NASHVILLE (RNS)—Ronnie Floyd, the embattled president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, has resigned, effective at the end of October.

Floyd, a longtime Arkansas megachurch pastor, was elected as head of the Executive Committee in 2018, with high hopes of rallying the nation’s largest Protestant denomination to focus its energy on evangelism and missions.

But his plans were overshadowed by infighting among Southern Baptist leaders as well as controversies over racism and sexual abuse. In his resignation, Floyd said that his reputation was being harmed by serving as the committee’s president.

“In the midst of multiple challenges facing the SBC, I was asked to come here because of my proven personal integrity, reputation, and leadership,” he said in his resignation letter, made public Oct. 14. “What was desired to be leveraged for the advancement of the gospel by those who called me here, I will not jeopardize any longer because of serving in this role.”

Cites decision to waive privilege

His letter cited a recent decision made by the Executive Committee to waive attorney-client privilege in an investigation into the SBC leadership’s handling of sexual abuse claims as a reason for leaving. That decision would remove confidentiality between Executive Committee staff and members and allow an outside firm to review their communications.

During this summer’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn., local church messengers instructed the committee to waive privilege if asked to do so. But Floyd and a number of committee members balked, saying that waiving privilege could open the SBC up to lawsuits and financial harm.

He repeated his opposition to waiving privilege in his resignation letter. That decision, he said, left Southern Baptists in “uncertain, unknown, unprecedented and uncharted waters.”

“Due to my personal integrity and the leadership responsibility entrusted to me, I will not and cannot any longer fulfill the duties placed upon me as the leader of the executive, fiscal, and fiduciary entity of the SBC,” he said.

“In the midst of deep disappointment and discouragement, we have to make this decision by our own choice and do so willingly, because there is no other decision for me to make.”

Floyd repeated his disdain for sexual abuse and said that as a pastor and father and grandfather, he cares “deeply about the protection of all people.” He also defended committee members who opposed waiving privilege and said that many felt they had to resign when they were outvoted.

“One of the most grievous things for me personally has been the attacks on myself and the trustees as if we are people who only care about ‘the system.’ Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said.

Floyd’s resignation came a day after a group of Executive Committee members sent a letter asking the group’s chairman, California pastor Rolland Slade, to call a special meeting to fill a vacancy among the committee’s officers and to discuss “issues of leadership and trust among the committee, officers, and executive staff.”

Dean Inserra, an Executive Committee member and pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, Fla., called Floyd’s resignation sad and unfortunate. Inserra was one of a group of committee members who advocated for waiving privilege and found themselves at odds with Floyd.

The committee deadlocked over the issue for several weeks, during which time a series of Southern Baptist leaders—including the heads of the denomination’s seminaries—called for the committee to follow the will of messengers.

“There could have been a different outcome if he had done the right thing,” Inserra said.

Floyd was the longtime pastor of Cross Church, a congregation of about 9,000 based in Arkansas, and is a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The denomination’s longtime lawyers have cut ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, citing the decision to waive privilege.

A spokesperson for the Executive Committee said Floyd would not give interviews or comment about his resignation.

Dylan Price to historic Independence Baptist Church near Brenham as pastor. He also will direct the Texas Baptist Historical Museum at Independence.

The Baptist World Alliance is accepting nominations for the 2022 Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award.

Established in 2006, the BWA presents the award to recognize significant and effective action and activities to secure, protect, restore or preserve human rights.

“Every human being is created in the image of God. As Baptists, we want and need to reflect God’s love and care for each and every person. We do so by advocating and mobilizing for religious freedom, human rights and justice around the world,” said Thomas Klammt, chair of the BWA awards committee.

“The awards committee is privileged to support these causes by recognizing one Baptist for his or her significant effort to protect or restore human rights. Through the nomination process, the global Baptist family can help us find worthy candidates, and in doing so, support their ministries and encourage many others to make the world a better place to the glory of God.”

Named in recognition of the longstanding human rights advocacy of the BWA General Secretary Emeritus Denton Lotz and his wife Janice, the award is presented annually to an individual who embodies similar passion, leadership and service.

To access a nomination form, click here.

Previous nominees who did not receive the award are eligible to be nominated again. Nominations should be submitted no later than Nov. 30. The BWA awards committee will review nominees and recommend a recipient to the BWA Executive Committee, who will then deliberate and act upon the recommendation.

“It is encouraging to see Baptists around the world making an eternal impact as advocates for human rights. It is an honor for the BWA to be able to present an award that recognizes leadership in this critical area and pays tribute to the incredible leadership and legacy of Denton and Janice Lotz,” said Elijah Brown, BWA general secretary.

“We look forward to receiving nominations from each of the regions in our global network and the opportunity to recognize another individual in the storied history of Baptist human rights leaders.”

