stated that the board received a full packet of information on each faculty member who was up for tenure and they voted on them with that information. I raised my hand and stated that Dr. White (who was also in attendance) told me directly that the board of trustees would only receive a list of names of those who were not approved for tenure. Reno said that, no, that wasn’t correct, they had a whole portfolio of information on each individual who was up for tenure. I addressed Dr. White at that time and stated, “That’s not what you said to me.” He stood up and said, “I’m putting a stop to this right now.” I sat down and shut up, which is what I think he wanted all along.”
-Source

 

[youtube]WNmek5xhrkE[/youtube]

In the video above, Mindy May mentions that three members of her “Mindy May Life Team” were moving from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to Cedarville University. Thomas White was one of the three. He offered May a job at Cedarville, but May turned the offer down. After arriving in Cedarville, Jon Wood, whom I assume was another of the party of three who were leaving for Cedarville, called Mindy May and convinced her to pay a visit to the Cedarville campus. After her visit, May accepted the position of “Director of Counseling Services” and moved to Cedarville, beginning her new job as Director of Counseling on January 6, 2014. I assume the third member of the “Mindy May Life Team” was Zach Bowden.

Left to right: Jason Lee(Bible Dept. Chair), Zachary Bowden, Thomas White, JG Duesing,
Mindy May, Jon Wood, Billy Marsh

As mentioned above, the faculty of Cedarville University has very limited input with Thomas White. Many are fearful of saying anything for fear of losing their job. They also are fearful of saying anything negative about CU in emails or on social media. One limited avenue they do have is the “Faculty Committee to the President” (FCP). The FCP is a group that represents faculty and holds occasional meetings with the president. Faculty are elected to the committee by peers. It is an advisory committee only. It has no voting power and it is not a faculty senate. It merely brings topics to the president and then communicates back to the faculty. It tries to be an advocacy group for faculty concerns and needs, but it has no power beyond advising and apprising the president of issues.
An anonymous CU faculty member has provided me with the minutes from four FCP meetings along with some helpful commentary. I have combined all four sets of minutes into one document and placed it on Scribd. The document can be viewed at the end of this article. I have also taken some screenshots from each meeting and will display those individually along with explanatory comments from my anonymous friend.
By way of introduction, here is what my source wrote to me:
“Initially, my goal was just to show the grave concern faculty felt for Mindy May’s dual role in student life and counseling, in addition to her lack of licensure. These minutes show that this issue was raised with Dr. White and he was warned at least three times over a two-year span. As I read these minutes, though, I had trouble focusing only on the student counseling issue because the same additional problems kept resurfacing: faculty fear, gun culture, mysterious changes to faculty documents such as the handbook and our contracts, and the chipping away of shared governance.” 
October 2015
-Shows the level of fear faculty works under. Fear of emails and social media being read. In fact, at least one staff member was let go for a social media post. Dr. White told her we do not publicly bash our friends after she shared an article about a sexual predator associated with the SBC. Yet, we know how victims are subject to public shaming. Many faculty report the need for professional treatment to help them deal with the fear and anxiety they work in. One current faculty wrote to me that he has sought counseling in recent years for help with anxiety and depression, and he knows of other faculty who have also. These faculty told him working at Cedarville under the White, Reno and Mach administration became increasingly discouraging and worsened other issues in their lives to the point where they sought professional help. One faculty member reported that the counselor they were seeing said “I know of many colleagues in the area who have been seeing more and more clients from Cedarville University in the past few years.”
-It is in these minutes the FCP first brought the concerns widely shared from across campus to Dr. White’s attention regarding the ethics of having Mindy May, an unlicensed professional, in charge of both student counseling and student life where she was in a position to discipline. Here he asks for an opportunity to rectify the situation before people report it to the HLC. It is brought up in nearly every FCP meeting for years after, yet the formal HLC complaint filed on behalf of many current and former faculty, staff, and students was not filed until 2020. White had ample opportunity to fix it, yet chose not to. The question is, why?”.
-The FCP voices concerns about the lack of faculty governance. White ignores the fact it is an HLC mandate. White attempts to list examples of our “shared governance.” In reality, concerns brought to Dr. White by the FCP are almost always dismissed out of hand, and the committee itself has been reduced to an information gathering committee as though they are working as administrative assistants to the President as opposed to representatives elected by their peers to advise the President on significant faculty perspectives. Faculty Academic Advisory Committee (FAAC)speaks only to academic issues, not policy or discipline, and the University Tenure and Promotion Committee (UTPC) was proven powerless in 2017 when half of the faculty they recommended for tenure was denied such by administration. 
December 2015
-Again, role of FCP diminished when the FCP asked to host town hall meetings and were told no. When asked if they could hold luncheons, the FCP was told they could but only to focus on such benign questions as, “How is the new advising system working out?”.
-These minutes document how new criteria for integration papers, the process for which had been in place and outlined in the handbook, were changed without faculty input or knowledge. 
-The FCP again expressed concern about the HLC mandate for shared governance and warned it could be a problem for the institution. 
-Again, on behalf of faculty across the university, the FCP pointed out the inappropriateness of the lack of separation between counseling services and student life. Dr. White states we have “safeguards in place.” This begs the question, safeguards for whom?” Students? Or the University?
April 2016
-Concerns about concealed carry are raised.
-Once again addressing Counseling Services, faculty expressed concern about the idea of allowing faculty to “mentor” students in need of counseling instead of getting them the professional help they were requesting and needing. 
-The section on changes to the handbook shows the level of faculty distrust. Changes seemed to be just appearing without conversation or notification. 
-Shows how shared governance was continuing to be squashed. For example, White states he doesn’t need faculty input on creating an additional level of administration (AVPA), and the request for a faculty square to “discuss common concerns” was denigrated to a place to “have fellowship.”
February 2017
-The statement regarding M. Lopez’s resignation from the committee is not surprising. He had been vocal about his objections to the changes being made to the handbook and this had brought him much stress and scrutiny by the administration. At an FCP meeting prior to this one, Dr. White had shouted at M. Lopez in an attempt to silence him to the point where the atmosphere became so secular and unnerving that one FCP member asked to pause the meeting so she could pray for those present.

