PERRY, Fla. (BP)—Hurricane Idalia’s strong winds toppled the steeple on Lakeside Baptist Church in Perry, Fla., but the storm did nothing to topple the faith of Lakeside members.

As the storm unleashed its ferocity on the small rural community Aug. 30, Lakeside Baptist’s tin roof was ripped off and its steeple dashed to the ground.

Pastor Christopher Arnold’s response was simple: “We’re extremely blessed.”

He said no large oaks surrounding the church came down. Only limbs dotted the church yard. Although the tin roof was a tattered mess, the wood under the tin was intact, protecting the interior of the building from water damage.

The steeple can be reattached to its proper resting place, once the roof is repaired. There have been no reports of deaths in the community.

“Our faith is strong,” he said. “Our members are out in the community helping their neighbors with clean up.”

Many of the church members are elderly, said Arnold, who has been at Lakeside Baptist five years. He moved to Perry from northern New York, close to the Canadian border, a long way from the threat of hurricanes.

Many church members count their relationship with the church in multiple decades. The most senior of his members attest they never saw a hurricane of the magnitude of Hurricane Idalia strike their community.

‘The power of prayer really works’

Prior to the hurricane’s landfall, Arnold reminded his church members, “Jesus stills the storm.”

Lakeside members did not pray for the storm to go somewhere else. Instead, they prayed for God’s protection and preservation.

“The power of prayer really works,” Arnold said.

The church is located in a logging community, where many church members and other residents own chainsaws, skid-steers, loaders and tractors.

Within an hour of the storm’s onslaught, neighbors were working side by side—cutting fallen trees and hauling debris. By afternoon, almost every road was opened for travel, Arnold said.

Arnold was right beside his hardworking church members, serving as a newly trained Florida Baptist disaster relief volunteer. He had no idea that his first disaster relief “callout” would be to his own community.

Florida Baptists set up a disaster relief command center at First Baptist Church of Perry, just a few miles away from Lakeside.

On Sept. 3, electricity was still out in Perry. At that point, the pastor was unsure if his congregation would be able to meet in their building for worship on Sunday.

If not, he was confident they would be working in the community—“being” the church, helping their neighbors in need, he said.

Texas Baptist Men placed disaster relief units on “alert” status in anticipation of possible deployment to Florida as part of a multistate Southern Baptist disaster response to Hurricane Idalia.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Keaton Beach at about 7:45 a.m. EST on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center reported. Maximum sustained winds registered at 125 mph with Cedar Key, 58 miles southeast of Keaton Beach, reporting a 7-foot storm surge.

By 1:30 p.m., Idalia was downgraded to Category 1 and had moved into southeast Georgia with sustained winds of 80 mph amid heavy rain. Storm surge warnings remained along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts.

Florida Baptist disaster relief’s planning and preparation were well underway prior to Idalia’s arrival.

“We are prepped and ready to move equipment as soon as it is safe to start doing so,” said David Coggins, director of Florida Baptist disaster relief. “We have a couple of leaders in the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee getting our resources prepared to be delivered, once we get our feeding and clean-up operations in place.”

Florida Baptists also are working in conjunction with The Salvation Army and American Red Cross to meet area needs, a Florida Baptist Convention spokesperson said.

North Carolina Baptists on Mission posted a photo of its swift water rescue team in Florida prior to Idalia’s arrival. “Please keep them in your prayers,” the post read.

Georgia and South Carolina Baptist volunteers were on “standby,” ready to respond on short notice alongside Florida Baptists, said Coy Webb, crisis response director for Send Relief.

“Send Relief pre-staged its swift water rescue team in Florida and has activated resources such as tarping rolls, water, food and flood clean-up supplies at our Ashland (Ky.) warehouse, and they are being mobilized now,” Webb said.

National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said that “considerable” threats remain with Idalia in terms of rainfall that can lead to urban and flash flooding.

“This is not a hazard you want to underestimate,” he said.

With reporting by Scott Barkley of Baptist Press.

NASHVILLE (BP)—The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has begun an investigation into the circumstances leading to the resignation of Willie McLaurin.

McLaurin resigned Aug. 17 after confessing to falsifying his education background. He was serving as the interim president and CEO and was thought to be the leading candidate for the permanent role.

He had served the Executive Committee as vice president for Great Commission relations and mobilization since 2019 and served many years at the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board prior to coming to the Executive Committee.