East Texas Baptist University recognized junior Leah Akridge from Lufkin and senior Christian Phillips from Murphy with the Bob and Gayle Riley Servant Leadership Award. Two students are selected annually for the Riley Servant Leadership Award based on their embodiment of being a Christian servant leader in their daily lives. Fellow students, professors and other members of the ETBU campus community submit nominations recognizing their dedication to pursuing a Christ-like practice of servanthood. Akridge, an English secondary education major, is a member of the ETBU softball team and has served as a Tiger Camp leader and Thrive mentor, and as a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Student Athlete Leadership Team and Titus Women’s Ministry. She has been an active volunteer in the community through service with the ETBU softball team and with the college ministry at Immanuel Baptist Church in Marshall. Phillips, a rehabilitative science major, has served as a Tiger Camp leader, a Thrive mentor and resident assistant, and as a member of the Baptist Student Ministry leadership team and Leadership Fellows. He also has been an active volunteer in the community through service at Mobberly Baptist Church of Marshall.

Howard Payne University’s Student Speaker Bureau speech and debate team claimed the top novice speaker overall and earned seventh place sweepstakes at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Hub City Swing debate tournament. HPU was the only Division III school in the top 10, winning seventh place overall. HPU freshman Marina Nichols from Bangs swept the novice division as top speaker and was a semifinalist debater. Team captain Devin Schurman, a junior from San Antonio; sophomore Landon Chenault from Denton; and sophomore novice debater Ben Sartain from San Antonio advanced to quarterfinals. Junior Rishona Raub from Celina competed and led the team in topic preparation.

Wayland Baptist University and First Baptist Church in Plainview will host Elijah Brown, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, as featured speaker for the McCoy Lecture Series on Nov. 3. Brown will speak at Wayland’s chapel service at 11 a.m. and at First Baptist Church at 5:45 p.m. The public is invited to both events.

First Baptist Church in Plano dedicated its newly opened campus on the President George Bush Turnpike frontage road, between Independence Parkway and Coit Road in Plano, on Oct. 3. “We are excited to gain enhanced visibility and accessibility so that the church can serve more people in Plano and the surrounding area,” Pastor Craig Curry said. “We have a great and storied history, and we are looking to build on our legacy. Our church body is committed to being a vital part of the community, and with our new location we are looking to expand our ministry to the community we serve.”

Anniversary

175th for First Baptist Church in Gilmer. Mike Kessler is pastor.

150th for First Baptist Church in Huffman. Mike Martin is senior pastor.

AFGHANISTAN (BP)—Christian minorities in Afghanistan either are fleeing the country or hunkering down to live in greater secrecy as the Taliban government there draws support from the global community, International Christian Concern officials said.

“There are Christians who say we can’t exist anymore in this country. We have to leave,” said William Stark, ICC regional manager for South Asia. “You have kind of this diaspora, if you will, of the Afghan church in a way. But then you also have people who are dedicated to staying, who feel that their calling is to stay in Afghanistan, regardless of the persecution they’ll face.

“They’ve kind of accepted the fact that God has a plan for them, in that God wants a church in Afghanistan, and they want to be members of that church, regardless of the persecution that is likely to come forward and affect them.”

An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Christians remain in Afghanistan, a country of about 38 million people that ranks second only to North Korea in its persecution of Christians, according to the 2021 World Watch List from persecution watchdog Open Doors.

“ICC has definitely been in contact and is still in contact with Afghan Christians in the country,” Stark said. “There’s certainly a tremendous amount of fear and concern for their own personal safety and increased persecution under the Taliban rule. That obviously comes from direct persecution from the Taliban itself … but there’s also a fear of indirect persecution or persecution being increased from just sort of general fundamentalists in the country.”

Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar are urging global support and stabilization of the Taliban in its governmental role. In Pakistan, senior level Pakistanis are supporting the Taliban in speeches, opinion articles and interviews, and through diplomacy with Western governments.

In a speech to the U.N., Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan promoted strengthening and stabilizing the Taliban in Afghanistan “for the sake of the people of Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan’s economy is on the brink of near total collapse, ICC officials said. The United States and other members of the United Nations are sending humanitarian aid directly to the Afghan people, without recognizing Taliban rule.

Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar rank high as persecutors of Christians, sitting 5th, 25th and 29th, respectively, on the World Watch List of the 50 most egregious nations.

Matias Perttula, ICC director of advocacy, called efforts to strengthen the Taliban “a desperate attempt at legitimizing evil.”

“We are deeply concerned for the welfare of the Afghan people and especially Christians and religious minorities,” Pertulla said. “We hope and pray that their rights and liberties will be respected and honored going forward.”

To be recognized openly as a Christian was already risky before the United States withdrawal from the country, Stark said. Heightened persecution under Taliban rule likely will include the public executions, floggings and dismemberments that were common under previous Taliban rule.

