'How does a pastor survive a 59% vote of confidence?' - Baptist editor asks
The lead pastor of a historic Arkansas church is in hot water for bungling allegations of sexual abuse.
Baptist Report
Mark Wingfield, executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global – back from a recent illness – has written an opinion piece about the situation at a large Southern Baptist church in Little Rock, Ark., regarding decisions made by the pastor who is the of a well-known SBC leader.
With an average Sunday attendance of 925, Immanuel is one of Arkansas' largest Baptist congregations, according to the Arkansas Baptist State Convention's 2022 annual report. Founded in 1892, it has included several prominent Arkansans on its membership rolls, including the nation's 42nd president, Bill Clinton.
Lead Pastor Steven Smith has been in hot water in recent months for bungling numerous allegations of sexual abuse at the church by not sharing information with the church body nor parents of youth involved in Immanuel's student ministry.
"Life moved on, and somehow I missed that two weeks ago, the deacons of Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, finally took a vote of confidence in Pastor Steven Smith," Wingfield writes.
A "non-binding" vote taken recently by the church's deacons revealed broad non-support of Smith.
Wingfield writes that according to published reports, 59% of those voting supported the embattled pastor, while 41% opposed him – but nearly a third of deacons didn’t vote. In context, the church listed 61 deacons in January. Only 26 (43% of the total) voted to support the pastor, while 18 voted against him, and 17 did not vote at all. That effectively amounts to a 57% vote of no confidence.
"Now, if you’re a Baptist pastor or have ever served as a lay leader in a Baptist church, you can read the handwriting on the wall here," said Wingfield. "A pastor can temporarily survive a bare-majority vote of confidence, but no pastor can endure this kind of tepid endorsement for long — unless one other condition happens. That condition, of course, is dictatorship."
He adds, "The only way a Baptist pastor remains at the helm of a church where a majority of the elected leaders oppose him is to outlast the critics."
The situation at Immanuel Baptist appears to be a convergence of two significant conflicts plaguing American churches today: preventing and responding to sexual abuse, and the challenge of ousting authoritarian pastors. Families with children have reportedly been leaving the church in droves due to mishandled sexual abuse scandals. Now, even deacons are departing, which likely explains why so many didn’t vote.
"I never met Pastor Steven Smith, but I knew his father, Bailey Smith, who served as the longtime pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, Oklahoma. Bailey Smith’s signature 'shadow of a doubt' revival sermons were the reason I was baptized a second time as a teenager – he scared the hell back into us so we’d want to be re-baptized and be sure we 'knew that we knew' we were saved," writes Wingfield.
"That kind of theological fervor apparently doesn’t fall far from the tree."
Wingfield says the only times he can recall a Baptist pastor not immediately resigning after failing to secure a strong vote of confidence are when the pastor was staging a coup.
"Seriously, in most Baptist churches that practice congregational governance (yes, there are some that do not anymore), it takes at least an 80% affirmative vote (sometimes 90%) to elect a pastor. How could a pastor believe they could survive on a vote of confidence far less than that?" said Wingfield.
Wingfield believes what we are witnessing from afar at Immanuel Baptist is a church’s unraveling due to a combination of these conflicts.
"It is astounding to watch a church as historic as Immanuel fall apart through such events. If it can happen there, it can happen in your church too," he writes, adding a personal note: "A historical irony from my own perspective is that more than 35 years ago, the church of my youth in suburban Oklahoma City called a pastor who was a protégé of Bailey Smith. Through sheer arrogance and stubbornness, that pastor split the church and eventually got run off."
Wingfield said in essence the survival of a pastor hinges on navigating treacherous waters: balancing the will of the congregation, addressing critical issues, and avoiding the pitfalls of authoritarianism.
"In recent years, we have witnessed a movement of heavy-handed pastors who want to be not just the shepherd of the flock but also the owner of the ranch. That is not the Baptist way. It is sometimes the megachurch way, and it is sometimes the nondenominational way. But it is not the Baptist way," Wingfield concludes.
The story of Pastor Steven Smith serves as a cautionary tale for all who lead and follow within the walls of faith communities.
Editor's Note: This summary is based on Mark Wingfield’s editorial titled “How does a pastor survive a 59% vote of confidence?” published on March 7, 2024, by Baptist News Global. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author.
Source: Baptist News Global