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Romero garnered national attention for comments following the 2016 massacre of 49 patrons by a lone gunman at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, popular with LGBT people. Romero celebrated the massacre, said that God should finish the job, and referred to the murdered patrons as 鈥渟odomites,鈥� 鈥減erverts鈥� and 鈥減edophiles.鈥�

The split occurred in the SBC-Jacksonville (SBC-Jax) congregation around the same time as the ordination in Fort Worth of Texas pastor Jonathan Shelley, brought in to replace Romero on Jan. 6.

Romero had also been the head pastor of SBC-Jax and SBC-Oklahoma City, satellite churches of the main Fort Worth branch under the pastorship of Fort Worth. The satellite churches become independent once their pastors are ordained by the head pastor of SBC-Fort Worth. No preacher at the SBC satellites has been fully ordained.

The split, which occurred over Shelley, revealed acrimony and personal slights among churches and their congregations involved in an ambitious movement launched by Steven Anderson, pastor at Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona, an anti-LGBT hate group. Romero was a former congregant of Anderson鈥檚.

Anderson has garnered international attention in previous years for calling for the deaths of LGBT people and has been banned from entering several countries听for his anti-LGBT rhetoric.

SBC is part of Anderson鈥檚 network, called the New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement (New IFB), it is not a denomination but rather a 鈥渞evival of what the old IFB once represented.鈥� New IFB churches, like the old Independent Fundamental Baptist churches, use the King James Bible. 听to reclaim the fundamentalism of the 1920s.

Anderson鈥檚 network has churches in the U.S. but also one in South Africa, four in the Philippines, and two in Australia.

Anderson traveled to Fort Worth at the beginning of January to help the church after Romero鈥檚 resignation and to bring in and ordain Shelley at SBC. Shelley is from another Texas church in Anderson鈥檚 network, Pure Words Baptist Church in Houston.

Tension erupted, however, when SBC-Jax primary preacher Adam Fannin refused to accept Shelley鈥檚 pastoral authority. In the ensuing turmoil, accusations of financial wrongdoing and personal slights abounded as all three church leaders 颅鈥� Anderson, Shelley and Fannin 颅鈥� released videos about their positions on Shelley and SBC that have garnered hundreds of comments.

Commenters either supported Anderson and Shelley, or supported Fannin while some referred derisively to Anderson as 鈥淧ope鈥� and also to the New IFB as 鈥渁 cult,鈥� a term Shelley used in reference to Fannin and his followers.

War of Words

The conflict started as a power struggle just days after Romero鈥檚 resignation. Anderson 听on the New IFB YouTube account outlining the situation and noted that a meeting held Jan. 4 at SBC-Fort Worth went well. He ordained Shelley on Sunday, Jan. 6.

Then Anderson expressed his frustration with Fannin (calling him 鈥渄uplicitous,鈥� 鈥渟elfish鈥� and 鈥渄isingenuous鈥�) who refused to accept Shelley as pastor of SBC-Fort Worth and SBC-Jax amid allegations of financial wrongdoing.

Fannin also 听to the New IFB YouTube channel claiming that the New IFB is 鈥渘ot a cult,鈥� that details about Romero鈥檚 situation had been intentionally withheld and that a 鈥渃onspiracy and a cover-up鈥� in Fort Worth was taking place. He also claimed that Romero failed SBC-Jax as a pastor.

Fannin further declared he was the 鈥渙nly God-ordained leadership鈥� in all three of the churches, then accused people from 鈥渢he outside鈥� of taking control of local situations like the one in Fort Worth, a reference to Shelley. Fannin also claimed that there are things going on in the New IFB Movement that 鈥渁re not biblical,鈥� a series of bad decisions in Arizona were creating 鈥渏erks in the movement鈥� and that 鈥淧astor Steven Anderson is not the sheriff of Stedfast Baptist Church.鈥�

Later on in the video, Fannin accused SBC-Fort Worth of a cover-up regarding its finances. He also said that Anderson fired him via text message, thus 鈥渦surping the authority鈥� of a local church. 鈥淚 would serve under Jonathan Shelley,鈥� Fannin went on, 鈥渋f it were right, but unfortunately at this moment I would have an issue with that because he has publicly lied about me.鈥� A few minutes later, he stated that 鈥淛onathan Shelley is not the boss of Stedfast Baptist Church and he is not the boss of Jacksonville to be able to fire me. I鈥檓 under a God-given, biblical ordination.鈥�

Within a week of Romero鈥檚 resignation Shelley also fired Fannin and threw him and his supporters out of Stedfast, which effectively split SBC-Jax and left the remaining congregants of that church who support Shelley without a building.

