On October 17, 2019, an article was published on the Iowa-Missouri Conference website titled “Six Unions Given Warnings for Perceived Policy Non-Compliance.”
The article reported on a discussion that took place at the General Conference’s 2019 Annual Council regarding recommended reprimands and disciplinary action against six unions “for perceived non-compliance with church policies regarding the practice of ordination.” According to the article, Iowa-Missouri Conference president Dean Coridan said in a public statement, “I request that my name be added to the list.”
Following this irrational statement by the Iowa-Missouri President, the Kingsville, Missouri Seventh-day Adventist Church Board, sent Coridan a well-deserved Open Letter of rebuke. The letter is re-printed in its entirety here:
Conference Presidents do not serve their constituents well when they substitute emotionalism for reason, and non-compliance for submission. In fact, they do a major disservice to their faithful Seventh-day Adventist constituents, by demanding loyalty from them while they themselves flout their own disloyalty to the Seventh-day Adventist worldwide Church.
This man should be replaced at the next Iowa-Missouri Constituency meeting, by someone with better judgment regarding his example and his constituents.
****
“So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:3-4).