"Until He Comes": Paige Patterson's valediction in historical context (with addendum)

My commentary on a letter of Paige Patterson in the SBC archival collections I have been researching

Since December 2022, I have made two different research trips to the Southern Baptist Convention Historical Library and Archives in Nashville, TN, one trip to the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary archives in Ft. Worth, Texas, and one trip to Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec archives at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

I’ve read file after file of SBC documents—including correspondence among pastors and leaders in the Executive Committee and notable figures in the conservative resurgence.

I’ve run across names that, at the time were minor figures but have now become major players in the SBC world. For example, Albert Mohler—president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—wrote a letter on October 10, 2001, to James Merritt, then president of the Southern Baptist Convention. “You are constantly in my prayers,” Mohler wrote to Merritt. “You are making us all proud through your service as President of the Southern Baptist Convention.” Mohler’s primary reason for writing was to make committee nominations. “I want to recommend that you appoint Mr. Russell Moore to the Committee on Resolutions,” wrote Mohler. “As you know, Russ has served as my Research Assistant for several years. He now serves as Instructor in Theology on our faculty and also as Director of the Carl F.H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement. He is an expert in the fields of theology and Christian ethics, and I believe he will be of tremendous value to this committee.”

I knew Russell Moore’s early career was linked with Al Mohler, but seeing the archival evidence still grabbed my attention.

As did the appearance of other names in the files, like that of Paige Patterson, Dorothy K. Patterson, Johnny Hunt, and Macel Falwell.

Those in the SBC world probably know these names. For those of you who don’t: Paige Patterson and his wife Dorothy K. Patterson were architects of the hardline conservative turn in the SBC that severely limited women in ministry—Paige Patterson also served as president of the SBC, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Johnny Hunt is a SBC pastor accused of sexual assault in the 2023 Guidepost Solutions report—he too served in leadership in the SBC; and Macel Falwell was the wife of Jerry Falwell, Sr., an architect of the rise of the religious right and founder of Liberty University.

What grabbed my attention wasn’t just their names. It was how and when their names appeared.

Let’s take Paige Patterson, for example. I was not given permission to view Patterson’s papers at the Nashville archives. Let me clarify that the archivist Taffy Hall requested permission for me; but I was denied because of the restrictions placed on the collection. While most of the collections in archives are open for study, some have restrictions placed on them. As the finding aid for the collection states, “access to material requires written approval of Paige Patterson, or his designated representative, until January 1, 2050. After that time the collection will be open to researchers without restrictions.” My request was denied.* (see addendum at end)

Patterson still appears in the collections I researched, though. I found it cc’ed on several letters concerning the ordination of women (more about these in Becoming the Pastor’s Wife). I found it mentioned in the Conference for Ministers’ Wives material (ditto more on this). I found it mentioned in reference to seminaries and the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.

And I found one letter signed by him on June 16, 2000. It was to James Merritt, the just-elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

This is what Patterson wrote:

“Dear Brother Jim,

With amazement I watched so young a man handle the press as if you had spent a whole lifetime training for it. Not only do I congratulate you on your election to the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, but also handing the Convention over to you was like handing a gift to someone if somehow you could know that as soon as his hands received the gift it would be transformed and radically enhanced in value. I am convinced that is exactly what happened when we turned the Convention over to you.

Now, I will watch with prayerful attendance on a daily basis as God exalts you to position of loving leadership over the whole of Southern Baptist people. Over the next two years you will make an incredible and monumental contribution to the Lord’s work. Never doubt that I will be praying for you daily and watching with profound interest and a grateful heart to see what God does in and through you. Be sure not to get so involved that you fail to give adequate time to the boys and to your sweetheart. I know you will not make that mistake, but I just urge you against it. I also urge you to set aside some specific time for vacation during both years when you can get away from the press of it all.

My brother, please know how much I love you and how great a satisfaction it was be to my deepest soul to yield the Convention to you.

Now, Jim, may the siphonophore of ten myriads of dromedaries infest your axillae if you dare to even think about answering this letter. Remember, I know what you will face at home, and I pray that the plagues of the Apocalypse will attend you daily if you take one second of time to respond to this.

Until He Comes,

Paige Patterson.”

Want to guess what caught my attention most about that letter?

No, it wasn’t the “may the siphonophore of ten myriads of dromedaries infest your axillae.”

It was the valediction.

“Until He Comes.”

Paige Patterson signed off his letter with reference to the name of Jesus. He closed his letter from the posture of one waiting for the Savior’s return; of one whose eyes are fixed on the coming of Christ.

I stared at that line for several seconds. Then I looked at the date of the letter. It was written on June 16, 2000.

Do you know what happened just a few days earlier, June 13-14, in the Southern Baptist world?

It was the annual convention, focused on the theme of “God’s Word and the Worldwide Harvest.” Paige Patterson, the outgoing SBC president, called the convention to order and delivered the presidential address. Jeb Bush, governor of Florida (thanks for my proofreader who caught my accidental Texas there….) at the time, welcomed the convention messengers. And, on the last day (June 14), the Baptist Faith and Message committee delivered their report from the review initiated at the 1999 convention. The revisions to the Baptist Faith and Message had been released before the meeting on May 18, 2000, and, the messengers voted affirmatively on the revisions.

