Reformation Charlotte has been covering the scandal at First Baptist Church in Naples, FL — a megachurch that recently held a vote that failed to install a black pastor as lead pastor of the church. The candidate, Marcus Hayes, received only 81% of the required 85% of the vote to secure the position.

After the failed vote, the leadership of the church ascribed the results of the vote to “racial prejudices” and indicted the 19% of the congregation that voted against him of “racism.”

Since the scandal began, many members of the church have reached out to Reformation Charlotte to tell their side of the story and after careful investigation, it is clear that none of the accusations of “racism” can be substantiated by any of the evidence put forth thus far.

While we cannot say with absolute certainty that not a single one of the “no” voters did so out of racial prejudice — racism does exist in every aspect of society to a certain degree and on every end of the racial spectrum — the bigger issue is the allegations made against these members were public and potentially damaging to them personally while no evidence has been shown to support the accusations.

Reformation Charlotte has been giving a voice to those who have been accused to tell their side of the story — you can read all of the articles at this link. Below is an email sent by the concerned party to members of the church whereby the accusations against them are rebutted. While mainstream Evangelical and Southern Baptist leaders have jumped on the bandwagon of smearing these people, we believe it is important for the truth to come out and all sides of the story to be told.