Southern Baptists face push for public checklist of intercourse abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of intercourse abuse allegations is raising the prospect that the denomination, for the first time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and other church personnel known to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Info System” was one of many key suggestions in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an independent agency contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to last yr’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be one in all several recommendations introduced to 1000's of delegates attending this year’s nationwide meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those recommendations will likely be open to questions, debate and comments on the meeting floor,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings in the Guidepost report will carry “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been dropping membership steadily lately, whereas being wracked by inside divisions over race and gender roles.

The Guidepost report mentioned survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Govt Committee, “solely to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some inside the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for a few years, just a few senior EC leaders, along with outdoors counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to these reviews of abuse ... and were singularly focused on avoiding liability,” the report mentioned.

The movement for an unbiased investigation was put forward at last yr’s national meeting by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Reading the Guidepost report, Gaines said he was struck by repeated examples of a callous disregard for survivors, as well as leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the road,” Gaines mentioned. “I think this report offered the data that we needed for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the precise actions.”

Particularly, Gaines said he supports the proposal to create a system that alerts communities to recognized offenders.

“I believe that’s one of the first things we should do,” he stated.

Lawyer and author Christa Brown, who says she was sexually abused as a teen by the youth minister at her SBC church, has been urgent the SBC since 2006 to create a publicly accessible database of known abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, but mentioned questions stay about its implementation.

“What is completely essential is that the native church can't operate as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to attempt to obtain an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she mentioned by way of e-mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee saved a secret checklist of a whole bunch of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel identified as sex abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, should agree to launch this checklist.

“I urge you to make public everything of your listing of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever form it’s been saved for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Publish. It. Now.”

The final choices about recommendations to undergo the Anaheim delegates shall be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Activity Drive, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the previous year has been an emotional journey, mentioned Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We saw patterns and things that were deeply regarding,” he stated. “Our fundamental job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have achieved a truly exceptional job in the last nine months to have a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the next week or so, the task force will convey forth formal motions in “exact language,” which shall be made public and introduced to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, said Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank said the crux of the task drive’s recommendations primarily based on Guidepost’s report will be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our foremost goal ought to be stopping sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does happen, how will we take care of survivors in a much better pastoral method? How can we better talk to verify (abusers) don’t go from one church to another?”

His hope is that this report serves as “a catalyst for change.”

“Any person who is fair-minded will take a look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be better,” Frank said. “SBC is a big family with 48,000 churches. There may be some disagreement on the way to make issues higher. However I’m confident that we’ll work by means of the difficulties.”

In addition to intercourse abuse, the agenda for the meeting in Anaheim includes election of a brand new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of many main contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay at the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers within the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber stated in a broadcast interview Monday, “I’m praying that God will give me the knowledge to know what to do.... We’re crusing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not performed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I think everybody within the survivor community that I’ve heard from has stated experiences are one factor, however we’ll see if this family of churches has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

The sex abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Specific-News documenting tons of of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, including several in which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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