Rod Martin writes in his letter of resignation that he is frustrated with the Executive Committee for waiving its attorney/client privilege -- the agreement that keeps everything a client says to his or her lawyer confidential. The SBC messengers to last summer's convention were deceived into getting rid of its legal protection, he says.
"It does appear that within the larger Southern Baptist Convention, the pressure on the Executive Committee to agree with the waiving of attorney/client privilege seems to be like pandering to the woke Me Too movement," notes Dr. Alex McFarland, a Christian apologist, evangelist, religion and culture analyst, advocate for biblical truth, and co-host of "Exploring the Word" on American Family Radio.
Martin claims the messengers were not told that the "waiver of privilege … would void the Executive Committee's insurance,' and, in fact, "would render the SBC itself uninsurable."
"We're watching the Executive Committee kind of unravel, and I'm concerned," McFarland admits. "I have great appreciation or the Cooperative Program and for the international missions work of the SBC, so I don't want the SBC to unfold and unravel."
Earlier this year, McFarland offered to serve as the leader of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission without pay, saying, "I would like to give back to the denomination that invested itself in me."
Martin also writes in his resignation letter that he had to step down because his legal vulnerability as a member of an uninsured Southern Baptist board puts his other business involvements at risk and that several other board members would have to resign for the same reason.
"Rather than following good rule of law, the Executive Committee seems to be arm-twisted into the demands of woke hysteria," McFarland submits.
Rod Martin further warns that the SBC is in "grave danger," as the lack of insurance will open the door to "plaintiff's lawyers with dishonest agendas" bankrupting SBC members and staff and costing Southern Baptist seminaries, missionaries, and children's homes billions of dollars.
