Houston’s Second Baptist celebrates legal win as congregants say they’re ‘devastated’ 52%
By Adrian Ashford57%
7/19/2026, 6:23:52 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 25 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Unattributed Quote, and Anecdotal, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 33.7% saturation with 206 hits. Analysis detected 1,251 faulty-reasoning hits from 612 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 51.4% and a BS Rank of 52% (10,523 of 21,886 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 51.90% of the article peer group.
At Houston’s Second Baptist Church, Sunday morning worship began with an anthem of gratitude.
Singers in crisp suits and kitten heels, backed by the trumpets and drums of an orchestra, sang the uplifting Christian song “Every Praise,” declaring God as their savior and healer.
Church leaders made only one mention during the service of the lawsuit brought against them by a group of congregants.
Senior pastor Ben Young cited the “favorable ruling” the church received Wednesday from the court, thanking the congregation “for your prayers, for your love, for your trust during this season.”
COURT RULING: Second Baptist wins major victory in lawsuit filed by church members
He paused for applause, and most in the auditorium cheered.
From the front row, one man could be heard mouthing a soft “boo” after the claps subsided.
A legal battle dividing one of Houston’s largest congregations, which boasts $1 billion in assets and members including Lt.
Gov.
Dan Patrick, shifted decisively in the church’s favor last week.
The church was sued in 2025 by a group of current and former members who alleged that it misled the congregation into giving up their voting rights and their say in church business.
On Wednesday, a judge ruled that the doctrine of church autonomy barred a secular court from adjudicating most of the lawsuit’s claims.
The Jeremiah Counsel, the group that brought the lawsuit against the church, vowed to appeal the ruling and continues to seek a full accounting of church finances.
“JCC believes stripping the members of Second Baptist of the long-held right to vote, without telling the members, is not an action that the First Amendment protects,” the group wrote in a Friday email.
STAY OR LEAVE: Lawsuit splits members of Houston megachurch
The case sharply divided some of the congregation's 94,000 members.
On Sunday, it was clear that not all those wounds had healed.
One woman who declined to share her name as she walked through the church’s doors said that because of the issues raised in the lawsuit, this would be her last day there.
Another couple, who said they had attended for eight years and were still in church leadership, said they were “devastated” and “disappointed” by the rift at the church and how the lawsuit had been handled.
“I’m not happy about what’s going on,” said Susan Smith, who’s been attending since 1993.
She agreed with the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that the church hadn’t sufficiently notified congregants of the meeting in 2023 where 315 members voted to give up the congregation’s right to vote.
Smith said financial contributions to the church were “way down,” and many had left, but she had no plans to do so.
“I love this church, and I'm not leaving,” she said.
“This is God's church, regardless of who's here.”
READ MORE: Why the Southern Baptist Convention hasn't intervened in Second Baptist fight
Second Baptist’s move to eliminate members’ right to vote puts it out of step with a long-held tradition in Southern Baptist churches.
The denomination’s Baptist Faith and Message — which is not binding, but articulates Baptist values on a range of issues — says a congregation “operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes.”
But the Southern Baptist Convention also cherishes the principle of church autonomy and rarely intervenes in disputes within a local church.
So far, the denomination has stayed silent on the controversy at Second Baptist.
In a statement posted to the church’s website last week, Young said he was “deeply grateful” for the court’s recent ruling.
“We remain committed to the work God has called us to,” he wrote.
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