Why SBC Leaders
Turned to Lying and Abuse Over
“Revoice”
in Dallas SBC
Rev Thomas Littleton
6/17/2018
By now word has spread that a member of the press was kicked
out of the SBC annual meetings in Dallas last week. I am
that person and make no mistake about the cause. I came to
the SBC convention to follow up and seek to interview the
SBC leaders whose institutions have disturbing ties to the
upcoming Revoice
Conference in St Louis. At the same time
leaders in the Presbyterian Church of America were doing the
same in their annual General Assembly in Atlanta. I went to
Dallas at my own expense and out of deep concern that the
last two remaining conservative denominations have clearly
been infiltrated and are on the verge of accepting EXTREME
and Radically pro-LGBT+ language into the heart of their
congregations. No denomination has ever returned from this
abyss and all who fall into it remain in steep decline. This
compromise always leaves the Gospel and those who need it
harmed. A new younger President was elected who subscribes
to a primary source (a Regent University Psychologist
Mark Yarhouse)
of the radical language –
J.D. Greear. His
campaign press coverage promised that the make-over of the
SBC has only begun as change agents aplenty strutted through
the halls of the Dallas SBC 2018 meetings.
I was struck while attending the Southern Baptist Convention
2018 by one exhibit which was offered in the Exposition
hall. I spent a great deal of time there because in the vast
Texas sized Dallas facility dead center of the Expo was the
only place my cell signal was not (dead). The world of
virtual reality is changing everything in the marketing
game. I saw several booths with convention goers looking
like puppies with bags stuck on their heads while living in
the virtual world for moment in time. In a three-day long
event, a press guy or gal (I was working with World View
Weekend [WVW] radio to cover the SBC meetings) has to find
humor and comic relief where they can.
Yet one virtual experience in the program at the convention
was far too sad a reflection on our virtual Baptist, virtual
missions experience to laugh off. This trek was to provide
the virtual experience of a REFUGEE. I have been in ministry
for 40 years now – mostly in evangelism and missions both
long term and short. I see first-hand the long-term benefit
of taking believers’ missions trips and there is no
substitute for placing your feet on the ground and getting
face to face with the beloved of God who are in need.
Medical missions have been a long-term commitment of our
family. But to offer a third world or missions experience,
or in this case the politically charged and Soros funded
“Refugee” issue driven in the SBC, by “Rented Evangelicals”
and World Relief, I fear, is not only manipulative but is
sad window on the world of modern Christian state of
unreality. This malady seems to have infected many of the
Leadership of the SBC as well and especially in the current
leadership of the ERLC and some neo Calvinist seminaries.
MY PERSONAL REFUGEE EXPERIENCE: WHY DOES ERLC NOT WANT YOU
TO KNOW THE TRUTH?
The players involved – ERLC’s Russell Moore – ERLC Staffer
Brent Leatherwood – Myself – and after the press statements
below – the Executive Committee/ Roger Oldham, and an ERLC
underling. History and context is provided below.
I would like to acknowledge Dr. Albert Mohler of Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary, that HE was the one and only
key leader from the circles involved in Revoice who did
grant an interview and comment on it. His answers can be
heard at
Worldview Weekend Radio. Russell Moore’s response, other
than to deny knowledge of Revoice after at least two people
discussed it with him, appears to be lost somewhere in the
now empty halls of the Dallas Convention Center.
First, here is the ERLC version in a Christian Post article
from June 14th 2018 for which I was never contacted or
interviewed. This article does not have the facts or even
the timeline.
“Pastor
Says He Was Thrown Out of SBC Meeting for Questioning ERLC
Ties to Revoice Conference”
WHAT IS FALSE IN IT?
*The SBC Executive Committee did not remove me from the SBC
convention meetings as the ERLC’s younger press spokesperson
claims. This claim is also amazingly echoed, though not
confirming my name, by Roger Oldham of the SBC Executive
Committee. I have history with Oldham when expressing
concerns that then CEO, Frank Page, of the Executive
Committee had joined two radical gay activist organization
leaders, Fred Davies of ARCUS Foundation (massive LGBTQ
funder) and Harry Knox of the infamous Human Rights Campaign
(the nation’s largest LGBTQ equality advocate), on the Obama
Faith Based Partnership Board. The White House led group
worked to “Find Common Ground for the Common Good” and
obtain government grant funding in cooperative partnerships.
After months of engaging these concerns, I was then passed
down the line by Frank Page to Oldham who made no effort to
encourage a course correction from the trajectory Page had
helped place the SBC on with Obamas FBP program.
