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November 15, 2007

Windermere Baptist Conference Center Response to Michael Whitehead

The recent issue of The Pathway included an inaccurate story in which Missouri Baptist Convention attorney Michael Whitehead responded to a previous Windermere Baptist Conference Center press release. The Windermere press release reported inaccuracies in a previous story in The Pathway (for more information, read Windermere Baptist Conference Center's October 26, 2007 press release).

In the latest inaccurate story in The Pathway, Whitehead responded to three issues from the Windermere press release. He first responded to a quotation from Dan Bench, Windermere Baptist Conference Center President/CEO. Bench had stated that The Pathway should have contacted him to avoid printing an inaccurate story and that he would be "happy to answer any questions from anyone at any time."

In response, Whitehead claimed that The Pathway could not contact Bench without lawyer approval since they were litigants in a case. What Whitehead's admission reveals is that The Pathway's stories on Windermere Baptist Conference Center or the litigation are deliberately and intentionally one-sided. By hiding behind the lawsuit, he admits that The Pathway makes no attempt to talk with both sides in order to verify the facts. As a result, Missouri Baptists should not trust The Pathway's stories—past, present, or future—about Windermere Baptist Conference Center or the litigation. Since they make no attempt to get both sides of the story correct as responsible journalists would, their accounts should be dismissed as one-sided and biased.

Whitehead's second claim in The Pathway's one-sided story is that the original story by The Pathway about land owned by Windermere Development Company, LCC being foreclosed (which did not occur), was not confusing. Windermere Baptist Conference Center's October 26 press release noted that the headline of the article was confusing and that "rumors have already spread that Windermere Baptist Conference Center is being foreclosed." Whitehead dismissed this allegation and claimed that the story had been "clear."

However, despite Whitehead's assertion, many people were confused by the original headline and thus spread false rumors about Windermere Baptist Conference Center. Multiple church groups with reservations next year at Windermere called to determine if they needed to cancel their camp since the Windermere Baptist Conference Center was being foreclosed. Fortunately, Windermere's sales staff were able to point to the previous Windermere press release and a Word&Way article to clear up the confusion caused by The Pathway. Additionally, due to The Pathway's confusing headline other news organizations filed reports that Windermere Baptist Conference Center was being foreclosed. KY3 news in Springfield filed a correction on November 9, in which they acknowledged the mistake occurred because of "confusing" similar names. Finally, pastors on the MoBaptistListServe, an online chat group which Whitehead is a member of and writes on, were confused by The Pathway story as they talked about Windermere Baptist Conference Center being foreclosed. Whitehead did not write the group to correct this confusion. As a result of these incidents, it is obvious that Whitehead's assertion is inaccurate. The Pathway's original headline was confusing.

Whitehead's final response to Windermere Baptist Conference Center's October 26 press release was to challenge the claim that 2007 was Windermere's "best year ever." Whitehead argued, "Meanwhile, we simply cannot use the phrase 'best year ever' for the loss of 5/6 of the total acreage that once belonged to MBC. When the MBC family recovers all the land, all 1,301 acres, debt free, that will be the 'best year ever,' and we pray that will be next year." The problems with Whitehead's statement are three-fold. First, the land sale occurred in 2005. On the other hand, 2007 has seen more people on campus than ever in the nearly fifty year history of Windermere Baptist Conference Center.

Second, Whitehead completely ignored the explanation in the press release about why problems in the past occurred. The Missouri Baptist Convention has repeatedly interfered with the work of Windermere Baptist Conference Center. They have worked to dissuade speakers and groups from attending, interfered with banking and construction work, and spread false rumors about the life-changing ministry of Windermere (for more information, read Windermere Baptist Conference Center's January 5, 2006 press release). Fortunately, the life-changing ministry of Windermere Baptist Conference Center has continued due to the prayers and support of the great Missouri Baptist family.

Finally, Whitehead's comments suggest that he measures what is the best year merely in terms of mammon. However, what really makes 2007 the best year ever is that more people have been served in the name of the Lord than ever before. About 18,000 guests were served this summer and more than 1,500 life-changing decisions were made. That should give everyone cause to celebrate as God is doing great things through the life-changing ministry of Windermere Baptist Conference Center.