Bobby Giles

I am a 2022 MANT student. I came to Northern because I couldn't believe that Scot McKnight, Lynn Cohick, Nijay Gupta, and Beth Felker Jones all taught at the same seminary. This was the only place I wanted to come. Particularly, McKnight's King Jesus Gospel and A Church Called Tov opened my eyes to a clearer understanding of the gospel and a vision of how the church could operate. 

Every church and every religious organization I've ever been a part of has eventually suffered at the hands of abusive male leadership. Most have continued to do so. I wanted to join a new kind of culture. I thought, "The kinds of things that I've experienced and witnessed in the past could never happen at Northern." And now thanks to the actions of former President Shiell and this board, I'm reminded of the saying, "Meet the new boss -- same as the old boss." 

At least some of you (a majority, it would seem) have enabled and perhaps even supported the development of an administrative culture that is far from tov. Perhaps you've also done many good things in your life. Hopefully, you have family and friends who love you and think the world of you. But your legacy will not escape your actions and inactions here at Northern. 

As an older student, I am well aware of my mortality. Someday you and I will be gone. Do you want your descendants, as they reflect on Grandpa's legacy or investigate their family tree, to stumble upon yesterday's Roys Report, and records like this, and this, and this? Do you want them to know that you created and left behind a toxic culture? Do you want them to judge you as being on the wrong side of history, and short of God's goodness?

Will you join the students, staff, and faculty of Northern in turning a new page and following God's call to a brighter and more just future? Or at least, failing the will to do that, will you step aside so as not to be a stumbling block?

Please do the right thing.