The story of Darrell Gilyard easily arises to the category of legend in Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) life. As originally told, Gilyard was abandoned by his parents at a young age and wound up living under a bridge in Florida. Jerry Vines, pastor of Jacksonville First Baptist Church,1 discovered Gilyard, led him to Christ, and began mentoring him in the mid-1980s. Vines had connections to which he recommended the young, exciting, and vibrant young preacher--most notably Paige Patterson, (then) President of Criswell Bible College and Jerry Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. Because of the amazing pulpit abilities Gilyard possessed, both Patterson and Falwell took an interest in promoting Gilyard on the conference circuit, and consequently, Gilyard ultimately became renowned all over the convention. Patterson further assisted Gilyard with a scholarship to attend Criswell college.
Gilyard was promoted widely in the SBC and platformed at pastors' conferences, evangelism conferences, large churches, revivals, and evangelistic crusade meetings. Gilyard's printed accolades in the June 1989 convention edition of Baptist Press was impressive:
Texas pastor Daryl Gilyard challenged the pastors to "take your eyes off your circumstances and difficulties and Jesus will bring triumph out of your tragedy. Jesus enables us to meet whatever challenge we have with confidence."
After a personal testimony of how he never knew his parents and lived five years under a bridge, Gilyard, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Garland, Texas. said, "I decided that the only way to rise out of the mud of self pity was to put my eyes on Jesus. When I took my eyes off myself and put my eyes on Jesus. a peace came over me" (BP 6/13/89).
A year later, Darrell Gilyard received a standing ovation when he spoke at the conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists meeting Wednesday afternoon at the June 1990 convention. He said,
It's time to stop talking about it, preaching about it, singing about it and complaining that people in your church just won't visit. If in the average church we would put as much effort into reaching the lost as we do a good choir special, we'd turn our world upside-down (BP 6/12/1990).
Few, if any, doubted. The young Black evangelist connected with the masses, connected with them.
Consequently, not only was Gilyard promoted by Vines, Patterson, and Falwell, he was, in many ways, the darling young preacher of Southern Baptists all over the SBC during that era and promoted in virtually every circle of SBC sub-culture. Gilyard's personal magnetism, natural rhetorical persuasion, and public speaking abilities resonated with such a charm that, in essence, he easily drew most Southern Baptists to his side.
Incidentally, therefore, those who would like to single out Vines, Patterson, and Falwell for promoting Gilyard in the SBC are fundamentally skewing the historical record. While it's true they introduced Gilyard to Southern Baptists, Gilyard was supported and promoted by Southern Baptist leaders all over the United States, including perhaps some still serving in the SBC presently.
But Gilyard would soon lose any support as the darling young Black preacher of Southern Baptists, and his once busy itinerary America over would necessarily come to a rightful but tragic end.
Rumors began to surface surrounding Gilyard and some of his female parishioners that he was not the man out of the pulpit he portrayed himself to be in the pulpit. At first, a few women contacted Patterson to make the charge. And, following up as best he could, Patterson reasoned as many would (as I would) that since it was a he-said-she-said type of situation; and since anonymity was insisted; and since he found no corroborating evidence; and since no crime had been alleged that lawfully must be reported; and since Gilyard vehemently denied the charges, there was little to do but move on. While he could carefully watch Gilyard, he would also continue to mentor him. It apparently seemed to Patterson, he was being asked to effectively ruin a man's ministry for life based on a claim he'd checked out to the best of his ability which very well could have been false. Hence, he decided to not act on the claims against Gilyard at that time.
Frankly speaking, how easy--not to mention convenient--for us today to self-righteously judge Patterson and others three decades later insisting we would have known; we would have seen through the sham; we would have believed the women even if others didn't; we would have taken their word for it; we would have moved quickly and stopped Gilyard in his tracks. And we would have been right in doing so!
When I hear these unmitigated condemnations of Patterson and others from critics informed with facts revealed later, facts based upon substantiating evidence for not acting on what began and were, at the time, rumors from anonymous persons, I'm reminded of David's son Absalom when he was attempting to sway the masses away from allegiance to David and make him King instead. Samuel pens the narrative of Absalom's revolt in 2 Samuel 15:1-6.
After this, Absalom got himself a chariot, horses, and fifty men to run before him. He would get up early and stand beside the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone had a grievance to bring before the king for settlement, Absalom called out to him and asked, “What city are you from?” If he replied, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,” Absalom said to him, “Look, your claims are good and right, but the king does not have anyone to listen to you.” He added, “If only someone would appoint me judge in the land. Then anyone who had a grievance or dispute could come to me, and I would make sure he received justice.” When a person approached to pay homage to him, Absalom reached out his hand, took hold of him, and kissed him. Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for a settlement. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
Absalom assured the Israelites that since Kind David would not listen and therefore could not judge justly, if they would simply appoint him King, then if "anyone who had a grievance or dispute could come to me, and I would make sure he received justice.” And thus "Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel."