“It likely will be worse under the Taliban,” he said, heightened not only by the Taliban’s strict version of Sharia law, but also by a community-wide sense of “collective honor and shame” that drives violence against Muslims who convert to Christianity.

Afghan Christians have avoided detection by blending in with Muslim communities and worshipers, praying to Jesus during daily prayers at mosques and operating house churches of as few as one or two families each.

The Christian community had become emboldened after the Taliban’s fall in 2001, with about 30 Afghan Christians including their religious affiliation on national identity cards before the Taliban regained control, The Hill reported Aug. 23.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—The contemporary Christian music industry survived scandals, pushback from televangelists and the wholesale disruption of the record industry over the past 50 years and kept rolling along.

Then last spring, COVID-19 brought it all to a halt.

Artists who’d spent decades on the road were suddenly stuck at home, their tour buses unpacked, with no clear indication when they’d be able to get back to playing music in public. For Christian filmmakers Andrew and Jon Erwin, who began their careers making music videos, the pandemic seemed a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get their musical heroes on camera.

“For the first time in history, all of these artists are off the road,” Andrew Erwin told Religion News Service.

So the Erwins, a pair of brothers who’ve made faith-based movies such as I Can Only Imagine and October Baby, called up Christian music legends Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith and pitched the idea of a documentary about the history of Christian music. The two said “yes” and signed on as producers. Before long, the project was underway.

‘The Jesus Music”  traces CCM history

The result of their efforts is The Jesus Music, a documentary that traces contemporary Christian music from its beginnings among hippies at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, Calif., in the late 1960s to the global worship music empire of Australia’s Hillsong Church.

The documentary debuted in early October, earning just over a half-million dollars at the box office in limited release, according to Deadline Hollywood, which covers the entertainment industry.

Andrew Erwin said he and his brother interviewed about 100 artists, including some of the biggest names in Christian music, including Kirk Franklin, TobyMac and other members of DC Talk, Chris Tomlin, Bill Gaither, Lecrae and current chart-topper Lauren Daigle.

Distributed by Lionsgate, the film is anchored around the experiences of Grant and Smith, who became some of the biggest names in the business beginning in the 1980s. Early on, Grant gives an interview in what was once the Koinonia Christian Bookstore and Coffeehouse on Nashville’s music row.

At the time of the interview, Grant—who has sold tens of millions of records—was a few weeks away from having open-heart surgery. She recalls visiting the coffeehouse and hearing people singing with guitars about Jesus. The experience, she said in the film, changed her life.

“It was unlike anything this Southern religious town had seen,” she said during the interview.

“A lot of hymns are, close your eyes singing to God,” Grant said, in describing the music she dreamed of making. “I wanted to sing songs with my eyes wide open, singing to each other.”

Rooted in early 1970s Jesus Movement

The strongest part of the film comes in the first hour. The Erwins use vintage footage and interviews with California pastor Greg Laurie and Tommy Coomes of the early Christian rock band Love Song to recount the movement’s early days, when former hippies, disenchanted by sex and drugs, formed what was known as the “Jesus movement” of the early 1970s.

That moment had its own soundtrack with guitar and drums—epitomized by the long-haired songwriter star Larry Norman, whose songs about the end of the world, racism and the emptiness of drugs and sex made him the movement’s first rock star.

At one point, interviewees recite lyrics of “Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus,” one of Norman’s early hits, which begins with the line “Sipping whiskey from a paper cup, you drown your sorrows till you can’t stand up,” then goes on to talk about shooting up drugs and getting a sexually transmitted disease on Valentine’s Day.

John Styll, the former president of the Gospel Music Association and founder of Contemporary Christian Music magazine, said such lyrics would be banned on today’s Christian radio.

“No way would they play it,” he said in the film.

The movie also highlights Explo ’72, a massive Christian music event that featured Christian music stars alongside performers such as Johnny Cash, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson. During that event, which brought more than 200,000 young people to Dallas, evangelist Billy Graham gave his stamp of approval to the Jesus movement and Jesus music.

“True faith ought to be applied to the social problems of our day,” Graham said in a speech at the event that’s featured in the film. “Today, Christian young people ought to be involved in the problems of poverty, ecology, war, racial tension and all other problems of our generation.”

‘We wanted to understand the struggle’

Lonnie Frisbee, an influential preacher in the movement’s early days, also is featured in the documentary. Frisbee played an important role in the Jesus movement but was long overlooked after his death from AIDS in the early 1990s. The film also mentions some of the scandals that engulfed Christian music stars such as Grant and Sandi Patty.

“We did not have any intention of chasing scandal, but we wanted to understand the struggle,” said Jon Erwin in a video interview. “There were a lot of complicated people within the timeline of Christian music.”

