Will McRaney

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Will McRaney

Will McRaney

@willmcraney

Winter Garden, FL Katılım Mart 2010
267 Takip Edilen821 Takipçiler
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Will McRaney
Will McRaney@willmcraney·
That is fact. If @SBCExecComm & NAMB Trustees & others would publicly repudiate NAMB’s false claims & statements to the courts claiming rights & privileges, to be a supporting organization, State Bap Conv are SBC entities, this completely wrong, hurtful brief in KY would have been less tempting to take.
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Will McRaney
Will McRaney@willmcraney·
You decide from a clip of Ezell’s deposition. Join Sandy and me at 7:30 PM EST tonight for a FB Live. You decide whether NAMB President Ezell is exposed for bearing false witness and making false claims against another Baptist leader by his own testimony and emails. How seriously does God take spreading lies? If the Spirit of God was present, what would you do if you were caught and more importantly, what would God command from the Bible regarding humility and seeking forgiveness?
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Shawn Graham
Shawn Graham@ShawnGrahamTN·
Matthew and Shawn talk with Jon Whitehead about working with churches for discipline and transparency. x.com/i/broadcasts/1…
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Jon Whitehead
Jon Whitehead@jrwhitehead·
Some quick thoughts about last week's judgment by a local SBC church. No, it's not a court decision -- but Southern Baptists have always said church decisions about right and wrong are more real than anything a court could say. Do they still believe that? centerforbaptistleadership.org/80-million-in-…
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Pastor Jackie
Pastor Jackie@az_pastor·
@kevezell Love it. Someone told me recently that your strategy for resolving conflict as a pastor was breakfast at Crackle Barrel lol.
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Kevin Ezell
Kevin Ezell@kevezell·
Fun morning at Cracker Barrel w 2 of our 8 grands 😄
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Richard McLawhorn
Richard McLawhorn@RichMcLawhorn·
@WilliamWolfe The “trial”was a farce and PR stunt. Nowhere in the Bible does it say “if you don’t get solace in the Civil courts, have your church hold a trial applying Missouri law.”
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William Wolfe 🇺🇸
William Wolfe 🇺🇸@WilliamWolfe·
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but… If you’re mocking a salt-of-the-earth local Southern Baptist church body doing the best they can to seek truth and pursue reconciliation in a longstanding dispute… You’re not the good guy And you’re not even acting like a Christian
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Will McRaney
Will McRaney@willmcraney·
Yes Shawn! As followers know, that was done, Bible also says expose evil, it further says take it to the church for decision and exposure. Bible also says don’t lie, God hates lying and lairs not inherit kingdom of God and confront sin so that it does not lead to death. Maybe NAMB Trustees will do what those before them have refused to do. Just get a full picture and then do JUSTICE as the Bible/God requires.
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Shawn Graham
Shawn Graham@ShawnGrahamTN·
@RichMcLawhorn @WilliamWolfe You do understand that scripture actually prescribes Christians should settle things directly BEFORE using the secular court system, right? The fact they had to take this route shows the mobster mentality on the part of NAMB to try covering up their lies by force.
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Center for Baptist Leadership
Center for Baptist Leadership@BaptistLeaders·
Interesting news and outcome from the church-based arbitration between Will McRaney and NAMB that transpired over the last two days. It must be noted that NAMB and Ezell declined to appear, but the process went on nonetheless. We will be bringing more updates on this to our readers and our listeners soon. Many in the SBC elite orbit may be underestimating or mocking what just took place, but for the average Baptist, it will be eye-opening.
Mike Whitehead@MikeWhitehead

A panel of five Baptist arbitrators has found NAMB at fault on all counts, from slander to dishonesty. Harms and losses to Wil McRaney were valued at $10m; punitive damages $70m. Now for next steps. @jrwhitehead

