Sep 15, 2006

Open Letter to Tim Dick

Tim Dick, President
Ligonier Ministries
P.O. Box 863595
Orlando, FL 32886

Dear Mr. Dick,

We are so grateful to Ligonier Ministries for all the years of incredible Bible teaching Ligonier has imparted into our lives through Dr. Sproul’s teachings. He has taught us about the holiness of God and why He wants us to obey Him. Ligonier has helped change our hearts and our lives to live in a way that glorifies Christ and enjoys our Creator. We are so appreciative of all that you do for the work of the Lord in this fallen world.

Yet we have this against you: Ligonier Ministries, under your direction, and you personally, are blatantly violating I Corinthians 6, by filing a lawsuit against Frank Vance, a fellow believer. We know that Mr. Vance has made some allegations against you in particular, and Ligonier Ministries as well, but we ought to obey God first – in all situations. You are despising the Word of God by filing this lawsuit.

We respectfully implore you to drop this lawsuit which is contrary to the ways of the Lord.

In addition, we would ask that you publicly answer the charges Frank Vance makes against Ligonier regarding duplicity in a contract with Don Kistler.

We would also hope that in all the areas of your family over which you have control, that you would meet the qualifications of an elder according to God’s Word. As president of a Christian ministry, you are in a position of biblical leadership and therefore must meet the qualifications of elder. I Timothy 3:4-5 says that an elder is “one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)”. Only you know the truth in this area. Please set a good example for the rest of us in ruling your own house well.

These are all important issues to the kingdom of God as a whole, since Ligonier is a public ministry in that arena. The “world” is watching. God is watching. We plead with you to repent for the sins listed above, to immediately drop the lawsuit, and to set the godly example of an elder for all Christians who have been so blessed by Ligonier ministries.

It is with profound regret that we will need to discontinue our financial support of Ligonier Ministries if the lawsuit isn’t dropped by Friday, September 29, 2006. We pray that you would have a teachable heart like David did when Nathan confronted him with his sin and say, like David said, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Our prayers are with you daily.

Your grateful servants,
Mark and Jennifer Epstein

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jennifer,

Here is a copy of what I sent last night before your "open letter";
Jennifer and Mark,

I told you the truth about every one of the questions you asked. Thursday was a travel day, which explains my not communicating with you. I am in Houston if you want to meet face to face on Saturday night to discuss this?


So does "working with me" include repentance, because your inability to interpret financial reports causes you to continue bearing false witness.
Your comment was not true, and again, you did bear false witness, again neglecting to repent.

Until such time that you do repent, I will no longer respond to your unfounded contentious accusations, I also release you and Mark from the commitment you made to support Ligonier, and will cancel your partnership relationship.

I can not, in good conscience, accept your financial support of Ligonier Ministries, given your jaded perception of the organization.

If your response indicates a more clear understanding of the implications of my accurate, and honest response to your questions, you should not expect additional dialogue.

Anonymous said...

Jen, you might want to confirm for people whether or not the "tim" above is the actual Tim Dick as you did in the comment section under the open letter to his father-in-law )which, for some reason, he saw fir to answer instead of RCharles). I know the source of the post can be traced to their soursce such as the LM office. Frank has done so with stuff sent by Tim to his blog.

Jen Fishburne said...

The post by "Tim" above is from Tim Dick, President of Ligonier. Yes, I know that for a fact, and yes, that is one of the letters he sent us. When we agreed to meet him last night, he changed his mind.