Too many times we naively pass ourselves off as the perfect judge of character and dispenser of justice in contrast to all others. In this case, after 30 years, many insist were it they handling the Gilyard situation, though knowing the facts only afterwards and not living through it, they would assure perfect justice would reign.
Rumors continued.
But the same type of situation remained in Patterson's view. Claims were abundant while evidences were absent.
In 1991, Gilyard was scheduled to preach at the SBC Pastors' Conference held in Atlanta, Georgia. During the Monday morning session on June 5th, Gilyard stepped into the pulpit and spoke. As usual, Baptist Press covered Gilyard perhaps more than any other speaker in the lineup.
In another address to the pastors, Darrell Gilyard, pastor of Victory Baptist Church, Richardson, Texas, said "the call to salvation is not a call to spiritual laziness." Some Christians, he said, believe that salvation is strictly a matter of God's sovereignty and election. Therefore, he added, many of them show little concern for winning people to Christ. "It's a strange thing to me that more people get elected in soul-winning churches," he said.
Gilyard urged the pastors not to "overlook those little boys and girls who don't look like they have any promise at all." He pointed out that he was abandoned early in life by his parents and during his youth was forced to make his home under a bridge in Florida.
"All over America, there are Darrells out there who seem like nobodys but they [can] become somebodys when the grace of God invades their lives," Gilyard stressed (BP 6/5/1991).
One might easily understand, from Gilyard's skilled and passionate rhetoric, why he remained a favorite among Southern Baptists. Yet the Baptist Press' 1991 convention issue was the last edition profiling the young star preacher of Southern Baptists--at least in any positive light.
Barely a month later, Baptist Press released a story about Gilyard that broke people's hearts, a story that always breaks people's hearts. A desolate young man rescued from homelessness; led to Christ by a pastor seeing untold potential about what God could do through his witness and testimony; nurtured by mature SBC leaders and men who could use their connections to offer an education of which he had been deprived as a young African American; a man whom, it was presumed, possessed special gifting in speaking to large crowds...All this...
But reality finally came home.
Darrell Gilyard was a fake.
A complete fake.
A haggling huckster who was both brazen enough on one hand and piercingly sly on the other to have duped the best among us while leaving a trail of personal destruction in his tracks. The only good, if one can call it that, was that Gilyard was apparently a womanizer not a pedophile.
Baptist Press reported.
Plagued by charges of sexual impropriety and lies about his rags-to-riches background, Darrell Gilyard -- perhaps the most sought-after black preacher on the Southern Baptist preaching circuit -- is starting over as pastor of a new non-denominational church near Dallas.2
Gilyard resigned on July 10 as pastor of Victory Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas, after recurring allegations of sexual misconduct with female members of his church (BP 8/13/1991).
A couple of explanatory notes are in order. First, as the report went on to cite, Gilyard's "rags-to-riches background" was entirely fabricated. Rather than growing up abandoned and homeless under the St. John's River bridge in Palatka, Florida, Gilyard was "brought up in a comfortable north Florida home by a woman who reared him as if he were her son."
Second, the key person behind Gilyard's forced resignation was Paige Patterson. Patterson became convinced that there existed hard enough evidence to substantiate the allegations that were now being made. He came to conclude through a "mountain" of substantial evidence for which he waited that out of the pulpit, Gilyard had more than salvation on his mind. He had sex. Thus, Patterson took it upon himself to stop Gilyard in his tracks if he could. Baptist Press hints about this later in the article cited above.
But after being confronted with what Patterson termed "a mountain" of circumstantial evidence pointing toward sexual misconduct, Gilyard resigned from Victory Baptist Church on July 10. However, he returned to a pulpit 11 days later to launch a new congregation saying he wanted to help others "who have fallen into crisis situations."
Thus, Patterson forced Gilyard's departure from the church Gilyard had built to a large congregation. Yet even though Patterson judged Gilyard no longer either fit or qualified to serve in ministry, 11 days later Gilyard started another church, a move often followed by fallen ministers who refuse to see they have a serious character issue and are disqualified from ministry.
Did Patterson stop Darrell Gilyard?
Yes and no.
No so far as Gilyard continuing in church ministry outside the SBC. Yes so far as Gilyard's influence in Southern Baptist life.
Since 1991, Gilyard has been absent from Southern Baptist circles. But few stop to consider Patterson's role in finally dealing with a deceiving huckster within the SBC. Unfortunately, many quickly judge Patterson wrong on the basis of what he didn't do while refusing to acknowledge gratitude for what he did do. The fact remains whether one acknowledges it or not: It is because of Paige Patterson Darrell Gilyard is gone from us.
Oh, it's easy to ask: Could Gilyard have been stopped sooner than he was? Why wasn't he? Why didn't Patterson see through Gilyard's obvious (to us at least) lies? Why wouldn't Patterson believe the women who first came to him? It was all just a wicked cover-up, wasn't it? For those predisposed to disliking Patterson; or unappreciative of his contributions to Baptist life; or especially those who've judged Patterson guilty of sexual abuse cover-up during his tenures at both Southeastern and Southwestern seminaries will undoubtedly find it hard to not prejudge him (more later on this). While it's understandable, however, it does not make it right.
