Clarence Sexton

Sexton was born in the state of Alabama, however, he spent his childhood in Blount County, Tennessee. 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.{{Cite web |last=Luther |first=Sam |date=December 16, 2023 |title=Longtime East Tennessee pastor and Crown College founder dies |url=https://www.wvlt.tv/2023/12/16/longtime-east-tennessee-pastor-crown-college-founder-dies/ |access-date=January 18, 2025 |website=wvlt.tv |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=December 23, 2023 |title=Dr. Clarence Sexton, Former Assistant Pastor At Highland Park Baptist, Honored At Memorial Service |url=https://www.chattanoogan.com/2023/12/23/480101/Dr.-Clarence-Sexton-Former-Assistant.aspx |access-date=January 18, 2025 |website=www.chattanoogan.com |language=en}}

In 1970, when Sexton was only 22 years old, he met Billy Graham, stating that he viewed him very positively.{{Cite news |title=Good and faithful servant': Knoxville pastors react to death of Billy Graham |url=https://eu.knoxnews.com/story/news/2018/02/21/knoxville-pastors-react-death-billy-graham/358337002/ |work=Knox news}} Sexton has worked with the Independent Baptist preacher Lee Roberson and served as an assistant pastor at Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee.{{Cite book |last=Roberson |first=Lee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pAh1mG7rQNMC&dq=clarence+sexton&pg=PA11 |title=Preaching to America |date=1999 |publisher=Sword of the Lord Publishers |isbn=978-0-87398-667-0 |page=11 |language=en}}

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.{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Sandra |date=November 21, 2024 |title=Co-founder of The Crown College has died |url=https://www.knoxtntoday.com/co-founder-of-the-crown-college-has-died/ |access-date=January 18, 2025 |website=Knox TN Today |language=en-US}}

Sexton often tried to seek unity within the Independent Baptist movement, creating the Independent Baptist Friends International in 2010.{{Cite web |title=Sexton's "Irreducible Body of Truth" Friendship Program |url=https://www.wayoflife.org/reports/sextons_irreducible_body_of_truth.html |access-date=January 18, 2025 |website=www.wayoflife.org}}

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.{{Cite web |last=Huotari |first=John |date=July 10, 2017 |title=Negligence lawsuit of up to $10.5 million filed in car-trailer crash |url=https://oakridgetoday.com/2017/07/10/negligence-lawsuit-of-up-to-10-5-million-filed-in-car-trailer-crash/ |access-date=January 18, 2025 |website=Oak Ridge Today |language=en-US}}

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, 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.{{Cite journal |last=Straub |first=Jeffrey P. |date=2011 |title=Fundamentalism And The King James Version: How A Venerable English Translation Became A Litmus Test For Orthodoxy |url=https://www.galaxie.com/article/sbjt15-4-06 |journal=Southern Baptist Journal of Theology |volume=15 |issue=4 |quote=Many KJV-only fundamentalists have rejected Grady’s extreme views. In 2005, Grady was invited to preach in chapel at Crown College in Powell, Tennessee. He was also invited to preach the following Sunday night at the host church, Temple Baptist Church, pastored by Clarence Sexton. In that chapel message, Grady called for a renewal of Ruckmanism. his caused Sexton to disinvitem him from the previously scheduled Sunday night follow-up message at the church. Grady, in his controversial sermon, went so far as to disassociate himself from fundamentalism, arguing that fundamentalists did not believe enough of the essential doctrinal truths such as the infallibility of the English Bible. Grady’s recently published a second book expanding on the “Pseudo King James Onlyites,” whom he defined as those “who promote the KJV in public while accepting the Textus Receptus as the higher authority in private.}}

Sexton has been the subject of controversy over racism, especially on the issue of the inclusion of a statue of the confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Sexton's opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement, to which allegations the college stated that they had been misrepresented.{{Cite web |last=Ramsey |first=Abby Ann |date=January 28, 2022 |title=Crown College claims president misrepresented in Ku Klux Klan statue controversy |url=https://www.utdailybeacon.com/city_news/politics/crown-college-claims-president-misrepresented-in-ku-klux-klan-statue-controversy/article_8062bbd4-8091-11ec-bd8a-8f3b759ecb82.html |access-date=January 18, 2025 |website=The Daily Beacon |language=en}}{{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}}

Category:Christian fundamentalists

Category:20th-century Baptist ministers from the United States

Category:Heads of universities and colleges