Dallas Issue: The SBC did not speak to me or ask me to “Move
along.” I had spoken to Oldham in the presence of Radio
journalist, Janet Mefferd, about an hour before and
IRONICALLY thanked him for his work with the press and their
excellent hospitality which I compared to “Sunday Afternoon
after service in a Southern Baptist Church.” This REALLY
happened! In Spite of my appreciation and even the
opportunity at that point to correct me for any loitering I
was allegedly doing in an allegedly restricted area, nothing
was said. I had used the same location where I had found
scarce cell service all week yet Oldham said nothing of such
an issue just an hour prior. He now claims in the CP article
the same completely FALSE, baseless and dishonest version of
events which came from Russell Moore’s ERLC in the article.
Start asking yourself why and I will try and help you
understand it.
NOTE: RUSSELL MOORE’S HISTORY OF FALSE CLAIMS
A 2008 article recounts problems with
false accusations and claims of assault made by the current ERLC
head Russell Moore when he was finishing his doctorate in 2000
and working for the
Baptist Press as a reporter at Baptist
events.
“In 2000, many general assembly attendees accused BP writer
Russell Moore of inaccuracies and blatant fabrications in
several stories — most notably a report where he claimed that a
former missionary attending the meeting physically assaulted
him. Moore is now a dean at Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary.” There are other such reports from this 2000 era work
by Moore as a Baptist Press reporter.
TAKE NOTE
So ERLC’s Dr. Russell Moore has a long credibility problem and
is known to make false claims about issues, like an assault on
his person by an “unnamed Foreign Missionary.”
*Fact: the actual events at the SBC Dallas convention are
verified by two conversations with the Dallas Police Department
that two uniformed Dallas Police Officers (again I have their
names and the multiple call history of the conversations with
the Dallas PD and what was reported on the events to the Sgt.
assigned to handle the call. I have his direct telephone number.
FACT: Dallas Police were lied to and used by a false report from
an SBC organization to remove me – NOT the Executive Committee.
It is shameful and foolish for the ERLC and the Executive
Committee to crawl out on a limb together and not only obligate
themselves to maintain and defend their false story but to even
imply the Dallas Police Department and its officers present are
lying. The other side of reality is, once admitted, that someone
in an SBC entity that, in this likelihood, the ERLC has lied to
and misled their own security team members on a day when the
Vice President of the United States had been in the building at
the Dallas Convention Center. Criminal fines and jail time
accompany making a false reporting to police. It may be clear
why the need was felt to so drastically alter their version of
events and someone in fact really does deserve to be dismissed
for misleading the Dallas PD. I do not know how after many years
of service Roger Oldham would be so foolish as to expect Me to
allow him to confirm the ERLC saying I am lying. This issue will
not go away. Why? Because THE TRUTH matters.
FURTHERMORE
*I was NOT in a “restricted area”. I was in the Expo Hall near
the Lifeway retail sales area.
*I was not loitering. The only place I had cell service on my
old unit was in the center of the of the Expo building. I was
there repeatedly all week long doing interviews and making news
reports. That was my job for the week at the SBC meeting.
*The two officers of the Dallas PD told me that I had been
“reported as having threatened someone,” Again this is in DIRECT
contrast to Oldham and the ERLC/ Moore’s press statements in
which they say I am making a FALSE claim. The Officers’ names
and that of the Dallas PD officer assigned to the complaint was
made by Worldview Weekend boss Brannon Howse and by myself
within 30 minutes and then an hour after the events took place.
TIMELINE
The simple FACTS: What happened when I was REMOVED from the
building on June 13th 2018 by Two Uniformed Dallas Police
Officers on the complaint they received that I threatened
someone.
*The exhibitors had started taking down their booths, yet many
people were still in and out some were even getting last minute
purchases and info from exhibitors. No one that I saw was being
restricted from entering the Expo area for any reason. I went in
and out several times during this period.
*While on the phone to an editor of mine I
saw ERLC employee Brent Leatherwood (seventh down this list of
ERLC Staff)
standing in the ERLC booth and glaring at me.