Plainly put, Paige Patterson was responsible, at least in part, for promoting Darrell Gilyard among us. I know that. Those who were around 30 years ago know that. And, I'm quite sure Patterson knows that now as then when he attempted to mentor an incurable huckster. But Patterson manned-up. He took responsibility even if it wasn't on our timeline. When Patterson was presented with the evidence he believed necessary to substantiate such serious claims against a gospel minister, he did not blink. He did not withdraw. He did not rationalize. He did not deny. He did not stick his head in the sand. And he did not cover-up! He acted and acted decisively.
Nor has Patterson promoted or recommended Darrell Gilyard among Southern Baptists since 1991.
Why, then, is it not commendable that Darrell Gilyard has been gone from us since 1991?4
And why do we not express gratitude rather than condemnation toward the principle person who confronted and decisively dealt with Darrell Gilyard--Paige Patterson?
Southern Baptists.
Almost 30 years have come and gone since 1991 when Patterson forced the issue of Darrell Gilyard, his deviant life, and his reckless conduct among Southern Baptists.
It's time.
It's time to stop tying Paige Patterson to Darrell Gilyard as if Patterson never dealt with the issue but covered it up.
And, to continue to do so, in my view, seems nothing short of sheer dishonesty.
1 At the time First Baptist Church ran approximately between 8-10,000!
2 Much has been obviously left out of the Gilyard narrative. Gilyard went on ministering in congregations outside the SBC ultimately serving time in prison. He now serves as pastor in a church affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA.
3Picture Source of Darrell Gilyard
4A minor exception to Darrell Gilyard's non-affiliation with Southern Baptists since 1991 exists and will be explored in Part 2
MORE IN THIS SERIES
Sexual Abuse, Darrell Gilyard and the Southern Baptist Convention: Interlude
Sexual Abuse, Darrell Gilyard and the Southern Baptist Convention Part 2
Great summary and excellent observations.
Posted by: David Pitman | 2020.01.28 at 07:16 PM
Excellent! This needed to be set forth by someone with your attention to detail and historical precision. I actually remember much of what you have recorded.
It is worth noting that the time in which these things transpired, Dr. Patterson was busier than most could begin to comprehend much less emulate. He was attacked viciously and relentlessly because of his leadership in the Resurgence. And yet, he gave the necessary time to mentor Darrell when he seemed legitimate and to tackle the difficult task of dealing strongly with him when his sins were confirmed by evidence.
We are your debtors.
Posted by: Ronnie W Rogers | 2020.01.28 at 08:02 PM
Perhaps no one knew the rest of the story about Dr. Patterson.
Or, maybe people like associating Dr.Patterson with something sordid than noble.
Perhaps you’ll enlighten us.
SelahV
Posted by: Hariette Petersen | 2020.01.28 at 08:13 PM
As you know, I am no fan of Patterson. But I see a pattern that formed probably 15-20 years ago heaping all the sins of the SBC onto him to deflect from other big cheeses who are being protected like Al Mohker, Russ Moore and others. . And I am sad to say many have jumped on this bandwagon from survivor star, Rachael Denhollander (who had a conflict of interest!) to Ashley Easter to Dee Parsons and Julie Ann. I suspect several of them follow the lead of Wade Burleson and of course, Ben Cole who know his market niche for his book. Who else would buy it? So, I view the perpetual vitriol as providing cover for Mahler, Moore, etc. Evidently, Ashley Easter has no problem with Mohler as the head of a seminary because she doesn’t tweet about it constantly as she does for Patterson preaching somewhere. Maybe she doesn’t want Denhollender to unfriend her or something.
But I suspect the embrace of the SJW doctrines gives the pedophile protectors more of a pass now with these SJW types. The world of calling out abuse often becomes groupthink as bad as any fundy church. They are even promoting the concept of hierarchies and authoritarianism as good to go after the concept of autonomy! They simply don’t get it. They see emancipated women as oppressed victims and then beg male pastors for “agency”. It’s embarrassing to this old fashioned first wave feminist.
Posted by: Lydia | 2020.01.28 at 11:19 PM
All
Thanks for the encouraging feedback.
Lydia,
Reasonable and informed dissent which you bring to the table is always welcome. Sound minds can confidently disagree with one another, sacrificing neither personal integrity nor committment to truth, a pearl of relational maturity I see more and more trampled under so many pigs' feet today.
BTW, with you I miss Mary and especially her sheer common sense and amazingly quick wit. She used to drive the YRR guys literally insane! 😁
Posted by: peter lumpkins | 2020.01.29 at 08:22 AM
Peter, I always appreciate that you are one of the few left in these circles not to immediately respond, as so many do, with rabid vapors and pearl clutching. Not to mention their doctrinal cultural fads placing the church downstream from culture. It’s why I had to get out. I am not interested in an SJW church or a hierarchical one. I cling to the teaching of my youth from those precious women in Training Union: Priesthood of Believer, Soul competency and no king but Jesus.
