Second Baptist Church Houston — Church Directory

Quick Facts

Pastor — the shepherd God holds accountable Dr. Ben Young (Senior Pastor since May 2024; succeeded father Ed Young Sr.)

Founded 1927

Denomination Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)

Service Times Woodway: 9:30 AM Traditional, 11:11 AM Contemporary; Multiple campuses

Men's Ministry Yes

Kids Ministry Yes

Website www.second.org

Pastor Credentials Son of Dr. Ed Young; multi-campus leadership

10-Point Theological Scorecard

Christology

Is Jesus the only way? (John 14:6)

SBC church — affirms orthodox Christology (Nicene, Chalcedonian).

Strong

Scripture

Inerrancy affirmed? Final authority?

SBC — Baptist Faith & Message 2000 affirms inerrancy and authority of Scripture.

Strong

Men's Discipleship

Intentional formation for men?

Men's Ministry confirmed at /ministries/mens-ministry (nav link). Large church — robust men's programming expected.

Strong

Soteriology

Faith alone? How is salvation presented?

SBC — salvation by grace through faith. BF&M 2000 framework.

Strong

Gender / Biblical Design

Biblical manhood and womanhood by God's design — patriarchal, complementarian, egalitarian, or affirming gender ideology?

Campus pastors Stephen Bailiff, Craig Reynolds, Jonathan Gray, Dave Riggle all male.

Male senior pastor confirmed. Complementarian per SBC BF&M 2000 (CBMW halfway position; MOOP holds patriarchal headship as the biblical standard); verify whether headship convictions are robust or drifting toward functional egalitarianism.

Strong

Leadership Structure

Male elders/pastors? Accountability?

April 2025: sued by 'Jeremiah Counsel' group alleging leadership stripped congregational voting rights and orchestrated non-standard succession. Ed Young Sr. named son Ben Young successor in May 2024 without traditional SBC search-committee/congregational vote process.

WARNING!

Preaching Style

Expository or topical/therapeutic?

Strong preaching tradition — Ed Young was a premier SBC communicator.

Strong

Mission Clarity

Great Commission central?

SBC churches give through Cooperative Program; Great Commission emphasis standard.

Strong

Cultural Alignment

DEI/CRT language? Social justice crowding out gospel?

No concerns.

Strong

Accountability Structure

Denominational home, elder plurality, or external network — is the pastor answerable to anyone?

SBC not explicit on homepage — confirmed via prior research (Ed Young Sr. was SBC president 1992-94).

Strong

Assessment

Second Baptist Houston is one of America's largest SBC megachurches with six campuses and ~20,000 attendance. Dr. Ben Young succeeded his father Ed Young Sr. (who led for 46 years) in May 2024. SBC affiliation confirmed. One of the largest churches in the SBC.

#dynastic-succession#ed-young#houston#megachurch#multi-campus#outreach-100#sbc#texas#verified-2026

MOOP Engagement Tracker

How this church was personally verified by the MOOP directory team:

✓ Researched church website

Sources & Evidence

Enrichment Notes

Still SBC-affiliated but leadership accountability flagged yellow given April 2025 lawsuit alleging hostile takeover / stripping of congregational voting rights.

These are the URLs consulted to arrive at this church's scoring. Score-note claims are synthesized from homepage content, denominational directories, and public statements of faith at the time of review. Church websites change frequently; we're progressively adding Internet Archive snapshots to prevent link rot.

[1] Live source second.org
[2] Live source baptistnews.com/article/houston-lawsuit-is-a-tale-of-past…
[3] Live source disntr.com/2025/04/25/90-thousand-member-sbc-church-accus…
[4] Live source second.org/about

Transparency note: MOOP ratings are researcher judgments about publicly available theological and ecclesial evidence. They are not infallible. If a church's public posture has changed since our review, or if we've mis-read evidence, tell us — we publish corrections.