From your pastor’s desk

At some point a letter in response to some reprehensible actions in our Convention is to be released that will have my name signed onto it. While I have doubted that many, if any, of you have cared about the details of the polity and mechanics of our convention, especially at the national level, it seems now is a time to offer an explanation for those interested, 

A few years back a major newspaper report was released, documenting hundreds of cases of sexual assault perpetrated by Southern Baptists. That report showed that our church autonomy (meaning neither our local association, state convention, nor the SBC as a whole can mandate that we do anything) make it easier for abusers to move to a new church in a new place without the facts of their past following them. Unfortunately, it also showed that often times, even when knowing the facts, Southern Baptists at various levels have covered up abuse, silenced survivors, and enabled abusers. 

While some action has been taken in different ways, there honestly was not the appropriate response by Southern Baptists to finding out how pervasive the abuse was. Case in point, I’m not surprised if this barely rings a bell. 

This past summer, letters written by the former president of the ERLC (the policy arm of our convention), Russell Moore, were leaked that detailed some of the inside action of the Executive Committee and how he had longed to do more for survivors and churches seeking to handle abuse better, but was stonewalled in private. The Executive Committee (EC) is a board of trustees that the Convention nominates to carry out the work during the year.*IF YOU AREN’T SURE WHAT THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE IS, SEE THE ASTERISK AT THE BOTTOM* 

In light of these leaked letters, some on the EC believed an investigation was warranted so that what was done in the darkness might be brought into the light. The EC voted against this action. So Grant Gaines, a Tennessee pastor, brought a motion at the convention for the SBC president to nominate a task force to handle an investigation into these allegations. These allegations come from various sources, including legally recorded audio. There have also been lawsuits won against at least one of the alleged. The motion included the EC following best practices as outlined by the third-party investigator, including waiving attorney client privilege. This is important because without waiving this privilege, the EC could withhold any email that was CC’d to an attorney, regardless of how egregious. 

I supported Gaines’ motion and still do today. 

In the months since, I’ve gained a fuller understanding of what could come with waiving attorney client privilege. It may open our convention up to lawsuits and it may mean that embarrassingly heinous sins are exposed that tarnish the SBC name. 

The EC has met twice in the past two weeks, unable to reach a contract with the Sexual Abuse Task Force and the investigators they’ve hired. The main issue, among others, is waiving attorney client privilege as the messengers overwhelmingly voted for the EC to do. 

I’m still in favor of it. 

If what has been done by any SBC entity warrants a lawsuit, then so be it. If the lawsuits pile up in such a way that it hurts our convention, then so be it. Not because I don’t care about Southern Baptists. As you know I grew up the son of an SBC pastor. I married the daughter of one too, whom I met at an SBC seminary. Our sisters married SBC pastors. I went to an SBC university. And I love being the pastor at Pleasant View Baptist Church. As flawed and broken as we can be, I love Southern Baptists and I love being a Southern Baptist. 

But God doesn’t need us, Southern Baptist. He doesn’t need me. He doesn’t need our seminaries, our mission boards, or our cooperative program. He doesn’t even need us to do the right thing.

But we desperately need to. We must. Come whatever. He’s told us to bring sin out into the light. So, being fully aware of all that that might cost us, we must let the light shine on any corner or crevice. 

It is an act of faith. Faith that even if we were to lose everything important to us about being Southern Baptists, that God can still be glorified. That God is still in control. That He can still work things for His glory. I believe He can and honestly I think it’s time the Executive Committee starts acting like it. 

Love you All,

Pastor Micah

*Technically speaking, once the SBC annual meeting is adjourned, there is no such thing as the Southern Baptist Convention. As I mentioned earlier, we are thousands of churches who give to same seminaries, mission boards, etc. When we gather each year we can request that these entities do certain things, but legally and technically, they are just as autonomous from us as we are from them. Our oversight comes from who is nominated and elected each year to oversee these entities as trustees.