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3ABN ASI Update

Why ASI
Chose to withdraw from Discussions

To Those It May
Concern:

Answering a request last fall
from Three Angels’ Broadcasting Network’s  Board of
Directors (afterward referred to as 3ABN), ASI agreed to
explore the possibility of forming a commission “. . .
to evaluate and determine Danny's legal and moral right
to divorce and remarry . . .” [excerpt from 3ABN
minutes].

ASI’s Executive Committee spent
considerable time and effort from late September 2006
until early 2007 exploring that assignment.  ASI’s
Executive Committee met January 4 to review progress on
establishing a commission.  After a full discussion
at that time, the Committee voted unanimously to
withdraw from the process they had agreed to
consider.  A brief announcement was made by ASI,
without stating any of the reasons for our
withdrawal.  We received questions from both ASI
members and several Church leaders.  All wanted to
know the reasons for ASI’s action to withdraw.  The
Committee met again on January 9, 2007 and authorized
the following explanation:

Reason for
ASI’s Withdrawal

ASI’s decision to
withdraw was not based on the merits of the divorce and
remarriage issues or any of the other issues we were
urged to consider.  ASI’s decision was based solely
on the barriers we encountered in attempting to reach
agreement between the parties on a process whereby the
commission would study the issues.

ASI’s
Initial Considerations

ASI believed it
could develop a process that would be fair to all
parties, utilizing a panel of ASI members selected for
their spirituality, fairness and intelligence.  The
parties would be chosen through a panel selection
process.
ASI proposed a process to assure a fair due
process to all concerned.
ASI believed it was
essential that it have the active involvement of all
parties in this process.

Danny and 3ABN
Accept

By December 10, 2006, Danny
Shelton (afterward referred to as Danny) and 3ABN had
accepted the process proposed by
ASI.

Unexpected
Barriers

Linda [formerly Mrs. Danny
Shelton] (afterward referred to as Linda) did not
participate personally in discussions to develop an
agreed upon process.
Linda identified Gaylon Arthur
Joy (afterward referred to as Joy) as her
representative.  Joy, in turn, introduced Bob
Pickle (afterward referred to as Pickle) and Greg
Matthews (afterward referred to as Matthews) as his team
members.
Linda’s team:
Did not accept that ASI was
capable of providing a fair forum to decide the
issues
Insisted on including issues involving
allegations of mismanagement and corporate misconduct at
3ABN
Would not accept the ground rules for the
panel’s procedures
Would not cease harassing e-mail
contact with Danny or other 3ABN
representatives
Would not cease, when requested to do
so, circulating distracting comments about the process
under discussion with ASI
We never learned whether
Linda approved of the positions asserted by her team. At
no time did Linda respond except to say that Joy would
be her representative.

3ABN/ASI
Relationship

ASI was open to whatever
conclusion the facts would reveal, and we were
disappointed that our efforts did not result in a
resolution of the issues we had agreed to
consider.

The ASI Executive Committee believes
that 3ABN is a God-inspired and God-led instrument for
the effective spread of the three angels messages to the
world, and that it has been, and continues to be, a
blessing to the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist
Church.

ASI is an organization of member
businesses and ministries that share a priority for the
spread of the gospel in their marketplaces.  3ABN
was introduced to ASI in the mid-1980's at our ASI
Convention in Big Sky, Montana.  At that time their
television idea was just a dream.  ASI was
intrigued by their audacious plan of a lay-operated
ministry providing a worldwide radio and television
network with "straight" Seventh-day Adventist
programming, 24/7.  That meeting was the beginning
of a mutually beneficial relationship, resulting in the
growth of both 3ABN and ASI and in positive media
exposure for hundreds of ASI members.  Both Linda
and Danny Shelton were viewed as capable leaders,
deserving our respect and involvement with
ASI.

In addition to great sadness for those who
know them, the breakup of the Sheltons’ marriage and
subsequent events brought much public comment that came
to the notice of ASI, Church leadership and 3ABN’s
viewers.  Soon after:  "The 3ABN Board of
Directors voted unanimously on September 24 [2006] to
request ASI to set up a commission to evaluate and
determine Danny's legal and moral right to divorce and
to re-marry" [excerpt from 3ABN
minutes].

