My Comments To My Church About The Recent SBC Concerns

As I prepare to leave for Dallas next week to attend an important Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, I want to publically share the comments I recently made to Graefenburg Baptist Church.  This statement was read to our church before Paige Patterson was removed from his privileges at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The pastors of GBC are broken over recent developments in the SBC but trust God to work all things for his glory and the good of the nations. Grace and peace to each of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Over the last couple of weeks, some of you might have read about a controversy that has developed in the Southern Baptist Convention. An SBC leader and President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Dallas, whose name is Paige Patterson, was recorded during a teaching lecture several years ago and in the recording he tells the story of how he advised a lady in an abusive marital relationship to return to her abuser, pray for him, and try to submit in all things. Patterson was also on record saying some inappropriate remarks about a teenage girl.

As your pastor, and in agreement with my colleagues, your pastoral staff, we reject in the strongest terms any notion that an abused spouse is obligated or commanded by Scripture to return to their abuser and thereby place themselves in harm’s way. Abuse in a marriage relationship is an attack against the gospel of Jesus Christ because marriage is the most perfect human expression of the gospel.

Some of you here today and some of you watching online have experienced spousal abuse or are experiencing it. Unfortunately, some of you will experience it. Please hear me clearly – your pastors are here for you. We will listen to you. We will believe you. And we will do anything we can to help you get out of a dangerous situation.

I also want to say a quick word to those of you who might be abusers. Some of you might not know what to do with your anger. Some of you might deeply regret your actions, but you find yourself doing it all over again. I want you to know something too – we won’t abandon you. Jesus hasn’t abandoned you. His gospel of grace is bigger and stronger than your sin. We are here to walk with you as best as we possibly can.

My hope is that the SBC will use this as a growing opportunity instead of a vendetta against a single person. My hope is that God will use this controversy to open our eyes wider to the reality of the shame and embarrassment and fear of so many women who are in abusive relationships and have no idea what to do. My hope is that we as a church, here at Graefenburg, will not waiver for a second in our commitment to marriage and to the gospel, and yet we will fight against injustice and abuse even as we uphold those commitments.

Please pray with me, for our church, for the SBC, and for the church around the world.