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SBC Credentials Committees Refuses to Remove Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church For Ordaining Women Pastors

No liberal drift? In a convention bulletin released this morning, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Credentials Committee revealed that they’re not going to remove Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church from their roles after he famously and unapologetically started to ordain women pastors.

The Credentials Committee suggests that the title and function of pastor can be separated, and while it’s true that only men can hold the “office of pastor” perhaps women can have the “title of pastor” without having a church that is rife with pastrixes to be being disqualified or found not to be in cooperation with the Baptist faith and message. They note that “(we found)…little information evidencing the Convention’s beliefs regarding the use of the ‘title of pastor’ for staff positions with different responsibility and authority than that of the lead pastor.”

Instead, the Credentials Committee says they are “unable to form an opinion regarding the relationship of Saddleback Church to the Southern Baptist Convention until clarity is provided regarding the use of the title “pastor” for staff positions with different responsibility and authority than that of the lead pastor” and they said they will study the issue and get back to the convention next year in 2013.

SBC Referral: To break fellowship with Saddleback Church (Item 68, Proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention, June 15-16, 2021, SBC Annual, p. 74)

Motion: Shadd Tibbs, Louisiana “That according to Article VI of our Baptist Faith and Message and according to the teaching of 1 Timothy 2:12, that, we the Southern Baptist Convention, of June 2021, break fellowship with Saddleback Church, as they have ordained three ladies as pastors, and all other churches that would choose to follow this path. At the very least, I am asking that the validity of this matter be looked into and report given at the 2022 Convention of the action taken”

Response: It is the unanimous opinion of the Credentials Committee that the majority of Southern Baptists hold to the belief that the function of lead pastor, elder, bishop, or overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture and that this was the intended definition of “office of pastor” as stated in Article VI of the Baptist Faith & Message 2000.

The Credentials Committee has found little information evidencing the Convention’s beliefs regarding the use of the “title of pastor” for staff positions with different responsibility and authority than that of the lead pastor. For this reason, the Credentials Committee makes the following report and recommendation:

Report: The Credentials Committee reports to the Southern Baptist Convention during its June 14-15, 2022, annual meeting, that pursuant to SBC Bylaw 8 and SBC Constitution Article III, that it is unable to form an opinion regarding the relationship of Saddleback Church to the Southern Baptist Convention, until clarity is provided regarding the use of the title “pastor” for staff positions with different responsibility and authority than that of the lead pastor. Therefore, the Credentials Committee makes the following recommendation:

Recommendation: The Credentials Committee recommends that the Southern Baptist Convention during its June 14-15, 2022, annual meeting in Anaheim, California, form a study committee, the members of which shall be appointed by the President, to report to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, June 13-14, 2023, in New Orleans, Louisiana, a recommendation providing clarity regarding the “office of pastor” as stated in the Baptist Faith & Message Article VI, The Church, given the many different offices within Baptist churches which include “pastor” in the title, though often with very different responsibilities and authority

This caused even Albert Mohler, who has been in denial for years that there are women pastrixes in SBC churches to publicly rebuke the EC from the convention floor, and then later tweet out:

Rick Warren is the outgoing Lead pastor, and overseer of the 25,000 members, 14 campus Saddleback Church He has recently seen a resurgence from discernment ministries after a few years on the outs. He is famous for peddling to the church the poison and spiritual strychnine that is The Purpose Driven Life for over four decades- a damaging and unbiblical theology that has seeped into tens of thousands of churches, becoming part of their identity.

Over the last few he raise eyebrows for announcing they were having a “Blacks Only worship service” where no white members were allowed in, so the “black fold” could have a “safe space” to “heal,” for blasting white Christians for having no discernment and not caring about black people.

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SBC Guidepost Report Calls For Establishment of Sex Abuse Bureaucracy

Guidepost Solutions has released its “Independent Investigation of the Southern Baptist Convention”, a 288 page report that details the issue of sexual abuse in the convention. The report includes a sexual assault accusation against former SBC President Johnny Hunt, who partnered with Ravi Zacharias to open up massage parlors, as well as numerous other accusations of sexual abuse within the SBC. As one might expect, the Guidepost report sided with leftist Russell Moore, who pushed the convention to investigate claims of sexual abuse in a letter that claimed the problem was ongoing within the convention for many years, even as Moore did nothing to stop it while he was at the helm of the ERLC. The move by Moore has been exposed as a political hit job against conservatives within the convention.

