Southern Baptists, let’s be clear honest about what the SBC application for @KSPrior’s excellent article (at end of this thread) is. We all know that since the CR, the trustee appt process is completely driven by relational favors for one leader or another. Trustees are elected

because of who they know, who likes them, and whether or not they are likely to dig at all into the leadership of the entity pres for the entity board on which they serve. Depending on the relationship between an entity head and the ones appointing each year’s new trustees (cont)

this means that the boards are generally NEVER going to question or evaluate the work of an entity president as a matter of responsible accountability. They exist to affirm—or they are one of the couple who exist on each board to disrupt because of another leader w/an agenda-cont

finagling a trustee or two onto a board of an entity some want to disrupt. Patterson was notorious for doing this to colleagues. But the whole system is completely a farce. It is not about executing actual accountability, it’s about enabling power that we (cont)

have decided can go unchecked so long as we keep things “conservative.” Each entity head (& his team) care A LOT about who gets appointed to the board over that entity, so they spend their political chips maneuvering to keep friendlies there. It’s how Patterson got & kept (cont)

control of the @SBCExecComm—he had so much unchecked power thanks to a napkin at the Cafe Du Monde & a bunch of Molly Marshall audio cassettes, that he didn’t just control his board appts, he controlled the EC board appts. Which meant that if an entity stepped outside (cont)

what he and his sheep deemed to be something of which he approved, the EC could find a way to address it, or just let the entity know that could happen so that they would get back in line. Only problem was, he didn’t have a plan for a leader who would sacrifice power (cont)

for conviction. And when 2016 rolled around and Dr. Moore took a firm stand consistent with the Bible and with what Southern Baptists shouted in 1998, willing to accept whatever came, it blew a gasket in the system that was sustained for 23 yrs by those in power focusing (cont)

most on just keeping their Boards friendly, then secondly on not stirring Patterson, Vines, or Graham because those three would go to war behind the scenes. Except the whole entire thing depends on leaders only looking out for their own interests. Once one didn’t, it (cont)

cracked. And, fwiw, I believe that crack of realization is what sent some reeling so hard that their true heart shined fully for all to see—so fully that a Board that was decidedly willing to look past millions$ dumped into personal pet projects, stained glass self-idols, (cont)

and the sexualization of a 16 year old in a sermon, eventually saw so much exposed that they had to act. But it’s a boldface lie if anyone tells you that the SWBTS Board or his previous one at SEBTS ever held Patterson accountable or addressed his known power grabs over the(cont)

years. And THAT is a problem much bigger than Paige Patterson because with the exception of the ERLC, for which the EC has unconstitutionally appointed itself the colonoscopy, every other entity president is without functional accountability. Not because they refuse it or (cont)

are hiding something. But because southern baptists felt so God-ordained and cozy with winning the CR by exercising political moves with the boards and having a few men control those appointments through relational ties, that everyone just pretends like we don’t know how (cont)

the appointments work. So, southern baptists, you should pray for those entity presidents, because unless they keep themselves in check, there’s absolutely no reason for us to think what happened at Liberty couldn’t be happening now at any it all of the SBC entities.

So, I encourage you to read @KSPrior’s article with the awareness that the entire post CR mechanics of the SBC were built on and operated with the full awareness that the ones accountable to the boards would have tremendous influence over who they are.

https://religionunplugged.com/news/2020/8/27/let-liberty-university-be-a-lesson-in-unchecked-power?format=amp&__twitter_impression=true