Southern Baptists face push for public record of intercourse 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 identified to be abusers.

The creation of an “Offender Information System” was one of the key suggestions in a report launched Sunday by Guidepost Options, an unbiased firm contracted by the SBC’s Government Committee after delegates to final year’s nationwide meeting pressed for an investigation by outsiders.

The proposed database is expected to be certainly one of a number of recommendations introduced to thousands of delegates attending this 12 months’s nationwide assembly, scheduled for June 14-15 in Anaheim, California.

“Those recommendations will be open to questions, debate and feedback on the assembly flooring,” mentioned SBC President Ed Litton.

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

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

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a few senior EC leaders, along with exterior counsel, largely managed the EC’s response to these reviews of abuse ... and have been singularly centered on avoiding liability,” the report said.

The movement for an unbiased investigation was put ahead eventually 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 in the road,” Gaines stated. “I believe this report supplied the knowledge that we would have liked for there to be a groundswell of help to take the proper actions.”

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

“I think that’s one of the first issues 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 recognized abusers. She was heartened that Guidepost was recommending such a system, however said questions remain about its implementation.

“What is completely critical is that the local church cannot operate as the default or presumed beginning place for a survivor to try to receive an investigation of clergy intercourse abuse,” she mentioned via email. “If the native church is deemed to be a requisite first stop for survivors to pursue motion, then many survivors’ voices shall be choked of their throats earlier than sound is ever uttered.”

Among the many Guidepost report’s findings was that the Executive Committee kept a secret record of tons of of SBC-affiliated clergy and other personnel recognized as sex abusers. Brown stated the committee, at a particular assembly Tuesday, ought to conform to release this list.

“I urge you to make public the entirety of your list of pastors & ministers accused of sexual abuse, in whatever form it’s been kept for lo these many years,” Brown tweeted. “Post. It. Now.”

The ultimate decisions about recommendations to submit to the Anaheim delegates can 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 noticed patterns and things that had been deeply regarding,” he mentioned. “Our principal job was to empower Guidepost to do their job, they usually have accomplished a really remarkable job in the last nine months to look at events that occurred over 20 years.”

In the subsequent week or so, the duty force will bring forth formal motions in “exact language,” which will probably 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 said the crux of the duty force’s suggestions based mostly on Guidepost’s report may be summarized in two words – prevention and care.

“Our most important objective should be preventing sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “And if abuse does occur, how can we care for survivors in a a lot better pastoral method? How can we better communicate 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 one that 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 could be some disagreement on the right way to make things better. But I’m assured that we’ll work by the difficulties.”

Along with sex 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 wisdom to know what to do.... We’re crusing into uncharted waters.”

“The work’s not achieved,” he added. “We’ve gotten the report, but I feel all people in the survivor group that I’ve heard from has stated studies are one thing, but we’ll see if this household of church buildings 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 Express-News documenting tons of of circumstances in Southern Baptist church buildings, together with several in which alleged perpetrators remained in ministry.

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