Southern Baptists face push for public checklist 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 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 launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an impartial agency contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to final year’s national assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be considered one of a number of suggestions presented to 1000's of delegates attending this 12 months’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

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

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

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

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

The movement for an independent investigation was put forward finally year’s national assembly by the Rev. Grant Gaines, senior pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

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

“We’re at a fork within the street,” Gaines stated. “I feel this report provided the data that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of support to take the appropriate actions.”

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

“I believe that’s one of many first things we must always do,” he stated.

Lawyer and writer 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, however mentioned questions stay about its implementation.

“What is absolutely crucial is that the native church cannot operate because the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to attempt to acquire an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she mentioned via e mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will be choked of their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee stored a secret listing of tons of of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, should agree to release this listing.

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

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

“We saw patterns and things that were deeply regarding,” he said. “Our important job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have carried out a truly outstanding job within the last 9 months to have a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the task drive will bring forth formal motions in “precise language,” which can 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 said the crux of the task force’s recommendations based on Guidepost’s report could be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our main objective needs to be preventing sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does happen, how can we look after survivors in a much better pastoral manner? How can we higher communicate 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 one that is fair-minded will have a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be better,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is an enormous household with 48,000 church buildings. There is perhaps some disagreement on the best way to make things higher. But I’m confident that we’ll work through the difficulties.”

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

One of the leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay at 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 sailing into uncharted waters.”

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

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News documenting a whole bunch of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, together with a number of in which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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