It occurred to me that using the phrase “first wave feminist” might not be understood here the way I used it. First wave feminism were women (and men) who were often from Abolitionist circles and lobbied for the female vote and were mostly Temperance League members many of whom were Christians. I am very grateful to men, like my grandfather, who supported that franchise and ratified the Constitution.
What passes for feminism today are entitled and “educated” women who want power handed to them on a silver platter while they claim to be helpless oppressed victims of the Patriarchy. The mind boggles. These same third wave feminists in Christian circles are also apologists for the extremely patriarchal Islam. I have actually read some of them defend the hijab! All while Christians are being horribly persecuted around the world. It’s an insane world I can no longer navigate as common sense does not apply.
History has much to teach us if we seek it. And few want to think or debate anymore. It’s all slash and burn throwing out the concepts of due process, presumption of innocence or Free speech—because free speech might trigger someone. Dr. Peterson has some interesting insight into the triggering phenomena for victims. His view is that this means victims are kept from healing —over time. Could that be a feature and not a bug of the survivor blog world? Hmmm. It’s not a binary issue. But it’s treated as one. You either sign on to their tactics or you support pedophiles and perverts. Groupthink at its worst.
Posted by: Lydia | 2020.01.29 at 10:20 AM
If he's still in the ministry, I hope he's behaving himself now.
Posted by: Fredericka Lohr | 2020.01.29 at 02:25 PM
Peter and Lydia! Thank you for the kind words! It's wonderful to see the two of you again and be given an opportunity to actually think a bit deeper. Good conversation is getting harder to find these days.
As to the Pattersons - I've never delved very deeply into all the accounts/histories/stories so I cannot comment one way or another. Never met them but their public persona has always rubbed me the wrong way. I know they inspire loyalty among many but I've always had the feeling that our personalities would clash.
But here we are today and I wonder if I were the woke, stand with the victims! believe women! protect women! rah! rah! rah! Is it more of a threat to the SBC that Paige Patterson got invited to speak at some church no one's ever heard of or is maybe, sorta, should we think Al Mohler who defended CJ Mahaney even to the point of making a joke about it publicly is running for President of the SBC an actual threat? Why Paige Patterson and not Al Mohler?
Also all the house cleaning in relation to racism. It's several years ago now that Kyle J Howard wrote an article that was published by SBC Prav ... Voices I mean, but the article was very heart wrenching as Kyle - who calls Beth Moore "Auntie" - told of the racism and isolation he and his family had to deal with at Southwestern under Paige Patterson - oh wait! Scratch that it wasn't Southwestern under Paige Patterson's management it was at SOUTHERN SEMINARY with AL MOHLER at the helm! and yet the response to this man blowing the whistle about the racist culture at Southern Seminary - crickets! If you read Kyle's twitter feed he talks about all the trauma of that time and YET! YET! Nobody has ever expressed any interest in what is actually going on at Southern Seminary = nobody has demanded any investigation into Southern Seminary and their hounding out Kyle J. Howard and his family. On the contrary AL MOHLER is running for President of the SBC!
So from an older and wise eough Mary who knows that the more I know the more I know I don't know anything! It seems like nothing has actually changed in the SBC. It's just now that the Calvinist have pretty much succeeded in taking over the whole ship (and oh how glorious that the monster Ascol and Co created has turned on them) they've now turned their focus on purging out people who aren't "woke"
People will be used until they're not useful anymore and then thrown aside and the elite will search out more victims in need of purifying. Nothing really of Christ. It's very sad, like Lydia, I remember Training Union and the dear older people who loved missions and loved being SBC because of our missionary focus. It's gone now - being replaced by worldly cares and focus.
Posted by: Mary | 2020.01.29 at 03:50 PM
Thanks Mary.
Seeing you and Lydia on the same thread again reminds me of the hilarious claim JD Hall made in a thread here. Do you remember what it was?
JD insisted that you and Lydia were my alter-egos, that you didn't even exist. He thought I was logging on and making comments as "Mary" then logging off and back on again as "Lydia." Ha!!
Oh the fun we had!
Posted by: peter lumpkins | 2020.01.29 at 04:07 PM
Dr. Lumkins, Thank you for the time and effort you have spent writing this blog. I do agree that many conclusions concerning Dr. Patterson are based on the particular bias of the reader. My conclusions concerning Dr. Patterson on the Darrell Gilyard story are from first hand observation.
I moved to Dallas in January of 1990 to attend Criswell College because of Dr. Patterson. He had spoken at my home church multiple times, and I had attended the SBC from 1985-1989 as a teenage messenger from my church. I admired, and still do, his skillful exposition of scripture, in addition to his captivating personality.
