Ed Young’s Toxic Church Business Practices and Mergers Infect Second Baptist Houston and Other Churches

Pete Evans

(Screenshot: Pastor Ed Young Jr. uses a glass mug of beer as a prop during a March sermon at Fellowship Church.)

Edwin Barry Young (a/k/a “Ed Young Jr.”) has a Midas Touch with his own personal property but apparently the opposite ‘tainted touch’ when it comes to church mergers.

A recent Houston lawsuit  filed by the Jeremiah Counsel Corporation against Second Baptist Houston’s current leadership, acknowledges the church operates like a family business by describing the leadership as the ‘Young Group’ and expresses serious concerns about a drastic change in church government.  It also describes a worrisome relationship between Young Group family members and the oldest brother of Pastor Ben Young—Ed Young, Jr.

Jeremiah Counsel consists of members and past members of Second Baptist Houston and if history is any indication, these members have good reason to be worried about the fate of their church.

Ed Young Jr.’s long series of mansions and lavish, or “Midas’ touch” lifestyle is well documented.  Perhaps it is Ed Young Jr.’s flamboyant style that eventually turns people off; but whatever the reason, at least five churches that were merged with Fellowship Church have collapsed and no longer exist.

A comparison of governance changes:

The 90,000+ members-led Second Baptist Church in Houston lost their right to vote on any church-related matters at a sparsely attended church business meeting in May 2023, when attendees rubber-stamped what they thought was a simple update to their bylaws about maintaining family values.

On the contrary, the actual bylaws turned out to be a complete takeover and conversion from a member led church with an elected representative board of trustees to a pastor’s-private-group led church, called a Ministry Leadership Team/MLT of three Young relatives (Ben Young, Cliff Young, and Mac Richard—cousin-in-law), attorney Dennis Brewer, Jr. (a close ally of a fourth relative Ed Young Jr.) and a church employee, Lee Maxcy.  In other words, now there are few, if any truly independent board/MLT members.

The church has also failed to update its corporation records with the Texas Secretary of State to include the new board changes. Instead, the State website provides an outdated list of church trustees from 2012.

Notably, the same thing happened to Ed Young Jr.’s Fellowship Church years ago, and notably, Ed Young Jr. and Dennis Brewer Jr. were both instrumental in the same type of autocratic takeover back then.

Fellowship Church, headquartered in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, forever eliminated its members’ right to vote on any church-related matters at “a properly noticed meeting” when they approved their amended articles of incorporation on Wednesday evening, March 7th, 2001.

At that point, Fellowship Church’s amended articles of incorporation no longer included any mention of a board of trustees, but rather gave absolute power to a Ministry Leadership Team (MLT) consisting of Ed Young Jr., Atty. Dennis Brewer Jr. and two others.  Note the same “Ministry Leadership Team/MLT” terminology was revived for the MLT/board members in the replacement bylaws for Second Baptist Church Houston.

Another huge question: Will the new Second Baptist “MLT” merge that church with Fellowship Church Grapevine?

Mergers:

Trinity Foundation has discovered five church mergers between Fellowship Church and other churches.  We believe there are more. Here are the names and approximate dates with links to four of the merger documents:

To the best of our knowledge, none of these mergers worked out and according to informants, Fellowship Church Grapevine ended up receiving the proceeds from the sale of several of their buildings.  However, according to an informant, Fellowship Church discontinued payments, defaulting on at least one of the church buildings, the one in Norman OK.

The attendees or (non-MLT/board members) of Fellowship Church were not allowed to vote to approve these mergers, since all that was required by Fellowship Church 2001 governance change was approval by the board.

Article 2.02 of the merger with the now defunct Friendship Church of South Carolina states, “Fellowship Church has no members entitled to vote on the plan of merger. The Plan of Merger was adopted by the Board of Directors of Fellowship Church effective as of October 3 by all voting directors.” (emphasis ours)

However, the confusing wording leads us to ask why the members of the MLT/board, including Ed Young Jr. and Dennis Brewer Jr. did not consider themselves members of their own Fellowship Church?