While the accusations themselves will be the subject of much debate over the next three weeks, leading up to the denominational convention in Anaheim, the most disappointing part of the report is the unbiblical and destructive recommendations made by Guidepost:

Baptist Press As SBC Pravda

Baptist Press previously reported on former Vice President of Lifeway Jennifer Lyell’s admission of having a “morally inappropriate relationship” with a seminary professor that lasted 12 years. Following the report, the executive committee issued Lyell an apology for an alleged “misunderstanding” about the nature of the relationship. In the apology, Lyell’s relationship was portrayed as “non-consensual”, despite the age of the victim and the duration of the “abuse”. Baptist Press retracted the article and Lyell received a settlement in 2020 from the executive committee, and then a second settlement from the executive committee in 2022. Guidepost recommends that the convention should utilize Baptist Press to continue reporting on sexual abuse, while “balancing the public’s need for information against potential harm or discomfort”. Thus, the way that Baptist Press spun the Jennifer Lyell story will serve as a model for how it will manage stories that contain inconvenient facts in the future.

Sexual Abuse as Primary Focus of Credentials Committee

The credentials committee is responsible for investigating matters related to a church’s qualifications to be a part of the SBC. In recent times, churches and local associations have been removed for issues related to the acceptance of homosexuality and other cultural downgrades that violate the Baptist Faith and Message. Guidepost would like to remake the committee so that its primary focus is on sexual abuse, rather than doctrinal fidelity. This includes social engineering of the committee’s makeup to increase the representation of women and the social science practitioners.

Creation of a Sex-Abuse Bureaucracy

Guidepost’s recommendations include the creation of a new “administrative entity” to regulate and process sex-abuse allegations, because the best people to deal with sex abuse allegations apparently aren’t local law enforcement, or local leadership who understand the nature of the situation. Inevitably, such a bureaucracy will infringe on the autonomy of local churches. Guidepost doesn’t just want the SBC to establish a bureaucracy using the normal 2-year procedure that the SBC normally follows to create a new entity. Instead, the consultant agency recommends that the SBC create the bureaucracy at the upcoming June convention, in 3 weeks, using bylaw 25 to bypass the normal process that would be used to critically think about such an undertaking before rashly moving forward.

One Registry for Both Convicted and Accused

The Biblical standard for accusations against an elder requires 2 or 3 witnesses (1 Timothy 5:19). Guidepost would like the newly created sex-abuse bureaucracy to lump those convicted together with those who have been “credibly accused” in an offender blacklist.

“Credible” is defined as “not manifestly false or frivolous”, meaning that the burden of proof is on those who are accused to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the accusation is false. The list would also include those who “aided and abetted in the cover-up of such conduct”, which means that all of the conservative executive committee members who resigned in protest would also likely be a target of the blacklist.

and

The system would be publicly accessible, meaning that those individuals who are “credibly” accused, but not convicted, would receive the same treatment within the SBC as a convicted sex offender.

The #MeToo movement took the standards of determining guilt and innocence and turned them on their head. Now this movement is on the doorstep of the SBC in the form of the #Churchtoo movement. Proponents of the movement are rejoicing at the Guidepost report. They can’t wait to dance on the grave of the SBC.

Establishment of a Sex-Abuse Compensation Slush Fund

The executive committee used critical theory to redefine sexual abuse, making the case that grown women in consensual affairs could be considered sex-abuse victims. With that precedent set, Guidepost recommends that the SBC set up a “Survivor Compensation Fund Program” that will be funded by cooperative fund giving, the liquidation of SBC assets, and a special giving drive that would likely be similar to the Annie Armstrong or Lottie Moon Offerings. The fund would be administered by the newly created bureaucratic sex-abuse entity, whose master would determine the amount of compensation from the comfort of an ivory tower.

