May 20, 2006

Lawsuit

The following is from Jim Leonard, director of the Cariri Baptist Seminary:

We want to share with you an urgent request that needs to be deligently taken before the Lord. Jim received a legal summons yesterday (May 18) confirming that one of the former Seminary employees is suing the seminary in labor court. In reviewing the claim with our lawyer last night, Jim discovered many false accusations against the Seminary and a demand for compensation to the tune of nearly $150,000 (US dollars). The case will not be treated as most court cases, with multiple meetings and appeals; it will be treated in a single hearing next Wednesday, May 24, at 9:15 a.m. (7:15 Central Standard Time), with the judge's decision being final. All of the seminary's defense (witnesses, documentation, etc) need to be in the hands of our lawyer by Monday so that he can develop our defense strategy.

7 Prayer requests
* Pray for the Seminary staff as they will be very busy in the next few days putting these materials together;
* Pray that the right documents and legal proof will be easily found and clearly representative of the truth;
* Pray for the witnesses and our lawyer, that they will be faithful in presenting the truth in these matters. We know that God will honor this above all else;
* Pray that hardened hearts will be softened before Wednesday, and if its the Lord's will that the case would not even make it before the judge;
* Pray for the seminary, for all that it stands for, and for the wide ministry and testimony that it has in the community (and entire country!);
* Pray for the seminary's spiritual and physical assets, the result of 60 years of God's blessings, that He will honor and protect them;
* Pray that above all else God will show Himself mighty, and that His name will be exalted, glorified, and praised through this difficult testing.

Needless to say, our hearts are extremely heavy, as this man claims to be a Christian and worked side-by-side with us for ten years. We suspected the threat of such a case since he retired last year, but we were unable to make this concern public until now because there was no tangible proof that he would carry through with his threats. The summons yesterday took care of that detail. We have also desired to be blameless in the areas of gossip, something which the other party has not sought to do, but has actually used heavily to try and turn people agains us. The President of the Seminary board of directors, a Brazilian pastor, and Jim have attempted to settle this in a Biblical way, seeking to work through this man's church, but all attempts have been refused. The Seminary faculty, board, and staff are shocked and saddened at the ammount of bitterness being shown and are unsure of the motives behind such dishonesty.

Again, thank you for bearing this enormous burden with us. We'll do our best to keep you informed if there are any new developments. Please pray!

There are other details which Jim does not share--and therefore neither will I--which magnify the reprehensible nature of this lawsuit. The believers I have talked to in this region are aghast that this individual would even think about doing such a thing.

I would echo Jim's request for urgent prayer in this matter.

Posted by Andrew on May 20, 2006 5:36 AM.