Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., and its present and former leaders are named defendants in two lawsuits filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court Dec. 3. The Southern Baptist church has made headlines for more than a year now,…
Immanuel Little Rock is making news again
An Arkansas church rocked by child sexual abuse scandals is preparing to adopt bylaws for the first time in its 132-year history, but the draft proposal would muzzle church members from speaking to reporters and nonmembers about the affairs of…
Exiles from Immanuel Baptist find new life at a historic Baptist church in Little Rock
The sexual abuse schism that has rocked one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in Arkansas is now bringing new life to a Baptist church building with a different kind of history. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported May 19 that about…
Arkansas pastor resigns after months of dissension over mishandling child sexual abuse cases
After a months-long saga of media coverage, internal infighting and an exodus of members and deacons, Pastor Steven Smith of Immanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock, Ark. tendered his resignation via a letter to his congregation last night. As previously…
How does a pastor survive a 59% vote of confidence?
Life moved on, and somehow I missed that two weeks ago the deacons of Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., finally took a vote of confidence in Pastor Steven Smith. According to published reports, 59% of those voting supported…
Saga of Little Rock church’s conflict over sexual abuse claims still making headlines
Conflict over sexual abuse claims at one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in Arkansas continues to make front-page headlines in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which has published 25 articles about Immanuel Baptist Church since December. Seven of those articles have…
Little Rock church hired Josh Duggar’s lawyer then reversed course after lay leaders protest
It has been less than three weeks since the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette broke the story of a Little Rock church’s failure to notify members of alleged sexual abuse of minors, and the story continues to take twists and turns. The latest…
On Al Mohler, Paige Patterson, Bill Clinton, Immanuel Baptist Church and Baptist polity and politics
“Local church autonomy” is a Baptist distinctive selectively used. As evidence, consider Al Mohler’s position on Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., 25 years ago when then-President Bill Clinton was a member there. Mohler, relatively new as president of…
More details emerging of Little Rock church’s abuse problem
The saga of how a prominent Southern Baptist church in Little Rock, Ark., mishandled knowledge of child sex abuse continues to reverberate through a denomination already at odds with itself over how to respond to abuse claims. What makes the…