‘We Have Sinned’—G3 President Scott Aniol and 3 Pastors Resign, Apologize to Tom Buck

Four pastors from Pray’s Mill Baptist Church (PMBC) in Douglasville, Georgia, publicly apologized to Tom Buck and the elders of First Baptist Church of Lindale, Texas, for sinning against them in various ways—including sending an anonymous packet to multiple people claiming Buck had plagiarized material in several sermons.
All four pastors (Scott Aniol, Matt Sikes, Dylan Joyner, and Jon Norton) also voluntarily resigned over their actions.
PMBC is known for its association with G3 Ministries. The organization’s mission statement says that “G3 Ministries exists to glorify God by educating, encouraging, and equipping God’s people with biblical theology for faithful living.”
In May 2025, former PMBC pastor and G3 Ministries founder Josh Buice resigned as president of G3 Ministries and was disqualified from serving as a PMBC elder after it was discovered that Buice had been using multiple anonymous social media accounts to speak ill of Christian leaders, both publicly and privately.
On July 9, 2025, Aniol was named president of G3 Ministries.
G3 Ministries President and Others Issue Public Apology to Tom Buck
Aniol, Sikes, Joyner, and Norton shared the letter of apology on G3 Ministries’ social media. The letter was addressed to the elders of First Baptist Church of Lindale.
“Thank you for your patience as we took the necessary steps of communication and confession to our deacons and congregation over the last several days,” the pastors stated. “We are writing to take responsibility for our actions against Tom Buck and your church’s leadership and to seek your forgiveness.”
“We confess that we sinfully meddled in the disciplinary process of your autonomous local church. We sinned by characterizing how your church handled its discipline situation without knowing all the details,” they said. “It was wrong and even more serious to send the packets to Tom’s public ministry partners and friends. Furthermore, we should have contacted you directly rather than sending the packets anonymously.”
“We have sinned against God and against Tom Buck and the leadership of FBC Lindale, and we humbly ask you to forgive us. We recognize the pain this has caused your church, and we are sorry,” the letter continued. “We offer no excuse for these foolish actions. Sunday afternoon, all four of us voluntarily resigned to our congregation as pastors at Pray’s Mill Baptist Church, we humbly confessed our sin to the congregation, and our congregation graciously forgave us.”
RELATED: Scott Aniol Named President of G3 Ministries Following Exit of Josh Buice
The four pastors said they are committed to demonstrating their repentance.

Facts Only

Scott Aniol, Matt Sikes, Dylan Joyner, and Jon Norton apologized to Tom Buck and the elders of First Baptist Church of Lindale for their actions. The pastors confessed that they meddled in the disciplinary process of the local church and sent anonymous packets concerning plagiarism claims to Tom Buck and his public ministry partners. The four pastors voluntarily resigned as pastors at Pray’s Mill Baptist Church. Josh Buice resigned as president of G3 Ministries in May 2025 after being found using anonymous social media accounts to speak ill of Christian leaders. On July 9, 2025, Aniol was named president of G3 Ministries.

Executive Summary

Four pastors from Pray’s Mill Baptist Church voluntarily resigned following an apology to Tom Buck and the elders of First Baptist Church of Lindale, Texas, regarding actions involving sending anonymous packets alleging plagiarism in sermons. The four pastors—Scott Aniol, Matt Sikes, Dylan Joyner, and Jon Norton—issued a joint letter acknowledging they sinned by meddling in the disciplinary process of the local church and sending anonymous materials to Tom Buck and his ministry partners. They apologized for their actions, stating they should have contacted the recipients directly. The pastors also resigned from their positions as pastors at Pray’s Mill Baptist Church and confessed their sin to their congregation, who forgave them. Relatedly, Josh Buice, a former PMBC pastor and founder of G3 Ministries, resigned as president of G3 Ministries in May 2025 after it was discovered he used anonymous social media accounts to speak ill of Christian leaders. Scott Aniol was subsequently named president of G3 Ministries in July 2025.

Full Take

The situation reveals a dynamic where leadership structures and accountability mechanisms within religious bodies are contested through actions that breach trust with external parties. The transition from anonymous accusations to a public, formalized apology highlights a tension between private internal discipline and public reputational management. The sequence of events—pastor resignations, the involvement of a ministry organization (G3 Ministries), and subsequent leadership changes—suggests an underlying pattern where personal accountability is pursued, yet the context involves layered communication and institutional positioning. The complexity lies in distinguishing between the sin confessed by the pastors regarding their communication methods and the separate history of Josh Buice's actions concerning anonymous speech across platforms. The core implication is that the pursuit of internal order often intersects with external narratives, creating scenarios where perceived misconduct triggers significant public reckoning. What structures exist to ensure that accountability for both internal governance and external communication adheres to transparent principles, regardless of the institutional affiliations involved? How do historical patterns of anonymous speech influence how current accountability is perceived by both the wronged parties and the wider community?

Sentinel — Human

Confidence

The text reads like a direct journalistic report detailing a set of publicly announced pastoral resignations and apologies, exhibiting high fidelity to reported events.

Signals Detected

Sentence length variance is natural; flow is narrative rather than purely expository.

The structure follows a clear journalistic progression (event -> context -> details of apology), suggesting editorial design rather than pure LLM flow.

Use of specific dates (July 9, 2025) and named entities provides grounding; the narrative focuses on reported actions.

The text is primarily a report of an event involving public apologies and resignations, which is typical of wire/beat reporting, making fabrication of core events less likely than in purely speculative content.

Human Indicators

The inclusion of specific names, organizational affiliations (PMBC, G3 Ministries), and precise actions suggests sourcing from documented events rather than pure invention.

The complexity of the narrative structure—weaving together internal disciplinary issues with external public apologies—points toward reporting synthesized from multiple sources.