Southern Baptists face push for public record of sex abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Conference’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is elevating the prospect that the denomination, for the primary time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and other church personnel identified to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of many key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an impartial firm contracted by the SBC’s Govt Committee after delegates to final 12 months’s nationwide meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is expected to be one in all several recommendations presented to 1000's of delegates attending this 12 months’s national meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those recommendations can be open to questions, debate and comments on the assembly ground,” mentioned SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings within the Guidepost report will carry “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding membership steadily in recent years, while being wracked by inner 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 within the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a few senior EC leaders, along with exterior counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these reports of abuse ... and had been singularly focused on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report stated.

The motion for an independent investigation was put ahead at last year’s nationwide meeting by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Studying the Guidepost report, Gaines mentioned he was struck by repeated examples of a callous disregard for survivors, in addition to leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the street,” Gaines said. “I feel this report supplied the information that we needed for there to be a groundswell of help to take the proper actions.”

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

“I believe that’s one of the first things we must always 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 identified abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, but stated questions remain about its implementation.

“What is totally essential is that the native church cannot perform as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to attempt to get hold of an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she mentioned through email. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will probably be choked of their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee saved a secret listing of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown said the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, ought to conform to release this list.

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

The ultimate decisions about suggestions to submit to the Anaheim delegates will be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Activity Power, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the past year has been an emotional journey, said Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We noticed patterns and issues that were deeply regarding,” he stated. “Our fundamental job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have executed a really outstanding job within the final 9 months to have a look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the duty force will bring forth formal motions in “exact language,” which might be made public and offered to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, stated Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank mentioned the crux of the task pressure’s suggestions based on Guidepost’s report could be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our main goal needs to be stopping sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does occur, how will we look after survivors in a significantly better pastoral way? How can we higher talk to ensure (abusers) don’t go from one church to a different?”

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

“Any person who is fair-minded will have a look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be higher,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is a giant household with 48,000 churches. There may be some disagreement on make issues better. But I’m assured that we’ll work by the difficulties.”

Along with sex abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim contains election of a brand new SBC president to succeed Litton.

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

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

“The work’s not done,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I think all people within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has said stories are one thing, however we’ll see if this family of church buildings has the courage 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 Categorical-Information documenting a whole lot of instances in Southern Baptist church buildings, including several through which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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