It is with sadness that we announce the resignation of three members of the Founders Ministries board. Drs. Fred Malone, Tom Hicks and Jon English Lee have resigned this week after lengthy conversations about the release of and responses to a trailer for the planned documentary, By What Standard?

Our conversations led to an impasse regarding the nature of sin, unintentional sin, unwise acts and what faithfulness to Christ requires in the wake of each. Though each of these three men formulated his own arguments, their views led them all to conclude they could not conscientiously continue to serve Founders without agreement on these points as it relates to elements in the trailer. As the statements of Fred Malone and Tom Hicks below indicate, they believe we have sinned in how the trailer portrayed certain people and issues. Tom Nettles, Jared Longshore and I do not believe that. This is the fundamental point of the impasse that we reached.

All three brothers who resigned have served this ministry with faithfulness and integrity. They have resigned not because they disagree that the present challenges related to social justice are a serious threat to churches. Rather, each determined that he could not support everything in the clarifications that Founders published.

As anyone who is familiar with this ministry in general or with Fred, Tom, and Jon English in particular can easily surmise, this is a painful separation. By God’s grace it has taken place without acrimony or bitterness but with deep conviction wedded to deep sorrow on the part of everyone involved.

Founders Ministries is continuing with the film project unabated, convinced that the issues we are confronting are of vital importance.

On a personal note I want to express publicly my great love for these men and gratitude for their impact on my life and the lives of my children. My admiration for their integrity and honor could not be greater. The sorrow of these events gives me a deeper longing for heaven when all confusion will be cleared up and there will be no more sorrow, because we will all be gathered around the throne of Him whom we love and have tried to serve to the best of our abilities by His grace and according the light and power given to us.

Tom Hicks has issued the following statement which is printed below at his request and with his permission.

I’m writing this with a heavy heart. Earlier this week, I resigned from the Board of Directors of Founders Ministries. My relationship to Founders is long and deep, and I owe them more than words can express. I have the highest respect for the men who remain on the board, and I believe them to be men of honor, integrity and conviction. I agree with them that the issues of “social justice” are some of the most serious threats to the gospel and to the unity of the church in our time. I believe that these matters must be addressed. However, after the release of the recent trailer, I came to a strong convictional impasse with others on the Founders Board. We disagreed in love. We all tried to accommodate each other’s consciences as much as possible. We labored to work through our differences, but our respective differences remained. I was particularly concerned about the inclusion of Rachael Denhollander in the trailer, whom I did not see when I first watched it. Her presence in the trailer, along with other sexual abuse survivors, seemed to conflate sexual abuse with other problematic views of social justice. Jacob and Rachael communicated to me that her primary concern was not her portrayal as much as the portrayal of sexual abuse survivors and the conflation of sexual abuse with other issues. All the board members agreed that sexual abuse is very different from social justice issues, but we disagreed about how to go forward in light of the trailer. Thus, with great sorrow, after a week of thinking and praying, I resigned from the board. I love the men of Founders Ministries, and I am grieved that we cannot walk forward together. I also need to own my own sin in this. I had the opportunity to view the trailer in advance of its public release, but I did not watch it carefully enough. I neglected my duty as a board member. I had a number of concerns and hesitations after viewing the trailer, prior to its release, but I did not voice those concerns. My conscience is convicted that my failure to give full voice to my concerns was a form of lying. I am grieved over my sin, and I have reached out to Rachael and Jacob and asked them to forgive me. They have graciously granted their forgiveness. I would ask you to forgive me as well.

Fred Malone has issued the following statement which is printed below at his request and with his permission.