Something fascinating is going on with Christa Brown’s memoir Baptistland. I’ve been in book publishing for almost 30 years, a career that allowed me to see many sides of the publishing business. My last corporate role was as vice president…
Court transcripts show former professor charged in FBI probe may seek plea, suppression or dismissal
Court transcripts obtained by Baptist News Global in the federal case USA v. Queen indicate Matthew Queen, former Southwestern Seminary provost and evangelism professor, may seek a plea deal with the government, file motions to suppress evidence or make motions…
Kanakuk Kamps hit with another lawsuit from child sex abuse survivor for fraudulent concealment
A new lawsuit filed against Kanakuk Kamps June 24 by child sex abuse survivor Andrew Summersett of Denver seeks to expose how the “largest youth camp in the U.S. intentionally omitted critical information about known cases of child sexual abuse…
What’s happening to megachurch pastors in Dallas?
Megachurch pastors in Dallas are starting to drop like flies. On June 9, Tony Evans stepped away for an unspecified period of time from the 10,000-member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, a church he started in his living room and led for…
‘Bad Guys’ vs. ‘Good Guys’ narrows the framing on SBC and sexual abuse
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force disbanded without having implemented much of anything. The database they purported to “launch” last year — even hyping it as “historic” — remains empty. It holds not a single name of…
Texas youth pastor booked by feds on child sexual abuse charge
Note: This article was updated at 1 p.m. Eastern time June 21 to include additional charges filed against Luke Cunningham. Luke Cunningham, a former youth pastor at four Texas churches, was arrested June 19 by United States marshals in…
Ben Mandrell should take humility lessons from Bart Barber
I thought I had seen arrogance in Southern Baptist Convention agency heads in my 62 years of living, but I had not heard from Ben Mandrell until today. His cold-hearted arrogance speaking before the SBC annual meeting today is in…
A call for state AG investigations of sexual abuse in the SBC
As the Southern Baptist Convention prepares for its annual gathering next week in Indianapolis, few in the abuse survivor community hold any expectation that it will make meaningful progress toward protecting kids and congregants against clergy sex abuse. It’s now…
Former Christian school employee and Kanakuk staffer Matthew Harmon arrested for child sexual assault
On May 28, after a yearlong investigation, the Dallas Police Child Exploitation Squad arrested Matthew Harmon, 46, on charges of sexual assault of a child for an offense that allegedly occurred in 2007. The alleged incident involved a victim Harmon…