Maneuvers for Dealing with Manipulative People: How to Be an ERLC Board Member

One of the things that you must be on the lookout for when the shakable things are shaken is manipulative people. Manipulators manipulate in all seasons but they really go to pulling the strings when things begin to rumble. Since we have more than our fair share of societal tremors at the moment, you can bet that there is a whole lot of steering going on in unhealthy organizations. 

Megan Basham’s recent book Pastors for Sale demonstrates that Christian organizations are susceptible to manipulation. The recent happenings over at the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission underscore the point. While I have not seen any explanation of why Brent Leatherwood, the president of the ERLC was fired and then rehired, I do have eyes in my head. We do not need insider information to observe the observable. 

The ERLC announced that Leatherwood was fired only to come out the next day and announce that he was not fired and the chairman of the ERLC executive board, Kevin Smith, had resigned. Smith released a statement saying that he believed there was a consensus to remove Leatherwood, and “in an effort to deal with it expeditiously, I acted in good faith but without a formal vote of the Executive Committee.” In response to the news that the ERLC had rehired Leatherwood and railroaded Smith, my friend Toby Sumpter tweeted, “We apologize again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.” Basham has documented on her X feed how Russell Moore stirred up major left media along with other major players to pressure the ERLC board after they fired Leatherwood. The peculiar thing was why they fired him in the first place. The chairman of the ERLC and the makeup of the entire board itself is not a bastion of MAGA republicanism. So what happened? 

In short, the ERLC board responds to pressure. When that pressure comes from the right, they respond by agreeing with Smith and firing Leatherwood. When that pressure comes from the left, they respond by rehiring Leatherwood and ousting Smith. What will the board do next? The answer is quite simple: they will do whatever the loudest voice in the room is saying to do. The ERLC is an example of an organization that has cultivated a culture of manipulation. Principle is gone. Genuine leadership is gone. The ERLC is Joe Biden, listening very closely to the Nancy Pelosis of the world who assure them that we can do this the easy way or the hard way.

The only way to rectify an organization that is riddled with manipulative people and manipulated people is for the individuals in that organization to grow up. Manipulated people are infantilized people and it really does take a work of renewal to change things. To that end, if you find yourself in a culture of manipulation, here are some maneuvers for dealing with manipulators.

The first thing to do is buckle up because you’re going to have a bumpy ride. Can you imagine what would have happened if one of the ERLC board members grew a spine amid the back and forth? Imagine that some regular Johnny on the board gets news, after they agreed to fire Leatherwood, that they would now be rehiring Leatherwood. He gets a call from a fellow board member, “Johnny, while we agreed to fire Leatherwood, Russell Moore made a phone call, and it dawned on us that we did not take a formal vote in session. Johnny, there were no yeas and there were no nays, and in addition to this Smith did not even ask if there were any abstentions and it is most certain that he did not use a gavel to close session.” But this Johnny decides to speak the truth amid the shenanigans and says something like, “You know, we knew what we were doing and we should follow through on principle rather than let CNN dictate the decisions of the ERLC.” If Johnny went that way, he would be inviting a good deal of trouble upon himself. And he would come out on the other side being a better man. But note, there is no way of breaking out of manipulative systems without fireworks.

Amid such systems, you must rise above the standard operating procedure. You must expand your view. Manipulative leadership squelches creativity within the organization. Contrary views are ridiculed without being answered. Within a suffocating system, remember that it is one thing to disprove an interlocutor and another thing to slander or ridicule him. If it is becoming clear to you that the leaders within your organization are cutting you off from other opinions without actually understanding them and answering them, then you my friend might be a puppet.

You can test such a hypothesis by stating your convictions, by disagreeing without being disagreeable. Do not be fussy about it. But explain why you think it would be good and wise to go a particular direction if you indeed think that is the best way to go. If the response is that you are simply trying to flex or getting too big for your britches, or if the response is that you have an inordinate interest in others who hold the position you’re advocating, explain that those are wonderful ad hominem fallacies, but illegitimate replies to your proposition. 

As you work these maneuvers on manipulators, bless those who are trying to pull your strings. Make sure that this does not turn into scratching the back of the one who is scratching yours. Manipulators will gladly welcome that kind of thing. What you are after is genuine blessing not back-scratching. You will find yourself in a sea of back-scratching. So the task before you is to think through what will be an actual blessing to the manipulators in the system. Depending on how deep the rot goes, the biggest blessing you may be able to render them is to depart the organization graciously. At other times, you should do a kindness within the system. But one that is going to stand out amid all of the gladhanding and shmoozing. 

Within manipulative institutions, men evade responsibility. This is one reason you have to go through seventeen rounds of pre-recorded selections before speaking with a genuine human at the IRS. Healthy organizations draw leaders who are looking for the freedom of making decisions and standing by them. If you have to check with your superiors before you blow your nose, then you know where you are. You can test this hypothesis as well. If you suspect that you are being micro-managed, then take a reasonable shot without asking. Do not steal the launch codes and fire a missile at Iran. But when the opportunity presents itself to make a decision and there is no clear standard saying that you can’t, take the shot and see if this puts the manipulator’s knickers in a knot.

I recently tweeted the following:

Biden was old enough to steer. Kamala is dumb enough to steer. The ERLC is anxious enough to steer. Russell Moore is shrewd enough to drive.

This is a subject worth expanding on so perhaps more later. For now, we have a real problem. There are steering wheels on many backs and revival will not come through the right learning how to steer. A sign that revival has come will be all of the steering wheels being removed.

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