Guidepost understands that this move will be very costly. The cooperative fund will likely become a black hole for the cooperative giving of the convention. The consultant agency would also like local churches to add sex abuse prevention as a line item in their annual budgets.

Guidepost proposes that an “independent fund administrator” or “special master” be appointed to administer the fund, meaning that the final say on who receives money from the sex-abuse fund wouldn’t be in the hands of a jury, local church, or an elected SBC official, but rather an appointed bureaucrat.

Permit Outside Influences From Public Theologians and Consultants

Guidepost recommends that the Credentials Committee be given the authority and funding to retain a “panel of theologians” and Support Specialists, to support the decision-making processes of the committee, meaning that the committee that Guidepost would like to infuse with a significant number of sex-abuse survivors, social workers, and victim’s rights advocates could potentially be advised by the likes of Russell Moore.

The Credentials Committee would use advice from these so-called outside experts to determine the standards by which local churches are deemed either friendly or unfriendly.

While many of its local church recommendations are excellent, Guidepost’s recommended standards for cooperation would also require churches to fire anyone who is listed in the Offender Information System, which would include those who could not disprove an accusation, but were never charged with a crime. This would inevitably lead to a system where accusations are weaponized against innocent individuals in the church. If a pastor cannot disprove a false accusation, he will lose both his job and career, as part of the blacklist system.

Accept Anonymous Accusations

Guidepost recommends that the newly-created sex-abuse entity change the current policy of the credentialing committee to require that the committee accept anonymous submissions about sex abuse in a church, meaning that anyone, even pagan activists could manipulate the reporting system to devastate a church and pastor.

Anonymous accusations should never be permitted by the credentialing committee. If false accusations are proven to be false, the accuser should receive the punishment that he or she intended for someone who was innocent.

The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil  from your midst.

Deuteronomy 19:18-19

The way that the convention deals with the Guidepost report will be key over the next few months. The annual SBC Convention meeting in Anaheim is sure to be a turning point, either for better or worse, as the messengers will either choose to change course and elect leaders that will reform SBC institutions; or double down on the tomfoolery and continue onward with denominational downgrade in a manner that is irreversible. God is sovereign over the SBC. He will either reform the institution, or it will become just another dashed piece of pottery beside the potter’s wheel. He will not be mocked.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown for Protestia

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Southern Baptist Executive Committee Exchanges Scriptural Standards For Critical Theory On Sexual Abuse

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

In an act of spite at the time of his May 2021 resignation from the ERLC, Russell Moore accused Southern Baptists of systematically covering up sexual abuse scandals for many years. Conservatives in the convention rightly pointed out that if such accusations were true, Moore was the most culpable party, as he would have held direct knowledge of such claims for many years without doing anything about them.

Moore theatrics carried over into the June 2021 Southern Baptist Convention, as alleged sex abuse victims were deftly used as props by the leftists in the convention to create a spectacle and galvanize last-minute opposition to conservative SBC presidential candidate Mike Stone. Consequently, Serial plagiarist Ed Litton ascended to SBC presidency and a task force was appointed by Litton to investigate Moore’s allegation that the executive committee covered up allegations of abuse.

In October 2021, activist elements on the task force pressured the executive committee to relinquish its attorney-client privilege, opening the Executive Committee and its individual members up to the high potential for lawsuits. The law firm that represented the executive committee, as well as 17 executive committee members resigned in protest of the decision.

On February 22, 2022, the executive committee issued a statement of apology to a former Lifeway employee who was previously accused of being in a “morally inappropriate relationship”. The woman alleges that at the age of 26, as a Southern Seminary master of divinity student on a mission trip, she was coerced into having sex with a seminary professor. The relationship between the woman and her professor continued for 12 years, despite the woman moving from Louisville, Ky, to Chicago, to Nashville, over a 12-year period.  In addition to the apology, the executive committee also reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the woman.

Deuteronomy 22:23-27 illustrates how God commanded Israel to perform justice in regard to sexual abuse, differentiating between consensual adultery which required the death of both parties; and rape, which required the death of the man. While Christians today don’t advocate the death penalty for adultery, the moral principle in God’s law that determines guilt and innocence remains valid even today.

