I haven't talked to Mark in years. A decade ago he offered me a job at his firm and we used to be in touch regularly for a period of time. He has recovered from his cancer treatments at last check. He would make a strong board member with a track record of holding adminstrators accountable.
Gerb - I feel you on your concerns. You will not likely find a more passionate person on this board than me about rooting out sexual abuse in the church. We as Evangelicals have come a long way in acknowledging the horrific nature of this sin and the impact on the victims and the witness of the church to the lost.
My grandfather who passed away a few years ago there in Lynchburg bravely exposed covered up sin at the largest church in America back in the '80s. It cost him friendships, financial support and resulted in death threats for years. Interestingly enough the only Christian leader who was willing to stand by my grandfather through this time was Doc. I have counseled churches through staff sex scandals over the years and have been consistent in shedding light on the darkness and supporting the victims the way Scripture demands us.
This only makes the events of the past few days all the more ironic and sad. Doc spent his entire life in full recognition of what a scandal like this would do to the university and his ministry. It is a primary reason he didn't follow the trend at the time of naming his school after himself when Oral Roberts and Jimmy Swaggart had their names front & center. Apparently his eldest wasn't paying close enough attention.
I am sure the board will hire a search firm. A guy I know here in Houston leads the largest Christian ministry leadership search firm. It will be interesting to see if the board hires them or a secular search firm with proven track record. What I hope they avoid us setting up their own internal search committee. The credibility of the board is so low right now that such an endeavor could be disastrous.
I do suspect that the board is consulting with Mart Green who shepherded ORU through their own scandal-plagued recovery.