Former president sues a top Southern Baptist seminary over financial disputes
A former seminary president defended his reputation as a good steward of Southern Baptists money in a federal lawsuit against Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, escalating an already tense conflict between the Southern Baptist Convention leader and his former employer.
In a complaint filed Wednesday in the U.S. Northern District of Texas, Adam Greenway alleged Southwestern Seminary defamed the former president through online posts and by feeding stories to the media. Greenway said this concerted media campaign sought to mask other beefs he had with certain administrators and board trustees, including over Greenway expressing certain political views on social media.
“Greenway took executive actions and voiced opinions relating to political issues that were met with disapproval” by alumni, board trustees and faculty, said Greenway’s complaint. The former Southwestern Seminary president outlined some of his grievances last October in a demand letter, but his recent complaint more explicitly spells out his argument.
The seminary pushed back against Greenway’s claims and antagonistic spirit in a statement.
“It is regrettable that Adam Greenway is suing the seminary he has previously claimed to love,” Southwestern Seminary said in the statement. “We categorically deny the allegations contained in the lawsuit.”
Southwestern Seminary has turned into a symbol of opulent and excessive spending on Southern Baptists’ dime. The Fort Worth seminary and nine other SBC-affiliated agencies, called entities, receive funding from the Cooperative Program budget, which is supported by church giving.
In fact, Greenway’s complaint references controversies surrounding his predecessor, Paige Patterson, as a point of contrast to illustrate the integrity he believes he led with. Patterson — who has come under fire for an array of financially precarious decisions during his tenure at Southwestern — hired a cadre of full-time staff to work at the president’s residence on campus for general up-keep and to cook for Patterson and his wife, Greenway’s complaint said.
Greenway said he got rid of those staff when he moved into the president’s manor in 2019. Also, Greenway refuted notions that he lavishly spent money on the president’s manor, saying in his complaint those expenditures were to refurnish the house following Patterson’s dismissal and accommodations for large groups during special events.
Greenway’s complaint cited reports that Southwestern Seminary sent the SBC Executive Committee on an annual basis attesting that “expenses and prerequisites of the president are not excessive and are in keeping with biblical stewardship.”
Throughout the Nashville-based SBC and across its factional divides is a growing desire for greater financial transparency and accountability, especially about SBC executives. Several Southern Baptist voting delegates, called messengers, introduced motions at the 2023 SBC annual meeting asking entities to publish information contained in 990 forms submitted to the IRS.
Some messengers hope to see salaries of entities’ top executives. A final decision about those 990 requests is expected in June, when SBC Executive Committee members will vote to affirm or reject those requests.
In addition to a potential severance Greenway received from Southwestern Seminary as part of a separation agreement, Greenway’s lawsuit is seeking at least $75,000 in damages.
“What he (Greenway) has been met with at the hands of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary since his departure has not shaken his faith or his resolve,” said Greenway's attorney, Andrew Jones, in the statement. “To be victimized by one’s own alma mater is a particular form of cruelty.”
Following Southern Baptist money: How an SBC retirement agency's investing reveals tension over conservative values
Other SBC legal battles
Greenway’s lawsuit isn’t Southwestern Seminary’s only legal battle. It’s also a defendant in a U.S. Court of Appeals case about Patterson allegedly intimidating a female seminarian who reported being raped. Other notable civil cases involving SBC entities or leaders are:
Several abuse-related lawsuits, including cases filed by abuse survivors in South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Arguably the most notable abuse-related civil case against the SBC to date — brought by alleged abuse victim Gerald D. Rollins against Paul Pressler, a former prominent Southern Baptist leader — recently ended in an undisclosed settlement between Rollins and the SBC.
Defamation cases brought by former SBC president Johnny Hunt and former seminary professor David Sills, who both face abuse allegations and are challenging assessments in a May 2022 report from Guidepost Solutions about abuse in the SBC.
A U.S. Court of Appeals case against the North American Mission Board over plaintiff Will McRaney's dismissal from a state Southern Baptist convention that contracted to work with the mission agency.
Claims that Louisiana pastor Brad Jurkovich, a leader of the Conservative Baptist Network — an advocacy group within a more conservative faction in the SBC — and former pastor to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, led a hostile takeover of his church and allegedly retaliated against members who dissented.
Other recent SBC news: Top Southern Baptist committee hires new CEO after yearslong search process
Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on social media @liamsadams.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary sued by former president
