For nearly 50 years, the Rev. Ed Young led a Houston conservative megachurch that now boasts 94,000 congregants, $1 billion in assets and high-profile members like Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, leading oil executives and prominent business leaders.
That ended on May 26, 2024, when Young said he was stepping down as senior pastor of Second Baptist Church. His son, the Rev. Ben Young, would replace him. At the time, the congregation accepted the transition of power.
More than a year later, Second Baptist is now at war with its own members. In April, a group of congregants, calling themselves the Jeremiah Counsel, filed a lawsuit against church leaders. They claim the church fraudulently passed bylaws that not only allowed Ben Young to be named senior pastor behind closed doors, but stripped the congregation of all voting rights — consolidating power in the hands of a few trustees selected by the Youngs. They want the old bylaws reinstated.
Second Baptist may have the financial means to fight it out in court, but so does the opposition.
Jeremiah Counsel’s leaders include Doug Bech, a retired securities lawyer and founder of Raintree Resorts International who has personally given millions of dollars to the church over the last 36 years; Edd Hendee, founder of the nationally known restaurant, Taste of Texas; and Jim Montague, retired president of IP Petroleum Company.
“Right now a little group of people, mostly family members, can do what they wish with the assets of Second Baptist, and we could not legally stop it,” said Archie Dunham, a longtime church member, a former executive at ConocoPhillips and supporter of the Jeremiah Counsel.
Second Baptist’s spokesman and lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. However, in court filings, the church fought back against the allegations.
“A small group of disgruntled members of the church, unwilling to file this case in their own names, formed… a sham corporation used as a surrogate to pursue their ultimate goal of remaining in or controlling church leadership,” the church wrote.
The church recently secured a protective order that could ban the general public from seeing certain court documents. A trial is set for February.
It’s unclear who will emerge the winner in the court battle. What is clear, experts say, is what this case is all about — the balance of power in one of the region’s largest and more influential churches.
“There are different variations, but it’s always the same,” said Matt Anthony, an Irving attorney who specializes in church and nonprofit law. “It all boils down to who has the power.”
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Unlike most civil suits in Harris County, the church lawsuit – upon Second Baptist’s request – was transferred to Houston’s nascent business court. The courts, created statewide in 2024, don’t have a long enough history to predict how they’ll receive such a lawsuit, said Anthony, the attorney specializing in church and nonprofit law.
Second Baptist requested the business court because of the scale of financial assets in play, according to the church’s documents.
See here for some background. You can read the rest, it’s mostly an inside-baseball story. I have no dog in this fight. I’m kind of amused that this will be heard in the dumb new business court, which has Abbott-appointed judges. Seems fitting.