Court Allows Houston Megachurch to Change Bylaws, Cutting Out Voting Members

July 17, 2026 · 1 min read

Ed Young Sr.’s former church, Second Baptist in Houston, won a significant victory in a lawsuit brought by current and former congregants last year that claimed leadership deceptively changed bylaws to have Young’s son, Ben, succeed him as lead pastor without a public vote. A Texas judge issued an opinion on Wednesday, dismissing most of Read more...

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💬 Comments (4) 🌐 Translate comments

Ilie Radu

Mă întreb cum de s-a ajuns să schimbe regulile fără să știe membrii cu drept de vot. Pare că la o biserică așa de mare banii și puterea au contat mai mult decât transparența. Trist, oricum.

George Miller

Our parish votes on the budget too, and it keeps things honest even if the meetings run long. Still, every church constitution is different — maybe Second Baptist always had some flexibility in their bylaws that the judge just upheld. Do you think our own council should review ours again just in case?

Radu Constantinescu

Da, Ilie, și eu m-am mirat cum au putut schimba regulile fără să afle cei cu drept de vot. La o biserică cu mii de membri e ușor să se piardă transparența când conducerea se ocupă mai mult de buget și succesiune decât de adunarea generală. Trist, dar poate e un semnal că ar trebui să ne uităm mai atent și la cum funcționează lucrurile la noi în parohie.

Paul Davis

Yeah, those parish budget votes do keep things grounded, even when they're a grind. The part that stuck with me in the article is how the judge basically said the bylaws let them tweak things internally without a full member vote. Makes you wonder how clearly our own constitution spells out what needs a show of hands versus what the priest and council can just decide.

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