LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Baptist News Global [Jacksonville FL]
March 28, 2024
By David Bumgardner
After a months-long saga of media coverage, internal infighting and an exodus of members and deacons, Pastor Steven Smith of Immanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock, Ark. tendered his resignation via a letter to his congregation last night.
As previously reported by BNG, Immanuel Baptist is a prominent, wealthy and tall-steeple congregation where former Arkansas governor and U.S. President Bill Clinton previously worshiped. It is one of the largest and best-known churches in the state.
It also has been the subject of nearly four dozen reports detailing internal infighting, political drama, an exodus of members with young children, and a 41% vote of “no confidence” in Smith by the church’s deacon board, much of which has resigned.
Nearly all this reporting has come from Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion editor Frank E. Lockwood. In February, Smith blamed the church’s abuse crisis and media coverage on Satan, rebuking him: “We command you by the power and the blood of Jesus to leave us alone.”
The drama began in December when Joseph Gates, a Sunday school teacher at Immanuel and legal counsel for one of the victims of the abuse at the church, penned an open letter to the church accusing Smith of concealing a case of child sexual abuse from the congregation perpetrated by a former children’s minister.
Patrick Stephen Miller, 37, was charged with second-degree sexual assault and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor harassment in January 2022. He was given a one-year suspended sentence, with 19 days credit for time already served, and wasn’t required to register as a sex offender, according to court documents. However, Miller remains under investigation as a second victim now has come forward. Based on media reports, there could be still other victims.
Miller reportedly worked as an intern at Immanuel and later joined the staff as assistant director of children’s ministry at the time the abuse occurred. His acknowledged victim and alleged victim were in third or fourth grade at the time the alleged abuse occurred.
After leaving Immanuel Baptist in Little Rock, Miller moved to First Baptist Church of Moore, Okla., in suburban Oklahoma City. There, he served as associate pastor to children for two years, resigning shortly before his 2018 arrest.
According to reports in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, most members at Immanuel did not know Miller had been arrested, charged with a crime, convicted or sentenced despite the first victim’s family asking the pastor in 2018 to inform the parents of other “potentially affected girls.”
Smith resigned in the wake of the Gazette reporting that Miller attempted (but has since ceased) to seal his criminal records.
Smith, who is the son of former Southern Baptist Convention President Bailey Smith, served the church since 2017. Previously, he served as vice president for student services and professor of preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the administration of Paige Patterson. He also served on the preaching team at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas and as a preaching professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Related articles:
How does a pastor survive a 59% vote of confidence? | Opinion by Mark Wingfield
Saga of Little Rock church’s conflict over sexual abuse claims still making headlines
Prominent Arkansas SBC church accused of hiding knowledge of former staff member’s abuse of child
More details emerging of Little Rock church’s abuse problem