Was it simply serendipity that the facing age of your editorial contained Fred's Heritage column entitled “Now it can be told”—or editorial irony?
Allow me to share a few anecdotes from my experience with “the dilemma of reporting the facts.”
I raised more than a few eyebrows back in 2001 when I delivered the 25th anniversary sermon for the Heritage Baptist Church in Farmville. As a charter member, I was invited in order to speak to the origins of this wonderful congregation. In speaking to their “heritage” I felt compelled to remind them that their “birth” was a result of a split from the Farmville Baptist Church. Perhaps that was 75 years “too soon to talk about it!”
As interim pastor of Central Baptist Church in Lowesville, it was a year and a half ago when I was in attendance at the Piedmont Baptist Association's monthly pastors meeting where concerns about staff treatment and turnover at Camp Crossroads were first raised. As I recall, the initial response of the WMU hierarchy to the local pastor's concerns was to dismiss their concerns and “not to talk about it.”
After becoming pastor of First Baptist Church in Lynchburg following conflict over discussion of possible relocation, I read with interest in their church history that similar discussion was first initiated on May 11, 1955, when their executive council appointed a committee to survey the church about relocation. To avoid conflict, they quickly decided “not to talk about it.” According to Blanche White's published account on pages 85-86: “In its third meeting, held on May 27, Dr. H.C. Shotwell offered the following preamble and motion:
“First, That the present location is handicapping the life, spirit and program of our church, and that a move to a more central location would result in a more vitalized spirit and program of our total church.
“Second, That to press the matter of moving our church to another location would result in the disruption of our fellowship. Loss of harmony and good will in our church, I interpret, to be more serious than the handicaps.
“Therefore, I move that this committee recommend to the church executive council that the question of a possible move of our location to another location be dismissed.
“Dr. Shotwell's motion was adopted unanimously by the committee and the executive council. … The months of June and July 1955 were busy ones for Dame Rumor. According to her reports, a new Baptist congregation would soon be organized in Lynchburg by an appreciable number of persons who had been disappointed by the decision of the First Baptist Church to remain in its present location … confirming the rumor … on September 25, the Peakland Baptist Church was organized.” [Source: First Baptist Church, Lynchburg, Virginia, 1815-1965, compiled by Blanche Sydnor White.]
Most of us do not like conflict, but “not talking about it” never creates a healthy situation. “Family secrets” are rarely healthy; indeed, they are the glue that keep dysfunctional families together.
Hopefully it will not take 100 years for the story of Camp Crossroads to be told.
Ty Campbell, Buckingham