Florida Church Hosting Paige Patterson Faces Backlash

With advocates as well as the SBC president speaking out, #MeToo is changing expectations for who gets a platform in Southern Baptist churches.

Amid a heated back-and-forth over Paige Patterson’s invitation to speak at a Florida church, the former Southern Baptist Convention leader’s supporters and opponents seem to agree on at least one thing: The #MeToo movement is changing the way some Baptists evaluate who is eligible for public ministry.

After Patterson was announced last month as a speaker at Fellowship Church’s Great Commission Weekend, fellow Southern Baptists and survivor advocates urged leaders to take him off the lineup in light of his 2018 termination from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and allegations he mishandled students’ sexual abuse reports at multiple SBC seminaries. Last week, SBC president J. D. Greear waded into the discussion, urging churches to consider Patterson’s past before inviting him to speak.

Yet, Paige Patterson and his wife, Dorothy, remain top-billed for this weekend’s event. Timothy Pigg, pastor of Fellowship Church, told CT the church has received dozens of emails and phone calls about Patterson. The congregation’s social media traffic has increased approximately tenfold since announcing Patterson as a conference speaker, and its local newspaper, the Naples Daily News, reported on criticism of the church.

Two leaders with the Florida Baptist Convention were scheduled to speak at the conference but have withdrawn. Approximately 150–200 people are expected to attend. Sexual abuse victims’ advocate Susan Codone tweeted a request that people contact the church and ask it to withdraw Patterson’s invitation because “the #SBC and the many harmed by the Pattersons deserve better.”

Among Southern Baptists, adultery and divorce used to be the only sins thought ...