Nine months after landing in Dallas, I began to attend the Victory Baptist Church in Richardson where Darrell Gilyard was the pastor. I was blown away at every worship gathering. The church was growing rapidly and Darrell was at the height of his popularity across the country. My history with the church continued until January of 1997. I was in the meeting, presided over by Dr. Patterson, in July of 1991 when Darrell stepped down. Scores of people left in the subsequent days, and we called a new pastor in February of 1992. I joined the staff of Victory in August of 1992 and served there as an associate until moving back to Kentucky in 1997 to Pastor a church and attend Southern Seminary. Giving my background is only to let you know I was there and am not sharing hearsay.
Dr. Patterson was made aware of Darrell's indiscretions at three different churches before Victory: Concord Missionary, Hilltop in Oklahoma City, and Shiloh in the Dallas area. In addition, there were several anecdotal tales about Darrell that were not so hard to believe after the events at Victory. Yet, he along with others, continued to promote Darrell on the national scene as the rumblings came from three different places at three different times. Why wouldn't he? This was a prize Criswell alumnus that would bring notoriety to the school. It was not Dr. Patterson that finally said enough is enough with Darrell, it was a group of members that presented him the case that could no longer be ignored. With or without Dr. Patterson, the news about Darrell was coming out in the open. Patterson’s actions were not noble, they were unavoidable and overdue. He could no longer pretend Darrell did not have a serious problem. Two weeks after his resignation, the Dallas morning news ran a multi-page article debunking Darrell’s bridge story that was a follow up to a much earlier story highlighting his rise from homelessness. Many believed that this story was in the work before the resignation based on the depth of the investigation I read Dr. Patterson’s account in which he credited himself with expelling Darrell immediately. Darrell had long since been a student at Criswell, even though I believe he had yet to finish his course work. Expelling him from the college was ceremonial at best. To those who can access such things, I would be interested to know the last semester Darrell enrolled in classes at Criswell before he was "expelled” in 1991.
I could most certainly go on, but my disagreement with you is that I believe you are mistaken to credit Paige Patterson at all for removing Gilyard from SBC life. He held out as long as he could, right up until the point his endorsement would have been self destructive.
At the end I am perplexed; although I have seen a pattern of inaction from Dr. Patterson, and I have also heard him offer a full refund of tuition if you want to be an adulterer. I acknowledge his missteps in the reported issues at the seminaries, yet I am not sure the total exile from SBC life promoted by some is appropriate.
Posted by: David | 2020.01.29 at 04:18 PM
Yes Peter, I do remember those days! LOL! These days I can't keep my score card straight who who is "in" and who is "out" with JD? JD used to be on the same team as "Doktor" White and Founders and Al Mohler but now they've all seem to have had falling outs??? But they are all against the push for the SJW emphasis that Moore is pushing? My mind doesn't work that fast anymore!
Posted by: Mary | 2020.01.29 at 04:36 PM
I will throw a comment out here for consideration and I am in no way now how defending anyone's actions or inactions or do I want to be seen as minimizing the abuse that some have suffered.
Back in the day - say before 1990 - the way "situations" were handled is not the way we would handle them today. So it's hard for us to put ourselves back into the 1980's and know exactly how or what we would have done.
I grew up at what was a pretty well-known church (Prez of HMB came from my church) and there were always rumors here and there about the youth minister who HAD to marry one of the 17 year old girls - the associate Pastor was known to have had affairs before he left abruptly. The truth is that where you have people you have sin. When you have men and women - you have sin and worse you have abuse. So we've evolved today in how we deal with these issues.
But again I am not justifying anything or dismissing anything - just explaining for maybe any younger folk - sometimes it's not the people are evil or dismissive but that they did the best they knew how to do at the time and as you age you learn to do better.
Posted by: Mary | 2020.01.29 at 04:45 PM
David,
Thanks for your feedback. Know I appreciate your contribution here.
"Yet, he [Patterson] along with others, continued to promote Darrell on the national scene as the rumblings came from three different places at three different times. Why wouldn't he? This was a prize Criswell alumnus that would bring notoriety to the school."
As I mentioned in the OP, it's easy for us to judge why others do not see what we see. In the case of many today, it's looking back almost three decades. Of course, for yourself, it's different since you claim to be there. Even so, whether 30 years later or on the scene then, it's stretching our latent abilities to read into someone's else's mind and heart the reason they're acting as they do.
Thus, from my perspective, David, it's beyond our spiritual pay-grade to indict Paige Patterson for holding off dealing with Gilyard because he wanted to promote the school. Just how might you know that?
Not that he was incapable of it. We all are fallen and are capable of it, and I'll be first in line to say so pertaining to myself.
Rather for us to morally poke another in the eye with such an unholy motive, especially when we cannot prove such a devious plot, fares really no better, in my view, than if we just uttered the words "cover-up" as many do today without the least incriminating evidence. And this applies to those of us who were not there (e.g. me) as well as to those of us were (i.e. you).
