In a rare and sharp rebuke of its top staff leader, the Southern Baptist Convention on Wednesday, June 16, said the SBC Executive Committee cannot investigate itself as its president, Ronnie Floyd, had attempted to do. Floyd, who has been…
SBC steers a decidedly conservative course but rejects the most far-right agenda while putting Executive Committee and Ronnie Floyd on notice
While affirming bread-and-butter conservative issues on the first day of its annual meeting June 15, the Southern Baptist Convention turned back attempts at harder-line positions desired by the most conservative bloc of the body. That included a narrow rejection of…
SBC Executive Committee declines to entertain the idea of broadening the scope of its investigation of itself
As an anticipated 17,000 messengers descended on Nashville for the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 14, the SBC Executive Committee defended its decision to pre-emptively investigate itself and refused to broaden the scope of that investigation. Meanwhile, a North…
SBC Executive Committee hires a firm to investigate itself and report findings to itself
In what appears to be a preemptive move four days before the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, the president of the SBC Executive Committee announced he has hired an outside firm to investigate his own agency and, purportedly, report the…
Mike Stone and Ronnie Floyd should step down
When I pulled into the seven-figure neighborhood outside Dallas, I began to wonder to myself why a former seminary president would be living in a mansion in this posh suburb near Plano. Then as I pulled up to the door,…
‘Southern Baptist whistleblower’ offers audio clips to back Russell Moore’s claims
Calling himself a “Southern Baptist whistleblower,” a Texas Baptist pastor on June 10 accused Southern Baptist Convention leaders Ronnie Floyd and Mike Stone of lying about their previous closed-door comments regarding sexual abuse concerns in the denomination. Phillip Bethancourt, pastor…
Leaked letters and charges of covering up sexual abuse set the stage for a potential investigation of the investigators inside SBC
The most powerful coordinating committee at the heart of the Southern Baptist Convention will become the subject of a convention-mandated, third-party investigation if two SBC pastors get their way next week. Ronnie Parrott, pastor of Christ Community Church in Huntersville,…
There’s controversy again, and more people are attending the SBC annual meeting
The Southern Baptist Convention is on track to have its most attended and most consequential annual meeting in 25 years when it gathers in Nashville June 15-16. Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC Executive Committee, announced on Twitter that pre-registration…
The strange saga of the Riley Foundation lawsuit now forces SBC to figure out who has the right to remove a seminary trustee
A months-long battle for ultimate control of the Southern Baptist Convention’s agencies and institutions came to light Feb. 21 when a trove of attorney communications exposed a rift between officers of the SBC Executive Committee and leaders of Southwestern Baptist…