Texas to execute Steven Nelson today for ambitious young pastor's murder. What to know.

Texas is set to execute Steven Nelson by lethal injection on Wednesday for the 2011 murder of a beloved pastor who was just beginning his ministerial career.

Nelson, 37, was convicted for the murder of the Rev. Clint Dobson at NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington, just west of Dallas.

"Clint loved people, and he loved God. He was always excited by the opportunity to unite the two," Dobson's family said in a statement to Paste BN. "A believer in social justice, he led a diverse congregation and worked to make sure that everyone felt comfortable and welcome at NorthPointe."

While Nelson has acknowledged robbing NorthPointe Baptist Church that terrible day in 2011, he has always said he didn't kill Dobson, instead pointing the finger at two accomplices.

If the execution moves forward, Nelson will be the first inmate executed in Texas this year and the and the second in the nation.

Here's what to know.

When is Steven Nelson scheduled to be executed?

Nelson is scheduled to be executed just after 6 p.m. CT Wednesday at the Huntsville Unit, about 70 miles north of Houston.

The state is set to administer a lethal injection of pentobarbital to Nelson. Texas has used the drug since 2012, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

What is Steven Nelson convicted of?

Dobson, who was just 28 years old, was beaten and suffocated while Elliot was severely beaten but survived, according to court records.

Nelson admitted to stealing Elliot's car, laptop, and credit cards, which he used to buy gas, clothes and jewelry. Nelson maintains that two accomplices committed the murder, testifying that he went into the church five minutes after his they did to find the victims on the floor.

Prosecutors argued that Nelson acted alone, and investigators found DNA from both Dobson and Elliot on Nelson's shoe. Nelson's attorneys argued that one of his accomplices had injuries that were consistent with the assault and later, his clemency lawyers questioned the validity of the alibis given by the alleged accomplices.

A jury convicted Nelson of murder.

The pastor's young widow, Laura Dobson, sobbed on the stand during Nelson's trial, saying that she and her husband were looking forward to the life they wanted to build, according to the Forth Worth Star Telegram.

"We always tried to see the good in people," she said. "I didn't know this much evil existed in the world."

She told Dobson: "After this trial is over, no one will want to remember you, but people will most definitely remember Clint."

Who was Clint Dobson?

Dobson had a dream for his Texas church: to fill it with young families and children and spread the gospel that had changed the course of his own life at the age of 8.

"I hope that my ministry reaches people of all backgrounds and statuses," Dobson wrote while he was a student at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, according to his family. "I desire to offer hope, and I pray to be part of peace in the lives of those in the community around me."

Robert Creech, a professor of Christian ministries at Baylor, met Dobson when the future pastor was just 4 years old. At the time, Creech was the pastor at Dobson's family church, University Baptist in Houston, and remembers Dobson well, according to a tribute Creech wrote about the young man.

"He invested himself in his church as a child and as a teenager, engaging in ministry and growing as a disciple," Creech recalled.

During a 2021 remembrance, Wiles described Dobson as "full of mischief" and that he was "larger than life in so many ways."

Wiles also said that the church that Dobson left behind now has a school and has grown to fulfill Dobson's dream.

“This school is filled with children every single day," Wiles said. "That means this place is filled with life. Well, that’s what the gospel brings and Clint’s legacy lives."

What will be Steven Nelson's last meal?

Death row inmates in Texas cannot make requests for a special last meal, which is common in other states with the death penalty. Instead, Texas inmates must choose from a menu available to all inmates at the Huntsville Unit, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Who will witness the execution?

Among the witnesses to Nelson's execution will be his spiritual adviser and death penalty activist the Rev. Jeff Hood, and his wife, Noa Dubois. Dubois and Nelson married last year after meeting through an inmate letter-writing program in 2020.

Dubois, who believes in Nelson's innocence, moved from Los Angeles to Livingston, Texas, in early January so she could more easily visit Nelson. She will be a witness if Nelson's execution moves forward as expected.

Asked what her life will be like after her husband is gone, she said, "It's going to be very hard."

Church's support of execution creates faith fault line

The execution has pitted Hood, a Death Row spiritual adviser based in Arkansas, against Dobson's church. He has spearheaded a clemency campaign for Nelson and held a protest at NorthPointe's sister church First Baptist Arlington.

"What is at stake is the very faith that they proclaim, that I proclaim," Hood told Paste BN. "If First Baptist Arlington is able to turn Jesus into an executioner, then they are able to rewrite the faith however they choose."

First Baptist has opposed efforts to overturn Nelson’s conviction and has supported his upcoming execution.

“As the Bible teaches us, God has placed the civil authority in our midst so that innocent people can live in freedom without fear and so that guilty offenders can be appropriately punished,” Dennis Wiles, the pastor of First Baptist, said in a statement issued after Nelson’s 2012 sentencing. 

How many people are on Death Row in Texas?

There are currently 178 people on death row in Texas including Nelson, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The state has executed 582 people since 1976. Another three are scheduled to be executed this year following Nelson's death.

Contributing: Bayliss Wagner