That there is much in the SBC that needs to be changed, is a point beyond dispute to my mind. But the end games for some appear to include everything from the full acceptance of women pastors, partial acceptance of the LBGTQ+ agenda, and reparations by the descendants of slaveholders to the descendants of slaves.

Recent events in the SBC cause me to feel like I am riding blindfolded on a roller-coaster. I know more drops and sharp turns are coming but I do not know when or where. If you have been even mildly aware of American evangelicalism the last few months, you have at least some idea of what I am talking about. If not, then you can get partially (and I should emphasize that word) up to speed by reading the following articles.

• This Christianity Today article on the resignation of the SBC Executive Director
• This news release from Southwestern Seminary
• This Washington Post article about Southwestern’s trustees’ actions this week
• This Rod Dreher article on the debacle, including a horrible “attempt at satire” by the leader (edit: now former leader) of the Connect316 and sbctoday.com organizations.

I am led to believe that there is more to come. Influential voices from both within and without the convention have signaled that the dismissal of Paige Patterson from the Southwestern Seminary presidency is only the first step of many that need to be taken to clean up the SBC. That there is much in the SBC that needs to be changed, is a point beyond dispute to my mind. But the end games for some appear to include everything from the full acceptance of women pastors, partial acceptance of the LBGTQ+ agenda, and reparations by the descendants of slaveholders to the descendants of slaves.

My fear is that forces currently at work will harness good causes—like the respect and protection of women and the rejection of racism—in order to use them to advance the above-mentioned agendas. The way that I see it, the main reason that Southern Baptists are vulnerable at just this point stems from a failure to submit practically to the full authority and sufficiency of Scripture. This is ironic—a tragic irony, to be sure—given the recent history of the “battle for the Bible” in the SBC. Inerrancy won the day and the “conservative resurgence” has been heralded ever since as an unprecedented work of God to rescue the SBC from following mainline denominations into apostasy.

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