The film also denounces the racism that separated white Christian stars from Black gospel musicians. It includes an interview with Kirk Franklin, whose comments about seeking racial healing were cut from a broadcast of a Christian music industry awards show.

“When we don’t say something, we’re saying something,” Franklin said during the speech, which addressed the killing of Black men.

One of the film’s most touching moments comes in footage of the funeral for Truett Foster McKeehan, the 21-year-old son of TobyMac, one of the founders of DC Talk. McKeehan died of an accidental overdose in 2019, and his father recounts his son’s passing in an emotional interview.

Among the film’s surprises is a section on the Christian metal band Stryper, whose members became Christians after watching sermons of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. After their conversions, band members became stars known for playing metal music that praised Jesus and for throwing Bibles at their fans during concerts, only to see Swaggart turn on them.

Most of the musicians in the film said if they had the chance, they’d do it all over again. But their fame came with a cost, warns Michael Tait, one of the founders of DC Talk. Tait would go on to be the lead singer of the Newsboys, another influential Christian band.

“I would not wish fame, or fortune, or notoriety on anybody,” he said. “Anonymity is not a bad thing. Trust me.”

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (BP)—The Blackwood Brothers Quartet promoted its 37-passenger, refurbished 1939 Aerocoach bus, air-conditioned with bunk beds and recliners, as providing the “utmost riding comfort.”

Typically at that time in the 1950s, Southern gospel music groups traveled the sometimes hundreds of miles by car to perform in rural towns, with singers in the seats and musical instruments in the trunks, said Arthur Rice, lead singer for the Kingdom Heirs and president of the Southern Gospel Music Association’s Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

“And so J.D. Sumner decided that, you know, it would be a whole lot more comfortable to travel in something that was a little bit bigger,” Rice said. “J.D. Sumner was the very first one to actually come across” using tour buses for singing groups.

A replica of the bus is among the thousands of Southern gospel music artifacts displayed by the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame and Museum.

The Southern Gospel Music Association is looking for a new home for its collections after more than 20 years at Dollywood, Dolly Parton’s amusement park and entertainment complex in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The association’s lease for its 15,000-square-feet facility at Dollywood was not renewed in 2021 because of constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic and a Dollywood expansion plan, Rice said.

Between performances of the Kingdom Heirs Oct. 8 at Dollywood, where the group is in its 36th year as resident gospel artists, Rice talked about the search for a new museum home. He said the Southern Gospel Music Association plans to remain in the Pigeon Forge area and is currently blessed to store its hall of fame and museum artifacts in space donated by an area businessman. Several possibilities are being considered for new sites.

“When we opened at Dollywood that was just a godsend, to have a public platform to present our music and the message,” Rice said. “That was right for the time. When we closed, I was sad because it was an end of an era, but I believe that God has … got his hand on what’s next. He’s given us this time, while the museum is closed, to prepare for that time. I don’t know exactly what it is.

“My vision really is to have a place where we could not only have the plaques and the artifacts, but also have a theater-type venue to where we could have groups come in (and) do a performance.” Attendees could then view the history.

“I think we can educate more people in a year’s time than we could in a lifetime,” Rice said.

The plaques Rice references depict inductees into the SGMA Hall of Fame spanning 25 years. 2021 inductees, announced Sept. 28 at the National Quartet Convention in Pigeon Forge, are prolific musician and songwriter Jack Clark of Cleveland, Tenn.; award-winning singer and songwriter Karen Peck Gooch of Karen Peck and New River; gospel music broadcaster Marlin Raymond Taylor; and the late Aaron Wilburn, a noted gospel songwriter, musician and comedian who died in 2020.

They join such noted honorees as Fanny Crosby, inducted posthumously in 2014; Thomas A. Dorsey, inducted posthumously in 2013; Carl Stuart Hamblen, inducted posthumously in 2012; Bill and Gloria Gaither (inducted in 1997 and 2005, respectively); and several members of The Happy Goodman family group.

In addition to the plaques, among the many museum artifacts awaiting display are historical songbooks, clothing worn by singers, and priceless musical instruments on loan from owners. Many of the priceless pieces are in safe-keeping with the owners until a new site is found.

Rice sees preserving the history of Southern gospel as important.

“It’s a very interesting story, and we want to share that with people,” Rice said. “For me, it is a map of how God has used our music through the years to encourage, to draw people to Christ, to lift them up.

“There’s nothing more encouraging than a gospel song when you’re in a low place. I want people to see how God’s hand has been on this music and on our people. We’re all flawed and we all are going through things, but God still chooses to use us as vessels. Yes, there’s been some characters through the years, but you know what, God still uses them.”

