At Second Baptist Church in Houston, rancor about church governance issues continues to grow. In mid-April, disgruntled current and former members filed a lawsuit alleging that leaders surreptitiously changed church bylaws to eliminate members’ voting rights. The leaders’ goal, the suit claims, was to ensure that Ben Young succeeded his father, longtime Second Baptist Pastor H. Edwin Young Sr.
During his April 27 sermon, Ben Young—now senior pastor—mentioned the lawsuit, saying allegations of a power grab “simply are not true.” Second Baptist has an excellent leadership structure, he said, as well as “great efficiency and accountability.” The church, which has $1 billion in assets and an annual budget of $84 million, is receiving counsel from high-profile attorney Jay Sekulow.
Jeremiah Counsel, the nonprofit that filed the 123-page lawsuit against the Youngs and other church leaders, has posted a response to Ben Young’s sermon comments. The group, which is challenging what it calls a deceptive power grab, walked point-by-point through statements the pastor made from the worship stage.
Jeremiah Counsel: New Second Baptist Church Bylaws Strip Members’ Voting Rights
A main point of contention is a May 2023 revision of Second Baptist Church’s bylaws. Jeremiah Counsel alleges that church leaders pushed those through at a poorly publicized meeting, without detailing the impact on members.
On April 27, Pastor Ben Young told worshipers that the revision process from almost two years ago was biblical and legal, with unanimous trustee approval and an almost unanimous church vote.
“Then why are former trustees’ part of the lawsuit?!” asked Jeremiah Counsel. “It is because they were deceived and not told that if they voted for the new by-laws that every member would lose their right to vote and there would never again be an independent board that is elected by the membership.”
Only about 200 of Second Baptist’s 90,000+ members attended the 2023 meeting, held on Memorial Day weekend, “because of the efforts to minimize the number of people that even knew it was happening,” wrote Jeremiah Counsel. It added:
Even those who did show up for the meeting were NOT given a copy of what they were voting on, and no one from the stage told them that they were voting to eliminate their own right to vote. No one told them they were giving virtually unchecked power to the Senior Pastor, with no oversight by an independent board elected by the membership.
Nor were they told that they would never have the right to vote on whether the church or a campus could be sold or merged with another church, even if the transaction was done with a family member. Finally, they were not told that whoever was the Senior Pastor would be allowed to select the next Senior Pastor, without a vote of the members, and that the revised by-laws would last forever with no vote possible by the members.
Jeremiah Counsel is encouraging church members to contact Second Baptist Church and “demand” to see the bylaws.
