Why the Southern Baptist Convention Must Exclude Christ Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church

Christ Tabernacle Misisonary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, has called sex-predator Darrell Gilyard as a pastor. The Jacksonville Baptist Association besought the church to resign its membership from the association, and apparently the church has agreed to withdraw from the JBA (see story in the Florida Baptist Witness).

Southern Baptists are non-connectional. The actions of the local association have no automatic impact upon Christ Tabernacle's relationship with the Florida Baptist Convention or the Southern Baptist Convention. It is imperative that both of these bodies act quickly to encourage this errant church to correct its mistake or to leave Southern Baptist life at all tiers. Following are several reasons why:

1. Withdrawal of fellowship is the only punitive action open to Southern Baptist cooperative structures. We have no authority to remove Gilyard, to replace the church's leadership, to seize the church's property, or to end the church's existence. Local churches in Southern Baptist life are autonomous. We do, however, have the authority to determine which churches are those with whom we walk in cooperative fellowship. Unless they repent, Christ Tabernacle must be removed from that fellowship.

2. Church action is the appropriate subject matter for the withdrawal of fellowship. In most cases of sexual misconduct, the congregation is more of a victim than is the association, the state convention, or the SBC. Of course, the actual individual victims have suffered more than the congregation has suffered, but usually the entire congregation has been deceived and wronged. In most cases, the congregation will mourn, grieve, and suffer for years to come for the way that they all have been betrayed. Sister churches should assist and encourage one another in such situations rather than excluding one another.

   In this case, however, the church is not being deceived. with full knowledge of Gilyard's past, Christ Tabernacle is deliberately placing this man in a position to continue his predatory ways.

   Historically, gross error in the selection of pastors has been among the most widely recognized grounds for disfellowshipping churches from Baptist associations. The first Baptist Association in this country, the Philadelphia Baptist Association, gave on the day of its formation this reason for its existence:

   It was then agreed, that a person that is a stranger, that has neither letter of recommendation, nor is known to be a person gifted, and of a good [moral lifestyle], shall not be admitted to preach, nor be entertained as a member in any of the baptized congregations in communion with each other.

   It is a late, flawed idea in Baptist life that a local congregation's decision to call a pastor is no business of the other congregations in fellowship with that church. The PBA later wrote a lengthy essay on "the authority and power of an association of churches" in which they said, in part:

   Independent churches…entering into an agreement and confederation…must be agreeing in doctrine and practice, and independent in their authority and church power, before they can enter into a confederation, as aforesaid, and choose delegates or representatives, to associate together; and thus the several independent churches being the constituents, the association, council or assembly of their delegates, when assembled, is not to be deemed a superior judicature, as having a superintendency over the churches, but subservient to the churches, in what may concern all the churches in general, or any one church in particular; and, though no power can regularly arise above its fountain from where it rises, yet we are of opinion, that an Association of the delegates of associate churches have a very considerable power in their hands, respecting those churches in their confederation; for if the agreement of several distinct churches, in sound doctrine and regular practice, be the first motive, ground, and foundation or basis of their confederation, then it must naturally follow, that a defection in doctrine or practice in any church, in such confederation, or any party in any such church, is ground sufficient for an Association to withdraw from such a church or party so deviating or making defection, and to exclude such from them in some formal manner, and to advertise all the churches in confederation thereof, in order that every church in confederation may withdraw from such in all acts of church communion, to the end they may be ashamed, and that all of the churches may discountenance such, and bear testimony against the defection.

   Such withdrawing from a defective or disorderly church, or that ought to be towards a delinquent church, is such as ariseth from their voluntary confederation aforesaid, and not only from the general duty that is incumbent upon all orthodox persons and churches to do, where no such confederation is entered into, as 2 Cor. vi. 16, 17. Now, from that general duty to withdraw from defective persons or churches, there can no more be done, than to desist from such acts of fellowship as subsisted before the withdrawing, which is merely negative, and in no wise any thing positive. Churches, as they are pillars of truth, may, and ought to endeavor to promote truth among others also; which endeavors, if they prove fruitless, as they are but mystico modo, they may be withdrawn; the withdrawing, therefore, must be accordingly; which is only to cease from future endeavors, leaving the objects as they were or are. But if there be a confederation and incorporation, by mutual and voluntary consent, as the Association of churches must and ought to be, then something positive may and ought to be done; and, though an Association ought not to assume a power to excommunicate or deliver a defective or disorderly church to Satan, as some do claim, yet it is a power sufficient to exclude the delegates of a defective or disorderly church from an Association, and to refuse their presence at their consultations, and to advise all the churches in confederation to do so too…

   -Benjamin Griffith, "Essay," adopted by the Philadelphia Baptist Association on September 19, 1749, in Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, form A.D. 1707, to A.D. 1807; Being the First One Hundred Years of Its Existence, ed. A. D. Gillette (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1851; Reprint, Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer), 60-63.

