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White Collar Lies: Carlton Byrd’s Plagiarism and Adventism’s Culture of Credentialism
November 14, 2025|
A plagiarism scandal involving one of Adventism’s most prominent leaders has reignited debate over honesty and accountability in preaching and publishing. Carlton P. Byrd, president of the Southwest Region Conference and former speaker of Breath of Life Ministries, received public criticism after delivering a keynote sermon for Oakwood University’s (OU) presidential inauguration that closely mirrored a sermon by Baptist preacher Tolan Morgan.
The incident occurred on September 26, 2025, during the inauguration of Gina Spivey-Brown, OU’s 12th president and the first woman to hold the office. Byrd’s address—intended as a message of encouragement—borrowed heavily from Morgan’s 2020 sermon, “Why Did You Pick a Devil?” originally preached at Fellowship Bible Baptist Church in Warner Robins, Georgia. Side-by-side comparisons shared online showed Byrd echoing Morgan’s phrasing, structure, and biblical illustrations almost verbatim.
A Message Meant for Celebration
Before the controversy erupted, Byrd’s message drew applause for its celebration of divine calling and female leadership. He began by framing his keynote not as an academic lecture but as a spiritual reflection on OU’s faith-centered mission:
As the one who is privileged to offer the keynote address for this inauguration ceremony, I understand my assignment and I recognize that this discourse is not a sermon. I acknowledge that this speech is not an evangelistic appeal. I’m clear that this message is not a theoretical, philosophical, intellectual, scholarly learn literary lecture. I know this is an academic institution. I know this is an HBCU. I get it that this is a UNCF-affiliated institution, but I also recognize this is God’s school and its foundation is built on God’s principles. And because God’s principles are built on God’s word, it’s only fitting that I should say something from God’s book.
Drawing comparisons to the Book of Esther, Byrd celebrated Brown’s appointment as a providential moment in Oakwood’s story, emphasizing that “God doesn’t deal in accidents; He deals in assignments.” The tone was celebratory until going to the end of the sermon—one that later became the center of the plagiarism controversy.
Echoing nearly word-for-word the phrasing and rhythm of Morgan’s 2020 sermon, Byrd declared:
“Doctor Brown, remember in this assignment that if you’re under attack, it could be that you’re on the verge of an advancement[…]Because Satan sometimes only shows up when you’re close to something great.”
Morgan’s original sermon stresses the same point, saying that “if we are under the attack of the enemy, it is probably because we are on the verge of advancement.” Morgan continues, “We are victorious not in the absence of our enemies, but in their presence.”
Byrd went on to expand the theme with a sequence of biblical examples: Noah surviving the flood and landing on a mountain, Joseph rising from prison to power, David defeating Goliath, and Job being restored after great loss. All followed Morgan’s progression almost exactly. Side-by-side comparisons later revealed not only the identical structure and word choice but also similar tone and gestures.
The repeated phrase—“if you’re under attack, you might be close to your next advancement”—became the thematic anchor of Byrd’s message. Yet that same crescendo became the focal point of a storm online, as Adventist and Baptist viewers accused Byrd of lifting both the message and language directly from Morgan’s 2020 sermon without acknowledgement.
What was intended as a tribute to perseverance and divine purpose thus became a lightning rod for a debate about honesty, originality, and accountability in Adventist preaching.
Byrd’s Response and Online Reaction
Videos of both sermons went viral quickly, sparking widespread debate over ethics and accountability in Adventist preaching. Following days of online comparisons and criticism, Byrd addressed the controversy publicly during a Sabbath service on October 18 at the Dallas Project church, acknowledging what he called a “mistake” in failing to credit Morgan.
“It’s been a tough week for me,” Byrd told congregants. “Four weeks ago, I preached a sermon at Oakwood. The sermon was 45 minutes. But in a 4- to 5-minute segment, I failed to properly cite the source of that five-minute segment. I made a mistake. I’m human[…]I humbly apologize[…]I ask for your forgiveness.”
While Byrd emphasized that the uncredited portion represented only “four to five minutes” of his 45-minute address, a transcript comparison—now independently confirmed—shows those few minutes comprised the sermon’s entire central argument: the claim that “attacks precede advancement.” The copied content begins in his message at roughly the 23-minute mark and continues for about five minutes before he transitions back to his own material. Though brief in duration, the segment closely tracks Morgan’s structure, phrasing, and biblical sequence from Genesis to Job, making it the theological and rhetorical core of Byrd’s message.
Across YouTube and Adventist social networks, hundreds weighed in on the unfolding scandal—some condemning Byrd’s actions, others calling for compassion.
