In case anyone was wondering (I’m actually kind of surprised only one person has asked me about this!), yes I am aware of, and familiar with – on a variety of levels – the situation regarding G3 Ministries leadership / Prays Mill Baptist Church elders anonymously accusing Pastor Tom Buck of plagiarism in his sermons, which became public last Monday, August 17.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about and have never heard of G3 Ministries or Pastor Tom Buck, you may be excused and go about your life blessedly happy and unbothered by what follows. I am primarily writing this a) for those who have attended G3 events, have used G3’s resources or are familiar with Tom, and b) because I have participated in G3 events, linked to their resources, and recommended them to you, and because Tom is a personal friend and dear brother in Christ whom I’ve mentioned here and linked to from time to time.
A very brief, very general synopsis of the situation (adapted from an upcoming episode of A Word Fitly Spoken):
On August 17, a scandal broke involving G3 Ministries and its founding church, Prays Mill Baptist Church (PMBC) of Douglasville, Georgia. In March 2026, members of G3 leadership including, it was later revealed, the four elders of PMBC, Scott Aniol, Matt Sikes, Jon Norton, and Dylan Joyner, anonymously and underhandedly sent largely baseless and exaggerated accusations of sermon plagiarism to the leadership of Pastor Tom Buck’s church, First Baptist Church of Lindale, Texas.
Tom’s church fully investigated the accusations, and they and Tom resolved the situation in a biblical way. But the outcome wasn’t satisfactory for these anonymous (at the time) accusers. When the situation wasn’t handled to their liking, they sent the accusations to former G3 conference speakers and other individuals and ministries outside of First Baptist, Lindale, urging them to look into the matter and make it public, all with the goal of ruining Tom’s ministry.
After these actions were exposed, all four elders were required by the deacons of PMBC to resign. The elders wrote a letter of repentance from G3 Ministries to Tom and his church and publicized it on social media. There is credible circumstantial evidence that this letter may also have been required by the deacons and was not genuine repentance.
As of yesterday, G3 has shut down the operation of its church network (where you can search for a G3-endorsed church), deleted its YouTube channel, and deactivated all of its social media accounts. When I checked last night, the G3 website was still up and running, including the information and registration page for the G3 National Conference which was scheduled for May of 2027. There has been no apology or statement from G3 Ministries or Prays Mill Baptist Church to the public or G3’s thousands of followers and supporters.
If you have questions about this situation, or you’d like further details, I commend the following resources to you (and I would recommend that you read or watch them in the order in which they’re listed):
Exclusive: G3 Promised “Cooperative, Not Competitive.” The Anonymous Targeting Continued at Protestia
Haman’s Gallows by Phil Johnson
About that anonymous accusation against Tom Buck by Tom Ascol
Tom Buck Accused of Serial Plagiarism by Gabe Hughes (analysis of specific plagiarism allegations)
Four ‘Pray’s Mill Baptist Church’ Pastors Resign Over G3 Plagiarism Dossier Scandal at Protestia
Walking Off the Plank in Their Own Eyes: The Dossier Comes for Aniol, Sikes, and Joyner at Protestia
At the time I’m posting this, because no statement has been issued by G3 or PMBC, it is unknown what, if any, plans anyone who’s still in some sort of leadership at G3 has for the future of the ministry. But with the public outcry against their ungodly actions and the aforementioned extent to which they have already shut down, it is unlikely there is any sort of future for G3. From all appearances, they would not be able to survive this tragic implosion even if they wanted to.
Nor should they.
From all appearances, G3 would not be able to survive this tragic implosion even if they wanted to. Nor should they.
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As Phil Johnson said at the end of his article (above), “…frankly, it is time for G3 to dissolve and go away.” Permanently. Nobody from the outside needs to come in, take the helm, and try to raise and repair the Titanic. G3 does not need to lie fallow for a few years, then rebrand and make an embarrassing attempt at a comeback. G3 is dead, and no one ought to try to resurrect it.
G3 is dead, and no one ought to try to resurrect it.
