Former Staff Member Accuses James Merritt of Assault and Battery, Racist Jokes

James Merritt assaulted and battered fellow Crosspointe Church minister Scott Morgan in Merritt’s office, placing his forehead onto Morgan’s and jamming his finger into Morgan’s chest repeatedly to the point of causing doctor-verified injury, according to the testimony of Morgan revealed on The Christian Commute podcast. The heated confrontation reportedly centered on the issue of Jonathan Merritt’s then-closeted homosexuality.

The allegation comes to light in the wake of James Merritt defending and promoting the preaching of his openly homosexual son, and as Merritt has been hired as a visiting professor at best friend Danny Akin’s Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

During the interview with Seth Dunn, Scott Morgan recounted the argument-turned-physical altercation with Merritt occurring approximately eight years ago:

He [Merritt] was upset that he knew that I had been talking to some people about his son. But I had people coming to me.

He and I.. it got pretty heated. Let me rephrase that – it was really heated. He was behind his desk, and he just got up from behind his desk and he came over to me. And I’m a much larger guy than James.

I was standing up at the time. And he comes over to me and James put his forehead on my forehead – leaned his forehead into my forehead, took his finger, and started pounding into my chest. Not with a fist – I want to be honest – not with a fist, but pounding into my chest about his son, about, you know… like how dare I talk about his son and… he was pounding. And so finally I said, “you need to take your finger off my chest.” Now my flesh wanted to clock him. ‘Cause you don’t hit… you don’t do that to a man. But I didn’t.

It got so loud that his secretary… he had another meeting with a couple – there was a couple outside of his door coming in for something, and his secretary had to come in and say, “What is going on in here?” I mean, it was like – it was loud. That’s when I looked at him and said, “I’m done. I’m done. I’m done. We’re done.” So me and another minister left that day on staff – we left. I went straight to my office to start literally boxing it up – cleaning my office out. He eventually comes down to my office while I’m doing that going, “Let’s calm down. Let’s calm down.” I said, “No, we’re done. I’m going to go to a doctor.” Listen – no, he did not throw what you and I as men know as a fisted punch. But you do not poke another man’s chest over and over and over.

Morgan revealed that James Merritt had the sole ability to hire and fire him and that Merritt was surrounded with yes men, stating,

There are people that would have backed James up no matter how much I had…listen – that’s why they surround themselves – a lot of these guys – with certain types of men. If they just say it, they’re going to believe them. It’s sick.

He described his subsequent visit to the doctor:

This other minister tells me, “You need to go to the doctor right now.” I’m going to be straight with you – I’m not lying to you here – my chest was hurting. I mean, I had to literally remove his hand – his finger – from my chest.

I went to a regular doctor. And, when they asked me to take my shirt off I had marks. That other minister was with me, by the way.

The doctor said, “I can write up a thing here – that you have marks on you.”

According to Morgan, Merritt kept calling him after the incident, but Morgan didn’t pick up.

I could have called the police. And I had people tell me that I should have done that. But I didn’t do it.

Later in the interview, Morgan recounted a racist joke commonly told by James Merritt, which was described as, “trying to come across like blacks are stupid.” According to Morgan, Merritt told this racist joke all the time, yet best friend Danny Akin claims he has never heard the joke about “Rastus” pooping his pants.

Merritt’s use of church time and resources to promote a pyramid scheme was also a topic of conversation. Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing was described by Merritt as “glorifying to God,” “an opportunity where he could make more money that he could give to God’s work,” and “an opportunity to give people hope.” The “business” was shut down as a pyramid scheme by the FTC in 2013.

Merritt was recently hired by his close friend Danny Akin, the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, to teach Preaching and Christian Leadership at the school as a visiting professor, yet Merritt recently publicly endorsed the preaching of his homosexual son.

Merritt recently and famously played the Gospel Card, beclowning himself as he rebuked the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention for its concern over Critical Race Theory by claiming, “If some people in this room were as passionate about the Gospel as they are about Critical Race Theory, we would win this world to Christ.”

As more of the Merritt puzzle pieces fall into place, James Merritt had exposed himself as being just as dangerous to the church as his gay son – arguably more so.

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David Morrill

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