-These minutes outline how the University Tenure and Promotion Committee (UTPC) had lost all power, leaving administration to pick and choose who received tenure based on vague reasons and expectations. It is difficult to justify denying tenure to faculty members who were approved by literally tens of their peers on one hand while knowingly putting a sexual predator in the classroom on the other.
-Once again the issue of concealed carry arises. It should have been clear by this point that a substantial number of faculty holders and stakeholders opposed it, and it should have been dropped. However, Dr. White’s desire to create a gun culture on campus eventually prevailed and CU became the first institution of higher learning in the state of Ohio to allow concealed carry on campus. 

 

One additional document I would like to draw your attention to is a PDF file found at this link:

http://rightingamerica.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Orientation-to-Cedarville-Universitys-Threatening-Culture.pdf

The document contains a warning to current and potential students as well as a very helpful link to all the various blog articles that have exposed the Anthony Moore/Thomas White scandal. Give it a look!

Comments

“Iron Lady” Mindy May – Best Qualified For the Job or Another Case of Loyalty Rewarded by Thomas White? — 85 Comments

  1. Counseling in church, seminary and other Christian education settings is a division of Practical Theology.

    Is it really biblically sound, trying for the sake of argument to see things from the theological perspective preferred by White, to have a female head of a department of practical theology, exercising authority over adult males on the faculty and among the students?

    This looks to me to be a bit of an inconsistency.

  2. These issues are similar to Liberty and Masters, in the hiring of family and friends who are not qualified for their positions or are taking the positions for purposes of power or money and not education.

    I counseled someone in the last year not to send their children to a Christian college for these reasons. I was completely open with them than a Christian college degree is seen as lesser in the job market, from my own experience.

    Christians can pretend like the rest of the world doesn’t know these things, but they do. I’ve been asked about them. I mean, Liberty even made it into my local Georgia paper on Sunday for their bad behavior. Christians are some of the worst behaved people in the country despite their claims to being morally superior.

  3. Samuel Conner:
    Counseling in church, seminary and other Christian education settings is a division of Practical Theology.

    Is it really biblically sound, trying for the sake of argument to see things from the theological perspective preferred by White, to have a female head of a department of practical theology, exercising authority over adult males on the faculty and among the students?

    This looks to me to be a bit of an inconsistency.

    Actualy no.

    As I mentioned before at least once,
    Neo-Cal is a significantly female doctrinal construct. There is evidence that a spiritual mother is the source of it’s origin.
    While Kuyper may have laid it’s 1890’s foundation, that foundation had a spiritual mother.

    The spiritual pietism associated with this movement is in my opinion, female based. The strong masculinity is more external, in my opinion. Beneath the surface I believe, is a more emotional female component. My position is that Neo-Cal shares traits common to religion since the dawn of man. There is ultimately a mother goddess element to religion, no matter how masculine it appears.

  4. Nathan Priddis: Neo-Cal is a significantly female doctrinal construct. There is evidence that a spiritual mother is the source of it’s origin.
    While Kuyper may have laid it’s 1890’s foundation, that foundation had a spiritual mother.

    You’re given modern New Cals way too much credit. While they do have some historical basis, most modern New Calvinist theology is not based in historic theology, at least in the way you are thinking. They read it, then make up their own interpretations, and sometimes just decide things to suit themselves. I’ve watched this process in person at seminary.

    They didn’t create this theology to be historical. They throw out creeds and confessions and any council or prebytery accountability. They use it because it provides an excuse for an angry God that allows them to be controlling, angry pastors and leaders and an elite group of “elect” that can cast down condemnation for those who don’t follow them.

    Their motivation is not historical, it’s based on power.

  5. Samuel Conner: Is it really biblically sound, trying for the sake of argument to see things from the theological perspective preferred by White, to have a female head of a department of practical theology, exercising authority over adult males on the faculty and among the students?

    This does go against White’s group and is a good point. Although he’s a Patterson protege, many of the changes at Cedarville have been decidedly New Calvinist (the board definitely is). White may be somewhere in the middle of the two, I know people like that who just go with whoever they think will grant them the most power. Patterson absolutely didn’t subscribe to women being in leadership positions unless it was on the international mission field and there was no one else (something he told me personally).

    I’m just not sure what May brings to the table that White couldn’t find in someone else.

  6. Samuel Conner,

    I learned a long time ago that integrity and consistency is only important for the pew peons. It does not apply to “Anointed ones”.

  7. ishy: They didn’t create this theology to be historical. They throw out creeds and confessions and any council or prebytery accountability. They use it because it provides an excuse for an angry God that allows them to be controlling, angry pastors and leaders and an elite group of “elect” that can cast down condemnation for those who don’t follow them.

    The history and theology is only there to give Cosmic Justification to “What I Wanna!”

  8. Jeffrey Chalmers:
    Samuel Conner,

    I learned a long time ago that integrity and consistency is only important for the pew peons. It does not apply to “Anointed ones”.

    “Messiah” is Hebrew for “Anointed One”.
    “Christos” in Greek.
    Hence these “Anointed Ones” are actually “Christs”, and I think St Paul & St John had things to say about “other Christs”.

