Enemies within the Church has released their documentary about the scandalous shenanigans that went down in 2019 at a now-prominent Southern Baptist Church (SBC) megachurch, where a failed pastoral search led to scurrilous accusations of racism and sin on part of dissenting members made national headlines.
We covered the story extensively at the time, and anyone wanting a ton of articles and primary sources can check out the Pulpit & Pen archives, but as a bit of a primer, an SBC megachurch in Florida needed a new pastor after Senior Pastor Hayes Wicker announced he was stepping down. After a time the pastoral search committee sought to bring on Marcus Hayes on board. Congregants had some questions about and concerns about what they viewed as Hayes’ progressive beliefs and ultimately he wasn’t voted in, receiving only 81% of the vote that requires an 85% threshold.
This caused the leadership of FBC Naples blow their top and to. go. off. Because Hayes is a “POC,” they got up on stage and declared that the reason he was rejected was that the congregation’s members were all racists. They released a public letter and lamented the congregant’s prejudice, announcing that anyone who voted against likely did it because he has black skin and they have a black heart and as a result there would be hell to pay.
And there was.
After the dust settled. 700 people left the church and nearly 20 families were formally excommunicated, including some that had been there decades, without ever having provided proof of their charges.
The President of the SBC, J.D. “Hold-my-beer” Greear did as he is wont to do: ignorantly going off half-cocked without knowing what the heck he was talking about and concurred with the accusation of racism despite no evidence.
There’s much more than that, of course. There is so much double-crossing and backstabbing and kind of sin is not even heard of among unbelievers. And this film by “Enemies Within the Church” documents it all.
You can watch the trailer below, and then the full length movie after that.
