An Arkansas pastor has become chairman of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission after the resignation of a retired Indiana minister who was leading the Southern Baptist entity’s trustee board.

The new chairman, Richard D. Piles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Camden, Ark., circulated an email notice May 21 of the change in trustee leadership.

Piles, who has been serving as the ERLC trustee vice chairman, noted in the email, “The [ERLC trustees’] Executive Committee remains committed to their previously scheduled task of making a public report by June 1 regarding Dr. Land and charges against him of racism and plagiarism.”

Richard Land, the ERLC’s president since 1988, is undergoing trustee scrutiny after a March 31 radio broadcast that sparked controversy over his remarks about the Trayvon Martin shooting and prompted an allegation of plagiarism over the use of a source he did not identify on the broadcast.

The former ERLC trustee chairman, Steve Faith, a retired pastor and director of missions from New Albany, Ind., resigned from the trustee board, citing “his desire to commit more of his time and energy toward the local church where he is a member as they are currently without a pastor,” Piles stated in the email.

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