“We have recently begun an internal review of these matters and anticipate the completion of this review in time for the September SBC Executive Committee meeting,” Jon Wilke, the Executive Committee’s director of media relations, told Baptist Press in a written statement.

Baptist Press submitted a list of questions Aug. 25 to Executive Committee Chairman Phillip Robertson and interim President and CEO Jonathan Howe related to McLaurin’s background.

The list included questions about the vetting process surrounding McLaurin’s initial hiring at the Executive Committee, his military background and any potential ramifications to the Executive Committee’s pending legal challenges.

“The questions you have asked are very similar to the ones the board is asking as well,” Wilke said. “Any findings will first be shared with the members of the EC and what findings can be made public will be made public at that time.”

The full Executive Committee is scheduled to meet Sept. 18-19 in Nashville.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)—Florida Baptists’ State Board of Missions heard a report from the subcommittee tasked with providing oversight and recommendations regarding the investigation into financial fraud discovered by the Florida Baptist Convention in May.

Subcommittee members—Aaron Burgner, Darren Gaddis, Paul Purvis, Brian Stowe and Angel Turbeville—worked with federal and state investigators, internal and external auditors and cyber forensics experts in their investigation into the more than $700,000 in funds stolen from the convention through cybertargeting.

The investigation revealed no criminal activity on the part of any Florida Baptist Convention staff person but instead concluded that the crime was the result of sophisticated cybertargeting by—at this point—unknown perpetrators.

The subcommittee’s work culminated in the recommendation for strengthened financial protocols and ongoing training for convention staff.

To prevent such a crime from occurring in the future, the convention is exercising heightened awareness when carrying out financial duties, implementing appropriate data security controls, and completing the process to become accredited by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. The convention still is making efforts to recover the stolen funds.

Florida Baptist Convention Executive Director-Treasurer Tommy Green acknowledged this is the first time he has dealt with a crime of this nature in his more than four decades of ministry.

“Everything we do is built on trust,” he said. “I’m sorry. We will move forward. We are better, and we’ll continue to get better.”

He has already seen, he said, that “churches are learning from the convention’s fraudulent experience.”

The convention recommends these best practices to help churches protect their financial assets:

• Provide staff training on recognizing suspicious emails and other sophisticated cyberattacks.
• Enable multifactor authentication logins when available.
• Verbally verify any changes to payment instructions requested by a vendor related to accounts payable or an employee related to payroll.
• Discuss with the church’s insurance agent the programs and levels of coverage available to help the church in the event of a cyberfraud experience.
• Engage a cybersecurity professional to provide analysis of information technology infrastructure and security.

NASHVILLE (BP)—After the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, many people at Woodmont Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., were upset, Pastor Nathan Parker said.

“They had heard press reports coming out of the convention and asked if we could face it,” Parker told Baptist Press. “Some members were calling for us to withdraw from the SBC.”

So, Parker called a town hall meeting.

Woodmont Baptist Church wasn’t the only one holding such talks after SBC messengers’ approval of the first step toward a constitutional change limiting the office of pastor to men.

But in the case of Woodmont Baptist, the church’s history cannot be ignored as it provides context for that family meeting—as well as why Woodmont is being discussed among Southern Baptists now.

As listed on the church’s website, Parker earned degrees from Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and Lipscomb University. The executive pastor is a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The other two ministry staff members are women and listed as ministers, holding degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The staff all support the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, Parker insisted.

Those details are important, as Woodmont is currently part of the broader SBC discussion, particularly online.

Historic role in forming CBF

Bill Sherman, Woodmont’s pastor for 30 years, led the congregation when the church was instrumental in forming the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. CBF broke away from the SBC in the early 1990s in response to what CBF characterized as the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC and what supporters in the SBC call the conservative resurgence.

Sherman’s brother, Cecil, was a key leader—arguably the key leader—among that group that formed CBF while serving as pastor of First Baptist Church in Asheville, N.C.

Fast forward to 2023. On Aug. 17, interim SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Willie McLaurin resigned from that role after acknowledging he falsified information on his resume. He was removed by the president and CEO search committee as the likely candidate to fill the position.

The next day, Executive Committee Vice President for Communications Jonathan Howe was announced by Chairman Philip Robertson as the new interim president and CEO.

In recent days, social media posts and articles reported on Woodmont’s CBF connection while pointing out Howe’s wife, Beth, serves at Woodmont as minister of students and discipleship.

Writers on social media noted the SBC debate over women serving in pastoral roles on church staffs.