But even more troubling, you poke Patterson's eye a second time suggesting it wasn't ultimately Criswell college Patterson was worried about. Instead it was selfishly Patterson himself: "He held out as long as he could, right up until the point his endorsement would have been self destructive."
So, for you, Patterson's actions were all about saving his own butt. Covering his own rear-end, so to speak. A textbook example of cowardly, selfish action, I'd say.
Again, not that either he, me, or even you are not fully capable of cowardly action. I know I am.
On the other hand, whether one likes Patterson, loves Patterson, dislikes him, or deeply hates him, one thing you'll rarely hear about Patterson from friend and foe alike--Paige Patterson is a moral coward.
Congratulations.
By presumptuously claiming, apart from any proof other than your personal opinion, Patterson held out as long as he could, right up until the point his endorsement would have been self-destructive, you've offered a veritable unknown personal characteristic about Patterson that few would ever assume.
In conclusion, to claim Patterson held on to Gilyard as as long as he could to promote the school, but turn around and dismiss Gilyard only "ceremonially"--not to mention ultimately holding off dealing with a serious moral crisis in the church in order to cover his own butt--I think you've managed to put Patterson in a place where there is a no win situation for him; that is, no action he could have taken with Gilyard would ever satisfy some people from making him out to be a devious, wicked, selfish, sinful guy, and as condemned in God's eyes as was Gilyard himself.
So, yes, you are correct. I very well could be "mistaken to credit Paige Patterson at all for removing Gilyard from SBC life." Granted.
But after considering your view as filled as it is with personal opinion and presumptuous indictments, I don't think I'll be conceding much in the view I've written in the OP unless better argument and evidences are forthcoming.
Thanks again, David for your contribution.
Peter
Posted by: peter lumpkins | 2020.01.29 at 06:11 PM
"Why Paige Patterson and not Al Mohler?"
It boggles my mind. But then I am not woke cancel culture like they are. I made the mistake of reading one Twitter feed the other day with their demands of a cancel culture. All the while totally ignoring Mohler. he has been approved now by Rachael denhollander. I guess when your husband is getting a PhD at Southern it sort of shifts the outrage.
I was not familiar with the story about Kyle Howard at Southern. How on Earth did Mohler get a pass on that one? And since they love diving into the past, how come he continues to get a pass?
Speaking of cancel culture in the SBC, I forced myself to go over to Pravda and read the thread on the story about Peter. Mike Leake was very upset. Peter is verboten there. Thornton reminded him he did not link to Peter (heaven forbid!)in his article but that was not good enough! The virtue signaling and faux moral superiority just boggles the mind while they promote the pedophile protector and racist, Al Mohler. Some animals are more equal than others.
I will stick by my theory that by heaping all the sins of the SBC leadership on Patterson, they deflect from their own horrible deeds. But they have to use moral equivalency arguments to do it. And that is most certainly a very Calvinist thing to do. Lol.
Posted by: Lydia | 2020.01.29 at 11:11 PM
"JD insisted that you and Lydia were my alter-egos, that you didn't even exist. He thought I was logging on and making comments as "Mary" then logging off and back on again as "Lydia." Ha!!"
It was meant to be an insult but it was a big compliment to me! Lol.
Posted by: Lydia | 2020.01.29 at 11:14 PM
"Back in the day - say before 1990 - the way "situations" were handled is not the way we would handle them today. So it's hard for us to put ourselves back into the 1980's and know exactly how or what we would have done."
I have a sneaky suspicion the deacons handled it. They weren't exactly soyboys. You know, those guys smoking their pipes and cigs outside before the service started. Lol. Different world.
Posted by: Lydia | 2020.01.29 at 11:17 PM
Lydia
Such a great point. Before the internet, local church issues were decided at the local level--or at most, usually the assocciation level. Now Baptist in Britain tell Baptists in Boone, NC how to handle it. And what's more, if they don't handle it exactly as demanded, Boone Baptists are compromosing the gospel. It's just a notch below insanity.
Posted by: peter lumpkins | 2020.01.30 at 07:09 AM
Dr. Lumkins, Thank you for your response.
After reading, I agree that the phrase,…” his endorsement would have been self destructive” lacked the clarity of the thought I was attempting to convey. The accusation of moral cowardice was never my intent to describe Dr. Patterson’s actions. I do maintain that whatever his motivation to ultimately deal with the issue was influenced by the impending nature of all the actions becoming public.
We are simply going to disagree on the lack of expediency. The accusations came from four different churches in less than five years. This is not my opinion, it is factual. As the details surrounding Darrell’s resignation began to surface in the days that followed, this seemingly indifferent pattern and continued promotion troubled me the most. You did address this in the OP claiming that it was acceptable to disagree about the timing…but four different locations in five years? In my opinion, the pattern was established at church #2.
I look forward to reading part 2, and interacting with you concerning an event that shaped me in multiple ways as a young minister.