  9. I am also struck that a reason to leave CCCU, given by Dr. White, is that many of the schools affirm evolution. Sigh…..

  10. The Body of Christ can do a better job at picking leaders for their colleges/seminaries … but maybe not – there appears to be an impenetrable network of dudebros and buds that take care of each other … leading our youth without a spiritual bone in their bodies. Sad.

  11. ishy: Although he’s a Patterson protege, many of the changes at Cedarville have been decidedly New Calvinist (the board definitely is).

    If you aspire to climb the ladder within SBC these days, you ‘must’ be a New Calvinist!

  12. Nathan Priddis: The strong masculinity is more external, in my opinion. Beneath the surface I believe, is a more emotional female component.

    Stereotypes?

    —-

    “strong masculine” “external”

    —-

    “Beneath the surface” “more emotional” “female component”

    —-

    Tim Fall (@tim_fall, timfall.com) has written extensively about this caricature of “masculine” and “feminine” supposedly attributed to theology & the Bible.

  13. They’ve been hosting an annual “9Marks at Cedarville” conference:

    https://www.cedarville.edu/News/2020/9Marks-Pastors-Conference-Explores-Church-Discipline.aspx

    Mark Vroegop (pictured) is a Gospel Coalition Council Member & Cedarville Trustee.

    The topic last year: “Church Discipline”. [what else!]

    Dever and Leeman had Thomas White write the chapter on that in their 2015 book on church government:

    https://founders.org/reviews/5291/

    “Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman have edited a new ecclesiology volume…Thomas White’s chapter is on ‘The Why, How and When of Church Discipline’…He explains the goal of church discipline (restoration)…and also explains how the process is slightly different with disciplining church leaders.”

  14. Ava Aaronson: Stereotypes?

    —-

    “strong masculine” “external”

    —-

    “Beneath the surface” “more emotional” “female component”

    —-

    Tim Fall (@tim_fall, timfall.com) has written extensively about this caricature of “masculine” and “feminine” supposedly attributed to theology & the Bible.

    I specificly refered to a sub-surface emotional element because the accounts of Kuyper’s creation of Sphere Theology (Neo-Cal) took place during an emotialy unstable time. He reportedly suffeted mental breakdown. My understanding is the timeframe was during the creation period, not merely afterwards.

    The female influence I mentioned was a member of his early congregation, and I understand the relationship took place over many years.

    The Jesus that emerged by the time of the Princton Stone Lectures, was an emphatic demanding God. This. Inage of Jesus would be atractive to young men, especialy those serking an outlet for internal tension.

  15. Nathan Priddis: I specificly refered to a sub-surface emotional element because the accounts of Kuyper’s creation of Sphere Theology (Neo-Cal) took place during an emotialy unstable time. He reportedly suffeted mental breakdown. My understanding is the timeframe was during the creation period, not merely afterwards.

    The female influence I mentioned was a member of his early congregation, and I understand the relationship took place over many years.

    The Jesus that emerged by the time of the Princton Stone Lectures, was an emphatic demanding God. This. Inage of Jesus would be atractive to young men, especialy those serking an outlet for internal tension.

    For clarity: My characterization of this female influence would be a defacto spritual motherhood. (A more spiritual individual guides a less spiritual individual in piety)

    This relationship would be anathema in contempary Complimentarian groups. This type of relationship is not however unique to Kuyper. Elizabeth Elliot and Henrietta Mears could arguably be discribed as women that influenced men in contradiction to the public doctrine of the men they influenced.

  16. The post shows info from 2014 that Mindy May wrote a doctoral dissertation entitled A Qualitative Study of the Trauma Needs among Adolescent Victims of Domestic Sex Trafficking. Did she complete this degree? I wonder what her findings were?

  17. Nathan Priddis: women that influenced men in contradiction to the public doctrine of the men they influenced

    This is interesting.

    However, careful not to cross a line and characterize this as feminine, or womanly, or mothering, or even spiritual.

    A woman/man may look at the theological studies or teachings of a guy but that guy is NOT acting as their “spiritual” “dad” or whatever figurehead configuration.

    In the blog post, these men are clearly using Mindy May for their purposes, and it seems to step beyond the professional, because she just may be professionally unqualified for her position.

    The fact that men who were against women having a voice in the church would solicit E. Elliot was her contradictory message for women to keep silent while she got a voice. Her voice, her pen, these were her bread and butter after Jim died. How convenient.

    For these men, they had their chosen woman figure to keep the rest of the church ladies under wrap.

    Nothing to do with mothering, or feminine or women, though. It’s snake oil – the chosen woman and her cadre of supportive men. Propping each other up for “ministry”, that is, for $$$.

    For E. Elliot, she was fighting off what she perceived as her competition, other women writers/speakers. She actually said this at a conference.

    For the cadre of men, they got to keep their own wives and church ladies as worker bees not permitted to speak or think. Again, how convenient.

    Mindy May and her posse? What’s the take-away for her? For them? There’s a deal in there some place.

  18. Ava Aaronson,

    I had never heard this about Elliot. But I agree that Elliot was a complete contradition with the type of men emerging in the later Evangelical era. The irony of Joshua Harris seeking her imput for a Purity era book. Everthing about her life contradicted the Purity keeper at home.

    The Henrietta Mears situation does feel like a wierd motherhood relationship with the budding Neo-Evangelcal figures. My impression was that Mears was the authority figure.

    My personal experiance is that ministry heads often hire type A female subordinates, who then play a supportive role to the male mysoginist. This would make the subordinate an enabler.

  19. Nathan Priddis: play a supportive role to the male misogynist. This would make the subordinate an enabler.

    No kidding. Good point.
    And there’s $$$ and power in it for both.
    So, Mindy May of the post is an enabler to the predator promoters that put her in place.