“I’ve told my church that I see a lovingly designed, spiritual male headship in Scripture, but it’s not a make-or-break issue,” Parker said. “Originally, we wanted Beth’s position to be for a male pastor.

“But when she emerged as the best candidate, we changed the job description to remove some of the 1 Timothy elder-qualification [language] because she’s not an elder and doesn’t want to be an elder. None of the women on our staff want to be elders or pastors.”

At the town hall meeting, Parker taught for 30 minutes from Genesis 1-2 about the “God-given, lovingly designed, spiritual male headship to be exercised in the church and the home” as he sees it.

Parker said he did not see it as a gospel or salvific issue “as long as we are still submitting ourselves to the authority of Scripture.”

Wounded by the SBC conflict

Parker’s congregation consists of many who remember the division of the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s and early 1990s differently than the majority of the SBC today.

“There are folks who were deeply wounded by those on the SBC side,” said Parker, a Nashville native who became Woodmont’s pastor in January 2017. “There’s real trauma there, from both sides. Mud was thrown in both directions.”

According to the 2022 Annual Church Profile, Woodmont designated 1.6 percent of its budget to be given through the Cooperative Program, the highest in eight years.

Members are free to designate the denominational giving portion of their regular budget giving to either the SBC, CBF or both as well as above their regular tithe at Christmas for international missions efforts.

The “vast majority” of those gifts go toward the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Parker said. Woodmont gave $42,134 to that offering in 2022.

The church also financially supports the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s state offering, the Nashville Baptist Association, Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes and Tennessee Baptist Adult Homes.

COVID dealt Woodmont, like churches everywhere, a financial hit in 2020. Since then, the church has steadily increased giving to Southern Baptists’ signature missions offerings by 35 percent.

‘We’re better together. But some days it’s hard.’

Accusations over a lack of commitment to Southern Baptist causes can have an impact, Parker admitted.

“I like to believe that we’re better together,” he said. “But some days it’s hard.”

The front steps of Woodmont’s sanctuary are only a few minutes away from the SBC building in downtown Nashville.

“We’re focused on being the healthiest church we can be to the glory of God,” he said. “My job as pastor is to shepherd the flock, to fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandment as faithfully as possible. Those denominational power struggles are not necessarily part of that mission.”

At that church town hall meeting this summer, a 92-year-old Bill Sherman approached Parker, thanking him for the leadership displayed at that moment.

The two are friends, Parker said. They see eye to eye on what they deem to be faith essentials. Tertiary issues, not as much, and they believe that’s all right.

“He has been nothing but encouraging and kind to me,” Parker said. “He said we can agree to disagree on this, and we walked out of that meeting as a family of faith. No one was upset. No one cried.

“We disagreed on something, and it was really healthy. It exhibited a lot of Christian maturity and love for one another.”

FORT WORTH—The Fort Worth City Council and the city’s Housing Finance Corporation on Aug. 22 approved the $11 million purchase of 15 acres previously used as student housing by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Six months earlier, Southwestern Seminary accepted a nonbinding agreement to move forward with the sale of the Carroll Park housing village.

The sale represents one step in the seminary’s ongoing plan to “reduce our campus footprint and the resource commitment it takes to maintain it,” President David Dockery told the board of trustees last October.

Carroll Park will be converted into affordable housing for the unhoused and for families fleeing domestic violence.With the earlier sale of a five-acre portion of Carroll Park, the total purchase price for the property will be $14.225 million.

“I’m grateful for these actions and for the opportunity Southwestern has to partner with the City of Fort Worth to address the housing crisis in our city,” Dockery said.

“From the earliest conversations about the sale of Carroll Park, we were seeking an opportunity that could meet both the financial needs of the seminary and the future needs of our community. … We look forward to continuing our work with the city to finalize this sale.”

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker thanked the seminary administration and its board of trustees for their “patience in this project.”

Parker said affordable housing in the city “has been a topic of concern for every single council member. She expressed appreciation to seminary leaders who “recognize that rather than attacking affordable housing the traditional way, we have had to think differently about this.”

 The city hopes to “involve the private sector and philanthropy around this opportunity,” she said.

In October 2022, Dockery told the seminary board of trustees Southwestern had received several offers for the Carroll Park property, which is not contiguous with the main campus.

While the 200-acre campus is a blessing, it also “presents significant challenges,” Dockery told the trustees.

