Southern Baptists face push for public record 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 different church personnel known to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Data System” was one of the key suggestions in a report released Sunday by Guidepost Solutions, 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 expected to be considered one of a number of recommendations introduced to hundreds of delegates attending this yr’s nationwide meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“These suggestions can be open to questions, debate and feedback on the assembly floor,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings in 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 inner divisions over race and gender roles.

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

“Our investigation revealed that, for a few years, a couple of senior EC leaders, along with exterior counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these reports of abuse ... and were singularly centered on avoiding liability,” the report stated.

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

Reading the Guidepost report, Gaines said 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 road,” Gaines stated. “I believe this report offered the knowledge that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of assist to take the right actions.”

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

“I think that’s one of many first things we must 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 said questions stay about its implementation.

“What is completely crucial is that the local church can't perform as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to try to obtain an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she stated through e mail. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices shall be choked in their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Executive Committee stored a secret list of lots of of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel identified as sex abusers. Brown said the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, ought to agree to release this checklist.

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

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

“We saw patterns and issues that were deeply regarding,” he said. “Our important job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and so they have achieved a really remarkable job within the last nine months to look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the task pressure will carry forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will likely be made public and introduced to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, said Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

Frank mentioned the crux of the duty power’s recommendations based on Guidepost’s report will be summarized in two phrases – prevention and care.

“Our foremost purpose needs to be preventing sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does happen, how will we look after survivors in a a lot better pastoral approach? How can we higher communicate to ensure (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 have a look at what’s in that report and demand that things be higher,” Frank stated. “SBC is an enormous family with 48,000 churches. There is likely to be some disagreement on how you can make things higher. But I’m confident that we’ll work by means of the difficulties.”

In addition to sex abuse, the agenda for the meeting 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 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 knowledge to know what to do.... We’re sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not finished,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I believe everybody in the survivor group that I’ve heard from has mentioned reviews are one factor, however we’ll see if this household of church buildings has the braveness and resolve to take motion.”

The sex 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 lot of cases in Southern Baptist church buildings, together with several wherein alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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