  20. ishy: I’m just not sure what May brings to the table that White couldn’t find in someone else.

    Inquiring minds want to know… Something seems to be missing.

  21. I was dismayed when I saw the man’s face. It said “are you watching this”.

    The woman is unsuccessfully pretending to be an individual.

    They themselves made themselves into a spectacle.

    They talk of “egg” (TM), “rehearsals” (TM), “costumes” (TM), “soft sciences” (TM), “poetry” (TM).

    They both “are” (TM) and “aren’t” (TM) “checking up” (TM) on “other people” (TM) and “themselves” (TM).

    What goes on in your country, gets copied here, in muted form.

    I wonder what “fraternities” (TM) he went to. I get the impression your country and its denominations (and public and commercial officials) has a problem with “fraternities” (TM) which we don’t get to hear any light on.

  22. What is the context for the 2014 photo of what looks like the cast of a “comedy” show?

    What does “no-one can fire the Iron Lady” (on a public channel) mean? What does it mean?

    Now she is a “Texan” (TM). What does “do life” (TM) mean?

    Of course something was “graciously” (TM). Why did the “audience” (TM) have to be kept in “stitches” (TM)?

  23. “One of Cedarville University’s core values is integrity”

    this is the domino that Todd pushed over….

  24. ishy: I’m just not sure what May brings to the table that White couldn’t find in someone else.

    More teeth than you can count?

  25. Mindy May had a stint on the SBC Committee on Nominations, which comes up with the trustees for the SBC seminaries and other entities!

  26. The juxtaposition of Mindy May’s hire, testimony, and reputation as the “Iron Lady” (i.e., not just her White-given nickname but also the perception many people on campus have about her–that she lacks the capability for empathy) with the minutes from the Faculty Committee to the President is telling. White began to quash faculty voices and disregard their concerns as soon as he arrived. In his very first meeting with faculty, he told them if they didn’t agree with them, he’d “help them find a job elsewhere,” and he made not-so-veiled threats about policing their social media. That was our introduction to our new president at the time: He wasn’t going to develop and earn our trust; he was going to lead through fear and intimidation. He’s made good on his word, as he has fired or forced out dozens of faculty and staff, including veterans who were even CU alumni like Bob Rohm, Roscoe Smith, and Joy Fagan (who, incidentally, founded Safe Harbor House in Springfield, Ohio, a safe house for women who’ve been trafficked–so while May was esteemed for her work with trafficked women, Fagan was pushed out for one reason only: She was a woman in the Bible department. Hypocrisy all around). And as these minutes show, despite repeated questions about May’s dual appointment as Dean of Women and Director of Counseling–two roles in obvious conflict–White just told faculty it’s all good. He also repeatedly disregarded faculty concerns on a number of other significant issues, including changes made to the faculty handbook and faculty procedures without faculty say; decisions about tenure that ran contrary to department and tenure committee reviews; guns, guns, and more guns (his new mansion will be adjacent to the gun range); and even the morale on campus. (For those who might be wondering: The last few years, White has met with the FC far less frequently, so more recent minutes are few and far between. In addition, White has always censored minutes to make himself look “gracious,” thus the reason there’s no mention of his tirade against veteran professor M. Lopez in the minutes themselves.)

    OTOH, we learn here that he hired Mindy May because she has a “voice” he wanted her to use. And he’s been “true to his word” on that, she says. So Mindy May gets a voice when no faculty or staff do–especially not women (certainly not Joy Fagan!)–unless they’re also from SWBTS or fundamentalist SBCers White hired. You can be sure that May’s voice is one of sycophancy and condemnation of anyone who isn’t a White worshipper. Honestly, we’ve been incredibly concerned about how cult-like the whole thing is. If they all truly worshipped Christ, they’d want to have integrity–yes!–in all they do. Truth would not scare them because they’d know the truth will set them free. If their goal, however, is to follow their own agenda and protect this man/school, they will accuse articles and statements revealing the facts of being “attacks from the devil” and will continue to work on image maintenance in every imaginable way. And of course, students, faculty, and staff are now telling us that administrators are calling every article that’s been published an “attack of the devil.” They’re telling everyone not to read any of it. It’s about control–still. Mindy May even is the one who sent the email to potential victims of Moore and gave them all of 5 days over Memorial Day weekend, no less, to respond to the lawyers investigating. It’s an atrocity. It’s all about controlling the narrative to make themselves look good. It’s not about truth and doesn’t honor Christ.

  27. d4v1d,

    As my late father use to say.. beware of the sin that the preacher preaches the most about… the preacher is probably guilty of it..

    If I were a science professor at Cedarville U., I could not have scientific integrity…. I would have to keep my mouth shut about the facts of an old earth, and evolutionary biology. Youth earth creationism contradicts, fundamental Physics principles…. This is not a “minor issue”…. if one wants to have INTEGRITY in teaching, and with what the data and theories, and in the case of physics, LAWS, says, one has to teach an OLD earth.

  28. drstevej: More teeth than you can count?

    Not cool. Don’t make fun of the way God made people. It’s mean, immature, and not even remotely funny.

  29. “One of Cedarville University’s core values is integrity”

    Huh?

    the school’s PR guys just put out a false narrative, and entitled it Honesty is Crucial:

    https://www.cedarville.edu/News/2020/First-African-American-Student-Honesty-and-Unity-in-Christ-are-Crucial.aspx

    “When James D. Parker Sr. arrived at Cedarville University in the fall of 1954 as its first black student, the United States was going through historic changes in the area of racial equality. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled earlier that year that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.”

