Ep. 401: Steve Lawson, Steve Morgan and The Network, and Vince Bantu

On today’s program, longtime pastor Steve Lawson was removed as pastor of Trinity Bible Church in Dallas over an ‘inappropriate relationship’ with a woman...now, ministries are dropping the author and teaching fellow as ripples of his affair spread. We’ll take a look. And, devastated families share stories of being cut off by adult children involved in The Network—an association of churches started by Steve Morgan. We’ll have details. Plus, two prominent pastors announce their plans for retirement. But first, Fuller Seminary Professor Vince Bantu is being accused of a secret second marriage. Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, the denominational seminary for the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), acknowledged that former professor Vince Bantu engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a student during his tenure there. 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, Jessica Eturralde, Tony Mator, Mallory Challis, G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Daniel Ritchie, Marci Seither, Aaron Earls, Brittany Smith, and Christina Darnell. A special thanks to Baptist News Global 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. Natasha: And I’m Natasha Cowden, coming to you from Denver, Colorado. And we’d like to welcome you to the MinistryWatch podcast. Warren: On today’s program, longtime pastor Steve Lawson was removed as pastor of Trinity Bible Church in Dallas over an ‘inappropriate relationship’ with a woman...now, ministries are dropping the author and teaching fellow as ripples of his affair spread. We’ll take a look. And, devastated families share stories of being cut off by adult children involved in The Network—an association of churches started by Steve Morgan. We’ll have details. Plus, two prominent pastors announce their plans for retirement. Natasha: But first, Fuller Seminary Professor Vince Bantu is being accused of a secret second marriage. Warren: Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, the denominational seminary for the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), acknowledged that former professor Vince Bantu engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a student during his tenure there. The incident arose because of an investigative article published in Christianity Today about Bantu’s alleged secret marriage. Covenant said after the student filed a Title IX complaint against Bantu, the seminary confronted him, he confessed to the relationship, and he resigned from his position in 2018. Natasha: But he didn’t stop teaching. Warren: That’s right, Bantu joined the faculty of Fuller Seminary in 2019 as an associate professor of church history and black church studies. Covenant said they were contacted by Fuller about the reason for his departure and they “shared with Fuller Seminary all the details of what had happened in 2018. Natasha: He doesn’t just teach at Fuller, he’s also a pastor. Warren: Bantu left his co-pastoring position at Outpour Community Church shortly after the Covenant complaint, and founded a new church, Beloved Community Church. He also began meeting with two other pastors as part of an accountability group. Those pastors, Darren Young and Thurman Williams, met with Bantu regularly to provide moral support and mutual discipleship. Young and Williams told CT about Bantu’s alleged secret marriage to a second wife based on conversations with him during accountability meetings. They said he argued that one way for him to avoid sexual temptation was to marry multiple women. Natasha: Is Fuller doing anything about these allegations? Warren: General Counsel Lance Griffin said in a statement.