|
Special
Edition: Moran's Pastor's Letter to Vestal |
Editor's Note:
The following is the full text of the letter from Moran's pastor, Dr.
Gary Taylor, in response to Vestal's letter. This letter was dated April 23,
1999 and a copy was sent to Roger Moran. Please note Gary Taylor's
recommendation to Dr. Vestal. Bold print emphasis added.
Dear Dan:
Thank you for your letter of April 7th asking for help in resolution of what you believe is a serious problem
in the Body of Christ regarding Roger Moran. Since we have never met, let me begin by introducing myself.
I am a native Texan born in Dallas.
Mom and Dad were members of First Baptist Church when Dr. George W.
Truett was pastor, and I was on the cradle roll.
Mom and Dad later attended Baylor University, and Dad began pastoring in
the Waco area and then moved back to their home state of Arkansas where he
pastored before moving to Kansas City in the early 1950s for dad to attend
Central Seminary. It was in their move to Kansas City that I came to the
midwest and though my parents long ago moved back and now live in Lancaster,
Texas, I have remained here.
God has blessed me with a wonderful Christian and Baptist heritage.
I have a son who graduated in December from Southwestern Seminary in Ft.
Worth, and he is 15th in our family to be in the ministry.
An uncle, W. Oscar Taylor, passed away at the age of 105 some five or six
years ago. He was a graduate of
Southwestern back during the time of World War I.
Uncle Oscar was the oldest man with the Annuity Board at the time of his
death. I’m a graduate of William
Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, and Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City,
Missouri. I’m in my 36th
year of being a pastor. Thirty-three
of those years have been in Missouri. Twenty-six
of those 33 have been in the St. Louis area.
I met my wife Joyce when I was pastoring my first church near Sedalia,
Missouri, while a student at William Jewell College. God has blessed us with three children, two sons and a
daughter. Our daughter married the
son of a Missouri Baptist pastor last June.
Now back to your letter. I
have read over your letter several times, and I called and talked to Roger Moran
since I noticed that you copied the letter to me to Roger. I was out of town when the letter came. My mother-in-law passed away on Tuesday after Easter, and
when I returned to the office after her funeral, I had a message from Roger
saying that he had received a letter from you.
In opening my mail I found your letter as well.
Dan, I think the best suggestion I
can offer in answer to your request for help in resolution would be for you to
practice the teaching of Matthew 18:15 regarding your differences with Roger.
The scripture there says “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass
against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”
I see that you are telling me in
your letter that Roger has sinned against you because you say in your letter
that his “accusations are false and are also harmful to a wonderful group of
Baptist Christians and churches.”
A couple of weeks before I received your
letter Harold Phillips who is the Missouri Coordinator of the CBF had called,
mad an appointment, and came by on a Tuesday afternoon, and we spent about an
hour and a half talking together. He
brought up the issue about Roger. I
game him the same counsel that I’m giving to you and that is that when you
have a difference with a brother, go sit down and talk to them about it.
I mentioned this to Roger on the
phone when we talked the other day and told him that was what I was going to
tell you. He said he would be glad
to sit down and talk to you about it. I
think, Dan, that would be the most advisable thing that you could do.
You indicated to me at the bottom of page two of your letter that you had
“appealed to Roger on a personal basis to publicly apologize for his
statements and to do what he can to repair the damage that has been done.” I asked Roger about that, and he indicated that you had done
this in a letter to him. I believe,
Dan, that you could accomplish much more in a face-to-face conversation than you
can through a letter.
Thank you for writing. I’m
open to talk with you or to correspond with you at any and every opportunity.
May God bless you as you seek to fulfill the great commission and follow
in obedience to the leading of the Lord in your life and ministry.
In His Name,
Gary Taylor
|
