Southern Baptists face push for public record of sex abusers

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

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of the key recommendations in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Options, an impartial firm contracted by the SBC’s Executive Committee after delegates to final yr’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is anticipated to be considered one of several suggestions offered to thousands of delegates attending this 12 months’s nationwide assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These recommendations will probably be open to questions, debate and comments on the meeting flooring,” mentioned SBC President Ed Litton.

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

The Guidepost report mentioned 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, just a few senior EC leaders, together with exterior counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to those studies of abuse ... and were singularly targeted on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report said.

The movement for an unbiased investigation was put ahead at last year’s nationwide assembly 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, as well as leaders prioritizing safety of the SBC from liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the street,” Gaines mentioned. “I believe this report provided the information that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of help to take the best actions.”

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

“I feel that’s one of the first things 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 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 totally crucial is that the local church can't operate because the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to attempt to acquire an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she stated by way of e-mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices shall be choked of their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee kept a secret checklist of hundreds of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, should comply with release this list.

“I urge you to make public the whole lot of your record of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter type it’s been kept for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Put up. It. Now.”

The ultimate choices about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates shall be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Force, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the past 12 months has been an emotional journey, said Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We saw patterns and issues that were deeply regarding,” he mentioned. “Our predominant 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 events that occurred over 20 years.”

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

“Our important objective should be stopping sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does occur, how do we care for survivors in a a lot better pastoral method? How can we better talk to make sure (abusers) don’t go from one church to another?”

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

“Any one who is fair-minded will take a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be better,” Frank mentioned. “SBC is a giant family with 48,000 church buildings. There is perhaps some disagreement on the best way to make issues better. But I’m confident that we’ll work through 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 leading contenders is Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, who expressed dismay at the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officials within the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber mentioned 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 done,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I think all people in the survivor group that I’ve heard from has mentioned experiences are one factor, however we’ll see if this household 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 Express-Information documenting hundreds of cases in Southern Baptist churches, including a number of by which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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