Losing a Church Home

Church takeovers and mergers and their demise can have a devastating effect on congregation members who often feel like they’ve lost a family home.

In the interest of brevity here are a few examples of disenfranchised churches and church members:

Fellowship Church, Norman, OK

An article from “The Norman Transcript” newspaper regarding the Journey Covenant Church Norman merger with Fellowship Church reveals initial deception and a complete lack of transparency to those who lost their jobs.

“According to former staff members, they initially believed they were going to be incorporated into the new Fellowship Norman staff. But after two days of cleaning the church following the Sunday announcement, most staff were given their last paycheck. …   They fired them one-by-one, except for a handful of people,” the spouse of a former staff member said. “The transition left everyone out to dry.”

“It was insinuated they didn’t need the position or have the financial ability to keep everyone on staff,” another former staffer said. “There were no interviews, no process, no severance. Everything up to that point had been very positive. There was a lot of ‘we’ type language. From the staff perspective, it felt like a corporate takeover.” (emphasis ours at Trinity Foundation).

Fellowship Church Miami

During a Sunday service sermon in March 2021, members learned that church service would be their last.  Unbeknownst to them, the building had already been sold to another megachurch wanting that building.

Pastor Scott Wilson, spokesman for the main Fellowship Church, told The Roys Report that the congregation and staff at the Miami location didn’t know that the church was up for sale until the announcement on Sunday morning. Steven Anderson, a former worship leader at the church, told the Roys Report, “It all sprung up on us at the last second,” and, “A lot of people were, and still are, upset about it.”

A photo obtained by TRR shows that the congregation was urged to donate just a few months before the sale.  Little did the congregation know that the Vous Church would be moving into their building later that day.  One former member Fellowship Church member, Tammy Mercado, speaking of the Vous Church transition stated, “Today, as my heart is broken to lose my church, it makes my heart happy that you guys gained a location.”

South Carolina Fellowship Church, formerly Friend Church

An informant told Trinity Foundation that this church building was sold, and the congregation found out it was closing on the very last weekend it was open.

Other affiliated or merged churches that no longer exist:

Fellowship Church had a campus in London for a short time. For whatever reason, financial or otherwise, it did not work out for them, and they closed it around 2014.

Additionally, there was also a Lake Highlands campus in Dallas that was meeting in a movie theater.  An informant told Trinity Foundation investigators they were supposed to open a permanent location for this particular congregation, but that never happened.

Fellowship Church South Miami no longer exists, Fellowship Church South Biscayne no longer exists, and Fellowship Church Keller no longer exists.  Fellowship Church Plano is now in Frisco.

Questions Sent To Ed Young Jr. / Fellowship Church

Trinity Foundation sent him questions related to this article late Wednesday and as of today neither Pastor Young nor the church has responded.  Here are the questions we sent:

Trinity Foundation is preparing an article about Fellowship Church mergers and we are seeking answers and comments by Ed Young Jr. 

Members of Fellowship Church Miami Florida were shocked when they learned at the last minute that their building had been sold to another megachurch.   Why did you not give them longer notice? 

What have you learned from church mergers and closures? 

Is Fellowship Church planning to merge with any churches in the near future? 

An Afterword (from our social media post earlier this week):

(Screenshot: Pastor Ben Young of Second Baptist Church defends new bylaws and governance changes during Sunday morning service.

In an open letter last week (link here) to Second Baptist Church members, the Jeremiah Counsel explains its rationale for suing the church leadership.  Many Christians oppose using lawsuits to settle church disputes.  This letter explains why the courts are a valid means of addressing church leadership abuses and lack of transparency… especially when all other avenues have been exhausted.

On a related note, recently the Houston Chronicle published an article about Second Baptist Leadership retaliating against members asking questions and advocating for more transparency.  This aggressive abuse of power flies in the face of Jesus’ words, “turn the other cheek”.

Trinity Foundation condemns any form of retaliation.  It’s unbiblical.

This abuse of authority inspires Trinity Foundation to proactively investigate the Young Group.  If you have knowledge of questionable business transactions or excessive misuse of donor money, please contact us at trinity@trinityfi.org.