Jeremiah Counsel Files Lawsuit Regarding Loss of Voting Rights, Accountability, and Transparency at Second Baptist Church of Houston

Jeremiah Counsel
Apr 23
3 min read

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 23, 2025

HOUSTON, TX – Jeremiah Counsel Corporation, a Texas nonprofit organization whose purpose is to promote, protect and restore integrity, accountable governance and donor protection for churches in Texas has been compelled to pursue litigation against Second Baptist Church of Houston in order to protect the rights of current and future generations of members, as well as the assets of the church. The church membership and the assets have been put at great risk because of the deceitful and deceptive practices of the church leadership, including the Senior Pastor, collectively “the Young Group,” which has stripped all church members of the voting rights they have had since the church was founded nearly 100 years ago.

On May 31, 2023, the Young Group deceived and manipulated the members of the church via a misleading vote to amend the by-laws in such a way to deny all 90,000+ members of their right to vote. In doing so, the Young Group transferred virtually all power to the Senior Pastor. Church members were not given copies of the proposed by-laws, nor were they told that if they voted for the new by-laws, they would never again have transparency to the financial affairs and governance of the church or be permitted to vote on any church business going forward.

The Senior Pastor, without a vote of the membership or a board of trustees elected by the members, now has ultimate control over the church and its $1 Billion in assets that came from tithes and offerings. The Senior Pastor can, at any time, for any reason:

Sell the church or merge it with any other church, even if the transaction is with a family member.
Close or sell any campus.
Close, sell, or dramatically increase tuition at Second Baptist School instead of continuing to subsidize it as a ministry of the church.
Raise the Senior Pastor’s salary and that of his leadership, to any amount, in total secrecy.
Appoint the next Senior Pastor, without a search process, or approval by an independent board.

Many long-time church members and former deacon officers have attempted to discuss their concerns with the Senior Pastor about the dangers to the church created by the changes to the by laws. Unfortunately, the Senior Pastor has stated repeatedly that he has no interest in changing the governance, and he is unwilling to give the membership back their vote.

For almost two years, long-time members have tried to correct the wrongs that were done to the governance of the church. They have tried to suggest solutions that would give the 90,000+ members the comfort of knowing there are proper checks and balances to protect the church. Their efforts have fallen on deaf ears and have been met with hostility.

Unfortunately, the time has run out to protect the church. The 2-year statute of limitations ends in less than six weeks. If nothing was done by the end of May, there would be no legal recourse possible. The choice became to walk away, and hand everything over to one person, or take action to protect this incredible church for generations to come. The Senior Pastor has allowed this situation to get to a place where the only path remaining to safeguard the church, and its assets is legal action to overturn the improper vote that occurred in May 2023, before the two-year statute of limitations expires.

To read the open letter to church membership, and read a copy of the legal petition, please visit www.jeremiahcounsel.org.

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