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With Labor Day behind us and high daily temperatures in my corner of the world dipping into the relatively tolerable low ‘90s, it’s time to open the boxes of winter fleeces to wear for about 15 minutes every morning in a futile attempt to manifest autumn. But before I dust off the memes making fun of white women’s love for pumpkin spice and the farce of us allowing a team of teenage boys to determine the state of our mental health, I’m reflecting on the stories of the summer.
One stands out above all the rest.
De-Gifting
On June 30, the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University announced that its Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I) had received a research grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation to study “the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change.”
Nine days later, Baylor President Linda Livingstone sent a letter to the Baylor Family announcing that the grant was being sent back. “The work extended,” Livingstone’s letter stated, “into advocacy for perspectives on human sexuality that are inconsistent with Baylor’s institutional policies, including our Statement on Human Sexuality.”
Baylor’s human sexuality statement affirms “purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical norm.”
Good Faith Media (GFM) broke both stories, and I doubt anyone believes that was because of my fierce journalistic prowess. Like Baylor, I call Waco home. I hold a degree from Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary and worked for a season with a Baylor initiative that is adjacent to (both literally and figuratively) the School of Social Work.
My t-shirt drawer is packed tight with green and gold. I love Baylor—and I know how it works.
Additionally, as we have stated in many of our news and opinion articles on the story—including this one—GFM receives funding from the Baugh Foundation to continue our work. (Incidentally, we also couldn’t do what we do without the generous support of our Good Faith Advocates, which you could easily become by clicking here before reading any further!)
The good telling of a story requires proximity and, for this one, I had that in spades.
Behind the Scenes
In December 2021, three years ahead of its self-imposed deadline, Baylor received an R1 rating from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, placing the university in the upper echelon of research institutions. This didn’t happen by accident. It was the result of rigorous planning and processes that vet and account for every research dollar received and output produced.
Because of this, most people knew that the rejection of the grant probably wasn’t a result of some oversight that occurred before June 30. Instead, it was likely caused by back-office, “call me as soon as you get a chance,” “concerned email” maneuverings that happened sometime between the announcements of receiving and rejecting the grant.
Some celebrated what they perceived as a “course correction” by Baylor. Others, including many in the Good Faith Media ecosystem, lamented what we saw as a massive step backward.
Without more detailed information from Baylor beyond Livingstone’s letter, which had “produced by a team of lawyers” written all over it, we were all left to guess exactly what happened between June 30 and July 9.
The timing of the situation aligned with the announcement of a partnership between Baylor’s Truett Seminary and the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), two institutions that are decidedly non-LBGTQ+-affirming. Pair that with Truett’s deep ties to Texas Baptists, who are fierce advocates of local church autonomy on almost every issue except for LGBTQ+ inclusion, and three “suspects” began to emerge when piecing together what happened during those nine days.
If it seemed unfair to implicate those institutions, they could have easily provided clarity with a straightforward press release. But as a realist (and a former Baylor communications professional), I don’t fault them for their silence. If I were in their positions—holding the same institutional power and the same views on human sexuality—I would have advised them to remain as tight-lipped as they were.
A good communications department knows the power of silence in our rapidly moving media environment. We are, after all, in Donald Trump’s America, which means if you don’t feed a story, it’ll fade into the ether before you receive your next smart watch notification that it’s time to stand up.
Demolition Day
Some of the national attention began to shift away from the Baylor story and toward another. This one, in an interesting twist of history, also involved LGBTQ+ inclusion and (arguably) Baylor’s second most famous alumnus and Waco’s second most famous resident, Chip Gaines. (I don’t think Chip would argue that Joanna is more famous than he is.)
On July 10, the Magnolia Network/HBO Max debuted Back to the Frontier, a reality show that features families attempting to live like 19th-century frontier homesteaders. One of the families included the Hanna-Riggses, two married gay dads and their sons.
Evangelical personalities on X, many of whom, like Megan Basham, had been commenting on the Baylor story, lost their minds. They demanded answers from the Gaineses, who they had long considered “one of their own.” In the early morning hours of Sunday, July 13, before they woke up and headed off to their non-LBGTQ+-affirming churches, they got their answer:
Talk, ask qustns, listen.. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never
It’s a sad sunday when “non believers” have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian💔
— Chip Gaines (@chipgaines) July 13, 2025
In typical Chip fashion, it was simultaneously clunky and refreshing. It provided no clarity on what the Gaineses believe theologically about LGBTQ+ belonging, but that wasn’t what he was aiming for. He was defending a couple and, by extension, a community that has not just been excluded, but targeted by Christians who follow “statements on human sexuality” to their logical conclusion.
