Church Leadership Radar - Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Today on Church Leadership Radar, Ted Rhoades fills in for Todd with three stories shaping church leadership right now:SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando: Former SBC president Jack Graham calls the denomination's sexual abuse crisis a "reckless hoax" — survivors and advocates respond. What this moment reveals about how large evangelical institutions handle accountability.Mark Driscoll & Trinity Church Scottsdale: Driscoll sends a mass email to 15,000-member congregation accusing a former staff leader of attempting a church split and threatening legal action. A familiar pattern — and what it signals about leadership culture.AI Data Privacy in Churches: A question most church teams haven't asked: where does your most sensitive data go when you use AI tools for meetings, emails, and follow-up? Pastoral counseling notes, prayer requests, giving records — shared in trust.The Bright Spot: A brand-new congregation built specifically for the Deaf community launches its first gathering — complete with baptisms and worship music engineered to be felt through vibration.This Week's Challenge: Before adding the next AI tool to your workflow, take 30 minutes as a team and ask: Do we have a data policy? Do we know where our information goes? Do we know what these platforms do with what we give them?Source Links:SBC Annual Meeting Coverage — Baptist PressMark Driscoll / Trinity Church Scottsdale — Christian PostChurch AI Data Privacy Discussion📧 Subscribe to the Church Leadership Radar Newsletter🎙️ Healthy Church Staff Podcast