“If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.  But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor,  because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.

The change in direction by the committee after the departure of 17 of its most conservative members illustrates the shift from Biblical justice to critical theory, a shift that should not surprise anyone, considering that a large portion of the SBC views critical race theory and critical gender theory as “useful analytical tools”.

In the new status quo, a victim can be anyone who claims that they were taken advantage of by an individual with power, privilege, or authority, mirroring the accusations of the #metoo movement. An individual who offers consent to commit adultery and then regrets their sin several years later is cast as the victim. An individual who has a long-term affair can end the relationship and cash in at the executive committee gravy train.

If you are a member of an SBC church, an increasingly large amount of your tithe will be placed into a sexual abuse settlement slush fund to be given to anyone who brings an allegation of sexual abuse, regardless of whether the accusation is credible or substantiated by 2 or more witnesses, as required by scripture.

 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. -1 Timothy 5:19

It is true that real sexual abuse does occur. All Christians can agree that common sense safeguards should be put into place to protect victims from abuse (such as performing criminal background checks and prohibiting sex offenders from working with children). Christians have a standard that comes from scripture. That standard defines sin and abuse. When one person who partakes in a consensual adulterous relationship is considered a sinner, while the other is considered a victim, scripture is abused and real sexual-abuse claims are bastardized. God will not be mocked. The SBC will reap that which it has sown.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown as a guest post for Protestia.

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Op-Ed: Is What the SBC Exec. Committee Apologized for Really ‘Nonconsensual Sexual Abuse’?

The SBC Executive Committee, in a rare move, has issued a personal apology to Ms. Jennifer Lyell for failing to “adequately listen, protect and care” for her after she came forward with allegations of sexual abuse by her professor, as well as acknowledging the “unintentional harm” they caused her by not properly reporting her case and framing what happened to her in a blameworthy and distressing manner, resulting in a confidential monetary settlement to Lyell.

A couple of years ago, Lyell, then a vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, admitted to being involved in a sexual relationship with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills for over a decade. She claimed that it was the result of him ‘grooming’ her while she was enrolled in a missions class at the seminary in 2004 when she was 26 years old, and ending a decade later when she was 38 and having long moved on. This resulted in his swift termination and right public disgrace.

The Baptist Press, which is overseen by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, reported on the story but framed their involvement as a “morally inappropriate relationship” (repeating her words) with her former professor. Outrage ensured and the paper eventually apologized and retracted the offending article, but not before the damage was done to her reputation and people assigned a degree of moral culpableness to her by decrying her as ‘an adulteress,’ among other things.

 In March 2019, Lyell would write:

“So that day when I shared what had happened to me with my boss at LifeWay and then later with SBTS President, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, I was quick to also share the responsibility I bore for being compliant at times, for not telling immediately, and for so idolizing the idea of a whole family that I protected it despite what was happening within it. I am not a sinless victim. But I am a victim nonetheless.”

A year later she would seemingly walk back any suggestion that she was guilty of any sin for the relationship, explaining in an update that just because she was ‘compliant’, it did not mean their relationship was ‘consensual’. As her understanding of her role in the whole affair continued to evolve, she also appeared to dispel the notion that there was any sin on her part for which she ought to apologize, given that she was and remains a victim.

The SBC Committee apparently agrees with her, with their own release framing the 12 years together as one big long incident of “nonconsensual sexual abuse” between adults. Peter Lumpkins, commenting on the whole affair when it first broke, offers up these observations:

“Assuming a unilateral manipulative, exploitative, wrongful beginning (“grooming”) of the relationship by the perverted professor, at what point does a 12 year voluntary but illicit sexual relationship between two grown adults, at times, miles apart, cease to be a unilaterally manipulative, exploitative, and wrongful relationship? Or does it? Are we to understand that a 38-year-old woman who is having a sexual relationship with a married man, and does so at long distances, is doing so because she is trapped in a sexual abuse scandal in which she cannot escape?