HOUSTON—Systemic injustice, implicit bias, educational inequity and historical reckoning should be part of the courageous conversations Christians must engage in as they confront racism, speakers told the No Need Among You Conference in Houston.

Avoiding overt racist acts are not enough, Pastor D.Z. Cofield of Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Houston told participants at the Oct. 6-8 conference, sponsored by the Texas Christian Community Development Network.

“Will you commit to be anti-racist?” he asked.

‘No reconciliation without repentance’

Racism involves systems that benefit the majority culture at the expense of people of color, he noted. Too often, white Christians “put the cart before the horse” in discussions about racial reconciliation.

“There is no reconciliation without repentance,” Cofield said. “Is racism a sin? If it’s a sin, then it’s something I have to repent of. But I don’t want to repent of something that benefits me.”

Cofield pointed out how white churches in the United States historically endorsed racist systems, from chattel slavery to Jim Crow laws.

“When we look at our country, more atrocities and acts of terrorism have been committed in the name of Jesus that in the name of Allah,” he asserted.

Cofield participated in a panel discussion about “Church and Race” that also included Ikki Soma, lead campus pastor at Bayou City Fellowship at Spring Branch, and Sonja Gee, executive director of Memorial Assistance Ministries. Jim Herrington, founding executive director of Mission Houston and co-founder of The Leader’s Journey, facilitated the discussion.

Gee’s grandfather was a Chinese immigrant to the United States. He benefitted from growing up in Texas, rather than Louisiana or Mississippi, she noted. In Louisiana and Mississippi, Asians were considered people of color and attended schools for Black students. In Texas, Asian students were allowed to attend school with white students.

Gee’s grandfather went on to graduate from Rice University and the University of Texas Law School. However, after he completed his law degree, he was turned down by 40 law firms that only hired white men, she noted.

Somo recalled an effort after the killing of George Floyd to enlist white pastors to preach regularly on the sin of racism. Out of 200 who attended an informational meeting about the initiative, 150 pledged to participate. However, within a relatively brief time, only five continued to identify with the movement, due to the resistance they encountered in their congregations.

Reality of implicit bias

Elia Moreno, executive director of the Texas Christian Community Development Network, helped lead a workshop about an initiative seven women of diverse backgrounds launched to study the Bible and engage in “courageous conversations” about race every other week, via Zoom.

“I don’t know how to be at the table without being transparent,” Moreno said. “I want the conversation to get harder. It’s time to wake up.”

Moreno described how she has been treated because she is “a woman and brown”—sometimes discriminated against in overt ways and other times through more subtle actions that reveal bias.

“We all have implicit bias, whether we know it for not,” Moreno said.

Educational gaps

Ruth Lopez Turley, professor of sociology at Rice University and founder of the Houston Research Consortium, challenged conference participants to think about Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan as an indictment of religious people who deliberately avoid people in need.

Like the priest and Levite who crossed the road rather than come into contact with an injured man who had been beaten by robbers, Christians in the United States have a similar “track record” when it comes to low-income non-Anglo children.

Historically, enrollment in private schools—particularly Christian schools in the South—“skyrocketed” in direct response to court-ordered integration of public schools, she noted.

Today, 76 percent of Black students and 80 percent of Hispanic students in Houston attend high-poverty schools with limited resources, while only 14 percent of white students attend high-poverty schools, she noted.

“This leads to enormous gaps in educational attainment,” she said.

The racial concentration of poverty has a serious impact on student achievement, she added. Based on test scores, Black students in Houston are 3.6 years behind their white peers, and Hispanics are three years behind Anglo students.

“It’s as if they were absent one-fourth of their K-12 academic experience,” she said. “And that’s not unique to Houston.”

‘Who gets to speak for the dead?’

Chassidy Olainu-Alade, coordinator of community and civic engagement with the Fort Bend Independent School District, insisted the past must be acknowledged before progress can be made.

When a backhoe operator was excavating the site of a career technology center for the Fort Bend school district in 2018, he unearthed a large cemetery of unmarked graves. Archaeologists found the remains of 95 African Americans ranging in age from their mid-teens to 70, buried between 1878 and 1911.

Those individuals—who came to be known as “The Sugar Land 95”—were convicts from a labor camp that was part of the state-sanctioned convict-leasing system that provided cheap labor to plantation owners in the decades after the Civil War. Their bodies revealed evidence of repeated injury, disease and malnutrition.

“When Black history is unearthed, who gets to speak for the dead?” Olainu-Alade asked.

The Sugar Land 95 offers a case study in how a community can “consider the history of underserved, impoverished or marginalized communities,” she said.

‘We are 99.9 percent alike’

Michael D. Reynolds, who works in the Division of Education with the Church of God International, explained race as a social construction rooted in 18th century pseudo-science—not a biological reality.

