SEBTS President Danny Akin Urges White Evangelicals to Give up Power and Leadership Roles – Except for Him
A prominent Southern Baptist leader has declared that white Christians need to “give up power” and “surrender leadership at the table” to ethnic minorities in order to foster kingdom diversity, except he is not volunteering his own positions of prestige to be sacrificed on the altar of white privilege.
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) President Danny Akin, who recently took heat for signing a statement against Critical Race Theory that didn’t really come out against Critical Race Theory, has come to the forefront of the CRT discussion in a recently unearthed 2018 video from the ERLC (color us surprised!) where he pushes standpoint theory and regurgitates every conceivable race-baiting cliche imaginable, particularly his “indigenous to our nature” nonsense.
To the question of “What do white Christians need to be mindful of when speaking out about Racial reconciliation?” he explains:
White Christians need to learn above all things, I think, to be good listeners. Over the last several years as I’ve tried to held build a culture for racial reconciliation and kingdom diversity, which is a core value of Southeastern Seminary, I’ve come to understand more and more that my perspective is not the perspective of my African American brothers and sisters, or my Hispanic brothers and sisters or my Asian brother and sisters.
They really do see life differently. They’re operating out of a different paradigm, a different context that’s very different than mine. And I didn’t really realize that until I stopped talking and began to listen.
So I think one of the things that white evangelicals, in particular, have got to do is become better listeners. In addition to that, we have got to be willing to surrender power, which is again, not indigenous to our nature.
As I often say, not only do we need to invite ethnic minorities in our room and to have a seat at the table, we even need to be willing to surrender leadership at the table if we’re really going to make progress and really help our brothers and sisters understand we see them on an equal plane with ourselves.
Great. He can start with himself and Russell Moore, and take most of the other seminary presidents with them.
The fact is that Danny Akin is overseeing the most rapidly liberalizing anti-revival in the history of any institution of the Southern Baptist Convention. During the tenure of Paige Patterson at SEBTS, it could be counted on to have been a stronghold for conservative principles. Now, its president does ads promoting atheist groups, they do Malcolm X read-ins, promote Black Liberation Theology, and recently hired one of the most extreme leftists in evangelicalism, Karen Swallow Prior.
Akin has been in power for years, ruling his little kingdom with a tiny woke fist, but apparently, he doesn’t want to lead by example and surrender his own power and seat of influence seat to some darker-skinned brothers, all the while enjoining others to do so.
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I can’t even listen to these pompous fools.
I think that what Dr. Akin is saying is we do need to be more inclusive and inviting of minorities. Perhaps he did not state it well, but the fact is, the “church” looks nothing like those who surround the throne of God (every tribe, tongue, nation, and people). If we can’t make every effort now to look like that, how will we feel then? I feel the mark of a true church is a body of Christ-followers of every shade who truly love Jesus and His Word from Genesis to Revelation.
Trust me, I’m not a fan of Akin’s, but I think this is somewhat of a legit point.
I’m sorry, but this statement is idiotic. The church looks like the church. There are already people of every tribe, nation, and tongue in the church. If there are some local churches where people of another nationality are not welcome, then shame on those people; including black churches that don’t welcome white people, or asians, or whoever. However, every church I’ve ever been in has been welcoming of everyone. We don’t need to play the diversity game. Who cares what percentage of color there is in a church gathering? What matters is that those who gather do so with one heart to worship God. Many of the black people complaining about the ‘unwelcoming nature’ of white churches are actually bringing in divisive and heretical teachings and THAT, not their skin color, is what causes them to not be welcomed. Communism should not be made welcome, and that is what critical theory is. It is a severely divisive and offensive teaching that turns Christian against Christian and makes every interaction into a power play where everyone always feels they’ve come out the loser and no one comes out the winner. It breaks my heart to think that any black or hispanic or asian Christian would look on me as an enemy; and I feel extreme anger against the false teachers who turns us against each other. I am as ready to count a black man from Ethiopia as my brother as I am a white woman with my same exact skin tone, hair color, and eye color. We are all one in Christ Jesus. Stop with the divisive diversity trash. Just stop it. ‘Contentment with godliness is great gain.’ You and others like you are sowing discontent and discord in the hearts of those who should be in unity.
Great comment, Laura you are right on target. In our day and age it is not patriotism but rather crying “bigotry” that is the scoundrel’s last refuge. How dare individuals claim that they are victims of racism when they are rebuffed for seeking to spread Marxism and hate in the church! They will be judged for this.
So churches should stop having Chinese or Spanish language services? After all, they are not diverse. These things are defined by their mono-culturalism and lack of diversity. Where does he get to the part that traditionally black Baptist churches need step up and do their part to help build a culture for kingdom diversity?
Voddie Baucham would be a great president at SEBTS.