#23 of 54. Letter from Halvard B. Thomsen, May 23, 2007

“Employees should have access to a process of consultation and genuine discussion in matters affecting their labor . . . .” — Statement of Ethical Foundations for the General Conference and Its Employees.

“[A]ny further communication between us will not lead to different results. Consequently, I nor anyone else within the GC and NAD administrations will respond further to these communications.” —Halvard Thomsen in his third letter responding to James Coffin, after having written two previous letters—one with 17 lines of body text and one with 12 lines of body text.


LETTER

May 23, 2007


James and Leoni [sic] Coffin
[Address provided]

Dear Pastor and Mrs. Coffin,

I acknowledge receipt of your recent letters. Clearly, any words I use to explain the position of the Church in this matter, as to its personal and family nature, are being misconstrued and turned on me implying some type of conspiracy with Lincoln Steed in hurting your family. That was not my intent. I merely wanted to explain that to my knowledge, none of the individuals in this building to whom you are copying your letters have been the recipient of any letters from Lincoln regarding you and your family. These GC/NAD people copied on your letters have learned the details about this situation from you, not Lincoln. I want you to know I am truly sorry for the hurt and frustration you have experienced in your relationship with the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its leaders. I am also sorry that my letters have added to that hurt and frustration.

Following your first letter, I talked to Lincoln and insisted that he must not use his position in the Church to communicate on any private matters outside the purview of his assignments. He agreed and it is my understanding that since that time he has not done so.

You have alleged he defamed you in writing. I understand that he did write your conference president, who certainly has seen your side of this matter through your letters copied to him. As to your associate, Pastor ____________, I assume you have provided adequate information for him to understand your positions. I believe there may have been some communication with ______________ [Leonie’s parents’ pastor], mentioned in your first letter, but you have also had conversations and communications with him which no doubt address these matters as well. I am unaware of any other contacts by Lincoln.

You wish to make this an employment matter for the Church to deal with. We do not see this as an employment matter. I’m sorry that is troublesome to you. You have not heard from others addressed or copied in your letters because it was agreed I should respond since your letters were addressed to me but copied to the others. We have taken appropriate action to be sure this matter is not brought into Lincoln’s workplace or that he speaks from a position of his employment on such personal matters. Clearly, we have no right to control how he deals with intra-family concerns.

Your allegations of defamation are troublesome. Whether Lincoln’s statements are false, leading to defamation is open to interpretation, just as your statements regarding Lincoln are open to interpretation as to their veracity. These are not matters in which the Church should be involved because the issues raised, whether you concur or not, are matters of a family controversy, and should be addressed within that context. We have refrained from judging either you or Lincoln in these matters.

I would wish that the Coffin and Steed families would resolve these differences through Christian mediation, but the Church is not in a position to mandate any action here.

I would like to bring this matter to closure as I have concluded there is nothing more I can say to assuage your perspective on this matter. However, any further communication between us will not lead to different results. Consequently, I nor anyone else within the GC or NAD administrations will respond further to these communications.

I wish you God’s blessings in your lives and hope that He will bring you peace and joy in the future.

Sincerely,


Halvard B. Thomsen
Chair, Liberty Editorial Board
Assistant to the President for Administration, North American Division

HBT:jda

xc:
Eugene Hsu, Consulting Editor, Liberty
Jan Paulsen, Consulting Editor, Liberty
Don Schneider, Consulting Editor, Liberty
John Graz, Consulting Editor, Liberty
Robert Kyte, Office of General Counsel
Mike Cauley, President, Florida Conference
Lincoln E. Steed

Copyright © 2008 James Coffin