Johann Fredrich Blumenbach in 1775 divided humanity into five races, identifying Caucasians as the primary race, with the other four representing degenerations of the original type.

Later, Samuel Morton studied skulls representative of Blumenbach’s five races and attempted to calculate brain size based on his measurements. He claimed his research proved Caucasians had the largest brains, while Africans had the smallest brains.

“He used his findings to justify slavery and the superiority of people of European ancestry,” Reynolds said.

In fact, modern science reveals a commonality transcending differences in skin pigmentation or other cosmetic differences, he said.

“Scientists can find no difference in people’s blood or bodily systems that reliably identify race. We are 99.9 percent alike,” Reynolds said, asserting that evidence points to the Creator of all humankind.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—The longtime general counsel for the Southern Baptist Convention has decided to cut ties with the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

The decision came after members of the SBC Executive Committee decided to waive attorney-client privilege as part of a sexual-abuse investigation. That decision means records of conversations on legal matters among Executive Committee members and staff no longer would be confidential.

That decision made it impossible for the denomination’s legal counsel to continue its role, wrote attorneys James Guenther and James Jordan of Guenther, Jordan & Price.

“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,” Guenther and Jordan wrote in a letter to Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd.

News of the break between the firm and the Executive Committee first was reported by the Baptist and Reflector, a Tennessee Baptist state newspaper.

Guenther, 87, has been general counsel for the SBC since 1966. Before then, he spent a decade working for what was then known as the Baptist Sunday School Board, now LifeWay Christian Resources.

Guenther told the Baptist and Reflector his firm has represented the SBC in about 50 cases where the denomination was being sued over the actions of a local congregation.

“Because Southern Baptists are not hierarchical, and the convention does not control churches, Guenther and his firm have never lost an ascending liability,” the newspaper reported.

The attorney warned Southern Baptists to stay true to their theology in order to protect themselves legally.

“We have got to always be diligent that we practice what we preach and conventions need to take care to respect what the Baptist Faith and Message says about local church autonomy,” he told the Baptist and Reflector.

Matter of intense debate

The issue of confidentiality and attorney client privilege was a subject of intense debate in recent weeks among Southern Baptist leaders, as was the issue of local church control over national SBC entities such as the Executive Committee.

The debate centered around a decision made by the denomination’s annual meeting to investigate how the Executive Committee has responded to allegations of sexual abuse and how Executive Committee members and staff treated abuse survivors.

The Executive Committee originally ordered an investigation of its own, but local church messengers to the SBC annual meeting took control of that investigation. Those messengers specifically directed the committee to waive privilege if asked to do so by the outside firm doing the investigation.

During meetings this fall, committee members argued waiving privilege could bankrupt the SBC by exposing it to lawsuits. They also argued waiving privilege went against the advice of Guenther and other attorneys brought in to consult on the matter.

Other committee members, including committee Chair Rolland Slade, argued they were obligated to follow the instructions of local churches’ messengers.

After weeks of deadlock, the committee voted on Oct. 10 to waive privilege. At least 10 committee members, most who opposed the waiver, have resigned. In their letter to Floyd, who also raised questions about the issue of waiving privilege, Guenther and Jordan defended attorney-client privilege.

“The attorney-client privilege has been portrayed by some as an evil device by which misconduct is somehow allowed to be secreted so wrongdoers can escape justice and defeat the legal rights of others,” they wrote. “That could not be further from the truth.”

Floyd praised Guenther’s firm for its long service to the SBC.

“With deep regrets, we accept their decision and fully understand their reason behind it and their need to withdraw,” he told Baptist Press. “We are extremely grateful for their 56 years of superior service to the Southern Baptist Convention and the Executive Committee.”

After news of Guenther’s break with the SBC, former Executive Committee President Morris Chapman posted a comment that appeared to be a response on social media.

“Southern Baptists will always have faithful representation before the throne of God,” he wrote.

HOUSTON—Until Christians acknowledge their own brokenness, their attempts to assist the materially poor are more likely to hurt the poor than help them, economist Brian Fikkert said.

The first step toward poverty alleviation involves Christians repenting of their sins of pride, their feelings of superiority to the poor and their embrace of materialism, he said.

“Broken people create broken systems, and broken systems create broken people,” said Fikkert, co-author of When Helping Hurts.

Some churches that criticize government for throwing money at problems do the same thing when it comes to how they approach the poor, Fikkert, founding president of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College, told participants at the No Need Among You Conference in Houston. The Texas Christian Community Development Network sponsored the Oct. 6-8 event.

Misdiagnosing the problem

Too often, Christians prescribe the wrong treatment for poverty because they have misdiagnosed the ailment, he asserted.

They focus only on material poverty, rather than looking also at poverty of spiritual intimacy, poverty of being, poverty of stewardship and poverty of community, he asserted.

