From Lord of the Rings:
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken: The crownless again shall be king.
We are wrapping up our investigation of the travesty that occurred at Two Rivers Baptist Church, once hailed as an SBC “megachurch”. There are a number of issues we want to address beginning with the “Kangaroo Court” revote. One of our commenters, Tikatu, made an excellent point regarding this sham. Here it is:
Tikatu
"How idiotic this vote was. If they wanted things to look like they were on the up and up (which they obviously didn't care about), they should have held the vote under the same conditions as the first. Exclude the 71 dissidents if they wanted to, but prepare for it, announce it, let only verified members vote, and vote by secret ballot… then let the votes be counted by an unbiased outsider who won't throw a few ballots into the shredder to make the will of man into the "Will of God".
Now their testimony in the community is tainted, and they did it all by their lonesome.
In our ever to be humble opinion, that idiotic action tarnished the church’s reputation in the community far more than anything else that occurred. Shame, shame, shame!
We came across a blog post written by an individual who left Two Rivers shortly after Jerry Sutton arrived in the mid-80s. Here’s the link and his insightful post:
http://refugeebaptist.blogspot.com/
May 13, 2008
Two Rivers Baptist Vote – Again, Confusing
"Somewhere in Roberts Rules of Order there (evidently) exists a clause whereby members of an organization who are charged with wrongdoing are not allowed a vote should the issue of their membership status arise. From my experience in running meetings over the last 40 years, that is a new one. In one article Two Rivers Baptist Church attorney, Larry Crain, is quoted as saying, "If you're charged with a crime, you can't sit on a jury."
Attorney Crain is certainly correct when his comment applies to the court system…I find it a stretch to apply that same logic to a group whose dissension (or sin) is compared to a criminal or illegal act. I would suggest that if that logic were to be applied equitably, then all of those at TRBC who has been accused of financial misdeeds should not have been allowed to vote either.
I am really confused over the 'surprise' Mother's Day vote at Two Rivers Baptist Church. From one Sunday's vote where members were required to show identification in order to vote, to the next Sunday when the very same issue is resolved by a simple show of hands, I believe there is room to question motive as well as action. Those who 'lost' on Mother's Day will no longer be able to vote as 'members' of Two Rivers Baptist Church… otherwise, I am not certain that the second vote accomplished anything other than raising additional suspicions within the congregation.
So with hands held high on Mother’s Day during a “surprise” church meeting, many members of Two Rivers Baptist Church “dismembered” (sorry, couldn’t resist, but it probably felt that way!) 71 of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Pastor Sutton was likely relieved. God obviously didn’t get it right the first time, and now His will had FINALLY been done!"
That’s why we were so surprised to learn of the final outcome of this church controversy.
Here is a news release by the Associated Press which we found at this link:
http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=29143&sec=21&con=4
(AP, July 31, 2008) Nashville, USA -
"The pastor of a Nashville megachurch is taking early retirement after coming under fire from a group of congregants who claim he misused church funds.
Members of Two Rivers Baptist Church have approved a $314,000 retirement package for the Rev. Jerry Sutton, a former first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention who has led Two Rivers for more than 22 years.
The church will pay out the money to Sutton over five years.
Both the pastor and other church leaders hope his retirement will end a 14-month conflict with dissident members who sued the church seeking financial records on pastors' salaries and church staff credit card statements. Sutton denied any wrongdoing.
The plaintiffs were ousted from the church on May 12 but the lawsuit continues."
The church leadership “alleged” during the entire 14-month conflict that a rather small faction was trying to oust the pastor. Once the 71 dissidents were cast out of the fellowship, what could possibly have transpired to bring about Jerry Sutton’s “sudden” retirement?
After all, Pastor Sutton received an overwhelming show of support from the congregation just nine months prior. Check out this Baptist Press article:
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?id=26570
Two Rivers votes to affirm Sutton
(Posted on Oct 8, 2007)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–"Members of Two Rivers Baptist Church voted Oct. 7 to affirm senior pastor Jerry Sutton following weeks of charges against him by a splinter group.
The vote was 1,101 votes (79 percent) in favor of Sutton and 286 opposed (21 percent) to him remaining as pastor. The vote at the Nashville, Tenn., church took place in the morning services and the results announced in the evening service".
A major piece of the puzzle is missing!
Jerry Sutton hadn’t reached retirement age. He had been at Two Rivers for 22 years. Surely, he planned to remain at the helm until he reached retirement age. Why in the world would he leave? Was it because of “damage control”? And what happened with the second law suit? To the outside observer, it’s a very curious situation.
