Following a series of accusations of plagiarism, newly-elected Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Ed Litton deleted several sermon videos from his church's YouTube account.
About 140 videos on the Redemption Church YouTube website were either inaccessible or hidden, reports Newsweek.
A pastor named Gabriel Hughes uploaded a screenshot of many deleted sermons from Redemption Church's YouTube channel with a quotation from Litton's statement that says, "Out of a commitment to full transparency, I have gone back through all the 46 sermons in this series..."
Hughes wrote on Twitter: "Redemption Church has now deleted, hidden, or privatized over 100 videos on YouTube, much of them sermons... That's full transparency?"
The Redemption Church elders issued the following statement in reaction to all the uproar over the removal of sermons from the church's YouTube channel:
"By the action of the leadership of Redemption Church, we have taken down sermon series prior to 2020 because people were going through sermons in an attempt to discredit and malign our pastor. It is our highest priority to care for and shepherd our church."
However, they quickly followed this by stating that the whole of their future sermons are still available on their YouTube account, even including the series "Romans" from 2020. This is while they await the launch of their new website at the end of July.
According to Christian News Now, which thoroughly examined the accusation, the controversy started when Summit Church Pastor J.D. Greear's sermon recordings were used in 2020 by Litton, who recently became the president of the SBC.
The sermon in question contains elements similar to a speech given by J.D. Greear a year before. This was based on a YouTube video that displays many brief excerpts from Greear's sermon on Romans 1 and then demonstrates how nearly identical Litton's lecture on Romans 1 is. Also, two additional videos were published shortly after the first one came out, each one featuring Greear and Litton delivering separate Romans lectures but using almost identical language.
Christian News provided a transcript for the first video with a note that although the Romans' sermon was "not word-for-word," Litton used the same pattern as well as the beginning and comparable mission trip narrative as Greear while delivering his sermon.
Following this, Litton issued a statement on Redemption Church's website, in which he addressed the issues surrounding the parallels between Greear's lecture on Romans 1 and his own sermon. In it, he detailed his research methods in preparation for a series on Romans, noting that he utilized many materials to guide his study of the topic. During that process, Litton found what Greear had previously taught about the Romans series and realized that the path God was steering him and his preaching team had aligned with that message.
"I found that J.D. Greear's message on Romans 1 was insightful, particularly his three points of application. With his permission, I borrowed some of his insights and those three closing points. The story of Paul David Tripp was from his devotional New Morning Mercies on January 22nd. His story took place in India," he explained.
"Our team also, with his permission, used The Summit Church's chapter and verse breakdown of Romans as we mapped out our entire series. Out of a commitment to full transparency, I have gone back through all the 46 sermons in this series. I have located in some places similar illustrations, quotes or points of application. One shares the same title, and one has a similar outline," he added.
He said that he follows the same procedure in his sermon preparation each time. He believes that all pastors who preach consistently depend on other pastors and scholars to assist them in figuring out and expressing more clearly the Bible's messages for their congregations.
Nonetheless, he offered an apology for failing to give credit to Greear.
"But I am sorry for not mentioning J.D.'s generosity and ownership of these points. I should have given him credit as I shared these insights," he wrote.
"I felt it important to address this in order to provide the truth and to take responsibility for places where I should have been more careful," he added.
The issue was also addressed by J.D. Greear, who said that he had approved the use of some of his lectures for Litton's "Romans" series.
"Pastor Ed Litton reached out and told me that he had really appreciated my take on Paul's warnings in that chapter and asked if he could use some of the content with his congregation, as well as how we had broken down our entire series on Romans at The Summit Church," he said. "I told him that whatever bullets of mine worked in his gun, to use them!"
"My own take on these kinds of things is usually shaped by the input of many godly men and women., he explained. "Ed and I have been friends for many years and we have talked often about these matters, and I was honored that he found my presentation helpful."
Another issue hit when Christian News pointed out that Litton's sermon from one Sunday was critiqued by Evangelist Justin Peters' video that detailed what he discovered. Peters referenced an analogy used by Litton as being from Nancy Hicks' book, "Meant To Live."
He was quoted as saying, "Dear friends, plagiarism is serious. It is theft. It is dishonoring to the people to whom you are preaching. It is ultimately dishonoring to God."
Additionally, he claims that the SBC has had a plagiarism culture for decades naming other SBC leaders like Pastor Rick Warren and Bible teacher Jen Wilkin.
He stated that in accordance with Jeremiah 23:30 which states "Therefore behold," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who steal from one another words they attribute to Me," today's preachers are stealing words from one another.
He went on to say that it makes no difference whether they obtain permission from the person from whom they are stealing; if they do not give credit to that person when they address their flock, they are considered liars.
