Protestia asked people to pray for those who are involved, as well as for the ministry at Protestia as they seek clarity moving forward.
SBC President Bart Barber Comments on Hall’s Situation
The Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) newly elected president, Bart Barber, weighed in on Hall’s situation, expressing his belief that Hall’s online behavior disqualified him from ministry a long time ago.
The 100+ member FBC Sidney used to be a part of the SBC, but the congregation left the denomination in 2018 over the SBC’s alleged “liberalism and their approval of Critical Race Theory and Cultural Marxism.”
Barber’s Twitter thread reflected upon the news of Hall’s disqualification and referenced possibly missing guardrails in the SBC’s Baptist Faith & Message 2000 (BF&M) that could have helped Hall when he was a part of the SBC.
In the middle of his thread, the SBC president wrote that “a pastor’s online witness on social media can serve as evidence that he is absolutely not qualified biblically to serve as a pastor. The BF&M reads ‘the office of pastor is limited to men AS QUALIFIED BY SCRIPTURE.’”
“I wish we had better guardrails to help someone like JD long before he wandered so far away, seduced by the siren song of Internet infamy,” Barber wrote. “I wish the BF&M, reacting to the adolescence of social media and aiming toward maturity, had something specific to say.”
Barber concluded by saying that he is “just not sure of any wording that could rise to the level of scriptural foundation, consensus of support, and precision in wording that would make it an ‘article of the Christian faith which [is] most surely held among us.’”