   What any individual member does is a matter for church discipline within the local congregation. What a congregation does is a matter for associational disfellowshipping. The church's action to hire Gilyard is precisely the sort of thing to which Southern Baptist cooperative bodies can and must respond.

3. Gilyard is not qualified to serve as a pastor-elder-overseer in a Southern Baptist church. Yes, he can be forgiven. Yes, the grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient even for gross, detestable sin (indeed, all of our sin is gross and detestable to God). Yes, he needs to be a MEMBER at some church somewhere, and that church needs to help him by keeping a careful watch on him and guiding him toward restoration and spiritual growth.

   However, he is not qualified to be a pastor and will NEVER AGAIN be qualified to be a pastor. He is not above reproach. He is not prudent. He is not respectable. He does not have a good reputation with those outside the church. He does not meet the biblical qualifications. To call him as a pastor is to sin flagrantly against the will of Christ Jesus, the Lord of the Church. Any church that does such a thing and refuses to repent of their action is no church with which FBC Farmersville enjoys or wishes to enjoy fellowship.

4. Disfellowshipping in this case has started with the local association, and that's how it is SUPPOSED to work. Too many of our local associations are compromised dens of iniquity who can't see their Bibles for having covered it up with the financial statement. The Southern Baptist Convention has had to take the lead in withdrawing fellowship from too many local churches in recent years. State conventions have courageously taken the lead in some circumstances. Local associations need to be the leaders in cases like this. Praise God for Jacksonville Baptist Association. They have done the right thing. The Florida Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention need to act quickly to affirm them in this.

One Story Concludes; Another Opens

Some of you will recall that FBC Farmersville unearthed a sexual predator in our midst in February 2007. A few weeks ago I received a subpoena calling for me to testify for the state at his trial in October. Then, two weeks ago, plea negotiations resulted in a deal. At a soon-upcoming sentencing hearing, James Souder will (if all goes as anticipated) receive a sentence of seven years to be served in state prison, followed by ten years of probation, and all accompanied by registration as a sexual offender for the remainder of his life.

It is a good deal. The victims will not have to testify at trial, but they will receive some justice for the way that they were violated in the way of actual time spent in prison. The sexual offender label provides some hope that James Souder will not find it quite so easy to find victims at another church in another town someday later.

Might I say something controversial: James Souder is a sinful man, but he is not beyond redemption. In our last meeting, when he confessed his guilt to me in my office after being confronted with the evidence, I told him that someday he would have finished serving his sentence for these offenses. Presuming that I'm still living and able, I told him that I wanted to go with him to his next pastor at his next church, somewhere away from here. Once there, I want to sit down with his next pastor and say, "James Souder has some good qualities about him, but he has this problem. He needs a church full of people who will hold him accountable and make certain that he is never, ever, ever alone with another young teenaged boy."

I figure that's a better plan than him just surfacing somewhere without any warning or accountability in a new church. It gives Jim a way to bring up the subject and get it right out into the open before anybody "finds out." It gives the new church full warning about the special ways that they need to beware Jim's temptations. And it reminds everyone that God's objective for us all is our conversion and then our sanctification through the action of His Holy Spirit and the mutual relationships of the church.

I'll be sure to report back seven years from now on how it all went. :-)

But I and my church are so thankful to see some sort of resolution on this case that has hung over our heads for so long and has occupied so much of my thought and energy lately.

In the same week, one of our precious members was shot in the stomach by a shotgun-wielding prowler on his property. This took place in the wee hours of a Sunday morning. Later in the week, on the same day that James Souder formally entered his plea, this man's wife—a faithful church member and a friend to so many in our congregation—was arrested for "hindering apprehension or prosecution." As it turns out, the shooter was her partner in an adulterous affair that had been ongoing for many months. She had sent him a text message while the police were looking for him, and that text message was the reason for her arrest. You'll find the sermon that I preached that next Sunday here.