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Will McRaney
Will McRaney@willmcraney·
3/3 3. The facts spoke not just the jury, as they do in every case, like the OJ trial. People can decide. Are the facts and evidence presented worthy of NAMB Trustees and all of Baptist considering them? Let’s see if the complaints continue to be about form matters and jury relations or if there will be similar calls for actions to be taken to resolve. @BaptistReport @baptist_news @BaptistLeaders @BaptistPress @SBCExecComm @NAMB_SBC
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Will McRaney
Will McRaney@willmcraney·
2/3 While pursuing #1 I spent 9 years in civil court and $250,000 of personal money and over $3 million in contingency attorney hours trying to get before a neutral jury. Ezell NAMB spent those same 10 years & SBC mission gifts avoiding me, the facts, & civil jury or any other type of jury and at the same time lying to the courts about me & Baptists to the danger of all Baptist partners, ministers & mission gifts.
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Will McRaney
Will McRaney@willmcraney·
Join Sandy & me tonight on FB Live at 7:00 EST. Tribunal recap, reflections, jury panel's two fold findings (civil & biblical) and non-binding financial judgment, what next & access to evidence, and is a just resolution possible. @BaptistReport @BaptistLeaders @bobby_gilstrap @baptist_news @bobsmietana @liamsadams @Church_R_I @coconservative7 @megbasham @ajc @TNBaptistNews @BaptistMessage @AlabamaBaptist @GABaptist @FloridaBaptists @WartburgWatch @jrwhitehead
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Will McRaney
Will McRaney@willmcraney·
1/3 CONCERNS RELOCATION OF CHURCH TRIBUNAL AND JURY… The concern is shared by many. I would ask you to consider a few of facts: 1. I spent 10 years, 1 w/ NAMB Trustees & Baptist leaders trying to get facts heard and acted on by any group, even the SBC EC.
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Will McRaney
Will McRaney@willmcraney·
Twitter Richard, your concern is shared by many. I would ask you to consider a couple of facts: 1. I spent 10 years, 1 w/ NAMB Trustees & Baptist leaders trying to get facts heard and acted on by any group, even the SBC EC. 2. While pursuing #1 I spent 9 years in civil court and $250,000 of personal money and over $3 million in contingency attorney hours trying to get before a neutral jury. Ezell NAMB spent those same 10 years and SBC mission gifts avoiding me, the facts, and civil jury or any other type of jury and at the same time lying to the courts about me and Baptists to the danger of all Baptist partners, ministers and mission gifts. 3. The facts spoke not just the jury, as they do in every case. Are the facts and evidence presented worthy of NAMB Trustees and all of Baptist considering them? Let’s see if the complaints continue to be about form and place or if actions will be taken to resolve.
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Richard McLawhorn
Richard McLawhorn@RichMcLawhorn·
@jrwhitehead @BaptistLeaders So you admit it was a biased jury and was not held on neutral ground because that’s how apparently it’s been done. I’d love to see the Baptist caselaw you cited when you determined the jury instructions.
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Jon Whitehead
Jon Whitehead@jrwhitehead·
These are reasonable questions from the cheap seats. 1. No church matter ever happens on neutral territory with neutral juries. In cases involving separate churches, it is going to be at the church of one wronged, or the church of one accused. Should the injured party’s case be decided by the church of the wrongdoer? Are they somehow less biased? My best read of historical practice is that the church of the injured is where it usually started, especially where the other side is contumacious. I’m game for other arguments, but this is where we decided to start. What I don’t accept is NAMB’s position that biblical efforts were “exhausted” — and so no church anywhere can speak up. 2. While it’s never on neutral ground, the hearing church should still start with the presumption of innocence, and try to give fair process. I know everyone presumes the skids were greased here, but Island Church’s process was more fair than any Baptist church trial I’m aware of. Anywhere. Ever. McRaney could not pick jurors. I never met them before the hearing. They were sequestered from the participants at breaks. We adopted commercial evidence standards. I used Missouri pattern jury instructions, which go to great lengths to be neutral. We read a summary of NAMB’s merits defenses. We gave explicit instructions that the jury MUST find against McRaney in many cases. Historically, Baptists do reject cases. Or pare down restitution. So, I can assure you, during the hour or two it took them to decide, this outcome did not feel predetermined. So I’m happy to hear suggestions about what is “minimum,” but this met more modern due process standards than anyone has ever tried. ….
John Michael LaRue@jm_larue

