Depositions and discovery continue in the Will McRaney case against the North American Mission Board. The original trial date was set for June 5 but has been rescheduled for Aug. 7.
NAMB’s legal team requested the extension after McRaney’s team produced new witnesses — Bill Barker, a former NAMB missionary in Appalachia, and Joni Hannigan, a veteran Baptist journalist — four days prior to the deadline for discovery, March 3.
Senior U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson agreed a continuance was necessary to complete the discovery process.
McRaney filed the lawsuit in 2017, claiming NAMB influenced the decision by the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware to terminate him from the role of executive director as well as harmed his future opportunities.
Some NAMB staff members are among those who have been deposed already. Barker and Hannigan provided sworn affidavits but had not been deposed at press time.