These remarks allude in part to a bombshell report from Guidepost Solutions (released May 2022) that details how the SBC Executive Committee (EC) silenced and suppressed victims of sexual abuse over the course of two decades.
Stone was named in the report, which alleges that he covered up the sexual misconduct of another pastor and intimidated witnesses. Stone denies these allegations and reiterated the point during the informational meeting, where he stated that the only time he has concealed sexual abuse was when he chose for 40 years not to reveal that he himself is an abuse survivor.
During his remarks at Woodlawn Baptist Church, Stone also addressed the recent decision from Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, to ordain Katie Edwards as Lake Forest’s new campus pastor. In February, the SBC EC determined that Saddleback was “not in friendly cooperation with the Convention” because of its stance on women in church leadership.
On May 16, news broke that Saddleback had appealed the EC’s decision to disfellowship it, and founding pastor Rick Warren explained five reasons why the church was making the appeal. SBC messengers will vote in June regarding whether or not to allow Saddleback to remain in the denomination.
Stone expressed his support for the EC’s decision and said he believed that Saddleback “should be removed from the Southern Baptist Convention because they have women serving as pastors.” The pastor described his church as the “strictest of the strict complementarians” and decried the “so-called ‘soft complementarianism’ that is creeping into our convention,” which “seems to be just another descriptor for egalitarianism.”
Various people responded to the clip of Stone on Twitter, with some, like Buck, expressing their support for Stone’s views on sex abuse reform. Others, including ARITF vice chair Mike Keahbone, disputed Stone’s claims. “There is so much misinformation in this one video,” said Keahbone. “Please visit the ARITF website to fact check Mr. Stone. I’ll be voting for @bartbarber and I hope you will too.”
ChurchLeaders has reached out to Mike Stone and Mike Keahbone for comment and will update this article in the event of any reply.
