LOUISVILLE, Ky. — C.J. Mahaney, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church, Louisville, Ky., announced July 2 his decision to withdraw from participation in the 2014 Together for the Gospel (T4G) conference out of concern for the event’s co-sponsors.
“Unfortunately the civil lawsuit filed against Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM), two former SGM churches and pastors (including myself), continues to generate the type of attention that could subject my friends to unfair and unwarranted criticism,” Mahaney said in a statement on the T4G website.
Mahaney said he does not want the lawsuit, mostly dismissed for legal reasons in May but under appeal, to create a distraction for the gathering first convened in 2006 out of the friendship of four preachers: SGM founder Mahaney, Presbyterian pastor Ligon Duncan, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler and Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, and a former Southern Seminary trustee and board chairman.
Brent Detwiler, a former associate to Mahaney and now his leading critic, speculated the reason behind the decision was the passage in June of a Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) resolution amended to encourage “all denominational leaders and employees of the [SBC] to utilize the highest sense of discernment in affiliating with groups and or individuals that possess questionable policies and practices in protecting our children from criminal abuse.”
The T4G conference, scheduled for April 8–10, 2014, in Louisville, Ky., features Duncan, Mohler and Dever, along with other keynote speakers including Desiring God founder John Piper and David Platt, senior pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham.
As recently as May 23, Mohler, Dever and Duncan released a statement vouching for their friend’s integrity.
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