SIDE NOTE about the PREVIOUS DAY
The day before (Tuesday June
12) this same staffer, Brent Leatherwood, had bodily stepped
between me and his boss Russell Moore, ERLC Executive Director,
and grabbed my arms saying repeatedly “we are fine, we are fine,
we don’t need anything.” By this time, Moore and I made eye
contact and he spoke acknowledging my presence. I asked for
comments on the “LGBT+ Christian” Revoice Conference and told
him I had broken the story on it a month ago. Moore said he “had
heard about it but did not know much.” When Moore did not wish
to comment in the press about Revoice. I expressed my concern to
him as a Southern Baptist and a minister, pointing out the
Revoice/ERLC ties with Karen Swallow Prior, his Research Fellow
at ERLC, being on the Revoice website promoting the conference
and Revoice speaker Branden Polk, whose Arrowhead Advising LLC
is an ERLC consultant/ contractor. I also talked to Moore about
the concerns I had over the use of terms like “Queer Christian”
and “Queer Theory” and I mentioned the source from which I had
heard about Revoice being ERLC’s partner Sam Allberry / Living
Out ministry which was promoting Revoice in early May 2018. I
spoke with Moore about the Human Rights Campaign activist who I
knew from confronting their intentions in my own state which
Moore had invited TO his 2014 ERLC conference. I mentioned the
HRC staffers by name and what they had done in Alabama to
further their pro LGBTQ cause. Moore, now informed about the
basis of the concerns assured me he “would look into Revoice.”
However, when asked about Revoice the next day by an SBC
Messenger, Moore denied knowing about Revoice.
*Back to Wednesday June 13th in the Expo area – a public access
area. About two minutes after seeing Brent Leatherwood glaring
at me, two uniformed Dallas Police Department officers, whose
names I have, came into my view slightly to the right of the
ERLC booth from which Leatherwood had been glaring at me.
OF NOTE
Leatherwood is the former Tennessee GOP
employee, a die hard “Never Trumper” like his ERLC Boss. The
conservative and Christian voters, leaders and journalists in
Nashville and across Tennessee have written MANY articles about
the work of Leatherwood in the TN Republican Party. Strong
criticism including that he and his group of operatives were
using Republican funds to
defeat conservative candidates in Tennessee primaries, and other
activities outlined in
Breitbart,
were considered treasonous by many
Republican in Tennessee. It is not hard to find such disapproval but those left with a favorable
impression of his time there are much more difficult to locate.
Here is just one example. The headline reads: “Brent
Leatherwood for State GOP Chairman? Seriously?”
One quote directed to Leatherwood in this article says, “Is it
just us, or would any normal, rational, thinking individual who
has a fiduciary and political responsibility to spend the state
GOP’s money wisely have a big freakin’ problem with the sleazy,
disingenuous, inside dealing (nepotism) that you and your staff
have engaged in and used our money to do it.”
The writer then concludes, “You will undoubtedly be looking for
work if someone besides you gets elected to the chairmanship,
but there is not a snowball’s chance in h*** you could get any
credible position in the Trump administration.”
*After Leatherwood lost a bid for Chairmanship of the State
Republican Party, he was then hired by Russell Moore into the
ERLC as Director of Strategic Partnerships. Once the Dallas
Police came up to me, Leatherwood was now out of view. However,
he came back to the scene soon as you will see. The two officers
approached me as I was still on the phone and said I had to
leave the building. I asked if they meant the EXPO building
because of the exhibitor breakdown. I showed my press
credentials and explained my lack of cell service elsewhere in
the building. The Dallas PD officer told me someone had filed a
complaint against me. I asked who it was .He would not say who
but said they had the right to ask me to leave the building. I
asked what the allegations were and he answered “that you
threatened someone. Why would you do something like that?” I
said, “Why indeed, since I am a Christian, a minister and a
Southern Baptist and a member of the press? I threatened no
one.” I said I was waiting for the next meetings at 4/4:30 to
begin, which were the ERLC annual reports where Russell Moore
was speaking. I had stayed an extra day in order to cover that
event and report on it. I was then informed by the Officers that
this would be a problem because I was being asked to leave the
entire building and would not be allowed back during the SBC
event.
*As the Dallas Police Officers escorted me from the building,
ERLC employee Leatherwood, who had minutes before been glaring
at me across the Expo floor, and disappeared when the Dallas PD
approached me, was standing just outside the door of the Expo in
the large lobby area that wraps around the over 1 million square
foot convention center.
Leatherwood was on his phone with his earpiece in and talking.
Once he saw us exiting the door he ended his conversation, hung
up the telephone and joined the escorting officer to my right.