Listen to Lyell’s words again, words she wrote to describe the fiasco, not words Baptist Press used to describe the relationship:

But a family relationship did develop. Over the years I spent weekends with them, my holidays with them, became an “aunt” to their grandchildren, and their grown children became like siblings to me. It looked idyllic on the surface. Except the pattern of inappropriate sexual activity continued throughout the relationship (emphasis added)

Lyell said she spent weekends with the family, enjoyed holidays with them, and became very close to their grandchildren. Apparently, Lyell must have been close to Mrs. Sills during this time. Friends. Except for one qualifying factor that made it different–Lyell continued the pattern of “inappropriate sexual activity” with her friend’s husband.

Is it too much to suggest Mrs. Sills, her children, and grandchildren were victims of abuse in which Lyell herself would be, at least in some significant ways, morally accountable as the abuser? While I regret suggesting this possibility makes Lyell feel both uncomfortable and betrayed again, or even persecuted as she appears to indicate, it nonetheless seems to me one cannot escape the reasonably moral conclusion of the facts as they have been publicized.       

Baptist Press caving into the pressure by Caring Well celebrities and conference attenders to both apologize for publishing and then retracting a story that fundamentally was correct remains a dangerous precedent for our news wire service. 

More problematic still is the notion that the definition of ‘nonconsensual sexual abuse’ has now been broadened to include voluntary sexual affairs by two consenting adults. It’s true that powerful people in authoritative positions can exploit, manipulate, and deceive others into an initially unwanted relationship. Granted. No one is suggesting otherwise, and we rightly condemn it when it undeniably takes place.

However, to argue that an illicit relationship between two adults that started by devious exploitation of one over the over while the other was under the manipulative person’s authority but continued on years later after no such authority was present remains morally absurd.”

This is not to say that the Executive Committee didn’t do her dirty, only that there is an element to the story that raises a brow or two. Lord knows they’ve botched an investigation before, such as with Jules Woodson.

For Lyell, however, she is grateful for the apology, writing:

and in a statement:

“Finally, I must acknowledge and thank Pastor Slade, the EC officers, and trustees who agreed to resolve our disputes through their action today as well as their legal counsel who worked quickly to process four years of information. As I’ve shared with those to whom I’ve been able to speak and to their lawyers, although this by no means restores what I’ve lost, I am grateful because it is the only action I could imagine that may at least make the ongoing damage stop. My focus will now turn to my health and trying to build a future. I do so having accepted the apology offered by the EC in their public statement and with enduring gratitude for Rachael Denhollander as well as Russell and Maria Moore—without whom I cannot imagine still being here.”



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SBC Legal Counsel Quits After Denomination Votes to Waive Attorney-client Privilege over Sexual Abuse Investigations

Nearly 2 weeks a week after the SBC Executive Committee (EC) members voted to waive attorney-client privileges in order to be ‘fully transparent’ while sexual abuse claims are being investigated, the Southern Baptist Convention’s legal team has quit, sending a letter to Ronnie Floyd and tending their resignation after nearly 60 years of representation.

The whole thing is worth a read, but in a nutshell, the firm has always operated under good jurisprudence and there has always been an expectation of attorney-client privilege and that matters that are discussed would be confidential. However, the firm writes going forward we can no longer assure Executive Committee and Convention personnel with whom we work that the privacy of their communications with their lawyers will be secure.”

One of the lawyers, James Guenther, 87 and has been representing the SBC from the mid-1960’s. He went go on to say that there is nothing sinister about it, despite the EC’s attempt to paint it as such, but rather this legal concept has been in the bedrock of the rules of evidence in the country for centuries, writing:

“We understand the Executive Committee’s decision to convey a negative attitude about the
attorney-client privilege which it and the Convention enjoy. The decision causes us to carefully consider
the prospect of moving forward as we try to represent the Executive Committee and the Convention in an
alien environment. We simply do not know how to advise a client, and otherwise represent a client, with
the quality of advice and representation the client must have, and in keeping with the standard of practice
our firm tries to uphold, when the client has indicated a willingness to forego this universally accepted
principle of confidentiality.”

The whole thing can be read below:

The vote to waive attorney privileges passed earlier in the month 44-31 after weeks of deliberation, mostly with the progressives berating and beating the conservatives about it. At the news that they decided to waive, 10 executive committee members resigned.