I invite you to pray for the Cox family as they wade through turbulent waters. And I invite you to pray for me as, day-by-day, I try to shepherd a flock with not nearly the wisdom to do so.

A Difficult Topic Deftly Addressed

The Dallas Morning News is providing online a video clip of Dr. Jack Graham addressing Prestonwood Baptist Church last night. Earlier this week a member of Prestonwood's pastoral staff was arrested for online solicitation of sex with what he believed to be a thirteen-year-old girl. A moment like that will test all of your gifts as a pastor. I appreciate that Pastor Graham dealt directly with the issues, promised that the church would take responsibility for all of its obligations in the ongoing investigation, announced the immediate termination ("resignation"...yeah, right) of the offender, acknowledged the negative effect this sort of thing has upon the trust that people invest in their pastors, and pointed the congregation toward a positive future that will prevail against the gates of Hell.

Go look carefully at the video. May it never be that you have to give such an address to your church, but if you should, careful analysis of this statement would be a good bit of preparation.

I think we might all pray for the folks at Prestonwood, too.

The Rock and the Hard Place

It is the policy of First Baptist Church of Farmersville and all of her staff and volunteers to report to the police immediately any allegation of a sex-related crime. Stay in ministry to very many people for very long in this day and age, and you're going to wind up in a situation to apply such a policy.

Story Number One

Quite some time ago in my ministry a girl (let's call her Eve) came to me and reported that she had been the underage victim of a sexual assault. She said that a non-minor cousin had sexually assaulted her and that her parents were considering letting this cousin stay with the family for the summer. I reassured her that we would do everything that we could to keep her safe, and I immediately picked up the phone and called the police.

A couple of days later, Eve came to me and said that Child Protective Services had launched an investigation of the circumstances in her home. She begged me to withdraw my phone call, saying that she had made the whole thing up. I told her that I could not stop the investigation and would not do so if I could. She could be recanting under duress, after all. The only safe thing to do was to let CPS complete their investigation. CPS determined that the cousin hadn't even been around when the incident had been alleged to have taken place. Eve had, as she admitted to me, made the entire story up.

Story Number Two

Barely a year ago today a wise and observant member of our church staff overheard a conversation between teenagers talking about a car that just didn't sound right. He followed up and dug deeper, and the teenager in question alleged that a single male member of our congregation had sexually assaulted him. The police were notified that night in the middle of the night. Within a few weeks we had uncovered a serial sexual predator. He's now awaiting trial and sentencing, and I give the credit to that faithful pastor here at our church.

Story Number Three

A few years back I was trying to help a married couple piece things back together. The wife began to email me with questions about the counseling. I answered the first one. On the second one, I asked her to wait until our next meeting, suggesting to her that her husband needed to be present to benefit from the conversation. Within a few weeks, she was emailing me love poetry on a nearly daily basis. She claimed to be hearing secret messages from me encoded in not only my sermons but also the things that other people were saying from the platform. I terminated the counseling relationship at the first conclusive sign that things were going wrong, and I eventually encouraged the husband to seek psychological help for his wife. The wife's behavior was compulsive, and we eventually had to ask this family to go to church somewhere else.

Fortunately, I had never been alone with this woman, I had shown my wife every piece of correspondence both ways, and the entire church (among those who learned about the situation) trusted me completely in this situation.

Lessons Learned

1. There is such a thing as a false accusation, and the ramifications of forwarding a false accusation can be devastating for everyone involved.
2. There is such a thing as a genuine accusation, and the ramifications of failing to forward a genuine accusation can be devastating for everyone involved.
3. There is no definitive criterion by which anyone can tell the difference between a false accusation and a genuine accusation upon hearing one.
4. Get it right 9,999 times while getting it wrong once, and some people will allege that you're sitting in your office all day rooting for the perverts to victimize innocent children.
5. Where there is an allegation of criminal activity, the only safe course of action is to report the allegation to the authorities reflexively and without further thought.
6. It is really hard not to cherish the idea of sex offenders roasting in Hell for putting us all through these trials, but even some things that are hard to do are worth doing nonetheless.
7. Where there is no allegation of a crime, you're going to have to seek God's wisdom and use your own judgment. May God have mercy on your soul if you're wrong, because nobody else will.
8. Let us all approach these issues reminding ourselves:
   • My daughter may be a victim someday. If she reached out to somebody, what would I want them to do about it?
   • My son may be falsely accused someday. If he were, what standard would I want people to apply in determining his guilt or innocence before proceeding to destroy his life?

