At Second Baptist Church, members face a choice: Stay and fight — or leave — as lawsuit divides church

In recent weeks, the Rev. Ben Young took to the stage of Second Baptist Church’s main Woodway campus and urged congregants to make a choice to resist temptation and protect themselves from succumbing to outside pressures. 

He walked them through how to choose forgiveness, instead of harboring a grudge. He argued that, in an uncertain world, faith is necessary because of its transformative potential to sustain people in crisis. 

They were messages that drew light applause and brought some of those still attending the church to their feet. But they also come at a particularly precarious moment for Second Baptist, as a bitter lawsuit divides both church leadership and its congregants.

Officials at the church over nearly three years ushered in changes to the bylaws governing the six-campus church. They also chose its new leader, senior pastor Ben Young, without a vote of the lay members. Critics argue the church’s bylaws were changed without proper notice or informed consent of the 94,000 congregants, and that those changes concentrated control in the hands of Young and his appointees.

The case, filed in Texas’ 11th Division Business Court, is set for trial on April 29. In the months since the lawsuit was filed last spring, many longtime members of Second Baptist have faced a different choice: to stay members as the litigation plays out in court, or to leave and find a new place of worship.

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Archie Dunham chose to stay, deciding after more than 30 years that Second Baptist is as much his own as it is the home of the Young family, which has led the church for decades and advocated for the structural changes that fueled the revolt.

“I do not want to be part of any other church.” said Dunham, who is supportive of the Jeremiah Counsel that is the plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Any other church than the one I know.”

While a court will determine if a vote stripping members of their power to decide on church governance matters is legal, it will not be able to repair hurt feelings or restore a sense of belonging to those who feel wronged. 

Some members are trying to find some kind of in-between, said Doug Bech, one of the leaders of the Jeremiah Counsel.

Bech has chosen to stay but has altered his routine. Feeling unwelcome because of the divide, he goes to Bible study but does not attend the main services.

“I think they have removed my name from the roll,” Bech said.

Though handled informally, there is a paper trail to Baptist church membership. To become part of a church’s listed membership, a believer can “walk the aisle,” as some refer to it, and affirm their faith to church leadership. A simpler, less public path can be a transfer of membership from one church to another. 

Though affiliated with the broader Southern Baptist Convention, Second Baptist has wide autonomy in its membership policies, and membership is not automatic. Nor is it waived simply by attending another Baptist church. People stay on the rolls of a church until they are removed, and each church has different policies for how often it culls its membership for people who have moved on.

Bech said he has chosen to remain at Second Baptist because to formally leave would cut him off from future decisions, should the congregation be asked to approve any changes. He noted that one of the disagreements between the current church leadership and Jeremiah Counsel is how the meeting that changed the bylaws was explained to the church – and why just 317 of the 94,000 enrolled members of the church voted.

‘Biblically and legally’

The changes to Second Baptist’s structure came after the May 2024 retirement of the Rev. Ed Young, who had led the church since 1978 and attained national prominence in the role and for his successful online ministry. 

When Young stepped aside, he named his son his successor and senior pastor of the six-campus church. Rather than a church-wide vote on his promotion to senior pastor, a cadre of church officials approved the appointment. 

One year earlier, a sparsely-attended vote set the course for Ben Young’s ascension. Typically, a congregation would hold a more robust, public vote to invite a new pastor to lead.

Billed as a business meeting, the May 31, 2023, gathering ultimately changed the church’s bylaws to put most responsibility in the hands of a "ministry leadership team” whose members are selected by the senior pastor.

“A significant number of the people who were at that meeting, they may have just been told verbally that they should go to the meeting and support the new bylaws even though they did not see them,” Bech said.

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Second Baptist leadership has not responded to numerous requests for comment about the lawsuit or its effects on the congregation. In comments before churchgoers during a Sunday service in April last year, Ben Young said “the allegations made concerning me and my family simply are not true. They just are not.”

He said the critics were “struggling with change.”

“There is always pushback, always challenge, always conflict," Young told the crowd.

Young said the bylaw changes came about to oversee the multi-campus church and were unanimously supported and reviewed “biblically and legally” by committees before the vote on them.

‘In God’s hands’

The lawsuit has created unease within the membership – at least among those paying attention. Some, like Bech, remain but feel unwelcome. Others, many of whom declined to comment, have headed elsewhere but are keeping track of the lawsuit and rumors swirling around the Woodway campus and beyond.

For Dunham, the dispute has made him less likely to mingle or fraternize with some members he knows, but has not driven him away – yet. Second Baptist is a second home.

“I’ve attended church all over the United States,” Dunham said. “This was the best church I have ever intended. Really outstanding Bible study teachers at all ages. 

Dunham’s jobs in oil and gas, especially his time as CEO of Conoco and later ConocoPhillips, sent him all over the world. He’s worshipped on six continents in some form or fashion, at times over the phone.

“Ed Young was a prayer partner and a very close friend. We would pray together wherever I was in the world.”

Both nearing 90, the two men are no longer in close contact.

Still, Dunham is not looking for a new church, he said. Rather than retreat from what is an awkward situation, Dunham stays while being clear that leadership needs to return to the old bylaws – by court order, if necessary.

“I have encouraged a lot of my friends in Bible study to wait and not leave yet,” Dunham said.

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However, many have headed for the exits.

“I would say the attendance is down 25-to-35 percent,” Dunham said.

His hope, he said, is that many find their way back when the lawsuit is settled.

“I think the majority of members would follow, and there would be forgiveness,” Dunham said.

While Dunham says the discomfort of the dispute has not spoiled services, he admits there is a difference. There is less chatter with others before and after services, for example. He and his son might mingle a bit, but keep it brief and certainly steer away from the current court case.

That routine is fine, but it cannot conceal the reality that should the court rule against Jeremiah Counsel, Dunham is going to have to find a new house of worship.

“If we lose our case, then I probably will join nearly all my close friends who left the church,” he said.

Still, Dunham maintains his faith.

“That outcome will be in God's hands.”