Pastor of First Baptist Fort Lauderdale abruptly quits ‘to pursue other interests’
Four years into his reign at the historic First Baptist Fort Lauderdale church in Florida, which was marred by public disputes over his leadership style and financial management, Lead Pastor James Welch abruptly quit this week “to pursue other interests.”
The announcement made by the trustee board and deacon body of the church came in an email sent to parishioners of the 115-year-old Southern Baptist congregation Thursday.
“We’re writing today to let you know that James Welch resigned as lead pastor this week to pursue other interests. We wish James, Amy, and his family only the best as they continue to faithfully live out God’s plan for their lives,” church leaders said in a copy of the email reviewed by The Christian Post.
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“This Sunday, we’ll share more and announce our plan of action to search for a new lead pastor, along with some of the guest speakers who will be filling the pulpit in the weeks to come including some that are near and dear to the FBFTL family.”
Shortly after he joined the church in the spring of 2019, Welch quickly lost favor among a significant number of members who branded him a toxic bully.
In 2020, the dissenting church members voted to fire Welch, their nine-member board of trustees and half the church’s deacons. Many of the dissenters, an estimated 150 members, were expelled from the church for challenging their leader.
“Pastor James R. Welch has not created a stable environment, but instead has created a toxic environment and polarized atmosphere for both congregants and staff,” the group of disgruntled members, who call themselves the First Baptist Church FTL Advocacy Group, wrote in a summary of concerns about Welch. “Without the recognition [of] mistakes or the willingness to listen to congregants, Deacon Body or Trustee Board there is no hope for improvement and thus no way forward.”
Just months after his arrival, Welsh moved in January 2020 to permanently cancel the church’s 36-year-old annual Christmas Pageant, which is an award-winning, Broadway-style show that told the Christmas story. He said the money spent on the show, which some leaders said had become a financial burden to the church, would be better served on other community-serving initiatives, including a year-round arts ministry.
“We firmly believe that God is leading us into a new day that will take us on a path to become a more outward-focused church, placing more emphasis on a variety of evangelistic and discipleship initiatives outside the physical walls of our church,” Welch said at the time.
The church’s money woes continued into last year when they were forced to sell a prime piece of real estate they owned in downtown Fort Lauderdale worth more than $1.2 million for an undisclosed sum.
Church leaders explained that the sale of the land was necessary to help them generate income to maintain their sprawling campus.
“Ultimately it comes down to stewardship. Our campus spans nearly two complete city blocks in the most strategic location in Fort Lauderdale. It requires not only scheduled maintenance, but also rejuvenation, and these require money. Selling the unused property which is not even contiguous to our main campus allows us to take care of our campus and use it even more effectively to draw people to what we call ‘the Jesus first life,’” church leaders said. “The money will be used for emergency repairs and replacement of capital items at our downtown Fort Lauderdale campus.”
First Baptist Fort Lauderdale, which had been facing declining numbers over the last two decades, showed some signs of growth in recent years. Since Welch's arrival, the dissidents said that attendance in 2020 fell from between 1,000-1,200 to almost 750.
Last Sunday, the church attracted 160 people to a sanctuary that seats 2,500, The Capstone Report said.
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