A junior high basketball coach bragged at church about pushing the Bible on a kid

Logan McCourtney, who is also a pastor in Mena, Arkansas, bragged to his congregation about promoting the Bible during school hours

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Logan McCourtney is a youth pastor at Dallas Avenue Baptist Church in Mena, Arkansas. He’s also the Junior High Boys Basketball coach in the Mena Public Schools.

Neither of those things would be an issue on their own unless he decided to combine the two worlds a la Joe Kennedy. (You see where this is going.)

Not only did he do that, he bragged about it during a sermon on September 7.

McCourtney said that he was in the school’s library when he overheard a girl asking a librarian for recommendations for books full of “mystery and suspense.” That’s when he jumped in and told her she should read the Bible. (Which, honestly, is a horrible suggestion if you’re trying to get kids excited about reading.)

He then urged everyone in the congregation to take advantage of similar “opportunities.”

Perhaps knowing he crossed a line, he also called out by name a member of the school board—a member of his church—and asked for help to make sure he didn’t get fired over it.

We had a student in our middle school library this last week, and I overheard this, and so I just jumped in. I was like, I don’t really care, you can fire me. I don’t care. Right? Where’s [school board member] Todd [Aynes]? He’s on the school board. Make sure it doesn’t happen.

But this girl was asking Miss Cheney, she’s like, “Hey, I’m looking for, like, a book... it’s got mystery and suspense.”

And so I was like, “I got you, sister!” And I said, “Are you looking for something that’s romantic? Something that has suspense? Thrilling? There is some murders in there. There’s redemption and there’s a hero.”

And she said, “Where do I find it?”

“It’s right over there. It’s the Bible.” And then I just walked out. And I was like [golf swing], I just teed off on that one, you know. And I was like, “Thanks, Miss Cheney.” I’m so thankful.

But seriously, like, God just provided that opportunity. I mean, I know the girl, but I mean, I was like, are you kidding me, yeah, like, if you’re looking for a book, I can show you one, right?

And so, I just want to encourage you. And are they always that easy? Not necessarily, right? But I do want to encourage you. The opportunities are there all the time.

Freedom From Religion Foundation attorney Samantha Lawrence has now sent a letter to the district reminding administrators that they have an “obligation under the law to make certain that its employees are not violating the rights of its students by proselytizing or using their position to promote their personal religious beliefs.”

Parents have the constitutional right to determine their children’s religious or nonreligious upbringing, not teachers. Here, Mr. McCourtney has violated the trust that parents place in the District’s employees to follow the Constitution and refrain from imposing their own religious beliefs on the children they teach.

She asks the district to prevent McCourtney from “promoting his religious beliefs to students” and to remind all employees of their “duty to adhere to the Constitution and respect students’ First Amendment rights.” As of this writing, the district has not responded.

Logan McCourtney

Maybe you see all this and think it’s not a huge deal since McCourtney didn’t force his religious will upon the student. But this incident isn’t just some harmless slip-up or quirky anecdote. It’s a damning example of a staffer exploiting his role at a public school to push his faith onto children who may feel pressured to do what he says. The Bible is available to students who want to read it. Staffers have no business telling them they should. And they sure as hell shouldn’t be taking a public victory lap after accomplishing nothing of value.

McCourtney didn’t just cross a line; he flaunted it, boasting about his proselytizing as if the library and his pulpit are interchangeable. Worse, he leaned on a school board member sitting in the pews to shield him from accountability, making clear he knows the rules, he just has no intention of respecting them. That’s not ministry. It’s an abuse of power.

If the Mena Public Schools brushes this off and tolerates his behavior, they’re complicit in what he’s doing. Violations of church/state separation should be taken seriously—not as a lapse in judgment but as a fundamental betrayal of students’ rights. We trust teachers and coaches to have authority over impressionable kids. When they misuse that trust to evangelize, they’re not serving students anymore, just themselves.

McCourtney doesn’t need to be fired over this. But he does need to accept that he fucked up, promise never to do it again, and admit he wouldn’t be okay with it if an atheist or Muslim or other non-Christian adult told a kid during school hours that the Bible was a shitty book that wasn’t worth picking up. If he can’t do those things, then he has no business working in the district.

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