In June, the seminary’s board of trustees released a financial overview that revealed the school’s annual operating expenses rose 35 percent from 2002 to 2022, while full-time enrollment dropped 67 percent, resulting in a cumulative $140 million operating deficit.

“Over the past 20 years, the financial health of Southwestern Seminary has progressively deteriorated,” the document stated.

The board document concluded the cause of the seminary’s financial struggles centered on spending an average $6.67 million more than it received during 19 of the years examined.

Earlier this month, Dockery reported total enrollment for the just-completed 2022-23 academic year was 3,574, an increase of 171 students from the previous academic year.

He also reported $3.2 million in unrestricted giving for the academic year, compared to $2.8 million the previous year.

Based in part on information provided by the communications staff at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

LAHAINA, Maui (BP)—Lahaina faces an uncertain future following the Aug. 8 wildfire that consumed the town.

As survivors continue reckoning with the series of chaotic events that generated one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history, local pastors and residents are asking what it will take to persevere through the tragedy.

The latest official death count reached 114, but with roughly 850 people unaccounted for, the toll may climb to multiple hundreds.

“From our house in Lahaina, we came out in the evening, and normally there’s a sunset,” said Richard Murray, pastor of Kaanapali Beach Ministry in Lahaina. “And I could see this dark, black, what we thought was a cloud just over the town facing the water.”

Murray at first thought there was a major storm brewing before a friend pointed out it was smoke from a fire. Lahaina was burning.

A combination of drought-parched land and gale-force winds turned the wildfire into what Murray described as a gigantic blow torch.

“About 20 minutes later, the police were coming around the corner saying: ‘Evacuate. The fire is headed this way.’ So, we had to grab my wife’s two therapy dogs,” Murray said. “We jumped in the car, and we evacuated.”

The Murrays thought this would be like similar wildfire evacuations they’ve experienced in their 30 years of living on the island. They expected eventually to get the “all clear” signal and return safely to their home.

Instead, the fire reduced their home to ash.

Ministry in the midst of loss

Barry Campbell is serving as the transitional pastor of Lahaina Baptist Church. Campbell and his wife, Marci, had moved out of an apartment complex in Lahaina Town just a few months earlier. That entire complex was destroyed.

“All but two of our families (in their church) have lost their homes and everything they had,” Marci said. “So, we’re just working with our families, trying to meet immediate needs and trying to get them places to stay.”

The Campbells cooked and provided meals for their neighbors after the fire went out. They tracked down their church members and helped them find missing loved ones, and they opened their home for some who had been displaced by the fire.

Erik Naylor, a Send Network church planter, arrived on Maui last December to be sent out from Lahaina Baptist Church to help a core group grow into a new congregation. He and his family were renting a home in Lahaina, and their dwelling and most of their belongings were lost.

“In the early afternoon, our cell phone service went out. The wi-fi went out, so we didn’t have any communication,” Naylor said. “Probably around 2 or 3, all of Front Street is burning down, but we didn’t know it. We were walking distance from Front Street. We just didn’t realize it was that bad.”

Right before they left, they walked across a field toward Lahaina Baptist Church and saw the massive cloud of smoke. His neighbor and fellow church member, Todd, went over and prayed for the church building, which miraculously survived the fire.

The Naylors said God has provided them temporary housing through a believer on the island opening their home for the next few weeks. Now, as they help their own family of seven get back on its feet and into school, Naylor and his wife Danni have continued ministering to their community by engaging others and sharing the gospel.

“We have seen God show up through churches (from the mainland) and agencies like Send Relief just showing up to be there for us, support us, encourage us, pray for us,” Campbell said. “People praying for us has just been huge. We’re so thankful for the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention and local churches contacting us.”

Long road to recovery

Several churches that were outside the burn zone have been meeting needs and supporting the survivors who had been displaced by the fire. Send Relief has helped to undergird some of those efforts financially in cooperation with the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention.

Texas Baptist Men has provided support to Waiehu Church, a congregation planted by Kahului Baptist Church five years ago. The church met immediate needs by providing generators, water, food and other necessities. Members opened their homes to families who were displaced by the fire, with one family hosting 28 guests.

Send Relief sent a shipment of fire recovery supplies to Maui to assist Southern Baptist disaster relief teams as they serve families who have lost everything. This shipment left Send Relief’s warehouse in Ashland, Ky., and was packed with protective gear including Tyvek suits, N-95 masks, goggles and more.

“Traveling around the island this past weekend speaking with pastors and residents in Maui, you can’t help but grieve with them over the tremendous loss of life,” said Bryant Wright, president of Send Relief, following a visit to the island.

