This Is How Stupid They Think You Are

On November 2, 2022 General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention Chairman of the SBC Executive Committee Jared C. Wellman and sitting – emphasis on sitting – SBC President Bart Barber issued a doozy of a statement.

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Why is this so important?

Because the 2022 Southern Baptist Annual Meeting still exists in living memory. And some of it is recorded on video.

Barber and Wellman’s faction spent that entire Convention explicitly not letting anyone they didn’t like speak. They also spent the Convention letting Rick Warren – and anyone else they did like say whatever they wanted, for as long as they wanted, whenever they wanted.

Since then? Barber has occupied himself primarily by traveling to speak, sitting for a 60 Minutes interview, and lying about Abolitionists.

It didn’t go well for him.

Seriously. Go read how many people immediately saw through his lies. And how badly it went for him.

But he did it anyway, and never retracted.

Don’t worry, though. In a similarly confidence-inspiring move Barber apologized for all the bad things Dusty Deevers made him do.

So yeah, trust these guys to let the Messengers speak in New Orleans. And did you know they also had a once-in-a-lifetime deal on a used car for you? You had better jump on it before some other guy comes along and gets it.

In Anaheim these guys and their cronies pre-arranged for Warren to give his stump speech.

Must be nice to be able to text your friends on The Platform to get the stage whenever you want it.

Remember: The previous front man, Ed Litton, cut off every Messenger who wanted to talk about plagiarism, at one point telling the sound engineers to “cut off his mic.”

Abuse survivor Jennifer Buck was cut off in unceremonious fashion when she addressed the Convention at a time scheduled for just such an address.

But Rick Warren? Bart says he has rights. Rights that, apparently, he and J.D. Greear enjoy as insiders but which Jennifer Buck and Regular Joe Southern Baptists don’t.

The same set prepped the apologist for the SBC’s gay law firm and gave her time to talk. They let Griffin Gulledge run over time after cutting Jennifer Buck off. All their cronies acted like Beatles fangirls around Rick Warren.

But they’re going to let the Messenger’s speak? Let them speak so we’ll get an unbiased conclusion in the issue of women pastors?

It’s too cynical to even scoff at.

Sure, they will let Messengers speak… only if they are confident they’ve got the mics under control and their people ready to go.