Compiled by B&R staff
NASHVILLE — A Southern Baptist Convention church affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention and the Sevier County Association of Baptists is one of four churches that have been disfellowshipped by the SBC Executive Committee.
Antioch Baptist Church in Sevierville was dropped for employing a pastor who confessed to two counts of statutory rape. Also disfellowshiped for affirming homosexuality were Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Ga., and St. Matthews Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky. West Side Baptist Church in Sharpsville, Pa., was disfellowshiped for employing as its pastor a registered sex offender.
The EC decisions came during an executive session following the recommendations of the SBC Credentials Committee. The decisions were announced in a plenary session at the close of its two-day meeting in Nashville on Feb. 23.
Following the SBC action, Pastor Randy Leming Jr., of Antioch Baptist Church, Sevierville, since 2014, announced his resignation on Sunday, Feb. 28. Leming declined to provide a statement to the Baptist and Reflector. [Read more…]