“There is a long road of recovery ahead, and we at Send Relief want to help connect churches from the mainland to the needs in Hawaii.”

(RNS)—Officers of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee have named Jonathan Howe to serve as the group’s interim leader.

The Executive Committee’s vice president for communications, Howe will serve in that role at least until the committee’s next scheduled meeting in mid-September. Executive Committee Chairman Philip Robertson said the group’s bylaws require a vice president to serve as interim, pending approval of the full board.

“For as long as I’ve been in denominational life, my chief desire has been to serve Southern Baptists. I appreciate the trust the board officers have placed in me,” Howe told RNS.

“I look forward to working with our state and entity partners, along with our Executive Committee members and staff as we continue to steward the resources Southern Baptists have generously entrusted to us,” he added.

Ongoing leadership turnover

Howe is the Executive Committee’s fourth leader in the past five years. He succeeds Willie McLaurin, who had been interim president since 2022. McLaurin had been in the running for a permanent role but resigned Aug. 17 after a search committee found he had falsified his resume.

“In its effort to verify McLaurin’s educational credentials, the team learned from the schools listed that he either never attended or never completed a course of study. McLaurin also submitted at least two diplomas that were found to be fraudulent,” according to Baptist Press, an SBC official publication.

McLaurin did not respond to requests for comment. He did admit to claiming to hold degrees he did not have, according to excerpts from his resignation letter published by Baptist Press.

The previous permanent president, Arkansas preacher Ronnie Floyd, resigned in 2021 due to controversy over the SBC’s sex abuse crisis. His predecessor, Frank Page, resigned in 2018 due to misconduct.

The committee also has experienced significant conflict in recent years, in particular over how to respond to the SBC’s sexual abuse crisis. Floyd and a number of committee members resigned in 2021 after losing a series of debates over a sexual abuse investigation.

Howe will work closely with the Executive Committee’s officers, Robertson said in a statement.

At their mid-September meeting, trustees will elect “a continuing interim president/CEO,” Robertson said. He also said trustees will hear a report from the presidential search committee at that meeting.

Searching for a permanent leader for the Executive Committee, which manages the day-to-day operations of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, has proved complicated.

In May, the trustees of the Executive Committee rejected a previous search committee candidate—Jared Wellman, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington and a former Executive Committee chair. Wellman’s candidacy failed in part because he had participated in search committee meetings in his role as chair. After the failed vote on Wellman, a new search committee was formed.

Deep disappointment

Some Southern Baptist leaders wondered at the time why McLaurin, who by most accounts had done a good job as interim, was not named to the permanent role. In July, citing “many endorsements from pastors, state convention leaders, and national entity heads,” leaders of a new search committee said they were considering McLaurin for the role.

Problems with his resume emerged in the vetting process.

“In a recent resume that I submitted, it included schools that I did not attend or complete the course of study,” McLaurin reportedly said in his resignation letter.

Details about McLaurin’s past remain unclear.

Before coming to the Executive Committee in 2019, McLaurin had been a staff member of the Tennessee Mission Board for 15 years. According to a spokesman for the Mission Board, McLaurin’s 2005 resume only listed North Carolina Central University. The spokesman said McLaurin’s references were vetted but not his academic background.

His Facebook page states he studied at North Carolina Central University. His personal website makes no mention of his academic background. Neither does a biography on a blog that is linked to his website.

However, a 2019 news story announcing his hiring as a vice president of the Executive Committee reported McLaurin claimed a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Central and a Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School. He also claimed a pair of honorary doctorates.

The Executive Committee did not respond to questions about McLaurin’s resume.

Randy Davis, president of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, told the Baptist & Reflector, a state Baptist newspaper, he was profoundly saddened by McLaurin’s actions. The two had been friends and colleagues for years.

“Unfortunately, the situation in which we now find ourselves is beyond belief, and I am simply trying to process all that has happened, and the enormous damage inflicted by the fraud perpetrated on his resume regarding his educational background,” Davis said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Baptist Press reported Aug. 21 Jonathan Howe’s access to the Baptist Press website was restricted to provide separation between the administrative leadership of the SBC Executive Committee and Baptist Press. “Jonathan Howe has willingly surrendered his ability to edit Baptist Press stories or add new stories to the website,” said Brandon Porter, who is serving as interim vice president of communications.

