Podcast: Russell Moore's Revenge: The Untold Story of His Leaked Letters and ERLC Exit

The following is a very good podcast posted by the Center for Baptist Leadership regarding the scandal that was Russell Moore during his last year as head of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. I am reposting this here as I found it fascinating and on point, and well worth the listen to anyone who still has any interest in the SBC and its future:

“For more than a year, then, the letters show that there wasn't a little angel in the driver's seat for Dr. Moore.

In the driver's seat was cold blooded, premeditated revenge against his enemies in the SBC.”

The first episode of the @BaptistLeaders podcast with @jrwhitehead is now live and available on all major podcast platforms!

This is one of the most important, exclusive interviews about the SBC this year, and we are thankful Jon brought it to CBL.

Here are his opening remarks:

“We are probably in about year four or five of a SBC leadership crisis. And so one of the reasons I've joined with others at CBL is because I do think there has been a ‘big bang’ in the SBC that blew things up in 2021. And we need some leadership to get on the other side of that.

And the key to understanding the ‘big bang,’ the reason there has been a crisis, is to understand what happened in 2021 with respect to the ERLC and Dr. Moore's letters.

People were so outraged by what they thought the letter said, and by the accusations in them, that I think there was lots of quick action. But now that we've had some time to look at the facts, to gather the facts, I hope we can take a more careful view of what actually happened.

But the first step to understanding the crisis of leadership is to understand that there were two letters from Russell Moore published just before the 2021 SBC annual meeting. They were dated more than a year apart.

And the best explanation for the facts is that they show a plan. A plan not to put victims first, not to be a fiduciary, not to protect the weak, not to do justice.

They show a months-long plan to hurt the Southern Baptist Convention as much as he could.

To whip up messengers using old fashioned southern demagoguery, so they lose trust in the convention and pick up their torches and pitchforks, metaphorically, at the annual meeting.

For more than a year, then, the letters show that there wasn't a little angel in the driver's seat for Dr. Moore.

In the driver's seat was cold blooded, premeditated revenge against his enemies in the SBC.

And so once you understand the context of the letters, you begin to understand the magnitude of the leadership crisis we have in the SBC.”