Funny thing, I've talked with numerous Southern Baptist FReepers who have "explained" to me that Southern Baptists DON'T operate this way.
They have "informed" me that "all pastors have EQUAL power in the SBC" and there's "no such thing as an executive pastor -- the SBC President is just a powerless symbolic office with no authority". It's a "bottom-top" model rather than the Catholic Church's "top-bottom" model where the senior pastor of a congregation has the absolute authority to do whatever he wants with HIS church.
According to them, if the pastor of a congregation "went rogue", then the congregation THEMSELVES would vote to remove him and elect a new pastor. In the event he blatantly defies SBC rules/teachings, there's "nothing they can do until the next annual national conference", at which point the SBC nationally can simply vote to "disaffiliate" the local church if the congregation refuses to remove their pastor, and thus kick the church out of the SBC for having an embarrassing pastor that is not in line with the rest of the SBC -- but this is ONLY done as a "last resort" and is "extremely rare but it does happen once in a blue moon"
But, silly me, this article says the "NewSpring board of directors" got together at their regular meeting and voted to remove the "Senior Pastor" of that congregation, and "Executive Pastor Shane Duffey", who outranks Duffey, then fired him.
Who should I believe -- this article, or what Southern Baptist freepers claim about their church?
It appears that you don’t know what an “Executive Pastor” is. In a large or megachurch, it’s the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the church. Generally, personnel, finance, and facilities would report to him. He may or may not serve as media spokesman. He generally will rarely, if ever, preach, although he is ordained. (An un-ordained person in the same role might be titled ‘Executive Director’.) Missions and Ministries may, but generally won’t, report through him.
“But, silly me, this article says the “NewSpring board of directors” got together at their regular meeting and voted to remove the “Senior Pastor” of that congregation, and “Executive Pastor Shane Duffey”, who outranks Duffey, then fired him.”
It depends on the church constitution. Some require a pastor be removed by vote of the congregation, others require a vote of the deacons. I assume a mega-church might have different rules, although I’ve never been in an SBC church that had a Board of Directors.
“the SBC President is just a powerless symbolic office with no authority”. It’s a “bottom-top” model rather than the Catholic Church’s “top-bottom” model”
True. No one in the SBC, external to the congregation, can remove a pastor. That is done internal to the congregation (church). There is no “Southern Baptist Church” - only 40,000+ churches joined for the purpose of seminaries and supporting missions. The “SBC President” has no authority over any individual church.