Ep. 495: ACNA and Stewart Ruch, T.D. Jakes, the ERLC

On today’s program, a third prosecutor has been appointed in the trial of Anglican Church in North America Bishop Stewart Ruch after the first two resigned. The Bishop is on trial with the denomination for welcoming abusers into the church, and minimizing the needs of abuse survivors. A North Carolina church was the victim of an online scam that stole nearly $800 thousand from their new building fund. That was two years ago—we’ll look at where the church is now. Plus, Brent Leatherwood resigns from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, just one year after being fired…then unfired. Leatherwood led the agency for four contentious years. We’ll have details. First, the defense attorney in a lawsuit involving T.D. Jakes has been sanctioned by the court for using artificial intelligence in the preparation of court documents. The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Kim Roberts, Kathryn Post, Daniel Ritchie, Bob Smietana, Katie Ruth Bowes, and Isaac Wood. A special thanks to the Biblical Recorder and The NonProfit Times for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.   MANUSCRIPT:    FIRST SEGMENT Warren: Hello everybody. I’m Warren Smith, coming to you from Charlotte, North Carolina. Christina: And I’m Christina Darnell, in for Natasha Cowden this week, and we’d like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast. Warren: On today’s program, a third prosecutor has been appointed in the trial of Anglican Church in North America Bishop Stewart Ruch after the first two resigned. The Bishop is on trial with the denomination for welcoming abusers into the church, and minimizing the needs of abuse survivors. And, a North Carolina church was the victim of an online scam that stole nearly $800 thousand from their new building fund. That was two years ago—we’ll look at where the church is now. Plus, Brent Leatherwood resigns from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, just one year after being fired…then unfired. Leatherwood led the agency for four contentious years. We’ll have details. Christina: But first, the defense attorney in a lawsuit involving T.D. Jakes has been sanctioned by the court for using artificial intelligence in the preparation of court documents. Warren: The attorney is Tyrone Blackburn, and he was defending Duane Youngblood in a defamation lawsuit filed by TD Jakes. Blackburn has been sanctioned by a federal court because he presented documents that contained material fabricated by artificial intelligence. U.S. District Court Judge William Stickman ordered Blackburn to pay over $76-thousand in fees to cover expenses Jakes had to pay to defend himself against the “AI-generated hallucinations and other misrepresentations in Defendant’s motion to dismiss briefing.” Christina: Last year, Duane Youngblood accused Jakes of attempted sexual assault. Jakes has maintained his innocence and filed a defamation lawsuit against Youngblood in November 2024. Jakes noted that Youngblood is on parole after felony convictions for sexual assault and corruption of minors. Warren: According to a statement provided to Dallas Morning News, Blackburn said he purchased an A-I program because he doesn’t employ paralegals and most of his current clients are pro bono. The A-I program generated its own legal prompts and motions, and contained false quotes and case law. Before he could fix the A-I generated errors, Youngblood asked him to leave the case. Christina: But the judge essentially told him that wasn’t an excuse—that he was fully responsible for the accuracy of his legal briefs, regardless of who—or what—contributed to it. It was Blackburn’s signature on the document. Warren: Right.