Southern Baptists face push for public checklist of intercourse abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of sex 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 recognized to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Info System” was one of the key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an independent agency contracted by the SBC’s Govt Committee after delegates to last year’s nationwide meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is expected to be certainly one of a number of suggestions offered to 1000's of delegates attending this yr’s national assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those recommendations will be open to questions, debate and comments on the assembly flooring,” said 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 shedding membership steadily in recent years, whereas being wracked by internal divisions over race and gender roles.

The Guidepost report stated 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 couple of senior EC leaders, along with outside counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those reports of abuse ... and have been singularly centered on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report mentioned.

The movement for an impartial investigation was put ahead eventually 12 months’s national 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 protection of the SBC from legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the road,” Gaines said. “I feel this report supplied the knowledge that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of support to take the right actions.”

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

“I think that’s one of many 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 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 said questions remain about its implementation.

“What is completely important is that the native church can't function because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to attempt to acquire an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she stated via e mail. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will likely be choked in their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Government Committee saved a secret listing of a whole bunch of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, should agree to launch this checklist.

“I urge you to make public the whole thing of your list of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever kind it’s been stored for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Submit. It. Now.”

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

“We noticed patterns and issues that were deeply regarding,” he stated. “Our essential job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have achieved a truly outstanding job within the last nine months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the subsequent week or so, the duty power will deliver forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will probably be made public and introduced to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, stated Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank stated the crux of the duty drive’s suggestions based mostly on Guidepost’s report can be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our principal goal should be stopping sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does happen, how do we look after survivors in a much better pastoral approach? How can we higher communicate to verify (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 look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be better,” Frank said. “SBC is an enormous family with 48,000 church buildings. There is likely to be some disagreement on the right way to make issues higher. However I’m confident that we’ll work through the difficulties.”

In addition to sex abuse, the agenda for the meeting in Anaheim consists of 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 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 finished,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I feel everybody in the survivor neighborhood that I’ve heard from has mentioned experiences are one thing, however we’ll see if this household of churches has the braveness 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 Categorical-Information 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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