NASHVILLE—Willie McLaurin has resigned as interim president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, after confessing he lied about his educational background on his resume.

In an email to members of the Executive Committee, Chairman Phil Robertson stated the presidential search committee that was considering McLaurin for the permanent post discovered “disqualifying information during their process of vetting and due diligence.”

McLaurin wrote in his resignation letter that “in a recent resumé that I submitted, it included schools that I did not attend or complete the course of study.”

He confessed the deception to Robertson and Neal Hughes, chair of the presidential search committee, on Aug. 17.

Baptist Press reported McLaurin’s resume listed degrees from North Carolina Central University, Duke University Divinity School and Hood Theological Seminary.

Hughes said three search committee members spent four weeks individually investigating the validity of the degrees. Each school confirmed McLaurin never graduated from that institution.

“To the Southern Baptists who have placed their confidence in me and have encouraged me to pursue the role of President & CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, including pastors, state partners, entity servants, colleagues, and SBC African American friends, I offer my deepest apologies,” McLaurin said in a resignation letter submitted to Executive Committee officers. “Please forgive me for the harm or hurt that this has caused.”

Philip Robertson, chairman of the SBC Executive Committee, noted that in a “commitment to transparency” the EC will be issuing “further updates related to next steps to the presidential search team and SBC Executive Committee’s staff leadership in the near future.”

Robertson added, “I want to express my deep appreciation for your prayers for the SBC Executive Committee’s members and staff as well the presidential search team. The need for God’s wisdom and direction is paramount at each and every point in the process of searching and selecting the next president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. Please keep the EC staff and the McLaurin family in your prayers.”

The Executive Committee is scheduled to meet Sept. 18-19.

McLaurin served as interim since Feb. 1, 2022. Prior to that role, he served as vice president for Great Commission relations and mobilization at the Executive Committee for two years, coming to the role in January 2020.

He served with the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board from 2005 until going to the Executive Committee. Prior to that role, McLaurin was executive pastor at Greater Missionary Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tenn., and senior pastor at Greater Hope Baptist Church in Union City, Tenn.

He has also served as an interim pastor for numerous Southern Baptist churches.

McLaurin previously served on the SBC Resolutions Committee in 2018 and as president of the Black Southern Baptist Denominational Servants Network in 2011–12.

He also was on the executive board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention from 2003 to 2005 and was the inaugural president of the African American Fellowship of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

McLaurin is a member of Simeon Baptist Church in Antioch, Tenn. He and his wife, Antonia, have two daughters, Sienna and SiChanna.

He is the first African American to have led an SBC entity and followed Ronnie Floyd, who resigned as Executive Committee president and CEO in October 2021. Floyd served in the role for less than 30 months before leaving the post.

Compiled from reports by The Baptist Paper and Baptist Press.

WAILUKU, Hawaii—The danger from fires and the challenge of ministry in a disaster zone have not passed on the island of Maui.

 Pastor Rocky Komatsu of Waiehu Community Church told Texas Baptist Men Aug. 16 the fires are still burning and not fully contained.

TBM is partnering with Waiehu Church—a congregation planted by Kahului Baptist Church five years ago—to meet the influx of needs by passing along tens of thousands of dollars given by TBM supporters in recent days, said Rand Jenkins, senior director of advancement.

Jenkins spoke to Komatsu Wednesday afternoon to determine the best way to help.

“The church has been addressing immediate needs by providing generators, water, fuel and other necessities,” Jenkins said.

“Now they are shifting their focus, with church members housing those who lost their homes. One family is hosting 28 additional people. Think what that does to your water, electricity, food and other bills.”

The church has even reached out to some of their friends who are nonbelievers to host people in their homes on behalf of the church.

“What we need now are funds,” Komatsu said. “Yesterday, I became nervous about having to penny pinch, because items are so expensive, and the need is so great.”

TBM committed to send more funds to meet the crisis, Jenkins said. He noted TBM stays in ongoing contact with funded entities to track how funds are used.

“It’s important that we provide general oversight on all funds that TBM disburses,” he said.

Years of rebuilding ahead

The process of removing ash from the burned-out houses has not yet begun, Komatsu said. It’s not safe now for people to come in and help.

“We are going to need years of support for rebuilding,” the pastor said. “We need funding now. But in months ahead, we will need years of rebuilding assistance.”

Komatsu noted the situation is not just a matter of destroyed homes. Many other homes have suffered severe wind damage to roofs, windows and walls.