    “This fall, Parker will be honored as Cedarville’s newest residence hall will bear his name…As Cedarville prepares to celebrate Parker, the country once again finds itself torn apart by racism after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.”

    [TRUTH: there were a number of African American students who attended and graduated from Cedarville for years prior to Parker’s arrival.]

    No issue naming a dorm after this alumnus, but what would motivate Cedarville’s PR Dept. to concoct this whopper about him being “the first African-American student at Cedarville”?

  30. Jeffrey Chalmers,

    PS… I have looked into how “recent” YEC “scientist” try to get around the implications of the LAWS of Physics and age of the earth, And I was shocked…. and I am a “cynical” guy to start with, so to “shock” me, it tells you something…

  31. Jerome:
    Mindy May had a stint on the SBC Committee on Nominations, which comes up with the trustees for the SBC seminaries and other entities!

    That might just be it. The nominations committee has been instrumental in placing a lot of the New Cals in places to “take over” the institutions. If she is was a key player in that, the job could be a reward for her obedience to the movement. And as head of counseling, she can reinforce neothetic counseling principles along with New Cal theology to Cedarville students because she has proved herself to do so before.

  32. Nuttshell: ishy: I’m just not sure what May brings to the table that White couldn’t find in someone else.

    Inquiring minds want to know… Something seems to be missing.

    One of the primary benefits she provided for Dr. White was “trust”. Regardless of how conservative or godly current faculty/staff at Cedarville were in 2013, when Thomas White arrived he did not appear to trust anyone. We were ALL viewed as suspect, and as time passed, those of us who dared to ask questions were confirmed in his mind as untrustworthy and needing to be removed. He brought in so many new individuals (almost entirely Southern Baptists from TX), who he felt he could trust. (I.e., to do the right thing, say the right words, support him the right way, etc.)

  33. Here might be an explaination for the mess Evangelicaism finds itself “Jesus and John Wayne” by Kristin Kobes Du Mez who is a professor of history at Calvin University and the author of A New Gospel for Women. She has written for the Washington Post, Christianity Today, Christian Century, and Religion & Politics, among other publications.

  34. Jerome,

    To answer your question, in 1953, the Baptist Bible Institute of Cleveland, Ohio merged with then-Presbyterian-run Cedarville College. So when the BBI came to Cedarville, the college transformed from being Presbyterian to being Baptist. My guess is that CU is not counting any African American students prior to that merger.

    As for race relations on campus, however, they are tense. Naming this dorm after Parker is meant to appease African Americans who’ve been upset about recent problems (but it is a weak gesture along those lines, even though it does honor a really good man and is certainly great to name a dorm after him). Many African Americans don’t feel safe on campus (i.e., meaning they suffer from many microaggressions daily–a kind of death by a thousand paper cuts) and have to constantly face attitudes and speech that demean them. For instance, on June 10, the famous rock on campus, which students paint over night with birthday greetings, Bible verses, and other messages, was painted with the message, “Black Lives Matter.” Soon thereafter, however, someone else came along, painted a line through “Black” and painted above it, “All.” (or perhaps one person or group did both). And that’s the mantra at CU. They refuse to say, “Black lives matter” because they don’t want to be associated with the BLM movement. In White-like, “all or nothing” fashion, CU rejects the affirmation completely, showing no ability for nuanced thought, thereby wounding all their black students deeply through erasure. You can view the original tweet decrying it here:

    https://twitter.com/arielmargarita/status/1270738986374516736

    In addition, in the midst of all the BLM protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder (not to mention Breonna Taylor’s, Ahmaud Arbery’s, etc.), CU posted nothing about the value of black lives except for a generic statement (i.e., all lives matter) with 2 Bible verses (Eph. 2:14 & Rev. 7:9) signed by their 8 white, male and 1 white, female VPs (https://www.cedarville.edu/News/2020/Statement-on-Racism.aspx). Unbelievably, they wrote in that statement, “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has said, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ As a University family committed to biblical justice, my prayer for our community is that we open our arms in love to all peoples and reflect the diversity of the Kingdom of God here at Cedarville University.” If the last two months of revelations have shown anything, it’s CU’s LACK of commitment to justice. And all peoples? Really? After purging dozens of CU employees not SBC-fundamentalist enough for White? No one can believe that statement but them.

    CU also must have forgotten that King likewise said that riots are “the language of the unheard” because to make matters worse, in a truly tone-deaf manner, CU posted news about one of its only African American professors, Dr. Patrick Oliver, and his recent appointment to Ohio’s Office of Law Enforcement Recruitment amid all of this. While the appointment is a big deal and Dr. Oliver is to be commended (he is an outstanding professor!), the announcement could have waited a few weeks. The fact is, CU chose to endorse law enforcement at the exact same time the rest of the nation is deeply grieving the losses of lives due to police brutality. Tone-deaf, indeed:

    https://twitter.com/cedarville/status/1275807434636918785

  35. Whistleblower4Jesus: Not cool. Don’t make fun of the way God made people. It’s mean, immature, and not even remotely funny.

    I’m not convinced that drstevej was making fun of the way God made people. It is clear, though, that the fundagelical world manipulates physical appearance all the time: hair, clothes, everything.

    But OK, if you want to talk substance, let’s focus on her words in the video. She describes having something called a Mindy May Life Team. (Do you have a 10-member Life Team named after yourself? Why or why not?) She said that 3 members of her Life Team decided to move to the Cedarville area around the time she was offered a job. She looked at the Mindy May Life Team and said, “You’re crazy. It’s Ohio. I’m a Texan. Please.”

