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,…
Now we know why the SBC hasn’t acted more on sexual abuse
For the last two years, observers have watched the Southern Baptist Convention deal with a crisis of abusive pastors. After a 2019 Houston Chronicle report, it seemed like the leadership of the denomination was becoming intent on protecting the vulnerable…
Southwestern Seminary seeks fulfillment of $5 million pledge Pattersons attempted to divert from school
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has filed a $5 million claim against the estate of a recently deceased donor whose planned gift to the Fort Worth, Texas, school allegedly was redirected after interference by Paige and Dorothy Patterson. Elizabeth Griffin of…
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 saga of Southwestern Seminary and the Pattersons just got stranger, and it’s all in the SBC Book of Reports
In an exceptionally rare move, the administration of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has used its annual report to the Southern Baptist Convention to accuse its former president of theft. Although rumors and intimations of the current seminary administration’s displeasure with…
Three dozen others join NAMB in asking Supreme Court not to allow McRaney case on religious liberty grounds
The case of a Baptist state convention leader fired because of what he considers undue influence by a national Southern Baptist Convention agency is drawing intense national interest — but not for the underlying merits of the case itself. More…
SBC loses another 435,000 members in 2020
The Southern Baptist Convention has lost 2.3 million total members — or 14% of its membership nationwide — since its peak in 2006. New annual data tracking key metrics for the nation’s largest non-Catholic Christian denomination was released last week,…
Coalition of evangelical Christians advocates third way on immigration reform
Amid the highly contentious debate about how best to enact comprehensive immigration reform on a federal level, several thousand evangelical Christians have signed on to a set of recommendations drafted by the Evangelical Immigration Table. Organizers say they are presenting…
Russell Moore leaves ERLC for Christianity Today, highlighting the new schism within SBC
Russell Moore’s critics in the Southern Baptist Convention think his departure to the evangelical magazine Christianity Today proves what they’ve believed all along: He’s a liberal. Moore, head of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for the past eight…