I joked that morning that Chip woke up before his wife and their publicists, and he wasn’t going to take what he was reading on social media any longer. I assumed that his team would wake up and go into damage-control mode, which was probably the case. My other assumption was that the post would eventually be removed.
It is still there.
The fallout from Chip’s post reminded me of the brilliant SNL sketch “The Day Beyonce Turned Black,” in response to the 2016 release of the album Lemonade. At the risk of ruining the joke by explaining it, the humor is found in the reality that, obviously, Beyoncé has always been Black.
Incidentally, it wasn’t the first time Chip had run afoul of anti-LBGTQ+ voices. In February 2024, he posted a photo on Instagram of himself and Joanna joyfully standing with Brittney Griner and her wife, Cherelle, after Griner’s jersey was retired before a Baylor women’s basketball game. He tagged Griner with the caption, “Welcome home, SO proud of you girl!” The comments reflected all the hate Griner has endured simply for being herself.
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Again, I don’t know what Chip and Joanna’s biblical or theological convictions are regarding LGBTQ+ matters. But as any Wacoan who has taken a peek into the inner workings of the Magnolia empire will tell you, there’s a lot of rainbow glitter glue holding all that shiplap in place.
Before Chip was exiled permanently from the graces of the Megan Bashams and Josh Howertons of the world, they held out hope that some of the wreckage from demolition day could be salvaged by Antioch, the Waco church the Gaineses have been associated with since their time at Baylor. “Where is their pastor!” the posts read. (Basham also had done a deep dive into President Livingstone’s church past, implying what many assume, which is that Livingstone’s personal beliefs on the issue are at odds with her professional commitments.)
On July 19, Antioch’s pastor, Jimmy Siebert, posted a video reaffirming Antioch’s stance on human sexuality, which is, more or less, in alignment with Baylor’s statement.
As a side note, I am unaware of whether the Gainses still consider themselves a part of Antioch. They have made no public statements about the church for several years. Chip did, however, follow up his July 9 post on X with another post reading, “On our way to church…Y’all enjoy this beautiful Sunday!” The post was a retweet of a 2016 statement that “In times of trouble..you’ll find the Gaines family at church.”
Lament and Hope
For those of us in the “Baylor Family” wanting the university to break toward full belonging for our LGBTQ+ siblings, this summer gave us reasons for both hope and lament.
From a constituent-opinion standpoint, it would seem as if the data favors Baylor’s “traditional” view of human sexuality. According to a March 2025 PRRI study, a little more than one-third (38%) of White evangelical Protestants (a primary Baylor constituency) approve of same-sex marriage.
But there are caveats. That rate is higher for other minoritized evangelical communities, which are growing demographics at Baylor. Additionally, rates increase among those with a four-year degree, which, presumably, Baylor is a big fan of.
Additionally, anyone who has walked in and out of institutions like Baylor can tell you that “anti” crowds on any given issue can be misleading. Of course, some hold firm to their anti-LBGTQ+ positions. But most people just don’t want to be bothered and, therefore, fall in line behind whatever the status quo is. This is good news for the prophets of exclusion—for now.
Given the zeitgeist, even many Christians are concluding that history will damn our slow roll in catching up with God on this one. But even though Baylor’s rejection of the Baugh grant has caused (and perpetuated) harm to multiple communities, there are signs the “damn is breaking.”
In addition to the ray of hope Chip Gaines provided this summer, there is on-the-ground evidence that the tide is turning. At Baylor’s annual “Church Fair,” the pastor of University Baptist Church—which happens to be my church and also queer affirming—reported that she had more conversations with students who were curious, not aggressive or defensive, about how a church like ours exists.
There are now also numerous new, incredible resources, such as Zach Lambert’s new book, Better Ways to Read the Bible, that explain in compelling and accessible ways how being faithful to God and the biblical text doesn’t require holding tightly to ancient understandings of human sexuality.
The damn is breaking, and the results will be a flood of joy and grace that will reach deep into the souls of the entire Baylor family—even those trying desperately to hold it together with duct tape and dollars.
When it finally collapses, they will discover that the water is just fine.
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Senior Editor at Good Faith Media.