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It was just a little over a year ago that the very similar Josh Buice (then president of G3 and pastor of PMBC) scandal broke. Accusations, allegations, and criticism leveled from far away, under the shadows of anonymity, against faithful, doctrinally sound pastors and theologians… It’s as if today’s third grader copied the answers on his math test from a kid who flunked last year. The PMBC elders took a page out of Josh Buice’s book in the worst way possible. What would possess any Christian to do such a thing, and how in the world did Josh or the PMBC “gang of four” ever think they would go undiscovered forever? We may never know the true reasons in either of these cases.
It’s as if today’s third grader copied the answers on his math test from a kid who flunked last year. The PMBC elders took a page out of Josh Buice’s book in the worst way possible.
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It’s been a tough couple of years in the Reformed camp…
Alistair Begg betrayed Christ, His Word, and us on the issue of “transsexual” “marriage”.
Steve Lawson committed adultery.
The Josh Buice scandal.
We lost John MacArthur and Voddie Baucham.
And now… this. It’s a lot to process.
Obviously, I’m saddened and appalled by the despicable and ungodly acts committed by G3’s leadership/PMBC’s elders, and disappointed that I can no longer recommend G3 as helpful resource to you.
I’m righteously angry that these cowardly men disrupted the peace and unity of a good church and attempted to sabotage the stellar ministry and reputation of a faithful and discerning shepherd, a courageous Christian statesman, and my beloved brother in Christ, Tom.
I’m incredulous that God gave these four men the perfect example of how not to handle disagreements with others – gift wrapped with a bow on top, and placed right in their very hands only a year prior – and for inexplicable and unfathomable reasons and motives, they went right ahead and did almost the exact same thing anyway.
I’m frustrated, exasperated, and offended that G3 has so rudely jilted all of us who loved, recommended, and supported them, without so much as a “Dear John” letter. We’ve been ghosted, y’all.
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Where do we go from here as followers of and participants in G3’s ministry events and resources?
Don’t support G3. In any way. Do not give them one more word of support, one more second of your time, one more cent of your money. If you’ve already registered for the 2027 national conference, cancel your reservations (I hope you can get a refund). Don’t order any more books from them or share any more resources from their website. And whatever you do, don’t feel sorry for or defend these seemingly unrepentant men. Supporting G3 or the four elders in any way is doing them a disservice. People who do not feel the pain of the consequences of sin do not repent. Paradoxically, if you want to help them, stop supporting G3.
People who do not feel the pain of the consequences of sin do not repent. Paradoxically, if you want to help them, stop supporting G3.
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Pray. Pray that the Lord would sustain and help Tom, his family, and his church to heal from this ordeal, and to come out on the other side stronger for it. Pray that if the four elders are not genuinely repentant, that God would make them so, and that they would bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Pray for their wives, children, and families who most likely didn’t know about any of this and didn’t ask for any of this. Pray for the staff members at G3 who were not involved in this scandal. They’ve almost certainly just lost their jobs with zero notice. Pray for the deacons and members of PMBC. Can you imagine your church suddenly and immediately losing your pastor and all of your elders to a sinful situation like this? Who’s going to lead the church? Who’s going to preach? What is going on? Why were we blindsided with all of this? Who can we trust now? Pray for yourself, that the Lord would help you think and respond biblically to this situation.
Don’t lose your sense of trust. Don’t allow this scandal to be a reason or an excuse for sinfully building a wall around yourself and deciding that no one in Christian leadership – including your pastor and church leadership – can be trusted. To believe that lie is to believe the same Devil that influenced the PMBC elders to sin.
Your ultimate trust should be in Christ. No human being should receive the trust God has given you that is reserved for Him alone. But there are trustworthy – not perfect – but blameless, upright, and trustworthy people in Christian ministry and leadership in the local church and in greater evangelicalism.
You can’t live your life refusing to trust anyone. God didn’t design us to function that way.
Don’t abandon the local church. In the same way that you can’t allow this scandal to convince you not to trust people, you can’t use it as a reason or an excuse to abandon the local church altogether. That is sinful, and, furthermore, it indicates that you aren’t genuinely saved.
