Southern Baptists face push for public record of intercourse abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations is elevating 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 the key recommendations in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an impartial agency contracted by the SBC’s Govt Committee after delegates to last yr’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be one among several suggestions introduced to 1000's of delegates attending this year’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions can be open to questions, debate and comments on the assembly ground,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

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

The Guidepost report said survivors of abuse by SBC clergy repeatedly shared allegations with the Government Committee, “solely to be met, time and time once more, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some throughout the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a couple of senior EC leaders, along with outdoors counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to those reports of abuse ... and were singularly focused on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report mentioned.

The motion for an independent investigation was put ahead eventually year’s nationwide assembly 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 protection of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork within the street,” Gaines said. “I think this report offered the knowledge that we needed for there to be a groundswell of help to take the proper actions.”

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

“I feel that’s one of the first issues we should always do,” he mentioned.

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

“What is completely critical is that the native church can not operate because the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to attempt to obtain an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she said through e-mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices might be choked of their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

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

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

The final decisions about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates shall be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Drive, 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 things that had been deeply concerning,” he stated. “Our essential job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have finished a truly remarkable job in the final nine months to look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

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

Frank stated the crux of the task force’s suggestions based mostly on Guidepost’s report may be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our important aim must be preventing sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does happen, how can we care for survivors in a significantly better pastoral method? How can we better communicate to verify (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 look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be better,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is an enormous household with 48,000 churches. There may be some disagreement on the right way to make things better. However I’m confident that we’ll work by the difficulties.”

In addition to intercourse abuse, the agenda for the assembly 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 on the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officers in the Guidepost report.

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

“The work’s not completed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I feel all people within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has mentioned reviews are one factor, however we’ll see if this family of churches has the courage and resolve to take action.”

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

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