By Bob Allen
Two Baptist churches in Texas gained some closure Oct. 8 with a conviction in the murder of a 28-year-old mission pastor committed during a church robbery in March 2011.
A Tarrant County jury deliberated about an hour before finding Steven Lawayne Nelson, 25, of Arlington, Texas, guilty of capital murder for beating and suffocating pastor Clint Dobson in his office at NorthPointe Baptist Church. The case now enters the sentencing phase, where jurors must decide whether to impose the death penalty or sentence Nelson to life without parole.
NorthPointe Church and First Baptist Church of Arlington issued a joint statement in response to the verdict. At the time of his death Dobson was serving on staff at First Baptist as mission pastor of the former Brown Boulevard Baptist Church, which was struggling until First Baptist intervened with financial support and hired Dobson as pastor in 2008.
“This has been an unimaginably trying time for two families and two churches,” the statement began. “Through God’s grace we have made it this far in what we know will be an ongoing legal process.”
The churches thanked prosecutors and investigators for preparing and presenting their case, the jury for “diligence and endurance through what we know was a difficult trial” and Judge Mike Thomas for presiding.
“Most of all we are grateful to God for holding us up every day since this occurred in March 2011,” the statement said. “He will do so in the days to come. His love endures forever.”
According to media reports of the trial, which got underway Oct. 1, Nelson was drawn to NorthPointe Baptist Church because of a car parked outside. The car, a Mitsubishi Galant, belonged to Dobson’s assistant, Judy Elliott, 67, who was also beaten and left for dead but managed to survive.
Witnesses said Nelson was later seen driving a car that matched the description of Elliott’s vehicle, which was stolen in the robbery, and that he used her credit card to make purchases at a local shopping mall, and sold Dobson’s stolen laptop on the day of the killing for $150.
Physical evidence included DNA from Dobson and Elliott found on Nelson’s shoes and metal studs from his belt found at the crime scene. Nelson took the stand in his own defense, claiming two friends killed Dobson while he waited outside the church.
Prosecution witnesses described Nelson as a career criminal who has been a disruptive prisoner while awaiting trial at the Tarrant County Jail.
Along with upholding both congregations and Dobson’s and Elliott’s families in prayer, First Baptist and NorthPointe also pledged to “continue to pray for the people responsible for this terrible crime and their families.”
“We will pray that God will work a miracle of healing and peace and change in their lives,” the statement said. “As people of faith, as Christians, that is what we must do.”
Dobson graduated from Baylor University in 2004. He enrolled at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, but after Hurricane Katrina temporarily closed the school he transferred to Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary.
He graduated with a master-of-divinity degree in 2008 and was named student preacher of the year. After his death a memorial fund was established to provide scholarships for future Truett Seminary students in his name.
While an important milestone, the two churches said the murder conviction “does not mark an end for us.”
“Regardless of the outcome, we will always have questions,” the statement said. “However, we are strengthened by the firm knowledge that as awful as this has been, God’s hand is in all of this and one day, when we are reunited with our friend Clint Dobson, we will understand.”
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