Oklahoma church ousted from SBC for racism after American white pastor wears blackface

Sherman Jaquess is unapologetic after photos of him dressing up as a Black musician and Native American went viral.

By Edward Era Barbacena 

The Southern Baptist Convention disfellowshipped an Oklahoma church in which the congregation’s white pastor wore blackface.

The SBC Executive Committee approved a recommendation to oust Matoaka Baptist Church in Ochelata during a meeting Tuesday. It’s the second time the nation’s largest Protestant denomination has disfellowshipped a church for “discriminatory behavior” since the convention established a new evaluation process in 2019.

The other instance happened last September, when the SBC Executive Committee approved a recommendation to disfellowship Amazing Grace church in New Jersey. In that case, there was little information available about the church’s wrongdoing.

This time, executive committee leaders did not disclose details about Matoaka Baptist’s alleged wrongdoing. The Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, part of the USA Today Network, initially reported on the incident in April that likely led the SBC Credentials Committee to launch an inquiry into the Oklahoma church.

"Their decision is repugnant," Matoaka Baptist pastor Sherman Jaquess in an interview Tuesday evening. "They made a decision and recommendation on something they don’t know anything about."

Jaquess, who wore blackface, said SBC leaders communicated with him minimally and didn't understand the circumstances. His church has been part of the SBC since 1880 and consistently gives to the denomination's Cooperative Program budget. Jaquess said he isn't sure if the church plans to appeal its ouster.

The SBC Credentials Committee receives reports about churches that are noncompliant with guidelines for churches that are not in “friendly cooperation” with the SBC. If the credentials committee determines the church is not abiding by those guidelines, it recommends the disfellowshipping the church to the executive committee.

The executive committee manages business for the Nashville-based denomination outside the two-day SBC annual meeting. The committee — comprised of an 86-member board of elected representatives and about 20 staff — gathered in Nashville on Monday and Tuesday for a key meeting.

The executive committee discussed the recommendation to disfellowship Matoaka Baptist in an executive session and announced its decision afterward in a public plenary session.

Jaquess wore blackface at a church event in 2017 to impersonate Ray Charles. He painted his face and hands, and wore an afro wig, sunglasses and a white suit. Matoaka Baptist posted a photo on Facebook from that event showing Jacquess wearing blackface and standing over a keyboard.

The phenomenon of blackface dates back to the mid-19th-century when minstrel show performers portrayed racial stereotypes. When a white person wears blackface, they are depicting a bigoted caricature of a Black person.

“It was a comedic thing, it wasn’t a racial thing," Jaquess said in an interview. “I don’t have a racial bone in my body. I’m the least racial person that I know.”

Jaquess said at a different church event, he dressed as a "female Native American."

Since the SBC established the credentials committee in 2019 to evaluate a church’s standing, the convention has disfellowshipped 14 total churches. In addition to discriminatory behavior, the SBC ousted other churches for clergy abuse, women pastors and LGBTQ-affirming stances.

At this year’s SBC annual meeting in June in New Orleans, three churches appealed their ouster. All three appeals — Southern California megachurch Saddleback Church, Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and Freedom Church in Vero Beach, Florida — were unsuccessful when SBC voting delegates overwhelmingly voted to uphold the ouster of all three churches.

The SBC disfellowshipped Saddleback and Fern Creek for having women pastors and Freedom Church for abuse.

Sometimes, the SBC Credentials Committee recommends disfellowship after a church doesn't respond to questions it receives from the credentials committee as part of an inquiry.

Amid intensifying debate about abuse reform and women pastors in the SBC, the credentials committee has taken on additional responsibilities. The SBC Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force and a new SBC Cooperation Group are dealing with questions that will affect how the credentials committee evaluates churches' standing with the denomination.

Tuesday's action isn't the first time the SBC has disfellowship a church over issues of race. In 2018, the denomination expelled a Georgia church over accusations the small white congregation discriminated against a growing Black congregation that shared its church building.