Michael Stewart, director of missions (DOM) for Central Coast Baptist Association (CCBA) in California’s Monterey Bay area, might not be facing a cut in salary if he had stopped short of making “abrasive demands,” said Alabama pastor Barry Holcomb.
Several years of concerns about Stewart were brewing — his disagreement of the use of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message (BF&M), his involvement in “numerous lawsuits with churches within the association” and his public criticisms of the North American Mission Board (NAMB), the Southern Baptist agency that partially funded his position — when he found himself facing the NAMB board.
But according to Holcomb, former chair of the board of trustees for NAMB, “This is one missionary and one set of circumstances that the board followed for months.
“It was a dead issue until I brought this back to the committee (because of action taken by the association),” he said. “The association could have avoided this.”
Now Stewart, who also receives funding from the California Southern Baptist Convention and the association itself, has lost his NAMB funding. While he is still the DOM for the association, news reports indicate he lost an estimated annual amount of $25,000 worth of salary supplement and insurance benefits from NAMB when the board voted to remove his missionary endorsement June 12.
Bill Curtis, current trustee chairman, said NAMB is continuing to fund the CCBA “as we always have.”
But “the simple fact remains that despite our best efforts, NAMB’s relationship with Rev. Stewart deteriorated to the point where we were uncomfortable continuing in partnership with him.”
The concerns over Stewart were first brought to the NAMB personnel committee in 2004.
Holcomb, pastor of Bethany Baptist Church, Andalusia, served as chairman of the board from May 2004 to May 2006.
When the issue originally surfaced, Holcomb said he chose not to get involved. The personnel committee at that time heard the allegations brought by NAMB trustee Ron Wilson, a Los Angeles-area pastor and former NAMB board chairman, but dismissed them.
In December 2004, the committee asked the California convention to look into them, Holcomb said.
The convention, in turn, contacted the association, and the Gilroy, Calif.-based group formed an investigative committee.
According to the committee’s report, released in September 2005, Stewart opposed an attempt by fellow pastor Charles Callis in 2001 to require each CCBA church to adopt the 2000 BF&M as its official statement of faith. The motion failed.
Stewart also got involved in a controversy at nearby San Tomas Baptist Church in 2001 because Pastor Mike Nichols had sold off $900,000 worth of church property and given the proceeds to himself and family members, the investigative committee concluded.
Stewart and the association helped three San Tomas members file a lawsuit that, on the eve of trial, produced a settlement ousting the pastor and regaining control of most of the church’s assets.
“The committee concluded that all allegations against Dr. Stewart are totally without merit,” said the committee’s report. “Dr. Stewart is in complete agreement with the (2000 BF&M) and did nothing unethical regarding the San Tomas Church.”
But the associational committee did not stop with clearing Stewart. It also asked NAMB and Wilson to repent for making false accusations. This is where Holcomb felt the line had been crossed.
“It came across as abrasive and demanding when the request for repentence came out,” he said. “It was the attitude of the association and the DOM toward (NAMB). At that point, to me, some policy issues came in regarding some ways we expect missionaries to conduct themselves.
“If one’s lifestyle embarrasses NAMB, then that person could be terminated,” Holcomb said, explaining that this is part of NAMB’s policy. “I was embarrassed for them and that this missionary was making a demand to Dr. (Bob) Reccord (then-president of NAMB) and the board to repent over this matter.”
The report, which came to Holcomb in October 2005, contained 100 pages of documents. Included were copies of letters sent to Reccord, Wilson and Callis, calling for them to write letters of repentance to the associational investigative committee and Stewart. A deadline of 10 days was included.
The cover letter to the report was from Stewart and stated concern “that national agencies are not following God’s Word when it comes to hearing allegations and how and when to move forward with them.”
Noting that it is within the rights of the board to investigate any concerns raised about people receiving funds from NAMB, Holcomb said, “Here is one of our missionaries … making an audacious statement covering a report that says you guys are guilty. … I would have never gotten involved in this had I not received this. It seemed out of place for a missionary.” (ABP contributed)
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