    Check it out, starting around the 1:15 mark, and pay careful attention to her tone and the way she tosses her hair over her shoulder:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNmek5xhrkE

  36. Bridget,

    Considering “President White” seems enamored with guns, you might be correct. There is a clear link between some “conservative/fundamentalist Christians” and guns, gun rights, and concealed carry.. I am getting Facebook feeds from a number of them…. quite eye opening….

  37. Friend,

    I noticed it also….. but remember, I am “polluted” because I have spent to many years being part of a “secular humanist institution ”. Less you think I am “overreacting”, I have experienced, for over 40 years, at a minimum, raised eyebrows, by “pious, fundy Christians” if I ever question some “Christainese” with a scientific approach…….

  38. Friend,

    I believe that making fun of someone’s teeth is uncalled for. I’m the mom of 2 kids with a genetic skin condition. We deal with offhand comments about their looks all the time, and it’s obnoxious. It’s the way they were born, and they shouldn’t be the butt of jokes because of it.

    ANYWAY, I’m not at all defending Ms. May. Sounds to me like she’s a toxic part of a toxic culture. The way she (in the video you linked) constantly fawned over Dr. White and his “influence” is indicative of the celebrity/power culture which has consumed the SBC and evangelicalism. She kept alluding to his influence, his power. Blech.

  39. drstevej,

    Great! So make fun of yourself, not other people. As the mom of 2 kids who experience life born with a severe genetic skin condition, I’ve seen just about enough bullying.

    There are plenty of things to be concerned about with Ms.May and her character and conduct…her God-given facial features are not up for discussion here.

  40. Ava Aaronson,

    You are exactly right in your assessment. I’ve seen this in the local body. There’s a payoff/reason for the one woman that they make a part of their team.

  41. Nathan Priddis: Henrietta Mears

    Also a money-maker. $$$ is the key. Nothing wrong with a woman making money with an excellent product. However, when she becomes a tool for misogynists, IMHO, she would in all sincerity want to add the revelation of who they are to her repertoire of disclosures.

    In contrast, the blog-watchers are in no way involved in money-making, and their truth-telling may at times impede the snake oil sales of some church scammers.

  42. Ava Aaronson: she becomes a tool for misogynists

    Every New Calvinist pastor/leader has a few token women that they put on committees or assign to other visible roles … to appear that they really care about female believers. It’s just smoke and mirrors.

  43. Ava Aaronson,

    What are you talking about, I am getting rich of all the comments I make hear at TWW! ( sarcasm)

    However, being honest, getting a chance to vet some of my frustrations with American Evangelicalism, recount “shunning/eye rolling/etra” directed at me when I raised questions in the past, AND supporting people that have been abused by Evangelical leaders is rewarding, just not in a $$$$ kind of way..

  44. Ken P.: drstevej,

    I think it’s pretty funny. Don’t let the humorless on this blog stop you from commenting.

    At the very least, it’s off topic.

    At the most, humor is precarious. For some, a position of privilege. For others, a sensitivity of bullying.

    God is love. Is going down the rabbit hole (off topic) worth it? The pleasure of humor for some, worth the hurt of others, while telling them to grow a thick skin or a sense of humor? “Just kidding around.”

    TWW has a wide global audience and covers the most sensitive and most destructive practices happening in the church of all places. Delicate.

    If this cadence of “humor” would drive away some that really need to be here in a place of empathy and sort this out, for God’s glory, for their salvation, is it worth it?

  45. Ava Aaronson: Also a money-maker. $$$ is the key. Nothing wrong with a woman making money with an excellent product. However, when she becomes a tool for misogynists, IMHO, she would in all sincerity want to add the revelation of who they are to her repertoire of disclosures.

    In contrast, the blog-watchers are in no way involved in money-making, and their truth-telling may at times impede the snake oil sales of some church scammers.

    Maybe I’ve seen her as more independent then she actualy was, and also underestimated the financial impact. It’s hard for me to imagine what 1920-30’s So-Cal was like, but I assume she mingled with new money, as opposed to stodgy old money back East.

  46. Muff Potter: Never trust a smile that’s all pearly Crest Whitestrips.

    Whistleblower4Jesus: her God-given facial features are not up for discussion here.

    I sympathize with drstevej’s remark. Across the non-human animal kingdom, the baring of teeth is a threat signal — keep your distance or I will injure you — and I find myself a bit creeped out by big … smiles … that expose the gums and even the pockets of the cheeks. These seem to me to be affected — about presentation and packaging — and I, personally, find them to have a somewhat aggressive “feel” to them.

  47. drstevej: BTW< I have had extensive psoriasis for 25 years.

    Me too drstevej, plaque psoriasis, for about 30 years now.
    It sucks, but better that than some other really serious health issue.

  48. I think the points have been made. Years ago, I was teaching a class on church history. I don’t remember the person I was discussing. But I made the following comment. “They discovered the chink in his armor.” Well, after class I was told that I had offended a person of Chinese origin by using derogatory slang.

    I was like a deer caught in the headlights. It was obvious to me that I was using a long accepted term for saying there was a hole or a defect in the armor. It didn’t matter. This person was upset. So, I backed off and explained that I didn’t mean to cause pain for anyone and would hope they would accept my apology. I didn’t want to get into a fight over vocabulary.

    Sometimes, what is normal or amusing to us can cause others discomfort, especially if that person has been the brunt of personal jokes aimed at them in the past.

    I suggest we get back to the topic at hand. I know enough of you to know that you all didn’t mean to hurt someone. Same with me with the word *chink.* Since that time, I avoid using it

    Time for virtual group hugs and back to the mess at CU.

  49. I have to tell you all something really funny. I noticed my comment didn’t go through which meant it was moderated by the inter. I went to see what happened and, lo and beyond, My comment was not accepted because of the word *chink.*

  50. Muff Potter: It sucks, but better that than some other really serious health issue.

    Agreed but I have a Yorkie that incessantly wants to lick the psoriasis skin. Maybe this is the cure!

