One-time IBSA evangelism director Ron Hale is one of seven members of a task force that will study the past and present activities of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).
Hale, now a retired pastor in Jackson, Tenn., was named Feb. 27 by Mike Stone, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee (EC), who also will serve on the task force. The EC approved the task force during their February meeting, citing concerns about how the ERLC’s actions are affecting the SBC and its relationships with churches, associations, and state conventions.
Joining Stone and Hale on the task force are:
-Mike Lawson, senior pastor, First Baptist Church of Sherman, Texas
-Cheryl Samples, retired, Dallas, Ga.
-Hoyt Savage, lead pastor, Foothills Baptist Church, Las Vegas
-Monte Shinkle, senior pastor, Concord Baptist Church, Jefferson City, Mo.
-Rolland Slade, senior pastor, Meridian Baptist Church, El Cajon, Calif.
The task force has been the subject of an online exchange of words between officers of the EC and ERLC. In response to the task force announcement, David Prince, chairman of the ERLC Board of Trustees, and the ERLC trustee officers responded in an open letter to Stone and EC members, calling the task force “unwarranted, divisive, and disrespectful.”
Stone and the EC officers responded: “When we continue to hear a growing number of reports that churches are either planning to decrease or withhold Cooperative Program gifts and are given specific reasons that relate to a Southern Baptist entity, we have a responsibility that we are granted under the bylaws of the SBC to consider those reports.”
The task force’s work is expected to begin immediately. The motion passed by the EC calls for a report from the group at or before the Sept. 21-22 EC meeting in Nashville.
-Reporting by Baptist Press