Shocked. Devastated. Disappointed. Despondent. Disillusioned. Heartbroken.
Pick one. It would be impossible to adequately describe the emotional disorientation that came — and lingers — with the news of Willie McLaurin’s unimaginable and incomprehensible fall from grace due to fraudulent claims on his resume regarding his educational achievements. McLaurin was within grasp of becoming president of the Southern Baptists Convention’s Executive Committee, a position for which he’s shown aptitude for 20 months.
But like a whisper, the opportunity vanished.
And like a tsunami whose destructive surge will recede slowly, it is way too soon and too impossible to calculate the colossal amount of damage his actions have caused a beleaguered denomination already staggering from various issues and in-fighting. McLaurin, as interim Executive Committee (EC) president, brought calm to a battered organization in the wake of former president Ronnie Floyd’s resignation and to the EC’s handling of sexual abuse claims related to SBC churches. [Read more…]