  51. dee,

    Straight out of Orwell’s 1984.
    How did we get to this point?
    A coordinate location at which all of us must walk on eggs or risk Madame Guillotine?

  52. Friend,

    It sounds like President White needed a “Life Team”. Clear that the Board of Trustees, who, to some extend, should have been his “Life Team” were not ! One would think talking such a “risky move” of hiring and admitted “ person of questionable moral behavior” would be great topic of a “President White Life Team”!

  53. Thanks Todd for keeping the focus on the very disturbing actions, abuses, lies and cover-ups of Dr Thomas White and his hand picked team at Cedarville.

    Meanwhile, over on Dr White’s twitter-feed he is alternately tweeting holiday pictures and quotes from Philippians in a display of hubris which says he is so confident he will be reinstated that he is already acting as if nothing whatsoever untoward happened.

    It seems that Dr White is again enacting one of his infamous ‘restoration plans’ – this time he has made himself the subject.

  54. Friend,

    To my mind, it evokes a blend of “age of muskets masonry fortress” and “contemporary prison”. I have to think that the architects did that on purpose, and presumably at the University’s direction.

  55. Sjon: acting as if nothing whatsoever untoward happened.

    It seems that Dr White is again enacting one of his infamous ‘restoration plans’

    MO.
    Message: shut up and put up.
    Silencing the witnesses.
    Ghosting the story.
    Moving on.
    Nothing to see here.
    Positivity wins.
    “The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It…Every Time”

    Until there’s an impact in the pocketbook, says Jeff Anderson & Associates, nothing happens. It’s the same old, same old.

  56. Sjon: Thanks Todd for keeping the focus on the very disturbing actions, abuses, lies and cover-ups of Dr Thomas White and his hand picked team at Cedarville.

    … joining a long line of “Christian” leaders who depend on hand picked teams to cover-up disturbing actions, abuses and lies (Hybels, Mahaney, MacDonald, etc. etc.)

  57. Friend: Jerome: dorm

    I was scrolling through Dr. White’s tweets and saw a photo that looks disturbingly institutional. I don’t think it’s just a lack of landscaping. Is this campus designed so it’s easy to keep an eye on the students?

    https://dayton247now.com/news/local/history-makers-honored-by-new-residence-hall

    Looks like a prison, to be perfectly honest. That said, I went to a university which had a massive high-rise dorm complex that housed so many students had its own ZIP code. The rumor was that the designer had previously designed prisons. The reality is that the complex was named after a governor who had pushed through prison reforms in the 1940s.

    But still, looks like a prison.

  58. Muslin, fka Dee Holmes,

    I suspect it was intended to look impressively monolithic, but as you say it only succeeds in looking like a prison – an appropriate metaphor for the current ideology espoused by White and it’s harmful constraining impact on the students and faculty at Cedarville.

  59. ishy,

    I spent three decades in the fundigelical turned Evangelical turned neo-Reformed church. I’m pretty much a “done” but on my way out the door I spent five years in the Lutheran church, actually learning about Luther’s writings and the Reformation and I wonder why in the world the Piper/MacArthur clan co-opted the term “Reformed” when they have made no attempt to explain, elucidate, or apply it. It’s just one more marketing piece of grift they would trademark if they could (and I’m convinced they’ve tried).

  60. Muff Potter: A coordinate location at which all of us must walk on eggs or risk Madame Guillotine?

    That’s a valid way of looking at it, but there are other valid ways, too. For example, one could view this as a voluntary limitation on one’s freedom of expression in order to avoid injury to others — sort of a contemporary application of Paul’s appeals in Romans and 1 Corinthians that those with “strong” consciences limit their exercise of freedom in matters of food in order to avoid harm to the consciences of those who had reasons to that they ought to be more scrupulous. That might be regarded to be an extreme application, but I have, here at TWW, on occasion caused — to judge from the reactions (and what others might have been harmed but remained silent?) injury to readers through unfiltered expression of my views. One does not know, especially in a forum such as this, what life experiences others have had that one’s words might touch.

    So caution may be in order. I’m trying to be more cautious myself.

    —-

    It’s a balance between one’s “rights” and one’s “duties to others.”

    An interesting thought that occurred to me years ago that I have not seen explored elsewhere is that the language of “individual rights” does not occur much in the Scriptures (the only instance I can think of is Paul’s discussion of “the rights of an apostle” in 1 Corinthians), and this discussion occurs in the wider context of his appeal to those with a strong sense of personal liberty in Christ to behave in ways that protect the consciences of those with weaker conceptions of liberty.

    “Individual rights” may be a relatively modern concept; in the Scriptures what one sees is more an emphasis on one’s duties toward God and toward one’s neighbors. And I suspect that the duties toward neighbors are actually rooted in the duties toward God.

    “Community” is weaker in our day that it was in the past. I don’t think that’s a good thing.

  61. Samuel Conner: the duties toward neighbors are actually rooted in the duties toward God

    I neglected to complete the thought: perhaps what we moderns think of as “individual rights” are actually rooted in (, what is much less commonly acknowledged, ) our duties toward the Creator. Perhaps two examples will illustrate the thought:

    Perhaps what we think of as the intrinsic individual “right to life” should be conceived of, in biblical terms, as “respect towards God’s authority and power to give and withdraw human life in keeping with His purposes”. One sees this is David’s unwillingness to harm King Saul, whom God had set over Israel as king — given that God had started Saul’s kingship, David was unwilling to act on his own to end it. In a similar way, one can think of the biblical command “thou not shalt not murder” as rooted not in the notion of an individual “right to life” but in the sense that “The Creator creates human life “in the image of God”; it is not for the creature to gratuitously destroy it.”

