Asbury Faculty and Administration Wonder #4

Wonder, the Fourth

The flurry of reports and narratives dating from 1 September 2006 has shed light on and generated heat regarding the critical situation in which Asbury Theological Seminary now finds itself. We are left with a number of questions. This is the fourth.

We wonder why the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees has not pursued the possibility of outside mediation between itself and President Greenway.

We understand that communication between President Greenway and some members of the Executive Committee has broken down. Quite apart from any need on our part to allocate blame to one party or another, we wonder why the Executive Committee has not initiated the use of an outside mediator in its desire to understand what has transpired and in its concern for reconciliation. We understand that the steps toward reconciliation outlined in Matthew 18:15-18 are complicated by contractual documents, but believe that the services of a mediator external to the Seminary could help to transcend those complications. If the Executive Committee has the authority to negotiate an offer of severance with President Greenway, which we understand it has sought to do, would it not also have the authority to engage the services of a mediator?

Would the intervention of a mediator not serve the goal of reconciliation?

Signed:
Kenneth A. Boyd, Ph.D., Professor of Instructional Design
Allan Coppedge, Ph.D., Ralph Waldo Beeson Professor of Christian Theology
Ronald K. Crandall, D.Th.P., McCreless Professor of Evangelism and Sundo Kim Professor of Evangelism and Practical Theology
Richard L. Gray, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Leadership and Christian Ministry
Joel B. Green, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament Interpretation
Chuck Gutenson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophical Theology
Virginia Todd Holeman, Ph.D., Professor of Counseling
Eunice L. Irwin, Ph.D., Associate Professor: Mission and Contextual Theology
Randy Jessen, D.Min., Dean, Beeson International Center for Biblical Preaching and Church Leadership
C. Reginald Johnson, Ph.D., Roy and Weezie Anderson Professor of Prayer and Spiritual Formation
Hugo Magallanes, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Church in Society
Tapiwa Mucherera, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pastoral Counseling
Terry C. Muck, Ph.D., Professor of Missions and World Religions
M. Robert Mulholland Jr., Ph.D., Professor of New Testament
Ruth Anne Reese, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament
Christine Pohl, Ph.D., Professor of Church in Society
Lester Ruth, Ph.D., Lily May Jarvis Professor of Christian Worship
Michael A. Rynkiewich, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology
Daryl Smith, Ed.D., Associate Professor of Mentored Ministry and Christian Leadership
Catherine Stonehouse, Ph.D., Orlean Bullard Beeson Professor of Christian Discipleship
Thomas F. Tumblin, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Christian Leadership
Jerry L. Walls, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy of Religion
Ben Witherington III, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament
Laurence W. Wood, Ph.D., Frank Paul Morris Professor of Systematic Theology