Answer to Greg Warner ABP Release 3-27-2007

Dear Editor Warner,

I have just read your scurrilous muck raking Press Release of March 27, 2007 in which you attempted to sully the name of Dr. Robert Reccord. It brought yellow journalism to a new low but, of course, the article is the kind of sleazy thing that I might have expected from you. You use words of negative association.innuendo, half truth and outright lies in your effort to destroy a man who never did anything to you and who has never done anything but good for Southern Baptists. I am a member of the Calvary Baptist Church of Salisbury, NC and by setting your dateline as Salisbury is phony because it implies that you were here and you were not here. No, that is not the way professional journalists work and what we gave to Bob Reccord as a love offering was none of your business. Intelligent people understand that Bob Reccord has to move on with his life and ministry. Your ilk has always talked much about the "autonomy of the church" but yet you don't respect it when you delve into the affairs of a local church and even trick an elderly person by feeding phony information in order to secure a negative response. A minister in South Georgia read your article and told me that it was "of the devil". I agree and every honest Christian I have talked to who has read the release feels about the same way. You attempt to cover your wickedness by using terms like "allegations of financial mismanagement and conflicts of interest". You talk about an "estimated" $250,000 annual salary and six figure severance deal which could mean anything from $100,000 to $999,999. But your purpose was to imply something evil or wicked. That was obvious. you talk about his "Heyday" when he flew around the world ins a "private plane". That was a lie and I think that you knew it was a life. It was just another attempt to muck rake when there was no muck to rake. Bob is to be commended because he is willing to proclaim the Gospel of Christ in any venue whether it be a stadium of 10,000 people or a small church. There is precedent for this in the ministry of Jesus who would declare His Gospel to the multitudes or an individual at a well in Sychar, a rich young ruler, or a tax collector up a tree in Jericho. Of course, you probably wouldn't understand that.

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I would never lift a finger to support a person in wrong doing but I certainly have no patience for sleaze merchants who try to hurt people individually and hide behind the tag of "journalism" to justify what they are doing. You see, I know that you were just across the street when the Sunday School Board gave Lloyd Elder a $1.3 million severance package and that didn't seem to interest you in the least.

Let me tell you what Bob Reccord really did. He and Cheryl came by our home to visit with my wife who had just come out of the hospital where she had just had surgery for Breast Cancer. In the days leading up to her surgery he and Cheryl called repeatedly to assure her of their prayers and prayed with her over the telephone. My daughter and her husband have just completed their new home and moved in next door. My son-in-law heard Dr. Reccord on Friday Night and asked if he could fix one of his special Lexington style Barbeques for his lunch the next day. After visiting with my wife and I for awhile we walked next door where we enjoyed a great time of fellowship with my daughter and her husband in their new home over a meal of barbeque. Bob proclaimed the Gospel with power in our Church and many have said that it is the greatest Revival we have ever experienced. Cheryl did a Coffee with the ladies in our Church on Saturday Morning which was hosted by our Pastor's Wife. In all that time they never spoke a bitter word but bore tremendous and powerful witness to the grace of God. That kind of ministry should spark admiration in you but I doubt that it will.

The biggest bundle of sinister nonsense in the entire Press Release was your contention that Bob's "extravagant spending and self-aggrandizing earned him the nickname 'Hollywood Bob' at NAMB". My wife is a Trustee at NAMB and she is well aware that the term was introduced by a single Trustee who was one of Bob's critics and, no, it was not earned. Neither did Bob resign under pressure. In fact, my wife and many other Trustees pleaded with him not to resign. The so-called "investigation" was done by a handful of officers but the full Board never voted on any motion or resolution accusing Bob Reccord of anything. The whole article was crude, uncouth, vituperative, vitriolic, coarse and boorish. Those are about its strongest points.

I dare not believe that you are interested in the truth but just in case I am sharing some excerpts of a letter that I sent to Gerald Harris at the CHRISTIAN INDEX which explains the truth of the matter.

NOTE: These excerpts are published elsewhere on the Christian Advocate Blog.

It is time for liberals to realize that the Southern Baptist Convention has returned to hits historical roots, which is a very good thing, and it will never be controlled by liberals again, no matter how much trash you write about us. You owe Bob Reccord and our Church an apology but I doubt that you have enough grace or class to issue one.

Sincerely,

Robert Tenery