Blessings,
Posted by: David | 2020.01.30 at 09:27 AM
Let me add for clarity, before the tenure at Victory, the accusations came from 3 churches in a little over 3 years.
Posted by: David | 2020.01.30 at 09:33 AM
David, Give us a call when the same efforts are spent to go after Mohler.
Posted by: Lydia | 2020.01.30 at 11:08 AM
Lydia,
Assume much? I do not have personal knowledge of the Mohler situation like I do the details around the Gilyard case. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Mohler publicly apologize for his inactivity? In my opinion, Mohler was wrong from the beginning of Mahaney issue. He turned a blind eye to a friend, and admitted as much.
For the record, I am not "going after" Patterson. Did you not read my original post? I simply offered a rebuttal to some of the details of the OP. Here is how I ended, "I am not sure the total exile from SBC life promoted by some is appropriate."
Posted by: David | 2020.01.30 at 11:48 AM
Oh well if Mohler apologized that makes everything totes okie dokie! Easy peasy! And I mean of course his apology after YEARS of people calling him out was legit sincere - we wouldn't want to read into his possible motives as to why resisting any accountability for years he suddenly had a change of heart and offered a miserly - oops, my bad sorry, now elect me SBC Prez!
Lydia, you're right that back in the day the Deacons did handle cases of misbehaving Staff but I don't think the way it was handled is the way the Woke would approve. I mean they didn't even start viral #'s!
Oh and Lydia do you still read over at TWW? Interesting thread today that made me wonder "where did L's get off to?"
Posted by: Mary | 2020.01.30 at 06:10 PM
David,
Thanks for your clarification.
You go on to express that you "do maintain that whatever his motivation to ultimately deal with the issue was influenced by the impending nature of all the actions becoming public." Well, you can "maintain" that all you wish, but unless you have some kind of evidence to demonstrate your assertion, it remains reasonable to conclude it's merely personal opinion your're assuming. If you're going to argue here, it's going to be necessary to offer more than assumptions.
To your credit you then offer what you believe to be factual information to substantiate your claim:
In response, no one has disputed claims from different churches. In fact, I as much as said such in my OP:
Thus, there's no reason to dispute the factuality of the claims and/or accusations. But we must realize that, from Patterson's standpoint, the accusations, at least the ones he investigated, remained just that--accusation.
Finally, you write,
In response, thank you for acknowledging I did address the timeline. Your input: "In my opinion, the pattern was established at church #2."
So, your opinion is a pattern was established at church #2. OK. So what? Does it follow that patterns are necessarily set at #2? How could you prove that? What if the nature of the claim was identical? What makes your opinion right?
See, that's the problem we get into when we demand others abide by our rules, our timelines, our assumptions or else they're dead wrong.
I can't help but smile in reading your last comment you offered to Lydia: "Assume much?" The striking irony is, you're questioning Lydia's assumptions about you which you try to clarify for her when you're doing the exact same thing to Patterson! Indeed were Patterson on the thread, he could say to you, "David, Assume much?"
As I've thought through your comments, two things are striking. One is, from the very start, you've presumed Patterson's guilt. I addressed this in my comment above (I address it in another post shortly).
Second, you claim to offer rebuttal to some of the details of my original post. Unfortunately, I've not read any rebuttal of any detail in my OP. You've offered opinion and made verbal presumptions, it's true. But neither counts as rebuttal. What exactly have you rebutted?
I plan to post a Part 2 soon but will probably post a brief 'interlude' until then.
Thanks again, David.
Posted by: peter lumpkins | 2020.01.30 at 06:15 PM
Will the "interlude" be Trunk Monkey! We all need Trunk Monkey! I vote Trunk Monkey Interlude!
Posted by: Mary | 2020.01.30 at 06:49 PM
Lydia, I meant to drop this link if you missed back when it was published.
https://sbcvoices.com/my-reflections-on-sbc17-kyle-james-howard/
Kyle's twitter feed is full of tales of trauma he and his family experienced while they were at Southern.
Posted by: Mary | 2020.01.30 at 09:17 PM
Someone who denies free will denies the concept of consent, because consent is based on free will.
Ergo Calvinism leads to sexual abuse because no Calvinist recognizes free will and therefore cannot believe in nor respect consent.
Posted by: David Brainerd | 2020.01.31 at 12:50 AM
David Brainerd,
While you may or may not have a good point, I think you missed the train. Calvinism is not on this coach.
Posted by: peter lumpkins | 2020.01.31 at 08:01 AM
"Lydia, you're right that back in the day the Deacons did handle cases of misbehaving Staff but I don't think the way it was handled is the way the Woke would approve. I mean they didn't even start viral #'s!"
This is something the woke, sjw folk don't understand because all they see are deacons and elders who are soy boy yes men to the great leader. It was not nothing like that when I was a kid. We were in a lot of Baptist Churches due to my mom being an itinerant music sub. Sometimes we were there for 6 months and sometimes a year. I grew up viewing Deacons as people who ensured the congregation voted on things. It was a totally different world that was not stuck on faux hierarchies.
