Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and will be updated.
Larry Lyon, a Southern Baptist educator who oversees the business side of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, will become the next Truett McConnell University president, the school said Monday.
The appointment comes a little more than four months after Truett McConnell University (TMU) trustees despedido longtime president Emir Caner.
Caner, who served 16 years at the helm, was accused of covering up sex abuse allegations against Bradley Reynolds, an academic vice president, for at least six years.
The Roys Report (TRR) broke the story of Reynolds’ alleged abuse of TMU student-turned-employee Hayle Swinson. He is alleged to have digitally penetrated Swinson while she was a student.
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Swinson also detailed her experiences and allegations against Reynolds and Caner in a 2025 pódcast entrevista con TRR founder Julie Roys.
Caner era suspendido days after the TRR report was published.
Reynolds, who abruptly resigned his TMU job in 2024 when local police investigated, was indicted in December on felony charges of lying to police. Prosecutors said the statute of limitations for charging him for sexual assault had lapsed.
Lyon, who will begin his TMU tenure on April 1, went to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) in 2019, first as director of enrollment, and then senior vice president for business administration. He also served as an ethics professor at the seminary, teaching courses in Christian ethics, current ethical issues and the theology of sexuality and gender, according to a TMU comunicado de prensa.
The school “has an incredibly bright future,” Lyon said in the release. “Building on the legacy of faith and the Word of God, TMU is poised to continue to make an impact for God’s kingdom in Georgia and to the ends of the earth. I am excited to join the TMU family and begin building relationships with the people that have made TMU an amazing place to study and serve.”
Lyon is a George native. He earned a bachelor of science in Christian ministry from Shorter University in Rome, Georgia, then earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
He was director of enrollment at Southeastern Seminary before NOBTS President James Dew recruited him.
“I’m thrilled that Dr. Lyon is going to be the new president of Truett McConnell University,” Dew said in a news article publicado by NOBTS.
“He is a steady hand, a calm voice, a kind leader and a man of deep theological and moral conviction. In addition to that, I’ve watched him lead large groups of people in two separate institutions now. Everybody that works for Dr. Lyon absolutely loves him,” Dew said.
The Louisiana seminary president added, “We always hate to lose people, but we’re excited to see our folks take presidencies, especially in our partner Baptist universities.”
Mark A. Kellner is a reporter based in Mesquite, Nevada. He most recently covered statewide elections for the Correo de Nueva York and was for three years the Faith & Family Reporter for el tiempo de washington. Mark is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands and also attended Boston University’s College of Communication.
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2 Responses
I am not sure who writes the headlines for the stories, but TMU was definitely NOT scandal-plagued. One scandal does not mean that the school is “scandal-plagued”
Emir Caner, who along with his brother Ergun Caner pushed their fake jihadist narrative onto the Evangelical church. Why he was hired by TMU in the first place is a bigger question and a scandal. But then if he can weave tales about jihadists, professional wrestling, and push Christian Nationalism, I guess that give him a pass.