…SBC Voices & Dave Miller not so much
In 2017, a member of McLean Bible Church (MBC) approached SBC Voices editor Dave Miller asking for help exposing the problems with MBC hiring then IMB President David Platt as teaching pastor. The MBC member, called Member X in an SBC Voices post of October 25, 2017, concerns were vindicated. Time has shown that Member X was right to be worried about Platt—in fact, David Platt has destroyed McLean Bible Church through authoritarianism and promotion of Leftist ideology like Critical Race Theory (CRT).
In typical SBC Voices fashion, Dave Miller kowtowed to the SBC Elites and kept the story secret. All it took was a couple of phone calls.
According to his 2017 post, “I was brought into this controversy months ago by a long-standing and influential member of MBC (Member X) who was not happy that Dr. Platt was being put forward as (what we thought then) was their Senior Pastor. I was disturbed and I wrote a fiery post asking whether the IMB presidency wasn’t meant to be a full-time job. Then I decided I might do better to get all the facts before I published the post. I spent a lot of time Facebook messaging with Member X who had a lot of wrong ideas about David Platt but also had quite a few genuine concerns. I also contacted a friend who is an IMB trustee and asked for information. This was all taking place on Friday and Saturday. They asked me to hold off until Monday and I gladly agreed. I had conversations with highly placed administrators and finally, on Monday, with Hance Dilbeck, the chairman of the IMB Board of Trustees.”
What happened next?
Miller folded like a cheap suit.
“By the end of that conversation…I no longer felt the need to write on the topic,” Miller wrote.
Of course.
Member X approached SBC Voices worried about McLean Bible Church, and the SBC sycophants did nothing because, well, reasons.
Miller sat on the story for a month because obviously he was convinced to do so by SBC Elites. He admitted as much.
Imagine if the story were reported and McLean Bible Church members had warning! Perhaps, McLean Bible Church might have avoided David Platt’s divisive attacks? Instead, Platt wormed his way into the church and set about destroying it.
There are some interesting things to learn from that 2017 SBC Voices post. For example, Miller affirms that McLean Bible Church, contrary to its constitution, joined the Southern Baptist Convention.
He writes, “All of that to say that the idea that Platt should have been at a “real” SBC church shows a lack of understanding of SBC polity. McLean is as SBC as Bellevue in Memphis. There’s only one category – in or out. Is McLean a BAPTIST church? I don’t know. But it is Southern Baptist.”
David Platt has repeatedly lied about McLean Bible Church’s status as a member of the SBC.
David Platt’s actions proved Member X was right. Too bad the people trusted with that information did not expose the problem. Instead, they obeyed SBC Elites and now McLean Bible Church has paid the price.