(RNS) — A feud between a Southwestern Baptist seminary and its former president appears headed for federal court.
Lawyers for Adam Greenway, who resigned as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in September 2022, alleged in a complaint filed Wednesday (March 20) that the school and the chair of its trustee board defamed Greenway, violated the terms of a non-disparagement agreement and made him “unemployable.”
“The actions of Defendants have exposed Plaintiff to public hatred, contempt, and ridicule,” the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleges.
Greenway’s attorney had previously sent the school a demand letter for $5 million dollars to settle the dispute. The school denies any wrongdoing.
RELATED: Former Southwestern Seminary Trustee Calls for Forensic Audit of Troubled School
“We categorically deny the allegations contained in the lawsuit, will defend vigorously the institution, and are confident the outcome will demonstrate that these claims are entirely baseless,” the school said in a statement.
The complaint filed this week alleges that leaders at Southwestern — one of six Southern Baptist seminaries — released incomplete and misleading details about the school’s finances that painted Greenway in a negative light.
Among those details were the alleged purchase of an $11,000 espresso machine and more than $1.5 million in renovations to Pecan Manor, the school’s on-campus presidential residence, including $60,000 in Christmas decorations.
Those details were released in a report on Southwestern’s finances, which detailed $140 million in overspending across 20 years, much of it under the leadership of Greenway’s predecessor, Paige Patterson. That report, released by the school’s trustees, gave no details of why trustees allowed the overspending to go on for so long.
“The compilation and overview demonstrate that the financial challenges at Southwestern are longstanding,” the trustees said in their report, adding that Greenway had failed to turn around the school’s finances.
RELATED: Report: Former SWBTS President Adam Greenway Threatens $5 Million Lawsuit
However, outrage over the espresso machine and the repairs to the presidential home went viral on social media and overshadowed the school’s larger financial issues. Those expenses even became a joke at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting last summer in New Orleans.
Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, gives the NAMB report during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, La., on June 13, 2023. RNS photo by Emily Kask
“I own my own home, have a Keurig and go to Hobby Lobby for my Christmas decorations,” Kevin Ezell, head of the SBC’s North American Mission Board, said in a question-and-answer session about the agency he leads. Those comments were met with laughter from thousands of local church representatives at the meeting.
The complaint alleges that Texas megachurch pastor Jack Graham, longtime Southern Baptist leader O.S. Hawkins and Southwestern Trustee Board Chair Danny Roberts disagreed with Greenway and sought his removal as president.
Graham’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Greenway’s attorneys also argue that the school’s on-campus presidential home — used for public events — was in ill repair when he arrived on campus and that Roberts was aware of the needed repairs.