The Forever Fear

Among the more despicable groups in modern existence is the North American Man/Boy Love Association. Here's their view about what happens with dirty old men prey upon minors:

Despite the popular images of boogeymen we see in the media every day, usually the intergenerational experiences of younger people are consensual. These consensual experiences can be quite positive and beneficial for the participants, regardless of their ages.

Oh, for vocabulary stronger than "offensive poppycock" to describe this propaganda from NAMBLA! In February, we discovered a sexual predator victimizing minors in our congregation. My day changed this morning when I received word that he is being released on bond to house arrest pending trial. He's been in jail nearly five months. After that elapsed duration, I know a teenager who still awakens screaming in the night out of fear that his tormentor will return. I know an entire family terrified that they are going to round a street corner, step into a checkout line at Wal-Mart, or pull into a station to get gas and find themselves confronted by the pervert who stole their innocence from them. No matter how many electronic ankle bracelets, bail restrictions, or restraining orders are involved, five months of healing have vanished in a telephone call for everyone involved in this tragic situation. Every minor seduced by an adult is a victim. The effects of these crimes last for a lifetime. It is a pity that our justice system does not provide for suitable punishment. Thankfully, I believe that there is justice beyond our justice system—forever justice to put an end to forever fears.

BGCT Clergy Sex Abuse Measures

See the story in the Dallas Morning News here (written by reporter Sam Hodges and reporter-associate Ben Cole) My evaluation:

1. Database: Well-intentioned bad idea, for reasons mentioned here.
2. Hotline: Well-intentioned great idea. The first thing they need to say on the hotline is "call the police."
3. Putting pastors on a list without legal review merely because "church officials are convinced of the misconduct" (and the misconduct here could include having watched a dirty movie last weekend): Really bad empower-bad-people-to-ruin-somebody's-ministry, get-your-convention-sued-for-a-sackload-of-money kind of bad idea.

Endorsements, Part Four

C. B. Scott's Resolution on Victimized Children RESOLUTION ON RESCUING VICTIMIZED CHILDREN WHEREAS, The Christian faith cannot be separated from a prioritized concern for the welfare of children, especially those from broken and abusive homes (James 1:27); and WHEREAS, The Lord Jesus Christ commands his church to receive children as heirs of the Kingdom of God by modeling a genuine concern for his little ones and by warning sternly those who would victimize them (Matthew 18:6; 19:14); and WHEREAS, Research shows that violent physical and sexual crimes against children have escalated in our nation; and WHEREAS, This abuse has occurred too often in churches and homes -- which ought to be places of shelter and safety -- at the hands of family, educators, ordained clergy and ministry workers – who ought to be trusted persons of authority; and WHEREAS, Children who suffer physical and sexual abuse by their own families and ministers are especially in need of prayer, ministry, pastoral care, and love by faithful Christian parents; and WHEREAS, Baptist children's homes seek to provide resources for churches who seek to adopt, foster, and minister to victimized children who have been neglected by the world; and WHEREAS, Southern Baptist churches have a responsibility to provide encouragement, support, and resources for Christian parents who seek to adopt, foster, and minister to victimized children; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in San Antonio, TX, June 12-13, 2007, express our grave concern that our society has failed to maintain a culture of security and safety for children; and be it further RESOLVED, That we urge all Southern Baptist churches to invest sacrificially in the ministries of Baptist children's homes that seek to redeem God's precious little ones from the abusive environments that threaten to corrupt their innocence; and be it further RESOLVED, That we call upon Southern Baptist churches to intentionally utilize the resources of our churches for the purpose of rescuing victimized children from abusive homes; and be it further RESOLVED, That we urge all Southern Baptist families to consider welcoming into their homes through foster care and adoption those victimized children who most desperately need their nurture, support, and encouragement; and be it further RESOLVED, That we recognize God will bring to justice both those who have abused children and also those who neglect opportunities to minister to them; and be it finally RESOLVED, That we pray for every child who has been abused in our land, asking God to heal their deep emotional and physical wounds, grow them into mature and healthy adults, and stop the cycle of abuse from repeating itself in another generation. Bro. C. B. and I share similar interests when it comes to this resolution. Not only do we agree, but we also agree passionately and with deep personal connection. In the discussion here you'll see that I proposed an amendment. But let me make myself perfectly clear: I plan to vote for this resolution precisely as it is. The amendment I discussed is not necessary, and I wouldn't want to do anything to take away from the main thrust of this resolution.