On July 27, 2008, the congregation voted to approve an early retirement package for Sutton by a 78.8 percent margin. We wonder how that vote was taken…by secret ballot, as was done on May 4, 2008 or by a show of hands as occurred on May 11, 2008? It’s a legitimate question given the inconsistency in how Two Rivers implemented Robert’s Rules of Order during these two meetings.
Sutton’s package included one month’s salary for each of his 22 years as the church’s pastor, to be paid over a five and a half year period. As stated in the AP article above, the retirement package cost the church $314,000. The package also included medical and long-time disability insurance until Sutton (who was 56 at the time) starts a new job or reaches 62 years of age.
Has Jerry Sutton started a new job? Indeed he has! In January 2009 he became an Associate Professor of Christian Proclamation and Pastoral Theology at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School. The announcement can be found at the following link:
http://www.liberty.edu/media/1162/escalate_january09/January09.html
Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School joyfully announces the appointment of Dr. Jerry Sutton as Associate Professor Christian Proclamation and Pastoral Theology. Dr. Sutton brings to our faculty extensive and successful Senior Pastor experience, having recently retired as pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, TN
He and his wife, Fern, ministered there for over twenty years, growing the congregation at a location just across from Opryland. He has preached all across theUnited States and in numerous locations overseas. He is among the premiere preachers in evangelical circles today.
Jerry is now listed as a professor at Liberty. Check out this link:
http://www.liberty.edu/academics/religion/seminary/index.cfm?PID=7274
In the aftermath of this terrible church spat, we are happy to report that Two Rivers Baptist Church now posts quarterly financial information on its website. Here is the link:
http://www.tworivers.org/trbcinformation
We sincerely hope the church is being a good steward of the blessings it receives from the congregation.
Finally, a pastor search committee has been established at Two Rivers Baptist Church. Last May the committee extended a call to prayer which can be read at this link:
We have also included it below.
"Congregational Call to Prayer (May 3, 2009)
The Pastor Search Team extends a call to prayer to the body of Two Rivers Baptist Church. Let’s join in heart and spirit at meal times each day, asking the Lord to make us, as a congregation, of one mind as we continue to seek what’s on His heart and His choice for our next pastor".
Dee and I are deeply committed to prayer. Would you join with us in praying for the Two Rivers congregation and especially for the pastor search committee? This will be the first time the church has engaged in a search for a senior pastor in close to a quarter of a century. May God's will be done…
And so the Two Rivers saga comes to an end.
However, we are left with these thoughts and questions.
Remember the list of grievances included in our September 8, 2009 post? Here they are again…
(1) Steady decline in membership
(2) Lack of accountability in finances
(3) Poor stewardship of God’s people
(4) Authoritarian style church government
(5) Rapid turnover rate of church staff in the past 10 years
(6) Lavish lifestyle and receptions
(7) Questionable allegations
(8) Serious communication issues
Now that we have shared all of this documented information about what occurred under the leadership of Jerry Sutton, what do you think? One of the grievances that caught our attention was “rapid turnover rate of church staff in the past 10 years”. We are left wondering why Two Rivers had such a problem keeping its staff…
Here are our questions:
-Did the Two Rivers congregation welcome any of the dissident members back into their fellowship?
-Are members now "allowed" to review the detailed financial records of the church?
-Have the members of the church reconsidered their short-term and long-term pastor compensation packages?
-Has Two Rivers set up guidelines for expenditures by pastors and have they established an independent financial oversight committee?
-Has the church set up an independent computer usage committee that focuses on web access and internet usage on church-owned computers? (This question is dedicated to Doug Pittman, computer expert extraordinaire)
-Has the church established criteria for termination of membership?
-How will voting be consistently done in future business meetings?
There are many more questions we could ask, but these are the ones which seem to be of utmost importance at this juncture.
For your information, we contacted Two Rivers Baptist Church on Monday for their input. We have not yet received a reply… We also contacted Johnny Moore at Liberty University this afternoon regarding the hiring of Jerry Sutton. We left a detailed message asking the following questions:
(1) Are they aware of the "Golden Parachute" that Jerry Sutton received when he left Two Rivers Baptist Church?
(2) Since Sutton is teaching Pastoral Theology, will he share his thinking on pastoral salary and benefits with his students? Does Liberty endorse high levels of pastoral compensation and benefits packages like Sutton received while at Two Rivers and upon leaving?
(3) Are those who hired Jerry Sutton aware of how fractured he left Two Rivers Baptist Church? Based on his track record, he doesn't seem qualified to teach future pastors.
As a tribute to the 9/11 survivors as well as family members and friends of the victims who died eight years ago today, we want to share this touching video set to the beautiful music of Enya. Please continue to pray for those whose lives have been forever impacted by this tragedy and for the safety of all Americans.
May God Bless the United States of America
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