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“Most of you have heard the recent controversy. A statement was posted this morning here: https://x.com/G3Conference/status/2092237885915201773 …. We are dissolving the G3 Church Network effective immediately.” - C.Leaders

Discussion

Wed, 08/26/26

I wondered that, too. It looks to me like they only resigned G3, but that’s just inference from context. It seems like the focus of the article is on G3 and that’s what the resignations are. But then again, G3 itself is closing (per C.Leaders article), so why ‘resign’ from an organization that is ceasing to exist?

It’s a little confusing. Maybe the video clears it up, but I haven’t had time to see/hear it yet.

Edit: I don’t see anything at G3, but JubileeCast says they resigned from their churches: https://www.jubileecast.com/articles/38938/20260826/g3-president-scott-aniol-and-three-pray-s-mill-pastors-resign-after-admitting-anonymous-campaign-against-tom-buck.htm I am not familiar with JubileeCast though.

And another edit: The statement on ‘X’ also says they “resigned to our congregations as pastors,” which seems to mean resigned from their ministry roles, but the wording is unusual there and could be taken to mean they, as pastors, communicated to their congregations that they resigned from G3. So I don’t know.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Wed, 08/26/26

This is a very unusual scenario. One of the elements we tout when we talk about the advantage of a plurality of elders is that it prevents things like "overlord", "pervasive sin", "robust leadership perspectives".... It is very unusual to see such a large number of elders that are well respected with strong credentials, all sin in unison and resign en mass. It is also striking that the previous leader of G3 was removed from both G3 and his elder position from disparaging others, just prior to Scott Aniol from joining. Now to see 4 elders subsequently do the exact same thing, really raises the question of whether this type of sin is a cultural element of PMBC or leadership associated with PMBC? I don't see G3 lasting as a result of this.

Wed, 08/26/26

Pharisees attacking Pharisees and being attacked by Pharisees.

Will Scott Aniol also resign from his other ministry positions (Puritan Reformed College, Grace Bible Theological Seminary, etc.)?

Wed, 08/26/26

It will be interesting to see if he resigns. These are all so interconnected. PMBC houses G3 ministries. Scott is/was an elder at PBMC, but also the president of G3. Scott's wife runs a homeschool company called Living Heritage. Living Heritage has a partnership with G3 and frequently speaks at G3 led conferences. Living Heritage partners with Puritan Reformed College on parts of their curriculum. Their Bachelor of Arts in Chrisitan Education is modeled after elements found in Living Heritage curriculum and philosphy. The Dean of Puritan Reformed College is Scott Aniol. Much of the teaching is modeled after Charlotte Mason's approach and is rooted in Reformed theology and practices.

Wed, 08/26/26

What a mess, as the Roys Report notes that somebody put forth documentation of Buck's alleged plagiarism, and now it's appearing that the whole matter is being dropped because it wasn't done per Matthew 18. Am I understanding this correctly?

Now I'll grant; it's important that things be done honestly, per Matthew 18, and we need a serious look at what level of repentance these guys need for doing anonymous potshots. This follows, by the way, Josh Buice's resignation for the same kind of thing. So there is a sickness in this regard at Pray's Bill Baptist, I dare say--it's a pattern there, and maybe at G3 in general.

On the other side, intellectual honesty matters, and hence Tom Buck may need to repent for that. At First Baptist, they do seem to have a fairly good sized staff, and I can't tell you whether he's totally dominant there, and whether a note to him, and then the elders, would have sufficed.

But that said, what a mess...

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Thu, 08/27/26

Tom Buck did respond to the allegations within his local church, confessing his use of commentaries without attribution and devoting himself to changing that practice. Phil Johnson was a part of giving advice to the church on how to handle this. See here. This of course was handled within the local church and no response was given to the anonymous letters. But then more anonymous letters were sent out (see Tom Ascol's statement here), and somehow the elders of Prays Mill Baptist Church were implicated as their source. They have acknowledged as much in their letter of resignation (below). This was specifically related to their role as elders of Prays Mill Baptist Church. But G3 is "concluding its operations" as well (see here). Already they have taken their website offline, closed their X and YouTube accounts, announced via email to partnering churches that the G3 church network would be ending, and removed Scott Aniol from the speaker lineup for the G3/Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary's 2027 conference (here).

I have no joy in this. May the Lord somehow use it for His glory and so that His Gospel will go forward!

May be an image of text

Thu, 08/27/26

I am not sure if this will have implications for Scott's other roles at Grace Bible Theological Seminary and as Dean of Puritan Reformed College (although this is basically a startup right now).

Fri, 08/28/26

It’s a mess. I wonder what brought the G3 team to the point where they decided they needed to repent.

I’m sure that when they sent out the packets etc. they thought they were doing the right thing, as we often do when we’re doing the wrong thing. But at some point, I imagine they looked at each other and someone said, “This isn’t right. What do we do now?” (2 Kings 7:9 comes to mind)

Either way, the decision to come clean and make it as right as it can be made took some courage. Sometimes we paint ourselves into corners and there is no non-disastrous way out. I for one, find their candor refreshing. The repentance is bold. I hope they all find good paths forward.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Sat, 08/29/26

Aaron Blumer wrote: Either way, the decision to come clean and make it as right as it can be made took some courage.

I would argue that in this case, it was probably less courage, and more the fact that they were "caught" and given the prominent individuals outcry publicly, caused them to repent. We don't know truly what took place in terms of thought processes, but from what we can see, it didn't look like they came up with a decision to come clean, but just to simply recognize what other people discovered and owned up to it. I bit like when your a child and your mother or father found out you did something wrong and you seek to weasle out of it, but realize that there was no way out and you admitted what you did to your parents.