Clarence Sexton (1948 - 2023) was an American

Independent Baptist Independent Baptist churches (also called Independent Fundamental Baptists or IFB) are Christian congregations that generally hold to fundamentalist or conservative views of Evangelical Christianity and Baptist beliefs, such as believer's bapti ...

pastor and prominent figure in Republican politics in

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, alongside being the founder and president of Crown College in Tennessee.

Life

Sexton was born in the state of Alabama, however, he spent his childhood in

Blount County, Tennessee Blount County is a County (United States), county located in the East Tennessee Grand Divisions of Tennessee, Grand Division of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 135,280. The count ...

. Sexton later became a pastor at the Temple Baptist Church in Powell, Tennessee and founded the Independent Baptist Crown College in 1991, whose graduates started around 500 churches in the world. In 1970, when Sexton was only 22 years old, he met

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (; November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American Evangelism, evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister, and Civil rights movement, civil rights advocate, whose broadcasts and world tours featuring liv ...

, stating that he viewed him very positively. Sexton has worked with the Independent Baptist preacher

Lee Roberson Lavern "Lee" Edward Roberson (November 24, 1909 – April 29, 2007) was an American pastor and evangelist. He was the founder of Tennessee Temple University and Temple Baptist Seminary in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Camp Joy, in Harrison, T ...

and served as an assistant pastor at Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Sexton had two sons, six children, and two great-grandchildren. He died in 2023 after being sick for a long time. His wife, who co-founded Crown College with him, died a year later in 2024. Sexton often tried to seek unity within the

movement, creating the Independent Baptist Friends International in 2010. In 2017, the Temple Baptist Church was involved in a lawsuit, after a truck injured a woman. The lawsuit also named the Temple Baptist Church, claiming ownership of the equipment. However, Sexton denied the ownership of the truck by the church and any involvement.

Ruckmanism

Clarence Sexton was a King James Only Fundamentalist, however he rejected more extreme views of King James Onlyism. In 2005, Sexton invited William P. Grady, a radical proponent of KJV-onlyism, to speak at Temple Baptist Church. During his sermon, Grady called for a revival of Ruckmanism and argued for a break from broader

fundamentalism Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguis ...

, claiming it did not go far enough. Sexton responded to Grady's remarks by canceling a subsequent speaking engagement for him at the church. In 2010, Grady published a book called "Given by Inspiration" criticizing KJV-only advocates who promote the KJV in public while accepting the Textus Receptus as the higher authority in private.

Racism allegations

Sexton has been the subject of controversy over

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

, especially on the issue of the inclusion of a statue of the confederate general

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was an List of slave traders of the United States, American slave trader, active in the lower Mississippi River valley, who served as a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Con ...

, and Sexton's opposition to the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

movement, to which allegations the college stated that they had been misrepresented.{{Cite web , last=Lunsford , first=Erica , date=December 28, 2021 , title=Petition started against a memorial garden at Powell college , url=https://www.wvlt.tv/2021/12/28/petition-started-against-memorial-garden-powell-bible-college/ , access-date=January 18, 2025 , website=wvlt.tv , language=en

References

Christian fundamentalists 20th-century Baptist ministers from the United States Heads of universities and colleges