After speaking with the pastor Jenkins said simply: “It’s big. It’s not over.”

John Hall, TBM director of communications, said: “The response from the TBM family already has been incredible. We are already making an impact in Hawaii, and we’re just at the start of this.

“We are still very early in the relief process. Lahaina is the city we’re all seeing most often on the news, but the devastation is much broader.”

By communicating closely with partners on the ground in Maui, TBM is in a position to support residents in the best way possible and provide service connected with a Christian witness, Hall said.

Fire recovery and rebuilding efforts will not begin for weeks. TBM leaders are optimistic TBM volunteers will be serving in Maui during that process.

“Our many volunteers are always ready to help,” Hall said. “Right now, we simply have to wait to see exactly what the needs are and how we might be able to work with local officials, churches and residents.

“This will be a long recovery process for Maui.”

OXFORD, Miss. (BP)—A U.S. District Court in Northern Mississippi dismissed Will McRaney’s lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board.

Senior U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson granted a summary judgment for NAMB Aug. 15.

McRaney, former state executive of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, charged NAMB leaders with making defaming statements that influenced his 2015 termination from the convention.

“Considering all the facts in the record, the Court finds that it cannot adjudicate the Plaintiff’s claims in this case without impermissibly delving into church matters in violation of the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine,” Davidson’s memorandum read.

The U.S. District Court in Northern Mississippi’s dismissal hinged on the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which is “rooted in the First Amendment’s free exercise clause” and basically states that courts cannot get involved if a claim revolves around ecclesiastical questions.

“Adjudication of the Plaintiff’s claims in this lawsuit will clearly require the Court to inquire into religious matters and decision-making to a degree that is simply impermissible under the Constitution and the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine,” the summary judgment report stated.

Also, the court stated it “agrees with NAMB that Mississippi state courts also clearly lack subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate this dispute.”

In a statement released early evening Aug. 15, NAMB officials said: “Since the outset, NAMB has consistently held that the accusations against our ministry are unfounded. We have also argued that, as Christian ministries, NAMB and others involved in this case should be protected by the First Amendment and should not be forced to endure scrutiny and intrusive examination from the courts.

“Our goal throughout this process has been to practice restraint in our public comments and to honor Christ in our actions. We continue to pray the best for the plaintiff and his ministry.”

In written comments to Baptist Press, McRaney said, “It is my view that the judge’s ruling is built around the erroneous concept of “THE” Baptist Church as a denomination like the Catholic or Methodist Church, however, the First Amendment clearly declares that the government cannot create or establish a religion.  Unless this court’s ruling is challenged, the SBC, Baptist ministers, along with Baptist autonomy, cooperation, financial health, and missionaries will be under threat of loss and a form of hierarchy created.”

McRaney’s six claims against NAMB included two claims for interference with contract and economic relations, two claims for defamation and two claims for infliction of emotional distress.

The suit, originally filed in 2017, was dismissed in April 2019 when Davidson ruled the court could not consider McRaney’s claims because of the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which prevents the government from interfering in church or religious matters.

The dismissal was reversed in July 2020 by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. NAMB fought the reversal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the high court sent the case back to Davidson’s court.

Davidson said the strategic agreement partnership between NAMB and the BCMD weighed heavily in his decision. Saying the agreement is “steeped in religious doctrine,” the memorandum called McRaney’s role with BCMD “a position which by its very terms invokes the Church’s religious mission.”

It said McRaney “clearly served in a ministerial role and in which he had a primary role in conveying the Baptist Church’s message and carrying out its religious mission.”

Any ruling into the reasons for the BCMD to terminate McRaney, it continued, “would be a clear violation of the First Amendment and the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine.”

The court furthermore ruled the case should be dismissed rather than remanded to the state court, once again citing the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine as the reason the court would also be compelled to dismiss.

Compiled from reports by Scott Barkley of Baptist Press and Jennifer Rash of The Baptist Paper.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The year of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversal was corrected from 2023 to 2020. The story, originally posted on Aug. 16, also was edited the next morning to include a response from Will McRaney after it was made available.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Hispanic Southern Baptists agree the issue of female pastors is complex for Spanish-speaking congregations. They differ on whether amending the SBC Constitution is the way to bring unity and clarity.

California Southern Baptist Convention Executive Director Pete Ramirez highlighted the issue on the SBC’s Spanish podcast “Vida SBC.”

