This week, the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting delivered another series of setbacks for its conservative members. The proposed Law Amendment, which would have empowered the denomination’s credentials committee to remove churches from friendly cooperation for violating the Baptist Faith and Message by appointing female pastors, failed to pass. Similarly, an effort to dismantle the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the progressive-leaning lobbying arm of the denomination, also fell short of approval. While some conservatives interpret these outcomes as further evidence of a liberal shift within the Convention, they were not the most troubling developments to emerge this week.
The Church Reform Initiative recently released a three-part documentary detailing the attempted takeover of First Baptist Church in Knightdale, North Carolina, by The Summit Church, led by former Southern Baptist Convention president J.D. Greear. I had the opportunity to help produce the series, which further confirms a troubling pattern I’ve observed for years.
Across the country, local churches are facing coordinated efforts often led by individuals with ties to the Southern Baptist Convention to modernize churches according to managerial and market-driven formulas. This disrupts congregational life, dismantles long-standing ministries, and reshapes churches to align with modern progressive ideals. These changes are frequently made without the full knowledge or consent of the congregation.
Through my ongoing investigation into the influence of the social justice movement within evangelicalism, a consistent strategy has emerged: new leadership, often connected to SBC-affiliated networks, assumes control with a clear agenda for transformation. Authority becomes centralized among those who support this progressive vision, outside “experts” are brought in to validate the changes, and the church’s historical identity is eventually erased.
Those who voice concerns are frequently marginalized — or even aggressively silenced. This isn’t just about politics; it reflects a deliberate strategy to fundamentally redefine American evangelicalism from within.
Three churches, First Baptist Church in Naples, Florida; McLean Bible Church in McLean, Virginia; and Faith Baptist Church in Knightdale, North Carolina, illustrate this takeover, as documented in films I helped produce.
First Baptist Church, Naples, Florida: A Conservative Stronghold Upended
In November 2019, former members Mike and Teri Dolan of First Baptist Church (FBC) in Naples, Florida, a vibrant Southern Baptist megachurch, alerted me to a crisis. After Pastor Hayes Wicker, who led for 27 years, was abruptly dismissed in February 2019 amid unproven financial allegations, power shifted to Executive Pastor John David Edie. Tied to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Edie centralized control through committees, sidelining volunteers and ending ministries like Operation Christmas Child and “Car Care,” which aided the disadvantaged.
Edie, backed by SBC-linked consulting firm Auxano, pushed a new vision. When Edie proposed Marcus Hayes, a young pastoral candidate, to replace Wicker, SBC leaders like J.D. Greear and Kevin Ezell glowingly endorsed him. This was despite his lack of qualifications, sympathy for the Black Lives Matter narrative, and views on same-sex attraction which misaligned with the conservative congregation. After 19 percent voted against Hayes in October 2019, church leaders labeled dissenters “racist,” excommunicating nearly 20 families, including the Dolans, and issuing cease-and-desist letters. Even though Marcus Hayes failed to become the next pastor, hundreds left the church with little recourse for fighting the inevitable changes taking place.
McLean Bible Church: A Non-Denominational Betrayal
McLean Bible Church (MBC), a non-denominational church near Washington, D.C., was known for its Bible-teaching focus and its patriotic flavor. It was a hub for Republican political figures and even attracted President Trump during a 2019 service. Pastor Lon Solomon, who for almost four decades had built MBC to 16,000 attendees, was suddenly removed in 2017 by the elder board. The new pastor David Platt, formerly of the SBC’s International Mission Board, took over, secretly aligning MBC with the SBC despite its constitutional ban on denominational ties. Platt, aided by loyalists like Dale Sutherland and new staff with SBC connections, centralized control, and funneling over $2 million to the denomination.
Platt rapidly pushed a social justice agenda, criticizing Christians for insufficient anti-racism and reconfiguring things like the music ministry to represent more diversity, equity, and inclusion. Legacy ministries like the clothing ministry, the ministry library, and small groups were ended, gutted, or replaced by larger more controlled alternatives. Dissenters, including long-time staff, were ousted or resigned.
When member Jeremiah Burke challenged Platt’s deception concerning SBC ties at a 2021 meeting, his microphone was cut, and he was escorted out. A rigged elder vote and purged membership rolls followed, prompting a lawsuit revealing financial and constitutional violations. Outside “experts” like business consultant David Young reinforced Platt’s vision, which eventually became a lethal blow to the church MBC had traditionally been. Thousands of people left the church, and an ongoing lawsuit over the membership dispute, where MBC leadership stripped members of their voting privileges, continues even now.
Faith Baptist Church: A Small Church Fights Back
Faith Baptist Church (FBC) in Knightdale, North Carolina, a non-denominational congregation of 350, faced a takeover after Pastor Jason Little, a 2019 Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate, arrived in 2021. Linked to SBC figure J.D. Greear and Summit Church, Little centralized power with loyal deacons, hired The Unstuck Group consulting firm to catalyze changes, and rapidly erased FBC’s identity — ditching the choir, Sunday School, quilt displays from the quilting ministry, the Awana children’s program, and even the Christian and American flags since they could allegedly offend. The building was stripped, which included destroying a vibrantly decorated children’s center, and then repainted gray. Members seemed to notice it aligned with Summit’s branding after the changes.
By 2023, Little claimed a financial crisis, using dubious figures to push a “merger” with Summit Church, a 12,000-member SBC megachurch. Emails showed coordination with Summit’s leaders, who stood to gain Faith Baptist’s approximately $25 million property. Dissenters, reclassified as “inactive,” were denied votes at a congregational meeting to vote for Faith Baptist’s dissolution.
A group calling themselves Defenders of Faith fought back, securing a preliminary injunction that halted the dissolution of their church. Despite the leadership of Faith Baptist filing for bankruptcy, backed by Summit’s injection of $160,000 into the church the day of the filing, the congregation prevailed, recalling founding pastor Gary Williams in 2025. Little’s agenda, backed by outside consultants and SBC ties, nearly erased FBC’s heritage, but those who resisted in the church eventually triumphed.
The Pattern and the Stakes
These cases reveal a strategy: new pastors, often tied to the SBC or megachurches, are installed to revolutionize churches with novel formulas. They centralize control with loyal church leaders or committees, hire consultants like Auxano or The Unstuck Group to legitimize changes, erase traditions such as Sunday School, choirs, and other aspects of the church’s identity, and push “diversity” agendas. Dissenters are marginalized, labeled “racist” or “divisive,” and stripped of influence through excommunication, denial of voting privileges, or intimidation.
This is not isolated either, at least according to the messages I receive from others in similar situations, usually where the congregation lacks the organization to push back. In fact, correspondence from the Knightdale case hints that Summit Church has “used [the merger approach] before successfully.” Jim Tomberlin of The Unstuck Group notes 40% percent of multi-site churches grow via mergers or acquisitions. If this is true, a managerial revolution is standardizing churches, replacing formality, hymns, and intimate community with sterile, mass-produced models where congregants often watch their pastor on a screen. Local churches, which are often a neighborhood’s last bastion against market forces and corporate structures, risk losing their unique character.
Churches must recognize this pattern and act. Congregants should scrutinize new leaders’ ties, demand transparency in governance, and resist outside “experts” pushing rapid change. Christians need to protect their church bylaws, preserve their unique ministries, and listen to dissenting voices before they’re silenced. The identity of American evangelicalism — its traditions, community, and faith — hangs in the balance. Congregations like Faith Baptist show that resistance can work. Heed this wake-up call before your church is remade from within.
Jon Harris is an author, producer, and cultural commentator. He hosts the “Conversations That Matter” podcast.
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