Shelley addressed both the bans on Fannin and his followers and the 鈥渞ighteous remnant鈥� 鈥� those who supported Shelley 鈥� of SBC-Jax in a January 7 video posted at the New IFB YouTube account, saying that SBC-Fort Worth was going to help them get everything they needed to continue on as an SBC satellite.

Shelley also noted that Stedfast was bringing in outside investigators to determine wrongdoing.

Anderson addressed alleged financial wrongdoing at SBC-Jax in a 听titled 鈥淎udit of Financial Records in Jacksonville Complete.鈥�

There has been financial fraud that has taken place at Stedfast Jacksonville. There鈥檚 no doubt anymore, okay? The way things were run by Romero is fraudulent. We already knew that, okay, that鈥檚 already been admitted. That鈥檚 already being taken care of by an outside auditor/lawyer/accountant that鈥檚 gonna come in and fix that. 鈥� But folks, Jacksonville is being run in the same way. The same garbage financially is going on out there, and that explains Adam Fannin鈥檚 bizarre behavior.

He went on to say that 鈥淎dam Fannin is involved in the dishonest financial practices and he needs to be investigated whether he鈥檚 been involved with the gambling and the hookers and everything else because he was right there with Romero on this shady financial practice.鈥� Ninety percent of what Romero admitted to, Anderson continued, took place in Jacksonville, so Fannin 鈥渘eeds to be investigated hard.鈥�

Shelley made his opinions of Fannin clear in a video 听(the day of his ordination at Stedfast) in which he said he refuses to work with Fannin and would never send him out as a pastor.

He鈥檚 the most prideful, arrogant person I鈥檝e ever had to deal with. He only cares about himself. That鈥檚 been evident through his actions and his desires to just basically destroy his own church. He doesn鈥檛 care about anybody but himself. It鈥檚 been super clear through his actions. And, you know, he鈥檒l say things about it out of both sides of his mouth. He鈥檒l try to say things that are right and say things that sound good but anybody can see through this silver-tongued devil, what his real ambitions and motives are. He鈥檚 lied about so many different people. 鈥� This guy is wicked. The Bible says if a ruler hearkens to lies, all of his servants are wicked. And you know, any of these Adam Fannin sympathizers, at this point I just say you鈥檙e wicked. 鈥� He [Fannin] showed his true colors and it鈥檚 disgusting, it鈥檚 horrifying.

SBC-Jax church member 鈥淏en the Baptist鈥� (Ben), who is a supporter of Shelley鈥檚,听听titled 鈥淭he Stedfast Jacksonville Split.鈥� Ben claimed that Romero鈥檚 oversight at SBC-Jax had slipped, and that Fannin had been claiming more independence though the church is not independent and he had not been fully ordained. Ultimately, Ben said, he believes the split was necessary and now feels SBC-Jax is on the right track, and he appreciates Shelley鈥檚 leadership.

鈥淟isten, I told him, I want you to come in here guns blazing. I want you to clean this thing up. There was a cancer in this church that鈥檚 been removed and we need somebody to come in and clean house.鈥�

The dust seems to be settling, as SBC-Jax regained control of its Facebook page Jan. 17, according to a post by Ben the Baptist. The next day, another post announced 鈥淭he NEW Stedfast Jacksonville,鈥� which listed Shelley as pastor along with three preachers from the local congregation. The church also has a new address in Jacksonville, which appeared on a Facebook event post that noted Steven Anderson 听in early February.

And though Anderson鈥檚 New IFB seems to have weathered this storm, if the hundreds of comments posted on the videos during this dust-up are any indication, there are those who are not pleased with how Fannin was treated and others who feel that the New IFB is cult-like, with Anderson as the tyrannical leader who removes people who don鈥檛 adhere to his party line.

As for Fannin, SBC-Jax posted a sermon by one of its preachers , titled 鈥淎dam Fannin was Destroyed by Pride.鈥�

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