With apologies to Jesse Croom, I’m taking one of his excellent remarks at the WMU dedication for its new offices Sept. 28 out of context. But it fits a situation beyond what Jesse intended.
“Those who take risks are valued in the sight of God,” said Croom, a retired pastor from First Baptist Church of Ahoskie, and relentless sand in the oyster of the Baptist State Convention Board, always standing strong for minority positions.
Croom referred in his comments to the courageous, scary, risky faith move of Woman’s Missionary Union staff to resign their positions with the Baptist State Convention and go it on their own. He compared the move to Abram’s move in Genesis to a land unrevealed.
My “out of context” reference is applying and applauding “those who take risks” to Milton A. Hollifield Jr., executive director-treasurer of the BSC from which the WMU-NC withdrew. Hollifield has been vilified by WMU-NC supporters who believe his unwillingness to accommodate WMU-NC when it acted unilaterally to change its relationship to the BSC is the sole reason for a breakdown in relationship between the two entities.
If Milton hadn’t been so power hungry and hard headed, the argument goes, WMU would not have had to take this drastic, risky step to assert its autonomy.
On the other hand, North Carolina Baptists angry at WMU for its own hard headedness want to write them out of the Baptist history books. It is as if “WMU” is Lord Voldemort of Harry Potter fame, “he who must not be named.”
Into this cauldron of boiling emotions stepped Hollifield on Sunday. I’m sure he would rather have been hunting skunks with a knife than to be on the platform before WMU supporters who think of him as “he who must not be named.”
Here is where Croom’s statement applies to Hollifield. I believe Hollifield will be “valued in the sight of God,” because on Sunday he risked appearing on a program to show his support for WMU-NC when some WMUers consider him toxic and some of his own supporters wish he hadn't.
As a journalist I’ve attended meetings of groups about which I’d just had to write a story they perceived as a negative or wrong-headed. It’s a tough environment.
No matter what your perspective, the truth is colored by the lens through which you view it. I cannot tint your lens but I can tell you that I have been in many circumstances with Hollifield during which the WMU issue was the topic and I have never heard him disparage either WMU or its leaders. He has always expressed the highest regard for WMU and for its mission both past and future.
He would rather WMU never have moved its offices from the Baptist staff building in Cary and has said so publicly. He is committed to his job description which says the executive director-treasurer is the final arbiter of all staff hiring. That was the rock. WMU’s commitment to naming its own staff was the hard place. It is disappointing that two years of meetings and prayers could budge neither the rock, nor the hard place.
Hats off to Hollifield for showing up with a positive message in a tough environment. That risk is "valued in the sight of God."