In a July 17 episode, he asked Southern Baptists to consider the unintended consequences for Spanish-language churches of a proposed SBC constitutional amendment stating that cooperating churches must affirm, appoint or employ “only men as any kind of pastor.”

“What worries me is that we make decisions without thinking about the consequences for ethnic churches,” Ramirez said in Spanish. “There are many ethnic churches that, for translation reasons, use the title of pastor for a person. But it’s a matter of translation. It’s not that the person is ordained. It’s not that the person has a [ministry] license.

“And now we are, as a convention, putting ourselves in the business of churches” and saying, “If you don’t change this, you can’t be part of us,” Ramirez said. This “is a radical change as Southern Baptists that I think we could regret long-term as we fulfill the Great Commission.”

Ramirez was referring to an amendment to the SBC Constitution proposed in 2022 and given the first of two required affirmations by SBC messengers in New Orleans this year. If affirmed again at the 2024 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis, it would become part of the convention’s constitution.

Wives of pastors

Ramirez explained in an interview he agrees with the theology of the amendment but fears some Southern Baptists may not understand a common usage of the Spanish word pastora—the feminine version of the word “pastor.”

Often, pastora is used of the pastor’s wife in a Hispanic church, much like the pastor’s wife may be referred to as the “first lady” in an African American church. It’s the word “pastor,” but it is not used to signify the role synonymous with elder and bishop.

“I pastored for 17 years in California,” Ramirez said of his bilingual pastorates. “People would always try to say that my wife was a pastora, which is the female way of saying pastor. They would use this title for her, even though she is not ordained, she’s not licensed, she has not once preached from any pulpit.”

Ramirez’s wife would correct those who misused the term pastor, “but in many of our Southern Baptist Hispanic churches, that’s not clarified,” he said, estimating 3 percent to 4 percent of the SBC’s 3,400 Hispanic congregations use pastora in referring to the pastor’s wife.

He’s not opposed to the constitutional amendment but wants clarification and instruction for churches rather than merely policies and the disfellowshipping of congregations.

“It’s great that we have a couple years before we actually make this a mandate for our convention,” Ramirez said, “and that we can have the conversations between this year and next year and try to figure out how it works best for our whole family.”

Austin pastor favors amendment

Juan Sanchez agrees that clarification is needed. But he thinks the amendment is a good step toward clarity for Hispanic churches.

Sanchez has preached in Spanish across Latin America, taught Spanish courses at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and helped Spanish-speaking churches grapple with the issue of female pastors.

At this year’s SBC annual meeting, he offered an amendment to the constitutional change that established its final language.

“I don’t foresee this amendment being used to go after churches,” said Sanchez, pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin. “My intention is to clarify what we say we actually believe. It’s somewhat surprising to me that the amendment just rearticulated the Baptist Faith and Message and somehow that’s a real problem” for some Southern Baptists.

Pentecostal and charismatic influence

Linguistic confusion may be present among Hispanic Baptists, Sanchez said, but there also seems to be theological confusion. Pentecostalism’s heavy influence among the Hispanic community has led some Hispanic Baptists to carry over Pentecostalism’s affirmation of female pastors.

In Medellin, Colombia, several years ago, Sanchez worked with a group of churches transitioning away from Pentecostalism.

“One of the issues they had to face was what the Scriptures actually taught because in one of the churches there was a husband-and-wife pastor” team, he said.

A “challenge” for that association of churches was “working through” the issue of female pastors in a biblical and compassionate way.

Southern Baptists must be understanding toward believers of diverse cultural backgrounds, Sanchez said. But diversity cannot come at the expense of orthodoxy.

“We want multiethnic churches,” Sanchez said. “Is the solution to say, ‘Let’s just get a diverse group of pastors … We’ll find Hispanic pastors, African American pastors, pastors from India and then just forget about qualifications so long as we have diversity.’ I don’t think anyone wants to do that.”

Southern Baptists need to determine “what we are cooperating for,” he said.

Ramirez and Sanchez are both right, said Eloy Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Baptist Network. Hispanic churches do tend to use the word pastora without assigning it the same theological meaning as pastor, and Pentecostal and charismatic influences can lead Hispanic evangelicals to embrace female pastors.

However, nearly all Hispanic Southern Baptists affirm complementary roles for men and women in the church and home, Rodriguez said. They also want to cooperate to advance the Great Commission.

“We just need to concentrate on the main thing: the gospel,” said Rodriguez, pastor of the Spanish campus of Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Fla. “This amendment has to be well written to be careful that it does not divide us.”