*Leatherwood began taking very provocative actions including
again, glaring across the chest of the taller officer to my
right and mockingly looking me in the eyes. He leaned his head
forward toward me almost in the path of the officer. He took
long exaggerated lurching steps in slower motion as if enacting
some strutted victory lap around what had been set in motion
with my removal less than two hours before the ERLC meeting/
report was to begin in the main hall.
*I asked the officer between Leatherwood
and myself if Leatherwood was the person who claimed I had
threatened someone and if he claimed I threatened him. The
officer replied, “We are not going there.” I asked if
Leatherwood claimed I threatened HIM because, in fact,
Leatherwood “had laid his hands on me to restrain me and prevent
me from talking to his boss. (This would be considered a
Class C Assault by Texas Law.)
Russell Moore’s employee, Leatherwood, attempted to prevent the
conversation but Moore did indeed talk about the Revoice
Conference “promoting LGBT+ Flourishing in historic Christian
tradition.” WE DID discuss that his ERLC Fellow was a
contributor endorsing Revoice and a favorite ERLC consultant was
speaking at Revoice. We had a conversation about it. I mentioned
this to the officer and that it was in spite of Leatherwood‘s
effort to physically prevent it. “Is that what this is about?” I
asked. Nothing was confirmed or denied at this point. After
about 20 steps in tandem with the officers and me and the
continued provocative actions of Leatherwood, he then broke off
and headed to the main hall where Russell Moore and his constant
companions of the ERLC staff were located.
*The officers then escorted me to the Press room down stairs to
retrieve my belongings. The attitude of the officers toward me
changed at the point Leatherwood had sought to escalate the
situation. They calmly walked me to the press room and stood by
as I explained to the press room full of reporters that a fellow
member of the press and fellow Baptist and minister was being
removed from the building after being falsely accused of
threatening someone. No one would say who was supposed to have
threatened but the ERLC staffer was ever present who had also
attempted prevent me talking about Revoice LGBT+ /Queer
Christianity with his ERLC boss Russell Moore. The press room
wanted more information and received it. None yet have written
on it but the story is still playing out. The officers then
escorted me back upstairs to the exit of my choice through the
Omni hotel bridge and I went on to my neighboring hotel from
which I called my offices at Worldview Weekend. Brannon Howse
then began the process of filing the report to the Dallas Police
Department to provide documentation given the likelihood that
the ERLC would soon be issuing false statements to cover
themselves after their staffer lied to the Dallas Police
Department. That insightful concern has proven prophetic in the
Christian Post article which absurdly even includes the
respected SBC Executive Committee.
A series of interviews began immediately as word had already
spread in the SBC meetings in the Convention Centers main hall.
It has continued for four days straight. J. D. Hall of
Pulpit and Pen and
Janet Mefferd helped
World View Weekend and Worldview Radio
break the story.
I am aware this version is in sharp contrast to the version told
by the ERLC and Executive Committee in Christian Post. I can see
why the altered version includes a narrative that takes away the
dangers posed by assault changes and lying to an officer
providing security for your own event. But this version above
will not be altered because it is the truth and I celebrate the
fine job the Dallas Police did in treating me fairly and simply
doing their job based on the false information they received
from somewhere in the BOWELS of the SBC/ ERLC machine. I am
horrified that my own denomination is covering up some of their
entities’ and officers’ involvement with Revoice Queer
Christianity and LGBT+ Christianity and would brutalize someone
with three generations of SBC heritage and 40 years of ministry
and untold amounts of dollars placed in the offering plate and
helping aid the ministries and cooperative programs and church
buildings and Seminaries and salaries of the SBC. I know am not
the first and, given the present trajectory exhibited during the
SBC 2018 convention, I will not be the LAST one abused. Russell
Moore, Roger Oldham, I forgive and pray for you but I cannot
repent for you for the deception you are perpetrating on the
flock of God under your care. That part you will have to do. I
will not be sending Dallas Police for you but I do think we will
see your accountability come home to roost. Meanwhile, do
Southern Baptist really want these tactics turned on them by the
people they support? And in the words of Mike Huckabee “How long
will Southern Baptists keep paying Russell Moore to insult
them?”
As to simulated refugee experiences …. WHY PLAY “MAKE BELIEVE”
WHEN SO MANY REFUGEES IN THEIR OWN CHURCHES ARE IGNORED?
Isaiah 6:11 “Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until
the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without
man, and the land be utterly desolate.”
If Revoice has its say in the SBC because leadership cannot
speak and denounce it, God’s words to Isaiah will prove
prophetic for the Southern Baptist Convention.
O Lord have mercy, spare us we pray.