NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — The integrity of another prominent Southern Baptist pastor has been called into question by members of his megachurch — this one in the shadow of the Southern Baptist Convention's headquarters.
Local and national news agencies have reported a raging controversy over Jerry Sutton's leadership of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn. Like many recent tiffs in large Southern Baptist churches, the conflict features allegations of improper financial decisions, accusations of an unaccountable and autocratic pastor, and a website where aggrieved members publicize the controversy.
Sutton is pastor to many of the SBC's most powerful leaders and employees. The denomination's headquarters office, publishing arm, news outlet and related agencies are located in Nashville.
But other high-profile churches have been roiled recently by controversy over pastoral leadership.
Accusations of autocratic decision-making against pastors who followed long-tenured leaders hit two massive churches in suburban Memphis. Disputes within Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., and Germantown Baptist Church in Germantown, Tenn., led to dissident factions starting websites to broadcast their disagreements and ultimately led Germantown pastor Sam Shaw to resign.
At First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Fla., where former SBC president Bobby Welch was the longtime pastor, his successor, David Cox, resigned abruptly in January after months of disputes with a faction in the congregation. And First Baptist Church of Raytown, Mo., near Kansas City, underwent a highly publicized dispute and lawsuit after a former church member accused the son of longtime pastor Paul Brooks of sexually assaulting and impregnating her while the son, Mark, was on the church's staff.
Sutton, a former SBC first vice president, finished third in a highly contentious 2006 SBC presidential election, despite the endorsement of major leaders of the SBC's conservative establishment.
Unlike other recent church fights involving prominent megachurch pastors, the Two Rivers conflict includes a dispute over a hastily called business meeting in which a majority of those present kicked out the church member who has been leading the charge against Sutton — despite the fact that he was one of the congregation's three legal trustees.
The Associated Press first reported Aug. 14 that the congregation was in upheaval over allegations publicized by Frank Harris, the trustee, who is a longtime member. Among his contentions were that Sutton inappropriately spent more than $4,000 of church funds on a wedding reception for his daughter, improperly met with representatives of a resort hotel who wanted to buy some of the church's property, and was autocratic and attempted to keep church members in the dark about his finances.
Two Rivers “appears to have been manipulated from a people-led church to a staff-run church,” the AP quoted Harris as saying. “Anyone who voiced opposition to leadership was alienated and lost any ministries they may have had in the church.”
The congregation's deacons and personnel committee met July 15 to discuss the charges, including accusations by a former church secretary that Sutton looked at pornography on his office computer and had an affair with a church staff member. The charges again were discussed July 28 in a churchwide question-and-answer sessions.
In a statement posted on the Two Rivers website Aug. 15, church officials attempted to refute the arguments. “After full review and discussion, it was unanimously determined by both the deacons and the human resource ministry team that the senior pastor had not committed any wrongdoing as claimed, and that there was no basis whatsoever to bring charges against, discipline or be concerned about the conduct of the senior pastor,” the statement said.
It said that the money for the reception had been approved by the church's budget committee because the event was open to all church members. It also noted the church is audited by an external firm once a year and that “no financial improprieties have been found at any time during” Sutton's 21-year tenure at Two Rivers.
The statement also said Sutton's dealings with the hotel owners had been proper and that a disputed church-paid trip he took to Italy and Israel was a legitimate mission endeavor and “not a vacation.” It added the sexual allegations had been investigated and dismissed in 2002, when they were first made. Church leaders again dismissed them in the July 15 meeting, it said.
The church voted July 8 to expel Harris from membership “for disruptive and abusive behavior,” but the action only added to the controversy. According to the church, more than 70 percent of those present voted in favor of removing him from the rolls. But the dissident camp contends the special business meeting where the vote was taken was not held with proper advance notice.
The statement did not address the dissident group's allegations that the church is in decline under Sutton's leadership. Although it claims a membership of 6,800, SBC records show that it had an average Sunday-morning worship attendance of only 1,573 last year. Just three years earlier, the figure was 1,932.
The Nashville Tennessean reported Aug. 16 that about 300 disgruntled church members had met the evening before at a community center to lay out their case against Sutton. They are attempting to collect enough signatures – about 700 – on a petition to force a vote to oust Sutton. Such an ouster would require a two-thirds majority vote to pass. According to the newspaper, the dissident group claimed they are well on their way to collecting enough signatures to call the meeting.
Sutton has been closely identified with the conservative movement in the SBC. He wrote a history of the denomination's swing to the right, The Baptist Reformation, that conservatives in the denomination have hailed, but many moderate Baptist historians have dismissed as revisionist.
Sutton has also been involved in controversial secular politics. In 2005, Two Rivers hosted the “Justice Sunday II” broadcast, an event sponsored by a coalition of Religious Right groups pushing for a more conservative federal judiciary.
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