One commenter, @aricawaters9668, wrote: “Sermons are usually written by the pastor via prayer, personal reflection, and scripture reading. When you repeat anything verbatim, you must give the original source credit. This man is wearing the academic regalia of Oakwood. Believe me, he already knows all about plagiarism.” Another user, @gretchencomegys4235, added: “Pitiful… And he is preaching at a University!! At a Presidential Inauguration!! All he had to do was say, ‘I heard a great message that fits this occasion from Dr. Tolan Morgan. He states…’ Better yet, find your own words.”
Yet not all voices joined the chorus of condemnation. James Desvallons, host of Advent Media Connect, who initially uploaded one of the comparison videos, later removed it after hearing Byrd’s apology. “I decided to take it down because the Lord told me to do so,” he explained in another video that included Bryd’s apology clip. “When the man does the right thing, we need to go and look at that and say, there you go. Now, this is repentance.”
Another content creator, Jay Williams of Global Impact Channel, kept his video online but issued his own emotional response: “I respect that. I don’t know any pastor on this earth that did what Pastor Byrd just did. Everybody is so full of pride[…]This shocked me, and it made me cry because I love my church. To Pastor Byrd—I apologize for how I came at you. This is my public apology to you.”
These contrasting responses highlight a deeper question for Adventists: What does forgiveness look like in the face of public failure—and how can institutions ensure accountability without losing compassion?
A Crisis of Honesty
The controversy has also reignited a larger discussion about integrity and honesty in Adventist preaching. Many see Byrd’s actions not as an isolated lapse but as part of a broader erosion of transparency in church leadership—a theme long explored by Adventist author and professor Chris Blake, a retired educator, former Insight Magazine editor, and longtime pastor.
In his book Swimming Against the Current: Living for the God You Love (2006), Blake warned:
“Justice has at its foundation the trait of honesty. As a church, we don’t spend nearly enough time on this vital matter. Without an undeviating commitment to honesty, we lack a true north—our spiritual compass is constantly spinning[…]Honesty is regularly trampled on church platforms—it happens to ideas and words. (‘Selected’ in church bulletins doesn’t actually denote credit. It really means, ‘We stole this one.’)”
Blake further wrote: “I know of a pastor who ‘borrows’ notes, sermons, and articles increasingly without giving credit. He is not alone in this tendency to take shortcuts.”
Years later, responding to the current wave of reaction over Byrd, Blake told Spectrum: “As we swim and attempt to breathe in an ocean of deception, today the ninth commandment is more important than the fourth. Too many alleged Truth guardians are abandoning their posts. The mark of the best is integrity.”
A Pattern of Plagiarism
The Byrd controversy is not an isolated event. In recent years, multiple Adventist administrators and scholars have faced similar charges of plagiarism in both academic and ministerial settings.
An investigative report by Spectrum revealed that Panayotis Coutsoumpos, a retired pastor and biblical scholar, plagiarized multiple academic works—including a 2022 Review of Biblical Literature article copied nearly word-for-word from another scholar’s 2017 review. Further investigation uncovered repeated cases of stolen material across journals and books, leading the Society of Biblical Literature to retract his review and publisher Wipf and Stock to pull several of his titles from circulation.
In another case, Spectrum documented plagiarism by Moses Maka Ndimukika, then president of the Uganda Union Mission, whose PhD papers at Sahmyook University in South Korea showed 38 percent and 68 percent similarity to online sources such as Wikipedia and BibleStudyTools.com. Sahmyook stated that it opened an ethics review two years ago but has not publicly addressed the issue since. At the General Conference Session this July, Ndimukika was elected executive secretary of the East-Central Africa Division.
Taken together, these cases communicate a mixed message to students on Adventist campuses around the world.
Silence and Aftermath
Neither OU nor the Southwest Region Conference, headquartered in Dallas, has issued a formal statement about Byrd’s alleged plagiarism. For Byrd—a seasoned preacher, former Oakwood University Church pastor, and nationally recognized evangelist—these allegations mark a serious reputational setback for a minister whose career has been defined by eloquence, evangelism, and institutional achievement.
In his closing apology, Byrd told his congregation, “I humbly apologize[…]I’m believing and trusting that God would send me grace for that five-minute segment.” Ellen White defined grace as “unmerited favor.” Beyond the salvational favor of God, the question of professional merit remains here on earth.
Trust in Adventist leadership depends on their relationship with the truth. Perhaps it starts with reforming how the symbols of scholarship are used. As a positive example, during the most recent Annual Council meetings, GC President Erton Köhler reminded the GC executive committee that he and they are all pastors just assigned to various administrative roles for a time. At the same time, there are a number of GC leaders, including Köhler who also sits on its board, working on graduate degrees at Andrews University. Whether they are motivated by seeking professional advancement over affirming meritorious knowledge and critical engagement remains to be seen and heard.
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