In essence, Christians base their view of humanity on the western economic model that sees a human being as “a physical, highly individualistic, self-centered, materialistic creature,” he said.

“The Christian church has embraced the story of western materialism but tacked a soul onto it: Get the soul to heaven for all eternity, and live the American dream right now. …We need a better story. We need to rediscover the gospel,” Fikkert said.

In contrast to the materialistic worldview, the biblical model presents human beings as “highly integrated body-soul relational creatures who are deeply wired for relationships,” he explained.

“Poverty alleviation is about reconciling relationships,” he said.

Relief, rehabilitation and development

Churches miss the mark when they treat people living in chronic poverty the same way they respond to those who need emergency relief, Fikkert said.

“Know how to distinguish between relief, rehabilitation and development,” he said.

Relief is an appropriate short-term response to victims of a natural disaster or unexpected crisis, comparable to applying first aid to stop bleeding, he explained.

Rehabilitation begins after the bleeding stops, and it seeks to work with victims of a disaster to restore the positive elements of their pre-crisis condition.

Development, on the other hand, is a long-term ongoing process of “walking alongside” people to “bring them into right relationship with God, self, others and the rest of creation,” Fikkert said.

Rather than asking poor people what is wrong and what they need, ask them to identify their gifts, abilities and resources, he recommended.

“Don’t habitually do things for people that they can do for themselves,” he said.

Rather than adopting a paternalistic approach that gives poor people a blueprint to follow, help the materially poor discover their own solutions, he suggested.

“Live into a different story,” he said.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Fannie Lou Hamer was an advocate for African Americans, women and poor people—and for many who were all three.

She lost her sharecropping job and her home when she registered to vote. She suffered physical and sexual assaults when she was taken to jail for her activism.

The stories of her struggles reached the floor of the 1964 Democratic Convention—and the nation when her emotional speech aired on television.

Historian Kate Clifford Larson has written a new book, Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, that reveals details of the faith and life of Hamer, who was born 104 years ago and died in 1977.

Inspired by young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee workers who preached Bible passages about liberation at her church in Ruleville, Miss., in 1962, Hamer became a singer and speaker for equal rights and human rights.

“She crawled her way through extraordinarily difficult circumstances to bring her voice to the nation to be heard,” Larson said. “And she knew that she was representing so many people that were not heard.”

Larson spoke to Religion News Service about Hamer’s faith, her favorite spirituals and how music helped the activist and advocate survive.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you decide to write a biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, and how would you describe her as a woman of faith?

I published a book about (Harriet) Tubman, and Hamer is so similar to Harriet Tubman, only 100 years later. I decided to start looking into her life and thinking I should do a biography of Hamer.

I just became hooked. There were so many similarities, and things I could see in Hamer that I just thought, we need to have a refresher about Fannie Lou Hamer and the strength of her character and how she survived such incredible adversity and found the same kind of solace that Harriet Tubman did—in her faith, in her family and the community—to keep going and fighting and to try to make the world a better place.

It seems she is relatively unknown in many circles despite the credit she’s given by civil rights veterans for her work.

It is curious that she is not well known broadly. And I hope that changes, because I think we need to look back sometimes to see how far we’ve come. And with Hamer, the things that happened to her—she faced the world by confronting that trauma, and that violence, without hate.

And the only way she could do that was through her faith, and talking to God and saying: Where are you, what is happening here, give me the strength to carry this weight and to move forward. And she did. She knew hate could really destroy her—that feeling of hating the people that were trying to kill her and subjugate her. She managed to rise above it because she had a greater mission in front of her.

Why did you title the book “Walk With Me”?

The title is from the song Walk With Me, Lord. She was brutally beaten, nearly killed, in the Winona, Miss., jail in June of 1963. As she lay in her jail cell, bleeding and bruised and coming in and out of consciousness, she struggled to hang on and her cellmate, Euvester Simpson, a teenage civil rights worker, was there with her.

She asked Euvester to please sing with her because she needed to find strength and she needed God to be with her. So she sang that song, Walk With Me, Lord. She needed to feel there was something bigger that would help her survive those moments where it wasn’t so clear she would survive. And I found it so powerful that she would do that. She survived that night and was able to get up and walk the next morning.

What other spirituals and gospel songs were particularly important to Hamer as she fought for voting rights and other social justice causes?

One of her favorites is This Little Light of Mine. She sang that everywhere, all the time. It’s kind of her anthem. There were some other spirituals, but really, most of the ones she sang a lot during the movement were those crossover folk songs, rooted in Christian spirituals, like Go Tell It on the Mountain. She grew up not only in a very strong church environment, the Baptist church, but she grew up in the fields of Mississippi where there were work songs in the fields, call and response songs. Where she grew up was actually the birthplace of the Delta blues music.

