Southern Baptists face push for public record of intercourse 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 Data System” was one of many key recommendations in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an unbiased agency contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to last yr’s national assembly pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is predicted to be certainly one of several recommendations introduced to 1000's of delegates attending this year’s national meeting, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those suggestions will be open to questions, debate and comments on the assembly flooring,” stated SBC President Ed Litton.

He expressed hope that the stunning findings within the Guidepost report will convey “lasting change” to the SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination. It has been losing membership steadily lately, while 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 Govt Committee, “only to be met, time and time once more, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC.”

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

The movement for an unbiased investigation was put ahead 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 stated 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 within the street,” Gaines said. “I believe this report provided the knowledge that we wanted for there to be a groundswell of support to take the suitable actions.”

Particularly, Gaines stated he supports the proposal to create a system that alerts communities to identified offenders.

“I think that’s one of many first things we should always do,” he said.

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

“What is absolutely important is that the native church cannot operate as the default or presumed starting place for a survivor to attempt to get hold of an investigation of clergy sex abuse,” she said by way of email. “If the local church is deemed to be a requisite first cease for survivors to pursue action, then many survivors’ voices will likely be choked of their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the Guidepost report’s findings was that the Govt Committee saved a secret list of a whole lot of SBC-affiliated clergy and different personnel identified as intercourse abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a special assembly Tuesday, should conform to release this listing.

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

The final decisions about suggestions to undergo the Anaheim delegates shall be made by the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Power, comprising seven members and two advisors. Its work over the past year has been an emotional journey, said Pastor Bruce Frank, who led the group.

“We noticed patterns and things that have been deeply concerning,” he stated. “Our main job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, and they have accomplished a truly exceptional job within the last 9 months to look at occasions that occurred over 20 years.”

In the next week or so, the task power will bring forth formal motions in “exact language,” which might be made public and offered to the delegates in Anaheim for a vote, mentioned Frank, lead pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden, North Carolina.

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

“Our major goal must be preventing sexual abuse,” he said. “And if abuse does occur, how can we take care of survivors in a significantly better pastoral way? How can we higher 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 that is fair-minded will look at what’s in that report and demand that issues be higher,” Frank said. “SBC is a big family with 48,000 churches. There could be some disagreement on the way to make things better. But I’m confident that we’ll work by the difficulties.”

Along with intercourse abuse, the agenda for the meeting in Anaheim contains election of a brand new SBC president to succeed Litton.

One of the 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 mentioned 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 think everybody in the survivor community that I’ve heard from has said reviews are one factor, however we’ll see if this family of church buildings has the courage and resolve to take motion.”

The intercourse abuse scandal was thrust into the spotlight in 2019 by a landmark report from the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Specific-Information documenting lots of of circumstances in Southern Baptist churches, together with a number of through which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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