(Sadly, in this day and age, you will probably have to leave a particular local church at some point due to its embrace of false teachers, unrepentant sin by the leadership, or some other legitimate biblical issue. Leaving a church for biblical reasons – after doing your best to work things out – and finding a new, doctrinally sound church is not the same thing as abandoning the idea of church altogether.)
Give your heart and your loyalty primarily to your local church. God’s plan for the teaching and preaching of the Word, for fellowship, for doing the “one anothers,” for serving, giving, counseling, discipleship, and your sanctification, is the local church, not parachurch ministries (incuding mine). Don’t pour your heart out promiscuously to any and every parachurch ministry that comes along, or even to one favorite ministry. Pour your heart, your love, your service, dedication, and loyalty into the church you’re a member of, and keep your focus there. That’s God’s plan and design for Christians.
Pour your heart, your love, your service, dedication, and loyalty into the church you’re a member of, and keep your focus there. That’s God’s plan and design for Christians.
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Learn. David’s adultery. Noah’s drunkenness. Solomon’s idolatry. Judas’ betrayal. And G3’s scandal. One of the reasons God pulls back the curtain – in the Bible and today – and allows us to see people blowing their lives up with sin is to warn us of the consequences we’ll reap from our own sin, and so that we might learn not to repeat the sins of others. Take the free advice God gave the PMBC elders. They spurned it. You learn it. Or you just might be the next example God allows others to learn from.
Your sin will find you out. You might sin and get away with it or keep it a secret, but it’s unlikely. Most of us aren’t criminal masterminds when it comes to covering our tracks. You want to avoid the fallout these elders are experiencing? Don’t sin. And if you do sin, stop it immediately and repent. Forget about the earthly consequences with human beings – God knows what you did. And that should scare the living daylights out of you.
Repent rightly. As you’ve read in some of the articles above, these guys did not repent right. In fact, I’m having a flashback to the multiple times I had to take one of my petulant toddlers in hand and insist, “Tell your brother you’re sorry you hit him.”. Let’s just say true, heartfelt repentance did not gush forth in his snarled, “Sorry!”. Selah.
Rightly understand and meditate on what Scripture says about your particular sin. Realize that your sin nailed Christ to the cross. He took the punishment you deserved for it. Stand broken, undone, and without excuse before God, confess everything without reservation, and ask Him to cleanse you. Then ask Him to give you the wisdom, courage, and love for Him and the people you’ve sinned against to thoroughly and rightly repent to them, ask their forgiveness, and make restitution, if possible. Do everything in your power to make things right with them.
As for me, I’m going to join you in doing all of the above. I’ll also be removing all G3 links from the blog. I’ve already removed the G3 Church Network from my list of church search engines at my church finder resource – the Searching for a new church? tab (in the blue menu bar at the top of this page).
If your church was listed at the G3 Church Network and would like to find a new place to list, I would be glad to consider it for inclusion on my list of recommended churches.
If your church was listed at the G3 Church Network and would like to find a new place to list, I would be glad to consider it for inclusion on my list of recommended churches.
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Removing all the G3 links from the last 10-12 years of blogging is a daunting prospect, but it will have to be done, if for no other reason than the fact that I anticipate that their website will be shut down soon and the links will only take you to a “404 error” page. I will have to remove links gradually, as I come across them, so thank you in advance for your patience. If you’re reading one of my articles and come across a link to a G3 resource, whether it’s working or not (or any other problematic link, for that matter), I’d be most grateful if you’d drop me a comment, DM, or email alerting me to it so I can remove or replace it.
If the Lord permits, Amy and I will also be addressing the G3 scandal – from a biblical perspective, as always – on at least two upcoming episodes of A Word Fitly Spoken in the near future.
I’m tired, y’all. I’m powerful tired.
And I know you are, too.
But the Lord is good.
Steal away with Him and meditate on His goodness. Lose yourself in the wonder of His Word. Commune with Him in sweet hours of prayer. Throw your head back and sing to Him with all your might in worship.
And get a good night’s sleep.
Because another battle’s coming tomorrow.
Press on.
Brothers, I do not consider myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14
