Southern Baptists face push for public record of sex abusers

A blistering report on the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of intercourse abuse allegations is raising the prospect that the denomination, for the primary time, will create a publicly accessible database of pastors and other church personnel known to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of the key suggestions in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, an unbiased agency contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to last yr’s national meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is anticipated to be certainly one of a number of suggestions offered to thousands of delegates attending this year’s nationwide meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions can be open to questions, debate and comments on the meeting floor,” said SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings within the Guidepost report will carry “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been shedding 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 Executive Committee, “only 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 outside counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these stories of abuse ... and have been singularly focused on avoiding legal responsibility,” the report stated.

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

Reading 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 liability over abuse prevention.

“We’re at a fork in the highway,” Gaines stated. “I think this report provided the data that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of help to take the correct actions.”

Specifically, Gaines stated 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 do,” he stated.

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

“What is absolutely crucial is that the local church can not function because the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to attempt to receive an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she mentioned by way of electronic mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices will likely be choked of their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee stored a secret checklist of tons of of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel identified as sex abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, ought to comply with release this checklist.

“I urge you to make public the entirety of your record of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in no matter form it’s been stored for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Publish. It. Now.”

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

“We saw patterns and issues that had been deeply concerning,” he mentioned. “Our foremost job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have executed a truly outstanding job in the final 9 months to take a look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

Within the next week or so, the duty pressure will deliver forth formal motions in “exact 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 stated the crux of the duty drive’s suggestions based mostly on Guidepost’s report could be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our predominant purpose needs to be preventing sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does occur, how can we take care of survivors in a much better pastoral method? 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 person who is fair-minded will have a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be better,” Frank stated. “SBC is a giant household with 48,000 church buildings. There is likely to be some disagreement on the way to make issues better. However I’m confident that we’ll work by way of the difficulties.”

Along with intercourse abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim consists of 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 at the mean-spirited behaviors attributed to some SBC officials 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, however I think everybody within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has stated reports are one thing, but we’ll see if this household of churches has the braveness and resolve to take action.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the highlight 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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