Matt Bush, FISM News

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Mike Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Ga. and a member of the Conservative Baptist Network (CBN), announced yesterday that he has agreed to accept a nomination for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention.

This nomination represents a turning point in the SBC as the two candidates, Stone and current president Bart Barber fall on opposing sides of some key issues. Also, this will be just the second time in more than 30 years that an SBC president will face a challenge for reelection.

Stone is a member of the CBN, a group within the SBC that has accused the SBC as a whole of becoming too liberal. Nominees from the CBN have lost the previous two presidential elections.

The CBN website states, “The Conservative Baptist Network exists because a group of Southern Baptists recognized the destructive direction in which their convention of churches had begun to veer — away from God’s Word and toward culturally accepted ideas — and decided to take a stand for the Truth.”

Barber, on the other hand, was interviewed by CBS shortly after his election as SBC president and said, among other things, that he did not vote for Trump in 2016, that President Biden won fairly and that he prays for him consistently, and that he was angry about the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the SBC over the past year.

SEXUAL ABUSE CLAIM AND COVERUP

In May 2022, just one month prior to Barber becoming president, a devastating report was released that contained a list of alleged abusers compiled by a former employee of the SBC Executive Committee.

According to a statement released by the SBC, “We are releasing the list in the exact form that it was provided to Guidepost Solutions by an Executive Committee staff member. We have not made any additions to the list, nor any alterations.”

The list, which has hundreds of names on it, can be viewed by clicking here.

Barber’s election was hailed as “a win not only for the convention but for sexual abuse reform. Bart is going to be much more supportive and going to facilitate the direction the convention was going,” said Josh King, lead pastor of Second Baptist Conway in Arkansas.

Stone, on the other hand, was not only the Chairman of the Executive Committee that was charged with hiding sexual abuse claims as late as 2020 but he was also named on the list, a claim that he has since refuted.

The Baptist Record includes a statement against Stone:

The Guidepost report states that in 2019, when Stone was Executive Committee chairman, he helped draft the apology for a fellow pastor and former college classmate who had an inappropriate relationship with a single mother in the pastor’s south Georgia congregation. Witnesses said the apology was inaccurate and they felt intimidated by Stone for their bringing the pastor’s behavior to the attention of the church.

Stone responded, “As an abuse survivor, I grieve with all Southern Baptists over every incident of sexual abuse. At the same time, it is disappointing to see real concerns mingled with false accusations.”

Stone was also known for his dispute with well-known former Southern Baptist Russell Moore who has since left the denomination. Moore wrote a letter describing his reasons for leaving the SBC that featured Stone prominently without actually naming him in the letter. The letter can be read here.

Their disagreements focused almost entirely on issues concerning politics, race, and what Moore considers “social justice” and Stone considers a “liberal drift.”

STONE’S ANNOUNCEMENT

Stone’s announcement was released in a two-minute video where Stone outlines the two major issues he sees within the convention. Fellow pastor, Mac Brunson, released the video on Twitter stating, “Here is hope for SBC. So grateful for my friend Pastor Mike Stone.”

Here is hope for SBC. So grateful for my friend ⁦@PastorMikeStone⁩ pic.twitter.com/Vg2L86oS84

— mac brunson (@macbrunson) April 26, 2023

“There’s a lot to celebrate in the SBC, from church planting to international missions and beyond,” Stone says in the video. “And while I have no desire to disparage anyone, there are also serious causes of grave concern.”

According to Baptist News, Stone cites two sources of that concern: “The need for ‘a biblical approach to the horrific issue of sexual abuse’ and avoiding ‘financial ruin.’”