Big Eva fails the faithful

There are reasons the church is in crisis

Dr. Russell Moore helped save Brent Leatherwood’s job at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission with the help of the legacy media. Moore also was identified in Megan Basham’s book Shepherd’s for Sale. Dr. Russell Moore/X

Nothing captures the moral and theological crisis in Big Evangelicalism than events involving Brent Leatherwood and Megan Basham over the past month.

Leatherwood is the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). Leatherwood was fired and rehired following an X post regarding  President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential election on July 21. Basham is the DailyWire writer who exposed the ERLC’s appeasement of CNN and other media that complained of Leatherwood’s dismissal. 

Basham also has been a lightning rod of controversy over her new book Shepherd’s for Sale, which was published July 30. The book chronicles multiple Big Eva churches and organizations that get money from leftist groups pushing progressive agendas on unwitting church members.

Big Eva–a group of influential pastors and heads of organizations in Evangelical Protestant Christianity–has lurched to the left on countless issues where there is biblical direction. When something happens in Big Eva’s ranks, it’s possible that CNN, the New York Times, The Washington Post, or others bring wailing and gnashing of teeth until they placate the media. These Christian leaders expose their capitulation and wokeness at a time when few bring the necessary moral clarity for the spirit of the age.

Brent Leatherwood wrote a post on X after President Joe Biden dropped out of the election on July 21 that nearly cost him his job. Moore helped save Leatherwood’s job at the ERLC. Brent Leatherwood/X

After Biden dropped out of the presidential election, Leatherwood wrote the following on X: “We should all express our appreciation that President Biden has put the needs of the nation above his personal ambition. Despite what some partisans will say, to walk away from power is a selfless act—the kind that has become all too rare in our culture.”

Biden’s move was not a selfless act. 

Biden was shoved, and according to journalist Seymour Hersh, former President Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries played the roles of extorting him with the 25th Amendment if he didn’t leave the race. Top Biden aide Anita Dunn places the blame on Pelosi. Leatherwood’s X post was embarrassingly clueless about what was happening to drive Biden out of his re-election bid.

Former ERLC head Russell Moore, now Christianity Today’s editor-in-chief, rushed in with pressure from CNN, The View, and the New York Times. The ERLC Executive Committee had support for Leatherwood’s ouster. However, when the legacy media rushed in, the ERLC chickened out, and Leatherwood's job was saved, according to William Wolfe of the Center for Baptist Leadership. Read his explanation here.

The events caused Kevin Smith, a Florida pastor who was ERLC board chairman until July 23, to resign because he believed he had consensus to fire Leatherwood, but he did not have a formal board vote. The irony is this ERLC fiasco ended up taking out a black pastor as head of the executive committee. Nothing says racial reconciliation like driving a black pastor to resign from a prominent position.

Certain Big Eva pastors and organization leaders fail to stand against the moral mayhem and culture climate change because they only have a spine for money driving their convictions.

DailyWire writer Megan Basham wrote the New York Times bestseller Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda. Megan Basham/X

Basham has been under intense pressure with the publishing of her book, Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda. She follows the money and the ensuing hypocrisy. Basham, whose book is already a New York Times bestseller, named names, such as Moore, New York Times columnist David French, and former SBC President J.D. Greear, among others.

Organizations that have been co-opted include Christianity Today, the magazine established by the late Billy Graham in 1956, and the National Association of Evangelicals, among others. The issues that have gained attention by progressive groups trying to influence churches and organizations are: climate change, immigration, LGBTQ, abortion, race, and others. 

The Amazon description of Basham’s book includes the following:

In Shepherds for Sale, Megan Basham of the Daily Wire documents how progressive powerbrokers —from George Soros, to the founder of eBay, to former members of the Obama administration— set out to change the American church. Their goal: to co-opt evangelicals for political purposes. She exposes:

·     The left-wing billionaires, foundations, and think tanks that deliberately target Christian media, universities, megachurches, nonprofits, and even entire denominations

·     The celebrity megachurch pastor who secretly encouraged a group of pastors to change their views on sexuality

·     The revered Presbyterian theologian who backed a congregation rebelling against his own denomination

These are just a glimpse into the compromises and astroturf campaigns Basham uncovered. … 

Basham has received negative feedback, which will inevitably occur when someone names names. She has responded to each one, including Gavin Ortlund and J.D. Greear.

Basham also posted on X shortly after her book was published that one day she will tell the story of the forces that were brought to bear against the publishing of Shepherds for Sale.

All is not well with specific churches and organizations that would promote their bonafides on Jesus Christ’s gospel. American Christ followers are seeing people being co-opted by the culture or cash coming with strings that would compromise the gospel.

It was long overdue for someone to hit these leaders and organizations for selling their souls for the approval of man rather than a kingdom not of this world.

If they’re going to buckle under pressure from negative media attention related to a Leatherwood tweet, imagine how the folks holding the purse strings can easily get what they want from these feeble Christian leaders.

If these people were leading churches at the time of the American Revolution, we’d still belong to England.