Depositions are currently under way for the upcoming trial against the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board based on allegations by plaintiff Will McRaney — and at least one deposition includes harsh allegations against NAMB President Kevin Ezell.
In testimony given under oath Feb. 22, former NAMB missionary Bill Barker accused Ezell of bullying and domineering behavior that made it impossible to work for him. That echoes allegations made privately by other former NAMB employees, although Barker is the first person to give such testimony under oath.
Bill Barker
In the case, McRaney contends Ezell and other leaders at NAMB conspired to force his termination as executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware because McRaney would not go along with demands from Ezell related to control of church planting strategies. McRaney further has accused Ezell of defaming him and causing him to lose income as a consultant and speaker.
Barker declined to speak further with Baptist News Global about his testimony on the advice of legal counsel.
His deposition, however, paints a stark image of his experiences with Ezell from 2001 to 2017, when Barker served as a NAMB missionary in Appalachia. In that role, he related not only to NAMB but to 13 state Baptist conventions. NAMB paid his salary. He also supervised the Mississippi River Ministry.
In these roles, Barker said, he had “many personal interactions with Kevin Ezell and participated in many meetings.” Those included general staff meetings and senior leadership team meetings.
Kevin Ezell
According to his sworn testimony, Ezell frequently uttered verbal “outbursts and negative statements about other people” that he later demanded employees edit out of the video recordings of the meetings.
Barker added: “It was also my firsthand experience of interactions with Mr. Ezell that, on occasions, he made statements and accusations that were false and bullying in nature. As frequently expressed in state meetings, Ezell’s attitude was ‘whatever it takes,’ which he practiced.”
As an example, he cited an experience in spring 2017, when “a sizable donation of money” was given to Clear Creek Baptist Bible College in Pineville, Ky., through Appalachian Regional Ministry.
“When Mr. Ezell found out about the donation, he became angry, fired off a number of heated text messages (that he continued sending until after midnight), and had the ARM website shutdown. I was told the next morning that Ezell had instructed the IT staff to shut down the website around midnight.”
“My life was made miserable after that in terms of working with NAMB management.”
He explained: “My life was made miserable after that in terms of working with NAMB management. I was restricted from working with certain ministries and schools that Ezell did not like (such as CCBBC) and ministries that were loosely connected with the Southern Baptist Convention. As director, seemingly every decision I made was challenged and at least once every four to six months I was called in for the purpose of dismissal. As a ministry, ARM belonged to the state executive directors, not to NAMB. When I was told by NAMB personnel that I was subject to termination, I called Dr. Robert White, state executive director for the Georgia Baptist Convention. He then called the other state executive directors and then called Ezell telling him to back off.”
Soon, Barker said, he was told by an intermediary that if he sought help from the state executives again, not only he would be fired but two other NAMB employees would be fired by Ezell “in retaliation.”
Instead, Barker “was forced into early retirement,” he testified.
But Ezell’s vendetta against him didn’t end there, Barker said. He said Ezell and another NAMB employee “frequently” called White, the Georgia executive, to demand he be fired from ARM, where he continued working under the auspices of the Georgia convention. When White retired, his successor, described as “a personal friend of Ezell,” immediately fired Barker, he said.
Further, Barker testified that Ron McCoy, a former pastor in West Virginia and former NAMB trustee, called Barker to “come clean before dying” and tell Barker he “had been the victim of an intentional smear campaign that damaged my reputation and ministry considerably. McCoy told me that Ezell was behind the campaign and then proceeded to name those at NAMB who carried out the smear campaign on Ezell’s behalf.”
To the point of McRaney’s allegations about his own firing by the Maryland-Delaware state convention, Barker testified: “From personal experience and knowledge, I know that Kevin Ezell has used NAMB’s funding and resources to control state conventions” including demanding certain people be hired as executive directors or else the convention would lose funding from NAMB.
Barker swore this oath in his testimony: “I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.”
Neither NAMB nor Ezell has offered any public comment about Barker’s affidavit.
Meanwhile, the trial date has been moved out by two months at the request of NAMB. Judge Glen Davidson granted that request March 3. The trial was to begin June 5 and now is scheduled for Aug. 7.
Joni Hannigan
NAMB’s request to delay the trial was necessary, its lawyers said, because on Feb. 27 — four days before the close of discovery — McRaney’s legal team produced a “declaration plus attachments totaling 98 pages” from Joni Hannigan. NAMB’s attorneys want time to depose her before trial.
Hannigan, a veteran Baptist journalist, is potentially a key witness because of her previously reported experiences with Ezell, whom she says threatened to sue her for libel after she reported a factual story about sexual abuse in the SBC. She previously wrote in a BNG column about her experiences and how she believes Ezell attempted to ruin her career.
That trial date change also allows NAMB and Ezell to avoid appearing in court before the June SBC annual meeting, where some messengers in recent years have sought, unsuccessfully, to make NAMB more accountable in reporting its finances and employment practices.
Also on March 3, Derek S. Rajavuori of the law firm Butler Snow asked to withdraw as counsel for NAMB. Attorneys Timothy Jeffrey Perla and Joshua A. Vittor of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, and Kathleen Carrington and Joshua Wiener of Butler Snow, will remain counsel of record on behalf of NAMB.
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