    Another example is the command “thou shalt not steal.” This is widely used in some corners of the world of “christian thinking” to justify the notion of an intrinsic “right to property.” I doubt that’s the meaning within the Biblical context. Rather, from within the world-view of the authors of Scripture, since it is God who blesses a person’s labor with material increase, other people ought not to step in and appropriate that for themselves and thereby interfere with God’s intentions in blessing the labor of those who labor. “Respect for others’ property” may, biblically speaking, be rooted in “respect for God as Provider.”

    I have not seen this way of thinking about “rights” explored elsewhere, though surely others must have noticed this. It’s not a way of thinking that is likely to be well-received in US contexts, pre-occupied as we are with individuality and individual rights. There is a point of contact with what has been written about how philosophical materialism is a poor foundation for notions of “human rights”, but the little I have seen of this characteristically adopts the modern posture of rights as “granted by the Creator” (as in the US Declaration of Independence) rather than being “implications of the creatures’ duties toward the Creator.”

    Just some food for thought.

  62. justicecollective,

    “If they all truly worshipped Christ, they’d want to have integrity–yes!–in all they do. Truth would not scare them because they’d know the truth will set them free.”
    ++++++++++++++

    i observe the general value of ‘chain of command’ all throughout christian culture. as if it is serving God and doing God’s will to follow one’s leader unquestioningly.

    it’s troubling and really embarrassing. To be a Yes-man or Yes-woman is a stupidly dangerous thing to be. when christians hold to the idea that this is godly, it makes christianity a stupidly dangerous belief system.

    christianity (as wholly separate from Jesus Christ) is what people make of it.

  63. elastigirl: . To be a Yes-man or Yes-woman is a stupidly dangerous thing to be. when christians hold to the idea that this is godly, it makes christianity a stupidly dangerous belief system.

    It makes it, IMO, an “arm of the flesh” system. That’s what, IMO, modern Evangelicalism has become. By might and by power, but not by the Spirit of YHWH.

  64. Samuel Conner: It’s a balance between one’s “rights” and one’s “duties to others.”

    I concur, but when the ‘balance’ gets so lop-sided that the very etymology (or non-etymology) of words controls the narrative, we find ourselves in the same fix Winston Smith (protagonist of Orwell’s 1984) found himself in at the Ministry of Truth.
    For example, in dee’s original example of the word ‘chinks’; chinks in the armor, chinks in the log walls; meaning got superseded by an ethnic slur.

    Samuel Conner: “Community” is weaker in our day that it was in the past. I don’t think that’s a good thing.

    I am in full agreement, and I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that there’s virtually no such thing as community nowadays.
    NO it is NOT a good thing.

  65. Janet: I wonder why in the world the Piper/MacArthur clan co-opted the term “Reformed” when they have made no attempt to explain, elucidate, or apply it. It’s just one more marketing piece of grift they would trademark if they could (and I’m convinced they’ve tried).

    That’s absolutely what it is. I’ve met some followers who seemed to have no idea that modern New Calvinism really isn’t all that historical, but I think people like Mohler use the word for marketing, even though it makes a lot of Presbyterians angry because what he believes doesn’t line up with historical Reformed thought. New Calvinists do not want any sort of accountability, because their purpose really isn’t God, but themselves.

  66. Samuel Conner: one could view this as a voluntary limitation on one’s freedom of expression in order to avoid injury to others

    Or, IOW, refinement of expression, as in finessing.
    For better and broader communication and positive impact.
    And being more about the skill of reading the room than eggshells or executions.
    Yes, voluntary, and a skill rather than a constraint.

    Richard Holbrooke had this skill in spades for global impact, benefit.
    In the public sector today, Noel Casler reads the room deftly.
    Multi-linguists practice this skill as a lifestyle. Context.

  67. As someone who had a close-up view of Paige Patterson’s higher-education leadership style at SWBTS for four years, I see four Patterson Principles for Presidents in this article that have been well-absorbed by Thomas White. They are:

    (1) We do not bow to or respect any accreditation agency;

    (2) We do not encourage the notion of faculty tenure; we eliminate it as soon as possible;

    (3) Der Second Amendment ist uber alles (aka We LOVE guns, but in a voice like Sgt. Schultz!!!); and

    (4) We will slowly, deliberately, and with boa constrictor-like strategies, squeeze the life out of teaching or applying ANY forms of counseling other than Nouthetic counseling.

    In Patterson’s world, you could hold a differing opinion, but these “truths” weren’t up for debate. Rather, these were some of the fundamental maxims Patterson lived by, and passed along to his “sons in the ministry” for running a Christian seminary or university. Any deviation from them is evidence of rebellion, disloyalty, secularity, weakness, lack of masculinity, or a combination of those.

  68. elastigirl,

    Further, Christ did allot of his “teaching” through parables….. one needs to walk away and “think” about what was said…. the command and control approach that elastagirl is the opposite of that..

  69. Brent Thompson: (3) Der Second Amendment ist uber alles (aka We LOVE guns, but in a voice like Sgt. Schultz!!!);

    I wonder if White decorates his office with giant dead animal heads?

    Although I always thought that safaris that set up animals for people to shoot can’t have customers who were as good as they thought they were.

  70. Jerome: Ugh, was this Paige Patterson’s old office? :

    Like I’ve quipped before, I wish there was a hunter from space who’d make a trophy of him…

  71. faze
    /fāz/

    verbINFORMAL
    disturb or disconcert (someone).
    “she was not fazed by his show of anger”