What were those revisions?

Among others, Article VI. The Church was revised to limit the office of pastor to men “as qualified by Scripture.” Article XVIII. The Family remained the same, as it had already been added as an amendment in 1998. It states that the “God-given” role of husband is “to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family.” The role of the wife is “to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.”

Just a few days before those revisions were approved under the presidency of Paige Patterson, Patterson had written a letter (p. 42 in the Final Guidepost Solutions Independent Investigation Report) to Rev. Doug Pigg of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville Fl. The date of the letter was June 6, 2000, and the subject concerned sexual abuse. “The matter of the sexual abuse to which I referred,” Patterson wrote to Pigg, “was the fact that there are fairly frequent lawsuits now being filed against churches in sexual abuse cases.” Patterson notes that lawsuits against churches for sexual abuse cases are less likely to be successful if the church “could document that they had made some effort to educate those who worked among children as to how to watch for and respond to dangers.” He recommended that churches follow this practice for the express purpose of preventing the success of lawsuits against them.

Let me say that again. The concern expressed in this letter is for the prevention of the success of sexual abuse lawsuits against churches.

Patterson notes that many churches and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary were “in the practice of having an outside firm, even in some cases social services of the government with whom we are, of course, in total disagreement but nonetheless asking them to come in for a Saturday seminar.” He also suggests that, “the church needs to perhaps record the session and in other ways document that they have had it. This, of course, if it should ever come to a court matter, will weigh heavily in the mind of the court.”

In other words, just a few days before the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message was approved, the president of the SBC advised a church to implement sexual abuse education for the stated goal of achieving protection from successful lawsuits. The Guidepost report states that, “Patterson noted [sexual abuse education] could be achieved by churches holding a lunch and a one-hour awareness seminar.” (p. 41)

Patterson also signed this letter with the valediction, “Until He Comes.”

Three years later (in 2003) Patterson, in his role as president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, would tell Megan Lively, then a seminary student, not to report her rape by a fellow student to the police. According to reports, Patterson questioned Lively personally, “asking for precise details and then suggesting she was at fault for inviting a male student to her room. She was asked to forgive her assailant and advised not to report it to the police.”

Four years later, in July 2004, the attorney for Christa Brown sent a report of her abuse to several SBC leaders including the SBC President Bobby Welch. The advice of the legal counsel for the SBC was to not respond directly to the specific demands in the report but “wait and see what transpired. We may or may not get sued. There is no explicit threat in that regard.” (pp. 43-50)

Also four years later (in 2004), reports surfaced that Paul Pressler, Patterson’s partner in staging the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, had sexually abused a male teenager. A recent article by Bob Smietana notes that, “Gene Besen, a lawyer for the SBC, called Pressler a “monster” and “a dangerous predator” who leveraged his “power and false piety” to sexually abuse young men even as he was building his reputation as a conservative reformer.”

Remember that Paige Patterson launched the conservative resurgence in 1979 with the help of Paul Pressler. It was only one year earlier, in 1978, that Pressler “was forced out of a Houston church for allegedly molesting a teenager in a sauna.”

We now know that, at the time Paige Patterson signed that letter to James Merritt with the valediction “Until He Comes,” it was already known that Pressler had a reputation for sexually abusing boys.

The same research trip in which I read the letter from Patterson to Merritt, I ran across a brochure, also dated 2004. It was for a Bible Study Cruise, January 12-17, 2004, that included “daily Bible sessions with some of America’s best known preachers of the Gospel: Adrian Rogers, Jerry Vines, Jim Henry, Gary Smalley, James Merritt, Jack Graham, Johnny Hunt, and David Dykes.” Johnny Hunt’s name also appears in the Guidepost Solutions Report—for allegedly sexually assaulting a pastor’s wife in 2010. The Guidepost report found the pastor’s wife accusations “credible”; it did not find Hunt’s statements to be credible. Do you know what the last two lines of that 2004 brochure featuring the preaching of Johnny Hunt are? “All this plus…Christian Fellowship. The week is yours to relax and enjoy vacationing in a Christian atmosphere.”

While the SBC was hardening the limits on women, enforcing female submission to male headship, blocking women from following a God-given call to ministry—even as sexual predators were flourishing and sexual abuse victims were being ignored—SBC leaders like Johnny Hunt and Paige Patterson were preaching on cruise ships with “Christian atmosphere” and encouraging churches to hold one hour listening sessions on sexual abuse prevention so that lawsuits against them would not be successful.

All while signing correspondence in the name of Jesus.

“Until He Comes.”

Addendum: It was brought to my attention that before 2019, Patterson’s collection was fully open to researchers. Patterson changed the agreement of his papers—restricting access. The Baptist Blogger reminds that this was around the time that Robert Downen, an investigative journalist for the Houston Chronicle, published a series on how SBC leaders handled reports of sexual abuse.

The Patterson and Mohler letters can be found: #AR 847 2:53,56: James Merritt Papers, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee. The image of the Patterson letter is used with permission.

The January Cruise Bible Study brochure can be found: #AR 369 8: Conference of Southern Baptist Ministers’ Wives Collection, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee