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Harry Edward (Ed) Litton Jr. (born July 17, 1959) is an American evangelical pastor who was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, elected in June 2021. He also serves as the senior pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama.

Early life and education

Litton was born at Kingsport, Tennessee's Holston Valley Community Hospital on July 17, 1959, to Harry and Sue Litton.

He graduated from Grand Canyon University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion and theater. He later received a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Career

Litton began his career as a pastor at churches in Arizona and Texas. Since 1994, he has served as the pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama. He was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention in June 2021 on the second ballot with 52 percent of the vote and a margin of 556 votes.

Litton has been described by news outlets as ideologically moderate, but identifies himself as both politically and theologically conservative. He is known for his work on race issues in the greater Mobile, Alabama, area and in the Southern Baptist Convention, and was nominated and endorsed for the SBC presidency by Fred Luter, the only black pastor to ever serve as the president of the convention.

Following a May 2022 report detailing nearly two decades of SBC leadership stonewalling and disparaging clergy sex abuse survivors, Litton urged the organization "to take deliberate action to address these failures and chart a new course."

Litton announced that he would not stand for re-election as SBC President at the 2022 Annual Meeting, choosing instead to focus on racial reconciliation.

Personal life

Litton's first wife, Tammy, was killed in a car accident in 2007. His current wife, Kathy (who was also widowed from her first marriage), was a director with the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board and the denomination's first woman registration secretary. He has three children from his first marriage.

Litton has appeared in two Christian films, playing minor roles in each:

• Courageous, as Pastor Rogers
• I Still Believe, as the Dean of Students

He also appeared in one episode of the religious documentary series Faith Nation being interviewed as SBC President.

Plagiarism allegations

In June 2021, Litton was accused of plagiarism after a YouTube user published a video showing him preaching a sermon that bloggers on social media described as strikingly similar to a sermon preached a year earlier by J. D. Greear. Further videos were released of sermons Litton preached on Romans 13 Romans 14, and the Book of Acts, all of which were compared to sermons preached by Greear.

Some media outlets described the controversy as Sermongate. Newsweek and The Washington Post reported that Litton's church had removed videos of over 140 sermons from their website. Litton released a statement on his church website admitting to using Greear's words without proper attribution. Textbooks on sermon preparation and delivery generally discourage such practices. Further allegations have now been made against Litton's co-pastor, Taylor Anderson, who also appears to have plagiarized a sermon by Greear.

References

1. ^ Graham, Ruth (June 15, 2021). "Southern Baptists Narrowly Head Off Ultraconservative Takeover". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
2. Baker, Shannon (July 1, 2016). "Litton honored by ministers' wives". sbc.net. Southern Baptist Convention. Archived from the original on June 16, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021. They now serve together at Redemption Church in Saraland, Ala., where he is senior pastor.
3. "The Baby Has Been Named". Kingsport Times-News. July 22, 1959. Retrieved June 17, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Harry Litton". Press-Register. July 19, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2021 – via Legacy.com.
5. ^ Gang, Duane W.; Meyer, Holly (June 16, 2021). "Who is pastor Ed Litton? Meet the new Southern Baptist Convention president". The Tennessean. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
6. "Southern Baptists Elect A New President, Ed Litton, Who Is Seen As A Bridge Builder". NPR. June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
7. "Southern Baptists elect moderate Ed Litton president in defeat for hard right". www.cbsnews.com. June 16, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
8. Warren, Michael (June 16, 2021). "Moderates win the day in close vote over Southern Baptist presidency". CNN. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
9. Smietana, Bob (June 17, 2021). "Who is Ed Litton, the new Southern Baptist Convention president?". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
10. Smietana, Bob (June 16, 2021). "Ed Litton, a pastor known for racial reconciliation, is surprise winner for SBC president". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
11. Bharath, Deepa; Holly Meyer; David Crary (May 22, 2022). "Report: Top Southern Baptists stonewalled sex abuse victims". Associated Press. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
12. "SBC President ed Litton won't run again — to focus on racial reconciliation instead". March 2022.
13. Shellnutt, Kate (June 15, 2021). "Southern Baptists Elect Ed Litton as New President". News & Reporting. Archived from the original on June 16, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
14. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1630036/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm
15. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9779516/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm
16. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18395016/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm
17. Litton and Greear: Borrowing or Plagiarism?, retrieved June 29, 2021
18. Capstone Report (June 26, 2021). "BREAKING: Ed Litton's church removes damning video at center of Plagiarism allegations". Capstone Report. Archived from the original on June 26, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
19. Ed Litton plagiarizes yet another Romans sermon from JD Greear on YouTube
20. Southern Baptist President Plagiarizes Romans 14 Sermon in Endless Sermongate Scandal on YouTube
21. Ed Litton Plagiarizes JD Greear as far back as 2013 on YouTube
22. Capstone Report (June 28, 2021). "Ed Litton's Sermongate shows moral idiocy of the Southern Baptist Convention". Capstone Report. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
23. "Pastor Ed Litton Removes Over 140 Video Sermons After Being Accused of Plagiarism". www.msn.com. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
24. Garrison, Greg (June 28, 2021). "Ed Litton, Alabama pastor, new Southern Baptist president, pulls sermons after plagiarism accusations". AL.COM. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
25. "Pastor's Statement | Redemption Church". goredemption.com. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
26. Raymond Bailey, “Ethics in Preaching,” in Handbook of Contemporary Preaching, ed. Michael Duduit (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992), 551; Warren W. Wiersbe and David Wiersbe, The Elements of Preaching: The Art of Biblical Preaching Clearly and Simply Presented (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1986), 48–49; James D. Berkley, ed., Preaching to Convince, vol. 8, The Leadership Library (Carol Stream, IL; Waco, TX: Christianity Today, Inc.; Word Books, 1986), 109–110; Jerry Vines and Jim Shaddix, Power in the Pulpit: How to Prepare and Deliver Expository Sermons (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1999), 206;Trull, Joe E., and Creech, R. Robert. 2017. Ethics for Christian Ministry: Moral Formation for Twenty-First-Century Leaders. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), 78-79; W. H. Griffith Thomas, The Work of the Ministry (London; New York; Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton, n.d.), 271; Abraham Kuruvilla, A Manual for Preaching (pp. 228-233). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
27. "Ed Litton's Co-Pastor, Taylor Anderson, Also Plagiarized JD Greear in a Romans 12 Sermon". July 7, 2021.

• 1959 births
• 20th-century American clergy
• 21st-century American clergy
• Grand Canyon University alumni
• Living people
• People from Mobile County, Alabama
• Southern Baptist Convention presidents
• Southern Baptist Theological Seminary alumni
• Southern Baptist ministers
• People from Kingsport, Tennessee