Southern Baptists face push for public checklist 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 primary 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 many key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an impartial agency contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to final yr’s nationwide assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is expected to be one of a number of recommendations introduced to hundreds of delegates attending this yr’s national meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

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

He expressed hope that the stunning findings within the Guidepost report will deliver “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been dropping membership steadily lately, whereas 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 again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some throughout the EC.”

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a couple of senior EC leaders, along with outside counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to those reviews of abuse ... and had been singularly targeted on avoiding liability,” the report said.

The movement for an unbiased investigation was put forward eventually yr’s national assembly 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, in addition to leaders prioritizing protection of the SBC from liability over abuse prevention.

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

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

“I believe that’s one of many first things we should do,” he stated.

Lawyer and writer 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 recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however stated questions remain about its implementation.

“What is absolutely vital is that the local church can't operate as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to attempt to receive an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she mentioned by way of email. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices shall be choked of their throats before sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Executive Committee stored a secret record of lots of of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel recognized as intercourse abusers. Brown mentioned the committee, at a special meeting Tuesday, should agree to release this checklist.

“I urge you to make public the whole thing of your record of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever kind it’s been kept for lo these a few years,” Brown tweeted. “Put up. It. Now.”

The final selections about suggestions to submit to the Anaheim delegates will likely be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Process Power, 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 noticed patterns and things that had been deeply regarding,” he mentioned. “Our essential job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have achieved a truly remarkable job within the last nine months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the task power will convey forth formal motions in “precise language,” which will likely be made public and presented 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 task drive’s recommendations based on Guidepost’s report may be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our fundamental goal needs to be stopping sexual abuse,” he stated. “And if abuse does happen, how will we take care of survivors in a significantly better pastoral manner? 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 higher,” Frank stated. “SBC is an enormous family with 48,000 churches. There is likely to be some disagreement on tips on how to make things better. However I’m confident that we’ll work through the difficulties.”

In addition to intercourse abuse, the agenda for the assembly in Anaheim consists of election of a brand new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of many 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 knowledge to know what to do.... We’re sailing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not carried out,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, however I believe all people within the survivor group that I’ve heard from has mentioned experiences are one factor, but we’ll see if this family of churches has the courage 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 Categorical-News documenting hundreds of instances in Southern Baptist churches, together with a number of through which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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