As best I can tell, here's how it went down.1. WMU...

2008-04-09T00:45:00.000-04:00

As best I can tell, here's how it went down.

1. WMU, leery of the emerging BSC leadership, took steps to protect the autonomy it believed it had always possessed. Those steps included changes in the language of the WMU bylaws to which the BSC leadership objected.

2. BSC leadership decided to assert a right to review WMU hiring decisions on the merits, rather than simply ratifying WMU board decisions regarding employment.

3. WMU refused to permit what they perceived as an intrusion on their autonomy.

4. BSC leadership argued that the review was necessary because WMU employees were technically BSC employees. WMU resolved this conflict by having its employees resign their BSC positions, and by setting up its own payroll and benefits system.

5. BSC leadership responded by saying that, if WMU employees weren't BSC employees, they could not work in the BSC building, due to liability issues. (Really? Can an organization not rent space to another without assuming liability for the tenant's employees?)

6. WMU resolved this conflict by agreeing to find and pay for its own office space outside the Baptist building.

7. BSC leadership then decided that, if WMU employees weren't convention employees, and if they weren't working in the Baptist building, then WMU couldn't be in the NC Mission Offering. (Really? What about the 80 associations that receive a share of the NCMO?)

8. WMU resolved this conflict by promoting a revived Heck-Jones offering.

9. BSC leadership responded by creating a women's ministry study group, and by ignoring WMU-NC as much as possible.

For all the world, it seems to me like a great big game of "chicken", with the BSC leadership certain that, at every step, the WMU would blink, and then, being surprised when they didn't.

If I missed a step, or something else important, let me know.

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As best I can tell, here's how it went down.1. WMU...