April 19, 2002

Dr. Steve Flatt, President
David Lipscomb University
Nashville, TN.

Dear Bro. Flatt:

I am sure that you do not know me, but my wife and I worshiped at the Madison church for a short time while you were preaching there. We were blessed by the fine lessons you presented.   We both attended Lipscomb High School in the 50s.

I know that you must be aware of the serious problems that are now sweeping across the face of our brotherhood.  These are the same problems that have recently ravaged the Madison congregation. I can recall hearing Bro. Ira North say with pride that in all of his years there Madison had never had a problem they could not resolve, or a division.

Having spent your life as a member of the Lord's church and having preached for most of your adult life, you know that there are folks among us espousing ideas of worship, about salvation, about the role of women and a number of other important points that are contrary to Scripture and certainly contrary to what we and our fathers before us knew to be New Testament Christianity.

God has provided you with the wonderful opportunity to head David Lipscomb University in this day of testing.  Bro. Lipscomb was one of the key leaders of the church in a day when our brethren faced problems within their ranks almost identical to those we are facing today. Through the Gospel Advocate and his Nashville Bible School he and a band of faithful men were able to salvage a faithful remnant and rebuild the churches of Christ. As young preachers we were able to see the wonderful fruit of his labors.   Now just 40 years later we see a brotherhood that is being torn apart by those who are determined to change the church into something after their own imagination.

The impression of many is that some of those who are leading the people away from the Old Paths of God's Word are part of your staff there at David Lipscomb.  The association of a significant number of your faculty with Bro. Rubel Shelly and the Woodmont Hills Church further indicates this.  I would not presume to tell you how to run your business as president of the university.  But I would plead with you to think of the welfare of the Lord's church, not only in Nashville, but across the nation.  In the digression of last century, we lost most of the schools of higher learning associated with our brotherhood. We cannot afford to lose David Lipscomb to those who no longer wish to be simple New Testament Christians. You have been invested with great power and influence.  Please use it to build up and promote the unity and welfare of the churches from which you draw your students and support.  Do not allow teachers of error to use DLU as a platform to undermine and destroy that which is most sacred to the people of God.

Bro. Lipscomb was a faithful member of the church of Christ, he loved the church and dedicated his life, his wealth and his property to achieve her success. It would be a terrible travesty to see the school he bequeathed to our brethren used to undo all he labored for.

Please accept this letter in the spirit in which it is sent.   My prayers go up to God that he will bless and guide you to steer a straight course for the school and that it will do for the churches of Christ in the 21st century what it did in the century before.