Alexandra Alder writes a completely negative story about church discipline, even though she interviewed Dr. Hershael York, Pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church and Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and one of Dr. York’s parishioners who was the recipient of church discipline, with amazingly positive results. York explains:
So when the WSJ reporter called me, I explained its biblical basis, its practical application, and its obvious benefits. I reasoned that, if sin is indeed harmful, the cruelest thing we can do is leave someone in it. Confrontation must always be motivated by a sense of compassion and a desire for reconciliation. Then, to prove the point, I gave her the name and number of a man whom our church disciplined. His testimony is that he would not even be alive today had we not dealt with him as we did. Within the past week Ms. Alter called and interviewed this man and he told her the whole fascinating story.
Sadly, this is a clear example of heavily biased journalism.
In another recent encounter with the media, York was treated more fairly by Michele Martin of National Public Radio’s Tell Me More. In a twelve-minute long segment, York and fellow guest Dr. Janice Crouse of the Beverly LaHaye Institute of the Concerned Women for America were asked to discuss the reticence of many evangelical leaders to back Huckabee. At the end of the interview, York endorsed Huckabee.