Attempts to Establish the
Commission Panel

As ASI leadership was
considering 3ABN's request, an e-mail message dated,
October 3, 2006, was received by ASI’s president from
Joy, hitherto unknown to ASI, saying in part:

“.
. . Dr. Thompson [Walter Thompson, 3ABN Board Chair] has
informed me that ASI has agreed to be the appropriate
platform upon which to hear allegations regarding
3ABN.  While I agree to that in theory, ASI is the
appropriate platform and clearly has some jurisdiction
here, and by voluntary assent would have full
jurisdiction to hear the allegations and make
appropriate findings, I also recognize there are some
clear and serious conflicts that need to be clarified."

Joy’s memo included messages from others
(unknown and unidentified to us) who seriously
questioning whether ASI was an appropriate organization
to be involved.  As stated above, Joy himself was
unknown to ASI leadership at that time.  It was not
known what his interest was in the matter until Linda
later identified Joy as her representative.  Joy
then introduced Pickle and Matthews as part of Linda's
team.  Since that time Joy, Pickle and Matthews
always were included in any correspondence sent to
Linda.

October 25, 2006:  The ASI Executive
Committee took an action authorizing the exploration of
becoming involved in the process and asked Harold Lance,
past ASI president, to represent ASI and lead out in the
commission’s process.

October 31, 2006:  ASI
circulated a document entitled "Procedural Suggestions"
[see below] to Linda, Danny, their representatives, and
to 3ABN.

Basic
Concepts

ASI identified several basic
concepts necessary for the process to
succeed:

The involvement of Linda, Danny, and
3ABN was essential in order to reach a successful
agreement regarding a fair process and then to come to a
resolution of the dispute.
Widespread distracting
interchanges on web sites and forums led us to believe
that the discussions between ASI and all parties
attempting to establish an agreement on the process
(Linda, Danny, their representatives, and 3ABN) needed
to be conducted with confidentiality.
Both “sides”
(Linda’s and Danny’s) needed to stop direct critical
comment with each other.

Procedural
Suggestions

ASI suggested the following
procedural/process concepts:

The panel selected
to hear and decide the issues should be chosen by ASI in
consultation with the parties [Linda and
Danny].
Because of the sensitive nature of the
issues, the proceedings should be private, in the manner
of an "Executive Session" within a board of directors of
the Church or a corporation.
Issues for consideration
needed careful definition and mutual
agreement.
Parties would formally state in advance of
the hearing their position on each issue and their
expected outcome of each issue.
Each party would, in
advance of their appearance before the panel, furnish
the identity of witnesses and their expected
information, as well as provide copies of any documents
[evidence] to be presented to the panel.
All costs
connected with the proceedings would be paid by
3ABN.
Proceedings would be held at a neutral site as
convenient as possible for all parties.
Input from
both parties would be welcomed to establish the ground
rules on the process to be followed.
Questioning
would be conducted by the panel under the direction of
its chairperson, with opportunity for the parties or
their representatives to suggest questions.
The
decision of the panel would be based upon information
presented by the parties at the hearing and not from
outside sources.
The proceedings would not be
conducted as a trial, with a judge, lawyers, cross
examination and typical court-like processes.
Within
30 days after the conclusion of the proceedings the
panel would announce its written findings on the issues,
the factual reasons for their findings, and
recommendations to the parties, which document would be
available to the parties and the interested
public.

What happened?  Why didn’t
the process succeed?

There was
significant interchange between Linda's team and ASI,
and between Danny, 3ABN and ASI that lead to the
creation of two additional documents presented by ASI to
the parties that contained details and revisions to the
proposed process that the parties had
suggested.

We continued to have no contact from
Linda other than a single memo to an ASI officer stating
that Joy was her representative.

By December 10,
2006, Danny and 3ABN had accepted the process as
proposed by ASI.

