Editor's Note: The following is the full text of the initial letter from CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal to MBLA Research Director Roger Moran. This letter was sent certified mail March 11, 1999 and carbon copied to MBLA President, Kerry Messer and CBF Moderator, John Tyler. Bold print emphasis added.

Dear Mr. Moran:

I’m not sure we have ever met, so let me introduce myself.  I’m Daniel Vestal, and I have the privilege of serving as the Coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  I’m a native Texan, born into the home of a Southern Baptist evangelist.  My father has gone home to be with the Lord, but my mother is still living and an active member of the Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.  God blessed me with loving, godly parents, and my life is still shaped by their influence.  I came to faith in Christ at a young age and began preaching as a teenager.  I became a pastor at age 25 and then pastored five churches over the next 27 years.

Throughout my personal pilgrimage as a Christian disciple and my public ministry as a pastor, preacher, and evangelist, I have been steadfastly committed to the truthfulness and authority of God’s Word.  Likewise, I have believed in and experienced the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  I have conducted hundreds of revivals and evangelistic crusades and have participated in numerous missions endeavors in this country and overseas.  My passion for evangelism and missions, as well as renewal in the Body of Christ, is what compelled me to leave the pastorate in December 1996 to become Coordinator of CBF.

I have chosen to introduce myself in this way so that you may know of my love for the Lord Jesus Christ and of my conviction that God has led me to my current place of ministry among the churches and individuals who are a part of the Fellowship.  Indeed, after two years in this role, I believe more than ever that CBF is a work of God’s grace and an instrument of spiritual renewal in Baptist life.  The Fellowship now supports 135 missionaries, many of whom live and minister in some of the most difficult and dangerous places in the world.  Their efforts are complemented and extended by thousands of Baptist laypersons who volunteer each year for hands-on missions projects around the world.  CBF also partners with 11 theological institutions that are now training more than 1,000 men and women for ministry.  We are resourcing churches and individuals in areas such as Christian education, spiritual formation, evangelism and missions education.  We are partnering with local congregations to teach and to model the Baptist principles we cherish.  We are not perfect, because ours is a fellowship of people such as myself – redeemed sinners.  But every day brings fresh evidence that God is at work in our midst.  “This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

It is against this backdrop that I write you now to express my grief and profound concern over the relentless assault by the Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association on the people and churches who are part of the Fellowship.  Please hear me clearly.  I am not referring to honest disagreement or sincere questions; these are not merely tolerated but welcomed.  I am referring to your association’s use of printed materials, videos, and speaking appearances to attack, accuse, and malign Baptist Christians.  Perhaps most grievous and injurious are the outrageously convoluted and distorted examples of guilt-by-association which exploit the feelings and fears of fellow Christians and cast a net of suspicion over CBF “leaders.”  Mr. Moran, I know personally all the state and regional leadership of CBF.  I know every staff member, every elected officer, and every member of our Coordinating Council.  I know these people to be Bible-believing men and women who desire to extend the kingdom of God.  I know the presidents and deans of every partnering school.  They are leaders of great stature and spiritual maturity.  I know the missionaries who have laid down their lives for the gospel.  I know hundreds of pastors and lay people across the country who contribute to the mission and ministry of CBF.

These persons are part of your Christian family.  So, I appeal to you as a Christian brother to stop these salacious and damaging attacks.  I ask that you stop the inflammatory language and the seeping generalizations.  Stop suggesting that we don’t believe the Bible.  We most assuredly do, and our Bylaws and official resolutions confirm our convictions concerning the authority of Scripture.  Stop accusing us of endorsing child pornography, homosexuality, and abortion.  We have never done so and are trying to join hands with other Christians to resolve these and other problems in our society.  Stop insinuating that our leadership is heretical, immoral, and dangerous.  Far from posing a threat, our Fellowship is being used of God to bring healing to our Baptist family and to extending the Gospel across the earth.

Just a few weeks ago I returned from Asia where I spent time with CBF missionaries in prayer and planning.  These folks are some of the finest Christians I have ever met.  They are veterinarians and engineers, pastors and businessmen.  Many of them live in places where their very lives are in danger because of the gospel.  All of them (including their children) live in cultures that are hostile to the gospel.  When I read your literature and watch your videos that undermine and belittle the Fellowship of which these missionaries are a part, I’m grieved beyond words.  It simply isn’t right.

Just a few weeks ago, I spoke to a class in a divinity school that partners with CBF.  As I shared my own spiritual pilgrimage and the students shared theirs, I was bleed to know that these would be the future leaders of our churches.  Why and how you could attack the Fellowship of which these students are a part is beyond my understanding.  It simply is not right.

I ask you to stop these attacks. Furthermore, I ask that you and the Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association issue a written retraction and a formal, public apology for the misleading and untrue statements  you have disseminated.  You cannot “undo” what you have done; nor can you heal all the wounds you have inflicted.  But I appeal to you to try.

I await your response.

Sincerely yours,

Daniel Vestal

CBF Coordinator