"Oh and Lydia do you still read over at TWW? Interesting thread today that made me wonder "where did L's get off to?"
Every now and then I swing by to read the headlines. After L's (Christiane) spent years influencing the culture there to the left with syrupy fake compassion about the evils of conservatives, she finally offended Dee and was blocked. Wade, their blog pastor, welcome to her to continue her "missions" over there.
She was quite successful in making the unwritten rules at TWW. You see, politics are not allowed. But a pattern formed over the years. Any woke leftist commentators could make a disparaging remark about the other side. But do not dare respond in dissent. Dee only calls it out when dissenters respond to it. I watched her pattern for years. And we all know what happens. The socialistic virtue signaling takes over as the morally Superior take pot shots with no push back with reality or facts. Never mind about all that mean stuff like due process, presumption of innocence or free speech (which in that world is always mean speech).
We are to the point now in our country that too many Americans being perpetually offended while demanding evil people apologize (sigh) have not noticed that our fourth amendment rights have been ground into dust.
I think TWW passed the Rubicon of truly being helpful as they got involved in every cultural fad that includes emancipated, educated and professional women taking advantage of insurance settlements due to #metoo.
A big one for me were their arrogant attacks on Jack the Baker in CO. I read the supreme Court decision. It was easy to see the media had lied to us for years. But they carried on persecuting him. They relate more to this woman.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2020/01/25/so-brave-womans-act-of-resistance-is-to-take-up-the-best-parking-spaces-at-masterpiece-cakeshop/amp/
A popular commenter over there, who everyone seems to Revere as an non practicing attorney, literally had a pro Antifa intro on her Facebook last year.
There is plenty more but you get the picture. There comes a time when you realize there are places you just don't belong. I don't believe in perpetual victimhood for emancipated women. I think it's a life damaging. I also do not believe that the people they go after in church leadership who perpetuated all of this evil are going to change because they shame them publicly. I don't view that expectation as good for victims.
Posted by: Lydia | 2020.01.31 at 08:47 AM
Mary,
I still love trunk monkey too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxFzXJ2k25Q&feature=youtu.be
Posted by: peter lumpkins | 2020.01.31 at 08:58 AM
One more thing, Mary. I did read a Twitter feed the other day from TWW. She retweets everything from her survivor industry comrades. She retweeted something Julianne sent her that I happen to know about. It involves a private Christian school here where I know both parents and teachers. Dee retweeted it without doing any diligence on the situation. It was a picture of a teen sitting in front of a rainbow birthday cake claiming that her school wants to kick her out because she is a lesbian.
Dee tweeted saying, "my girls loved rainbow cakes". as if the school had a problem because she had a rainbow cake. This is the stuff that I can no longer be apart of. She literally fell for the propaganda that Julian sent her.
It never occurs to Dee that there are people out there who purposely target such places. This is exactly the same sort of thing that was done to Jack the baker who served homosexuals in his bakery for years. he just refused to design art for a homosexual wedding cake. Oh the horror. In Dee's world a real Christian would have designed it. Therefore Jack the baker was wrong --because she would do it. I do not want to live in the Soviet Union.
This kid and her parents knew exactly what the rules were at that school. Now they have a publicity cause against those mean old Christians who do not want to teach homosexuality as God's intention at their PRIVATE CHRISTIAN' school. How dare them! I don't think the people at tww will be happy until the government is micromanaging every part of our lives.
I do not understand people like Dee. I am not interested in that brand of cookie cutter Christianity. They are as bad as the fundies they have railed against for years. The new Puritans.
Posted by: Lydia | 2020.01.31 at 09:07 AM
David,
I missed your comment as I was skimming over. Apologies. You are right. I did assume. And that was wrong.
L
Posted by: Lydia | 2020.01.31 at 09:49 AM
"While you may or may not have a good point, I think you missed the train. Calvinism is not on this coach."
Well Peter, the thing is that in a denomination eaten up by Calvinism, anyone who is not vigorously opposing Calvinism is functionally a Calvinist. So unless you can show me that Darrell has been vigorously opposing Calvinism and specifically calling it heresy then he is in fact a Calvinist. If he hasn't been explicitly preaching Calvinism its just because he's yet another of the wolf in sheep clothing Baptist pastors who hide their Calvinism from the flock they're fleecing.
Posted by: david brainerd | 2020.01.31 at 02:23 PM
"Well Peter, the thing is that in a denomination eaten up by Calvinism, anyone who is not vigorously opposing Calvinism is functionally a Calvinist. So unless you can show me that Darrell has been vigorously opposing Calvinism and specifically calling it heresy then he is in fact a Calvinist."
Two responses, David, which is all the time I'll offer.
1. What you just wrote is patently absurd.
2. Patently absurd well describes what you just wrote.
Have a pleasant weekend.
Peter
Posted by: peter lumpkins | 2020.01.31 at 04:39 PM