SBC president
declines to second-guess Glorieta sale
(Reported By
Bob Allen, in the Religious Herald)
Glorieta
homeowner Kirk Tompkins issued an open letter July 21, 2015, asking SBC President
Ronnie Floyd to investigate whether LifeWay Christian Resources acted properly
in selling 2,400 acres of mountain property near Santa Fe, N.M., for $1.
Southern
Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd has turned down an Arkansas couple’s
request that he appoint a special committee to investigate whether LifeWay
Christian Resources trustees acted improperly in the 2013 sale of Glorieta
Conference Center for $1.
In an open
letter July 21, Kirk Tompkins, who with his wife, Susie, sued in federal
court seeking damages for lost value of their vacation home built on Glorieta
property with a lease voided by the sale, asked Floyd, pastor of Cross Church
in Northwest Arkansas, to bring the issue before messengers to the 2016 SBC
annual meeting.
“I
prayerfully ask you, Dr. Floyd, as president of SBC, will you bring the
Glorieta issue before SBC 2016 annual meeting for discussion, appoint a study
committee and audit the LifeWay sale of Glorieta, then ask for a vote by the
messengers to require LifeWay to pay Glorieta home and lodge owners fair value
for their assets?” Tompkins wrote. “All court filings are publically available
for the study committee.”
Tompkins
said in an email July 31 that he received a reply.
“The
president of the Southern Baptist Convention has neither the duty nor the
authority to initiate an investigation or an additional audit of one of our
entities,” Floyd’s response said in part. “That authority lies in the board of
trustees the messengers elected. I respect the trustees’ collective wisdom and
have every confidence that these trustees have handled this matter ‘decently
and in order.’”
Tompkins
filed a $12.3 million lawsuit in 2013 alleging misconduct by LifeWay Christian
Resources, the Southern Baptist Convention and the SBC Executive Committee in
the transfer of the 2,400-acre retreat near Santa Fe, N.M., opened by Southern
Baptists in 1952 to a newly formed corporation called Glorieta 2.0.
A federal
judge dismissed the case in March, but the couple is appealing that ruling to
the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
