'Discriminatory behavior' leads Southern Baptist Convention to part with Oklahoma church

BARTLESVILLE ― The Southern Baptist Convention parted ways with an Oklahoma church whose preacher was photographed in blackface, but there's more to this unraveling relationship ― like more offensive photos and an unwillingness to show remorse, a Lawton minister said on Wednesday.

The Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee approved a recommendation to "disfellowship" Matoaka Baptist Church on Tuesday, citing "discriminatory behavior." The church in Ochelata, near Bartlesville, is one of only two churches that have been disfellowshipped for this reason since 2019, the year the Southern Baptist Convention created a new evaluation process.

Executive Committee members did not discuss the details behind Tuesday's decision, but the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, part of the USA Today Network, reported in April on an incident involving a photo of Matoaka's pastor that may have been a factor that led to the Southern Baptist Convention's Credentials Committee recommending that the church be deemed not in "friendly cooperation" with the denomination. The Credentials Committee addresses concerns about whether a church that is identified as a cooperating church with the denomination is continuing to meet the faith group's standards of faith and practice.

According to the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, a photo of the Rev. Sherman Jaquess wearing blackface at a 2017 church event was featured on the church's Facebook page, causing outrage among some members of the Bartlesville area community. In the photo, Jaquess is shown at a keyboard with his face and hands painted black. He's wearing a white suit, sunglasses and an afro wig, and Jaquess said the blackface and the attire all helped him impersonate Ray Charles at an event where church members were encouraged to dress up as famous American singers.

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Blackface refers to the practice of wearing dark makeup to imitate, mimic or ridicule the appearance of a Black person. The use of such makeup was associated with minstrel shows in the United States from the 1830s until the mid-20th century, and it is now generally regarded as deeply offensive.

Jaquess, 58, said he has done nothing wrong, that the paint he wore "was more brown than black" and he's shocked that the denomination his church has been a part of since 1880 would choose to sever ties over an incident in which he didn't mean to offend anyone.

"I'm not a racist in any way, shape or form. I've had several diverse racial people living in my home. I have mentored and I have coached," he said in a phone interview.

"Frankly, I think the Southern Baptists have never even heard my side. It's just flabbergasting and I'm just blown away what they've done — that they would de-fellowship, excommunicated me or whatever you want to call it, without even talking to me because of a photo."

Blackface photo was not the only photo of concern, SBC committee says

Wednesday, the Rev. Mike Keahbone, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lawton and a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, pushed back on Jaquess' denial.

Keahbone said there are more photos that are cause for concern than just the one of Matoaka's minister in blackface. He said he has seen several other troubling photos that were featured on a Matoaka's social media platform, including a photograph of a family trio of monkeys with the "baby" monkey's face depicted as that of former President Barack Obama's. Keahbone said another picture featured a Muslim woman and her three children with the words "These people don't eat pork but we do."

Keahbone said he felt the blackface photo was "atrocious," but there was another photo that particularly made him angry. Keahbone said he saw a photo of Jaquess dressed as a Native American woman with a man dressed as a cowboy appearing to hold a gun to her head. As a member of the Comanche Nation, the Lawton pastor said he found the picture offensive.

Jaquess told The Oklahoman that the photo was taken at "cowboys and Indians night" at church camp about 11 years ago and his attire for the occasion wasn't racist because he is Cherokee.

Keahbone said even if Jaquess is also Native American, the photo is unacceptable.

He also said Jaquess was being "deceptive" in his assertion that he had not discussed the matter with Southern Baptists before Tuesday's vote by the Executive Committee. Keahbone said leaders with Oklahoma Baptists, formally known at the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, had conversations with Jaquess about issues of concern and he refused, at one point, to take down the blackface photo after he was told it was offensive, and he didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing. Keahbone said Oklahoma Baptists then sent their report on the matter to the denomination's Credential's Committee.

"Oklahoma Baptists, they sent letters, they contacted him, they had phone conversations with him and he was not at all remorseful," Keahbone said. "He didn't think it he was a big deal, did not take it serious and so every attempt that they made amounted to nothing."

Brian Hobbs, communications director for Oklahoma Baptists, did not answer questions related to any discussions between Oklahoma Baptist leaders and Jaquess. He did share a statement via email expressing the views of the state's Southern Baptist affiliate.

“The executive committee of the Oklahoma Baptists board of directors unanimously supports the action taken by the SBC credentials committee concerning Matoaka Baptist Church and the pastor who demonstrated unacceptable conduct," Hobbs said in the statement.

"We strongly condemn racism in every form and will not tolerate discriminatory behavior."

Keahbone said after all of the discussions Jaquess had with Oklahoma Baptists about the photos, he simply refused to take the photos off his church's Facebook page.

"If you're not racist, then you understand if somebody approaches you and says, 'Hey, this is not being received well, and maybe maybe this was a joke that somehow fits in your neck of the woods, wherever you're at, but we've had reports that people are offended by this, hurt by it. Would you just take it down?'" Keahbone said.

"That was the first approach: Would you just remove it? And he wouldn't do it on the principle that 'I'm not a racist. People need to get over it' — that kind of attitude. His attitude was it's not a big deal."

What happens now?

Jaquess and Matoaka could appeal the Executive Committee's decision by asking Southern Baptist delegates, called messengers, to vote on the matter at the denomination's 2024 annual meeting in Indianapolis. Famously, bestselling author and evangelist Rick Warren appeared at the faith group's 2023 meeting to appeal the Executive Committee's decision to disfellowship the California church he founded, but to no avail. Saddleback Church in California was declared "not in friendly cooperation" with the Southern Baptist Convention because the church has female pastors, something Southern Baptists believe is incompatible with Scripture.

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Meanwhile, The Tennessean, a part of the USA Today Network, reported since 2019, the only other instance in which the denomination kicked out a church for discriminatory behavior occurred last September, when the SBC Executive Committee approved a recommendation to kick out New Jersey's Amazing Grace church. In that case, there was little information available about the church’s wrongdoing, according to The Tennessean.

Jaquess said he's not sure if the church will appeal at this point.

"The denomination that I've been a part of my whole life is ready to excommunicate me," he said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Southern Baptist Convention parts ways with Matoaka Baptist Church