Fate of accused abusive pastor falls to his flock
Pastor Travis Smith paced First Baptist Church’s sanctuary, decorated for the holidays. He addressed his congregation in Stover, Missouri, about forgiveness. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,” he read from the Gospel of Matthew.
Since Smith’s arrest in October on sexual abuse and statutory rape charges, which follow similar allegations from 2010, forgiveness from his congregation has become critical to his survival as its pastor. It is this group of about 100 souls—not a bishop, nor a disciplinary committee nor national church leaders—who will decide Smith’s future in the Southern Baptist Convention.
Unlike members of many denominations—such as Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians and Presbyterians—Southern Baptists don’t conform to a centralized, hierarchical structure. Instead, authority resides at the local church level. And that’s true even amid allegations of clergy misconduct.