On December 13, 2006, ASI
received an email from Joy advising that Linda was
preparing a careful, thorough response to the process
proposals, along with a list of questions that he and
Linda were preparing for their own clarification.
This response and list of questions never
came.

Interchange between ASI and Linda's
team

Discussions between ASI and Linda’s
representatives centered around:

Whether the
proceeding should be open to the public or
private
Whether ASI could be neutral and provide a
"level playing field"
Whether the proceedings should
be video taped/recorded/broadcast
Whether the issues
considered by the panel should extend beyond the
Sheltons’ divorce and Danny’s remarriage to include, for
example:
That Danny and the 3ABN Board of Directors
were guilty of malfeasance
That Danny should be
removed as president of 3ABN
That the Board of
Directors of 3ABN should be removed
That 3ABN should
be restructured to create a constituency-based
organization (though they knew that the existing
structure is lawful)
That any person who has
contributed to the support of 3ABN should be a
constituent and entitled to a voice in the selection of
the Board of Directors and management of the ministry
(donors were referred to by Linda’s team as,
"stockholders in the pews")
That the 3ABN corporate
by-laws needed to be changed to allow for censure,
discipline, and removal of officers or members of the
Board of Directors.  [NOTE: In fact the corporate
by-laws already provide for those
possibilities.)

At least 22 other issues were
raised in Forum site references by her team and urged
for inclusion in the ASI process.

From the
beginning last fall, Linda was provided with all
necessary telephone and e-mail contact information for
involvement with the discussion.  She was sent
copies of all communications from ASI (as were Danny and
3ABN).  In the two-plus months of ASI's attempts to
reach agreement on a fundamental process for the panel,
she did not respond (except to name Joy as her
representative).  We do not know if Linda shares in
a belief with Joy, Pickle and Matthews that the agenda
should include the matters asserted by her team
(above).  She chose not to participate.

It became clear that Joy, Pickle and
Matthews had interests far beyond the issues that ASI
had agreed to consider.

The Beginning of
the End of Discussions

We affirmed to
the parties that even though ASI supports the ministry
of 3ABN and wishes for it to succeed and prosper, ASI
would be fair and objective in considering the issues
related to the Sheltons’ divorce and Danny’s
remarriage.  We also believed that the panel
selected by ASI, in consultation with the parties
involved, would be people who possessed qualities of
spirituality, intelligence and fairness.  We
affirmed to both parties that ASI had no stake in the
outcome, and that ASI would be comfortable with whatever
conclusions were reached by the panel.  However, we
never reached the point of choosing a panel.

A week or two into the process, Danny and
3ABN ceased exchanging messages with the other
side.  That was helpful.  Because ASI declined
to consider issues beyond those of the divorce and
remarriage, Joy, Pickle and Matthews continued their
negative contacts with Danny, Dr. Thompson (3ABN Board
chair) and others associated with 3ABN.  Though
couched in spiritual language, their messages were
persistent, confrontational, argumentative and
harassing.  ASI’s efforts to stop their direct
communications were unsuccessful.

Final
Assessment

We believe that ASI has no
jurisdiction to consider internal issues of 3ABN
management or the changing of its corporate
structure.  Those issues must be left to its
governing body, the 3ABN Board of Directors.  We
believe our inability to resolve the fundamental issue
of the divorce and remarriage is disappointing to
many.  We felt that without agreement on the
fundamental process, and with no likely agreement in
sight, it was necessary for ASI to withdraw.  The
two parties are the losers in what could have been a
healing clarification of a divisive issue for all those
involved and concerned.

We confess that if we
would have known how bring resolution to the matter, we
would have done so.  We don't, but God does.
We urge that all who have a concern over these issues
and over the future ministry of 3ABN (and of Linda and
Danny) be respectful, restrained, and apply the Golden
Rule as you would wish others to do for you.  And
pray for one another without ceasing.

The ASI
Executive Committee
by Harold Lance
January 24,
2007

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Copyright 3ABN 2007.
All rights reserved.

Today's date
is: January 28, 2007