Observations from the cheap seats 1) I think it was pretty foolish for McRaney’s trial to be done at his own church. The concept itself wasn’t off. NAMB argued for this type thing to be handled in the church. But it needed to significantly be a neutral church situation, and this was not. The outcome was practically determined before it happened. It’s not surprising at all the NAMB didn’t participate given the circumstances. (I mean, they likely wouldn’t participate in the most neutral of circumstances, but still the optics were bad). McRaney did get to have his time to testify and present evidence and witnesses finally. But the context significantly undercut the seriousness of what was alleged. 2) Nonetheless, there was testimony given that was really bad. Barker’s testimony can’t just be ignored. There was major things alleged that should concern Baptists. It’s not really a matter of dispute at this point that NAMB used money to influence several state conventions outside the South. It happened in several places. It happened here in Ohio too where our state convention was offered money to offset salary for NAMB’s preferred candidate to become our executive. (He’s a wonderful man, so I don’t have complaints about the who. But the process was replicated from what was testified about happening elsewhere.) 3) Of course, there is a second level question for many as to whether such actions was of a first order magnitude of problems or whether it’s something that people can shrug their shoulders at saying, “Yeah, they probably shouldn’t have done that, but it’s water under the bridge.” My hunch is how people respond is often just dictated by their prior allegiances. 4) While it’s likely that this issue isn’t dying anytime soon, I am going to pray for genuine reconciliation to happen. Blessed are the peacemakers. I don’t want to “both sides” an issue and declare that there has been an equality of wrong done. It’s likely asymmetrical - either Kevin is right and Will has grievously wronged him or Will is right and Kevin has grievously wronged him. But still within that reality, I think both sides have done and said things that are worthy of genuine apologies. “I’m sorry. I was wrong for ______. Would you forgive me?” would be a resolution that I would ultimately love to see, instead of grudges on both sides for another decade more.

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Jon Whitehead
Jon Whitehead@jrwhitehead·
Yes, he’s the pastor of all the jury members. But it can’t be a bar for pastors or elders to be parties to proceedings. When elders ask the church to exclude a member, that’s not fair by civil jury standards. When a member charges the pastor, you can’t get a fair jury by civil standards. You have traded worldly fairness of “jury of your community peers” for the greater fairness of “people covenanted to love like Christ.” The whole idea now is that ministers have given up their civil jury rights, choosing instead to submit disputes about ministerial decisions to Baptist ecclesiastical authority — which exclusively resides in local congregations. Associations can call upon other churches in the association to advise/assist a congregation during or after conflict, but not be the decision makers. Associations have no ecclesiastical authority, just advisory. Only congregations have ecclesiastical authority.
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Jon Whitehead
Jon Whitehead@jrwhitehead·
5. This is not the end, but the start. I am not sure entirely what it means to “loose and bind,” but I am confident it means more than the scoffers give it credit for. At one level, it was meaningful just for a church to listen, and tell the McRaneys the church agreed they had been wronged. But at another level: a cooperating church has decided SBC leaders’ conduct was out of bounds of Christian character. It hurt their member by an enormous amount, and they think it will hurt others if unchecked. If that decision is ignored, the Island Church won’t be the last to judge. But three or more said it. And now we will see what the cooperating churches think that means. I don’t think the project survives if we decide Matthew 18 was a dead letter. Or a call for Buddhist zen, instead of Christian justice. Those who say it’s all meaningless just prove the old Baptists right: we have nothing to fear. Good men will be made better. Bad men will be revealed as hypocrites.
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Jon Whitehead
Jon Whitehead@jrwhitehead·
4. Of course, everyone knows the only restitution here comes from autonomous choices. The damages are a church judgment about the magnitude of the harms, based on evidence. Restitution judgments have happened in Baptist and reformed history. But discipline has been out of favor so long, the modern damages issues are hard to map directly. And now complicated by the courts saying so much has to be ecclesiastical. The decision that Dr. Ezell had not behaved consistent with ministerial fitness standards, however, is classic Baptist polity. That a cooperating church has said it deserves real consideration, not scorn.
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Jon Whitehead
Jon Whitehead@jrwhitehead·
3. The panel determined McRaney had been personally damaged by $10m, between lost income, reputation, and distress. It also awarded $70m in punitive or exemplary damages. In other words, the jury was afraid some people would say all the good NAMB does would be used as an excuse to justify egregious sin toward others. That the occasional person destroyed by lies of the strong should just lump it as an honor to have been destroyed. Lots of x posts today prove that concern was right.
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@jrwhitehead @BaptistLeaders @markwingdallas @BaptistReport @TNBaptistNews @coconservative7 @megbasham @liamsadams