ON THE EVENING OF JULY 22 2024 NEWS OF A PRESS RELEASE FROM ERLC ANNOUNCING THAT BRENT LEATHERWOOD HAD BEEN FIRED AS PRESIDENT OF THE ERLC SPEAD LIKE WILDFIRE AMONG BAPTIST PASTORS WHO HAVE GROWN TIRED OF THE CONTRARIAN POLITICAL POLITICS AND PRESUMED DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUPPORT OF THEIR TWO MOST RECENT HEAD ETHICS /POLICY ARM LEADERS. BY MORNING LEATHERWOOD WAS REINSTATED AND THE CHAIRMAN WHO FIRED HIM WAS OUT.
LEATHERWOOD IS NOW SAID TO HAVE THE FULL SUPPORT OF THE ERLC TRUSTEES GOING FORWARd.
Rev Thomas Littleton
7/23/2024
Brent Leatherwood as President of the Ethics and religious Liberties Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention carries on the legacy of his controversial and now former boss Russell Moore who is now editor of the progressive publication Christianity Today .
Leatherwood would no doubt have a 6 figure salary, a five million dollar plus budget, offices in Nashville TN and DC, a full staff and access to the seats of power in DC including the Capital and the Whitehouse..and is the voice representing Southern Baptist political views.
According the TN political organizers Leatherwood came out of controversey in his job at the Tennessee GOP during the Hillary Clinton campaign as he is said to have helped in a team effort at the GOP to subvert conservative candidates and undermine Trump pledged GOP delegates. He was then hired by Russell Moore and advanced to Chief of Staff at ERLC under Moore. After Moore was fired in 2021 Leatherwood became interim President and then affirmed by 100% vote of the ERLC Trustees giving him the job as President of the ERLC full time.
Leatherwood’s controversies have been many at ERLC including his role in having this writer expelled by Dallas PD with the false accusation that (I) threatened someone. He later drew fire as ERLC President pushing for gun control laws and seeking to hide the manifesto of the Trans- shooter in the TN Christian School shooting via a non profit Leatehrwood had formed which chlaimed ownership of the Shooters Manifesto which was evidence of the state ina mass murder. Not sure how that idea ever floated.The Manifesto was later leaked
His most recent controversy resulting in his announced firing was his calling of the departure of President Biden from the 2024 campaign a “Selfless Act”.This intellectually dishonest statement in a tweet was followed by an article with much of the same rhetoric and signalling a departurefrom his base by the Trump stance on abortion AND his own loking to the Democratic party to signal to pro life supporters that it ( the party who funded Planned Parenthood billions of dollars since the Obama administration began) will take the opportunity to reach out and signla support of pro life voters convictions. Leatherwood does not offer an explination of how the Democratic Party leopard will change its death culture spots in this absurd assertion.
THE FIRING
ERLC Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees Issues Statement Regarding ERLC President Brent Leatherwood
July 22, 2024
NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 22, 2024 —The executive committee of the board of trustees for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention has issued the following statement.
“In accordance with our bylaws, the executive committee has removed Brent Leatherwood as president. Further details, as well as plans for the transition, will be provided at our September board meeting. Until then, the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees will assume directional responsibility for carrying out the ministry assignments for the ERLC.”
More information will be provided at the ERLC trustee meeting September 10-11 in Nashville, Tenn.
THE REINSTATEMENT
ERLC Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees Issues Retraction Regarding ERLC President Brent Leatherwood
July 23, 2024
Nashville, Tenn., July 23, 2024 —As members of the ERLC’s Executive Committee, we formally retract the press release which was sent yesterday.
There was not an authorized meeting, vote, or action taken by the Executive Committee. Kevin Smith has resigned as Chair of the Executive Committee.
Brent Leatherwood remains the President of the ERLC and has our support moving forward.
SOME OF THE PRESS COVERAGE
Leader of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm ousted after Biden column
Nashville Tennessean
“Brent Leatherwood, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, has been removed from his position.
On Monday night, the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission issued a brief statement on behalf of the executive committee of its board confirming Leatherwood’s removal but providing few details on what led to the ouster.
But the sudden removal came less than 24 hours after Leatherwood published a column calling President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race the “correct” decision. Leatherwood also made a separate statement to The Baptist Press calling Biden’s decision “selfless.”
“We should all express our appreciation that President Biden has put the needs of the nation above his personal ambition,” Leatherwood said. “Despite what some partisans will say, to walk away from power is a selfless act – the kind that has become all too rare in our culture.”
Though Leatherwood praised Biden’s decision in the column, he was also critical of Vice President Kamala Harris’ record and potential presidential run, writing she would be “cause for considerable concern among pro-life advocates and those who hold to a biblical definition of marriage.”
CHRISTIANITY TODAY CELEBRATES THE REINSTATEMENT OF LEATHERWOOD
ERLC Retracts Announcement Firing President Brent Leatherwood
UPDATE: The chair of the board of trustees, Kevin Smith, has resigned.
