Last week, news broke that interim CEO of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, Willie McLaurin, had resigned. The reason? He fabricated his educational credentials.
Willie McLaurin rose to the highest executive office in the largest protestant denomination** in the United States with a fake resume. Not only that, he worked for fifteen years at the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board without anyone apparently doing a check on his background and credentials. He claimed to have three degrees, including a masters from Duke Divinity School. These degrees did not exist. According to one friend, writing at Baptist News Global, McLaurin went so far as to put diplomas on the walls of his office. According to this same friend McLaurin, who is black, would change his dialect depending on what ethnic group to which he was speaking. McLaurin is a phony whose lies and deceptions were clearly well-thought-out and deliberate.
McLaurin fits in perfectly with SBC leadership.
His predecessor on the ExecutiveCommittee, Ronnie Floyd, is a false prophet. In his 1997 book, The Power of Prayer and Fasting, Floyd claimed that God revealed “that He was going to bring a mighty spiritual revival in America that promises to transcend all denominational, cultural, racial, and ethnic lines.” This revival did not come to pass. Floyd’s predecessor, Frank Page, had to resign because he was cheating on his wife. Recent SBC President Ed Litton was caught, shortly after his election, plagiarizing sermons.
https://twitter.com/BenZeisloft/status/1692702410622312719?t=KCbbP_u8THwNazC4-YEGxg&s=19
Readers could also consider the cases of popular SBC preachers like Steve Flockhart and Ergun Caner. The list could go on and on.
The bottom line is that SBC pew sitters need to make themselves aware of the culture of SBC elites. Their presidents and executives are not the wise and holy men they think them to be. If there is such rot and the top, how healthy can the root be?
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
**The SBC is technically a convention and not a denomination. There are many baptists who are not a part of the SBC but can be classified as part of the Baptist denomination.