She also quoted the Bible to the people she differed with. Were there particular biblical lessons Hamer applied to her fight to help her fellow Black Mississippians?

She used the Bible in many different ways. She used it to shame her white oppressors who claimed also to be Christians, following the path of Christ. She would use the Bible and say: Are you following this path by what you’re doing to me, to my fellow community members and family members? And she used the Bible passages to remind Christian ministers: This is your job, and what are you doing up on that pulpit? You’re telling people to be patient. Well, in the Bible it says stand up and lead people out of Egypt.

You wrote about William Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Hamer’s congregation, throughout the book. What happened there, over the years as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and other groups used it as a place for meetings, classes and rallies?

The church, the ministers participated in the movement and had meetings in that church at great risk to themselves and to the church, and in fact, the church was bombed a couple of times even though the fires were put out, fortunately, very quickly. There were residents in the community that took their lives and put them on the line. They were at great risk, to go to those meetings, to conduct those meetings, to go out and do voter registration drives. It was all centered on the church community because that was really the only community buildings in many of these places where people could meet together to have these discussions.

You said Hamer was at a crossroads as she first listened to those SNCC activists seeking more people to join their cause.

She experienced trauma, and she had been sterilized against her will—she didn’t give permission—and she had gone through this very deep depression, and it tested her faith. It tested her understanding of the world, and she came out of that and went to this meeting in Ruleville in 1962, and when she heard those young people and their passion and their willingness to put their lives on the line for her, she viewed them as the “New Kingdom.”

So, it was more than a crossroads for her. It was a moment where she could see the future in these young people, and she called them the “New Kingdom (right here) on earth.” If they were willing to stand up and risk their lives then she could, at 45, 46 years old, stand up herself. That was a crossroads. She made that choice to stand up, publicly, and move forward.

HOUSTON—God’s special concern for the poor permeates the Law, the Prophets and the New Testament, said Jimmy Dorrell, co-founder of Mission Waco and pastor of the Church Under the Bridge.

“There are more than 2,000 verses in the Bible about the poor. And yet, people can go to Sunday school and church for years and never hear them,” Dorrell told a workshop during the No Need Among You Conference in Houston. The Texas Christian Community Development Network sponsored the Oct. 6-8 event.

Genesis makes it clear all people—including the poorest and most marginalized—possess inherent dignity because they are created in God’s image.

“The image of God is imprinted on who they are,” Dorrell said.

Broken world, broken systems

But Genesis also teaches that due to human sin, God’s good creation has been marred and broken, he added.

“We live in a broken world. And not only is the world broken, but the systems in it are broken,” he said.

Both the Levitical Holiness Code and the Deuteronomic Code include laws that provide for and protect the poor and vulnerable, he noted.

“The Law is clearly on the side of the poor,” he said.

God gave the Law to the Hebrew people not only to govern their actions, but also to teach them they could “never be good enough” to overcome what sin had broken, apart from God’s intervention, Dorrell emphasized.

All people—regardless of material wealth or poverty—suffer the effects of sin and fallenness, and that should make God’s people humble and teachable, he stressed.

“We come to minister in our brokenness, ministering to brothers and sisters who are broken in another way,” Dorrell said. “The poor have things to teach us.”

Justice for the vulnerable

The eighth century Hebrew prophets emphasized justice as a reflection of God’s character, he continued. The prophets called for fair treatment of the poor and the most vulnerable—widows, orphans and immigrants—and they pushed back against injustice and unjust systems.

The Hebrew prophets also challenged God’s people to practice generosity, he said.

“We are blessed to bless. How you spend your money is a symbol of your faith,” Dorrell said.

While the word translated “justice” appears more than 200 times in the Old Testament, that specific word almost disappears in the New Testament. However, the word translated into English as “righteousness” carries a similar meaning, he noted.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus taught both by word and example God’s special concern for the poor and the outcasts. Rather than isolating himself from those whom others considered unclean, Jesus welcomed the ostracized and marginalized, Dorrell stressed.

“Jesus touched the poor and the lepers, and he hung out with tax collectors and sinners. He was in the mix,” Dorrell said.

In messiness, ‘the kingdom breaks in’

Love for one another and sharing possessions with each other characterized the early church, he observed. Like Jesus, the early disciples did not fear touching the unloved and connecting with those whom others neglected.

“Today, we have moved away from the poor. We have to worker harder to connect—to touch and be touched,” Dorrell said.

Reflecting on his own experiences working with the unhoused, Dorrell said about one-third of the people who attend the Church Under the Bridge have some form of mental illness.

“It’s messy stuff, working with the poor. But in the craziness of what looks like disorder, the kingdom breaks in,” he said.

“If we are going to change the world, the poor have to be involved in it. I have learned more about the kingdom of God from broken people than I ever learned in seminary.”