A Stand for Truth

“A Stand for Truth” is the title of a book co-written by my husband, John R. Michael, and me that is on the verge of publication. It is about to be released and very soon I will be able to show you the cover. I can’t wait to give a big “Cover Reveal.” We have seen the cover and are quite excited about it but right now it is under wraps at the publishers awaiting some final tweaking.

So, what is the book about?  

In 1984, John was 28 years old, our life together was new, and our family was young. Also, in 1984, John recieved a phone call that would change our lives … and others’ lives too. It was a phone call from a man who wanted to interview John for possible appointment to the Board of Trustees of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the world’s largest Protestant denomination. During the 1980’s and 1990’s the SBC fought an historic battle over the truth of scripture and the basic doctrines of the Christian Faith. As the flagship seminary of the SBC, Southern Seminary sat prominently at the heart of this conflict.

In 1984, John was elected to the Board, making him one of the youngest to ever serve on that Board. Though naïve and inexperienced, he dramatically stood alone to challenge the President and officers of Southern’s Board when they attempted to cover-up heresy during a national investigation of alleged theological problems.

Though his initial challenge was turned back by the seasoned and powerful leaders, John continued to stubbornly resist. Even as he fought that battle, John also foiled a deceitful plot by a group of liberal Trustees as they maneuvered to steal the seminary and take it independent from the denomination. 

 At its essence, this is a story of how God used a persistent and often lonely young man to play a crucial role in the restoration of a prominent institution to its historical, biblical roots.

So, why did we write our story—the story of John’s travails as a foot soldier in this historic Holy War?

Even while John was still a Trustee and the controversy far from settled, people would come to him and ask for updates and details about the struggle. In the years following, though he was still despised by many, there was growing appreciation for John and his fellow Trustees. At church, or sometimes while he was on campus for Foundation Board meetings, someone would point him out as “the first conservative,” or the Trustee who stood up to the liberals. Soon he would be surrounded by small groups of students, wanting to meet him and ask questions.

John often invited them out to our home for grilled pork chops, or to his business office for pizza, where he spent the evening giving the highlights, and lowlights, of his Trustee experience.

The students were always riveted. Without fail, at the end of the evening, the students would say that they had heard a lot about the years of controversy, but most of what they knew was from the beginning of Dr. Albert Mohler’s presidency. They had no idea that all this had happened before Mohler’s arrival. They would often urge John to write a book about it.

For years, John just accepted the compliments, but had no intention of writing a book. Aside from the time and energy it would take, there was no way that he would write about himself. That was just too awkward.

However, many years after John left the Board a seminary student came out to the house with some friends to hear the stories. Like others before them, the students said John should tell his story in a book. But unlike others, this student stayed on John’s case about it. He was a member of our church at that time.

Then one Sunday, in the aisle after a Sunday worship service, the student once again pressed John about writing his story. When John gave his usual excuse, the student asked if John was willing to give his testimony. Was he willing to tell others about his faith in Christ, how God had forgiven his sin, and changed his life? If so, then why wasn’t he also willing to share his testimony about how God used him to help change Southern Seminary? That little exhortation had an impact on John. He couldn't get it off his mind, and realized that, somehow the story should be told.  

Dissapointed

Well, we finally heard from P&R (Presbyterian and Reformed) Publishing—the publishing company we have been waiting to hear from regarding the book co-written by my husband and me. They turned us down. ☹ We had high hopes we would be receiving a contract from them, but now we know that we will not.

Why were we so hopeful? The manuscript has been extremely well received by those who have read it and we have significant written endorsements from major denominational leaders for it already. It’s a powerful story that has been cited by one prominent denominational leader as the best history of Southern Seminary for that time period that he has ever read. But our hopes rose for more than just those reasons. One denominational leader, who will remain unnamed since he is a public figure and I do not have his permission to name him, actually had some insight into the publication committee’s thoughts on the book.  As recently as a month ago, this man felt certain P&R would be sending us a book contract.

So, what happened? Of course, there is no way of really knowing the answer to this but coincidently in recent weeks and months, since the time we first submitted our manuscript to them for consideration, some of the leaders of the conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention have made the news for unflattering reasons. Our book is about the conservative resurgence as it played out at Southern Seminary. I think it’s quite possible, if not likely that P&R suddenly felt they did not want to be publishing and promoting a book that pertains to this movement whose leaders are currently receiving negative press.

So that, as they say, is that. We move on and wait for other doors that God may open and other avenues to tell our story. I’ll keep you posted in the journey.