# Brent Leatherwood Current president (2022–) of the Southern Baptist Convention's [[Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission]], appointed after a 14-month period as acting president following [[Russell Moore]]'s 2021 resignation. Leatherwood arrived at the ERLC in 2017 as Chief of Staff under Moore, having previously served as Executive Director of the Tennessee Republican Party (2011–2017) — a background that combines establishment-Republican political-organizing experience with subsequent SBC public-policy work. He holds a B.A. from Davidson College and a Master's degree in policy work. Leatherwood's positioning at the ERLC has been **conscious institutional repositioning** after the Russell-Moore-era turbulence. Where Moore's tenure was characterized by sharp public anti-Trump statements, immigration-reform advocacy, and racial-reconciliation work that drew sustained attack from the [[Tom Ascol]] / [[Founders Ministries]] / [[Conservative Baptist Network]] insurgency, Leatherwood's approach has been more measured and less publicly-confrontational. The strategic goal — articulated implicitly through public statements and resource-allocation choices — has been to maintain the ERLC's mainstream-policy-engagement function while reducing the institutional surface area for movement-conservative attack from the SBC right. The strategy has had mixed results as of 2026. The CBN insurgency has continued to argue for ERLC defunding or restructuring; SBC convention votes on ERLC funding have generated repeated procedural controversies; the agency's budget has been substantially reduced from Moore-era levels. Leatherwood's tenure has also seen the ERLC issue substantive religious-liberty and pro-life policy work, sexual-abuse advocacy following the 2022 Guidepost report, and continued Washington-policy engagement. For the Right Wing KB, Leatherwood is the **post-Moore institutional-stabilizer** at one of the most contested institutions in the [[Christian Nationalism Ecosystem]]. Tracking his decisions and the ERLC's continued operating posture is part of tracking whether the SBC's internal CN-vs-establishment-evangelical fight has actually resolved or has merely been set aside pending future episodes. ## Biography **Brent Leatherwood** was born in **1981**. He earned his **B.A. from Davidson College** (North Carolina) and a **Master's degree** in public policy/political management. Before entering SBC institutional life, Leatherwood served as **Executive Director of the Tennessee Republican Party** (2011–2017) — managing statewide Republican campaigns and party infrastructure during a period of Republican consolidation in Tennessee state government. The party-operations background gave him organizational and political-management experience distinct from the theological-academic backgrounds typical of SBC institutional leaders. ## ERLC Career (2017–present) In **2017**, Leatherwood joined the ERLC as **Chief of Staff** under [[Russell Moore]] — the operational deputy to a president who was, at that point, the most publicly-visible anti-Trump voice in the SBC establishment. Leatherwood managed the agency's internal operations and Washington-policy engagement while Moore served as the public-facing spokesperson. When Moore resigned under pressure in **May 2021** — driven out by a sustained campaign from the [[Tom Ascol]] / [[Founders Ministries]] / [[Conservative Baptist Network]] insurgency that accused the ERLC of "wokeness," liberal drift, and insufficient support for Trump — Leatherwood became **acting president**. He served in that role for approximately 14 months before being confirmed as **ERLC president** by the SBC trustees in **September 2022**. ## Institutional Strategy Leatherwood's ERLC presidency has been characterized by **deliberate de-escalation** compared to the Moore era. Where Moore publicly criticized Trump, advocated for immigration reform, and pushed racial-reconciliation language that drew sustained attack from the SBC right, Leatherwood has maintained the ERLC's substantive policy positions (pro-life advocacy, religious-liberty litigation support, sexual-abuse prevention) while reducing the agency's public-conflict profile. The strategy aims to preserve the ERLC's institutional function — Washington policy engagement on behalf of Southern Baptists — while minimizing the surface area for movement-conservative attack. The **2022 Guidepost Solutions report** on sexual abuse within SBC institutions landed during the early Leatherwood era. The ERLC has been involved in the denomination's follow-on response, including support for the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force and advocacy for institutional-accountability measures. Despite the lowered profile, the CBN insurgency has continued to target the ERLC: convention votes on ERLC funding have generated procedural controversies at annual meetings, the agency's budget has been substantially reduced from Moore-era levels, and defunding proposals have been introduced (though not passed) at successive SBC conventions. ## KB Significance Leatherwood is the **post-Moore institutional-stabilizer** at one of the most contested institutions in the SBC's [[Christian Nationalism Ecosystem]]-adjacent space. The [[Richard Land]] → [[Russell Moore]] → Leatherwood succession at the ERLC tracks one of the most analytically informative institutional trajectories in the KB: from Reagan-era Religious Right alignment, through anti-Trump evangelical resistance, to the current uneasy settlement. Whether Leatherwood's de-escalation strategy can sustain the ERLC's institutional viability against ongoing CBN pressure is an open question that tracks the broader contest between establishment-evangelical and explicitly-CN factions within the SBC. ## See Also - [[Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission]] - [[Russell Moore]] - [[Southern Baptist Convention]] - [[Christian Nationalism Ecosystem]]