Image: Josselyn Guillen / Baptist Press
Brent Leatherwood
“The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) announced Monday evening that its president Brent Leatherwood suddenly lost his job—only to retract the statement the next morning.”
Current Issue
“Trustees stated on Tuesday that the decision had been made without the full involvement of executive committee leadership and that Leatherwood “remains the President of the ERLC and has our support moving forward.”
“The chair of the ERLC board of trustees, Kevin Smith, apologized for a “consequential procedural mistake” in a social media post Tuesday morning that was later deleted.”
“There was not an authorized meeting, vote, or action taken by the Executive Committee,” the follow-up statement read. “Kevin Smith has resigned as Chair of the Executive Committee.”
BRENT LEATHERWOOD IN 2018 AND THIS WRITERS FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE
CHRISTIAN POST PROPAGANDA ARTICLE
Pastor Says He Was Thrown Out of SBC Meeting for Questioning ERLC Ties to Revoice Conference
By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Thursday, June 14, 2018
“Thomas Littleton (R), a veteran Southern Baptist Conference pastor and reporter for conservative news outlet BarbWire, said he was “physically handled” by Brent Leatherwood (L), the ERLC’s director of strategic partnerships, at the SBC conference in Dallas, Texas, on June 13, 2018. | (Screenshots: Vimeo; YouTube)”
“The Rev. Thomas Littleton, a veteran Southern Baptist pastor and writer, said he was “physically handled” by a staff member of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and removed from the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Dallas Wednesday for asking questions about the ERLC’s ties to Revoice, an upcoming conservative Christian conference for those struggling with same-sex attraction.”
“The Revoice 2018 conference, which takes place next month, is aimed at “supporting, encouraging, and empowering gay, lesbian, same-sex-attracted, and other LGBT Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic, Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality.” Some critics insist that the conference is trying to push an LGBT agenda on conservative evangelical churches but those involved say there is a lot of misinformation out there.”
“In a series of tweets beginning Wednesday, Littleton, who is an evangelist with over 38 years’ experience, claims he was “physically handled” by Brent Leatherwood, the ERLC’s director of strategic partnerships, and removed from the conference after he tried asking ERLC President Russell Moore about the ERLC’s ties to Revoice. He says the Dallas Police Department was told that he had “threatened someone” at the Kay Bailey Dallas Convention Center where the SBC’s annual meeting was held Tuesday and Wednesday.”
THE TRUE STORY OF LEATHERWOOD AND THIS AUTHOR IS CONFIRMED BY THE DALLAS POLIC REPORT
NOTE THIS IS THE RECOUNTING OF THIS WRITERS EXPERIENCE AT DALLAS SBC ANNUAL MEETING IN 2018 AS A REPORTER COVERING THE LGBTQ + MOVEMENT REVOICE FOR WORLD VIEW WEEKEND AND BRANNON HOWSEAS A CREDENTIAL MEMBER OF THE MEDIA
EXCERPT
*”As the Dallas Police Officers escorted me from the building, ERLC employee Leatherwood, who had minutes before been glaring at me across the Expo floor, and disappeared when the Dallas PD approached me, was standing just outside the door of the Expo in the large lobby area that wraps around the over 1 million square foot convention center. Leatherwood was on his phone with his earpiece in and talking. Once he saw us exiting the door he ended his conversation, hung up the telephone and joined the escorting officer to my right.
*Leatherwood began taking very provocative actions including again, glaring across the chest of the taller officer to my right and mockingly looking me in the eyes. He leaned his head forward toward me almost in the path of the officer. He took long exaggerated lurching steps in slower motion as if enacting some strutted victory lap around what had been set in motion with my removal less than two hours before the ERLC meeting/ report was to begin in the main hall.
*I asked the officer between Leatherwood and myself if Leatherwood was the person who claimed I had threatened someone and if he claimed I threatened him. The officer replied, “We are not going there.” I asked if Leatherwood claimed I threatened HIM because, in fact, Leatherwood “had laid his hands on me to restrain me and prevent me from talking to his boss. (This would be considered a Class C Assault by Texas Law https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/penal-code/penal-sect-22-01.html) Russell Moore’s employee Leatherwood attempted to prevent the conversation but Moore did indeed talk about the Revoice Conference “promoting LGBT+ Flourishing in historic Christian tradition”. WE DID discuss that his ERLC Fellow was a contributor endorsing Revoice and a favorite ERLC consultant was speaking at Revoice. We had a conversation about it. I mentioned this to the officer and that it was in spite of Leatherwood[‘]s effort to physically prevent it. “Is that what this is about?” I asked. Nothing was confirmed or denied at this point.”
CONCLUSION
The SBC ethics arm has zero respect from biblical conservatives in the SBC. Leatherwood has a ongoing reputation for political subversion. He is widly unpopular with pastors and the churches who pay his salary and now his in again- out- and back in position in a 12 hour period at the ERLC is both heart sicken and INSULTING . Why would any Baptist- how can any Christian support this kind of leader as an Ethicist and spokesman?
thirtypiecesofsilverdotorg 