Southern Baptists face push for public listing of sex 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 identified to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Info System” was one of many key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an independent agency contracted by the SBC’s Govt Committee after delegates to final 12 months’s national assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be one among a number of recommendations offered to hundreds of delegates attending this yr’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 ground,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

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

The Guidepost report stated 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 inside the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a few senior EC leaders, together with outdoors counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to those experiences of abuse ... and have been singularly focused on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report mentioned.

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

Studying 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 legal responsibility over abuse prevention.

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

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

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

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 known abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however stated questions remain about its implementation.

“What is completely important is that the native church can't function because the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to try to obtain an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she said through e mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices can 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 checklist of a whole lot of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel identified as sex abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a particular meeting Tuesday, should conform to launch this record.

“I urge you to make public the whole thing of your listing of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter kind it’s been stored for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Submit. It. Now.”

The ultimate decisions about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates might be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Activity Drive, 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 saw 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 performed a really exceptional job in the final 9 months to have a look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

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

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

“Our essential aim should be preventing sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does happen, how can we care for survivors in a much better pastoral manner? How can we higher talk to make sure (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 take a look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be higher,” Frank stated. “SBC is a big family with 48,000 churches. There may be some disagreement on learn how to make issues better. But I’m assured that we’ll work by way of the difficulties.”

Along with sex abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim includes 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 within the Guidepost report.

If elected, Barber stated 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 executed,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I feel everyone in the survivor neighborhood that I’ve heard from has stated stories are one thing, but we’ll see if this family of church buildings has the courage and resolve to take action.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-Information documenting tons of of circumstances in Southern Baptist church buildings, together with several by which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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