A Personal Note from Dr. Jaspers

^{NOTE: Dr. Jaspers personally sent a copy of the following email to SI after sending it to various members of the MBBC family. -GJL}

Dear Friends,

I am sorry I was out of touch yesterday while in Michigan and my email account was temporarily interrupted. I know that my decision to resign was a shock to all of you and I do not want there to be any question as to my love for Maranatha and all of our faculty, staff, alumni, and students. I have several important personal decisions to make at this time that are best for my family and me. I will be in touch with all of you as soon as the Lord has given me clear direction as to which, of many paths, He wants us to take.

My decision to resign was not as quick as things appear. For a long time I have wrestled with the high cost that this job of president demands of me personally and of my family. I have been working non-stop for nearly eight years and it has taken a toll on me physically. More important, though, has been the high cost paid by my family. Kathy has spent the majority of the past eight years sleeping alone, going to church alone like a widow, and having to be both mom and dad to our kids. I have also been greatly convicted about the kind of model I have been to a watching generation. For too long, the landscape of Fundamentalism has been dominated by workaholic leaders who have sacrificed their families for the success of their ministries. Unwittingly, I have been a part of that model. The more I thought about that, the more it bothered me. This inner battle has taken on even larger dimensions as we have been making plans for me to stop teaching classes and to travel even more! I have been in a quandary as to what I should do. I have loved Maranatha to a fault.

In the providence of God, He allowed a situation to be brought before our Board to show me that now was the right time to make my decision. Immediately, I was flooded with absolute peace that the Lord had allowed this for our good. I am in awe (a word I don’t use often!) at the way God has worked. I want to make it very clear that I love the men on our Board, and we have the greatest respect for each other. Even though this is a difficult time, God gave clear direction to our Board and me that this was the time for me to do the right thing. That is why the explanation has simply been that I resigned for personal reasons. They are very personal reasons, and I am encouraged that I get to start modeling the right approach to ministry rather than a “how to burn out” model of ministry.

My duties as president ended with my resignation. Dr. Oats has been appointed to lead Maranatha. I believe he will do an incredible job as interim president. We will be staying in Watertown until the middle of August. I have several preaching responsibilities to attend to, but we plan to be here as much as possible. If you would like to contact us, you can use my new email address davejaspers@gmail.com. We love each of you and greatly covet your prayers. We will take the next month or so to sort out our options and to seek the Lord’s leadership. As soon as we know our plans, we will communicate that to everyone.

Love,

Dave