On Sunday, a 288-page report commissioned by the Southern Baptist
Convention was released that finds allegations of sexual abuse were
ignored or covered up for nearly 20 years by senior members of the
denomination�s Executive Committee.

�For almost two decades, survivors of abuse and other concerned Southern
Baptists have been contacting the Southern Baptist Convention (�SBC�)
Executive Committee (�EC�) to report child molesters and other abusers
who were in the pulpit or employed as church staff,� notes the report,
which was issued by Guidepost Solutions. �They made phone calls, mailed
letters, sent emails, appeared at SBC and EC meetings, held rallies, and
contacted the press . . . only to be met, time and time again, with
resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within
the EC.�

What is the SBC and its Executive Committee?

The name Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) refers to both the annual two-
day convention (hereafter, the �Convention�) and the decentralized
organization of autonomous local churches that voluntarily band together
at state, regional, and national levels to engage in missions and
ministry activities designed to fulfill the Great Commission (Matt.
28:19�20). Each church in the SBC is an autonomous local congregation of
baptized believers that makes their own decisions on staffing, budget,
programs, etc.

The representatives of local churches that cooperate with the SBC at the
Convention (known as �messengers�) elect an SBC president, who typically
serves two one-year terms, and other officers, as well as Trustees to
oversee various SBC entities and committees. Because the messengers are
so numerous and meet only once per year, the day-to-day functioning of
the SBC is managed by an Executive Committee, governed by a board of 86
EC Trustees.

The Executive Committee (EC) is the entity within the SBC that carries
out the work of the organization ad interim, or between sessions. The
work of the EC is primarily fiscal and advisory, including handling
administrative duty for the SBC when the Convention is not in session;
receiving and distributing funds given for the various missions,
evangelism, educational, and ministry enterprises for the SBC; planning
and managing the annual meeting; handling legal matters; and providing
staff assistance to the elected officials of the Convention. The
Committee also handles any matters that have not been otherwise assigned
specifically to any entity arising between Convention sessions.

In total, there are currently 26 EC staff members.
What was the impetus for the investigation?

In 2019, the Houston Chronicle published a three-part series on sexual
abuse in Southern Baptist churches in the United States. Soon after,
reports of sexual abuse cover-ups by the Executive Committee (EC) began
to circulate within the denomination.

A motion was proposed at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting in Nashville that
called for a task force to be appointed to oversee a third-party
investigation into accusations of mishandled sexual abuse allegations by
the EC. The motion directed a task force to investigate, for the time
period between January 1, 2000, to June 14, 2021: (1) allegations of
abuse by EC members, (2) mishandling of abuse allegations by EC members,
(3) allegations of mistreatment of sexual abuse victims by EC members,
(4) patterns of intimidation of sexual abuse victims or advocates, and
(5) resistance to sexual abuse reform initiatives.
What were the findings of the investigation?

The report outlines the results in the five areas the task force was
asked to investigate.

Allegations of Abuse by EC Staff and Members: The investigation found
credible evidence that former SBC President Johnny Hunt (2008�2010) had
sexually assaulted the wife of an SBC pastor.

Mishandling of Abuse Allegations and Mistreatment of Victims: The report
finds that abuse allegations were often mishandled in a manner that
involved the mistreatment of survivors, and that the main concern of the
EC was �avoiding any potential legal liability for the SBC.�

Those who reported abuse were often ignored or told that the SBC had no
power to take action. The legal counsel specifically advised that EC
staff should not undertake to elicit further information or details about
reports of abuse, to avoid the EC assuming a legal duty to take further
action.

The EC also collected reports of abuse for more than 10 years but didn�t
notify the EC Trustees (the board that oversees the EC) or anyone else.
They took no action to ensure the accused ministers were no longer in
positions of power at SBC churches. The most recent list prepared by the
EC staff contained the names of 703 abusers, with 409 believed to be
affiliated with the SBC at some point in time.

(The investigators found nine people on that list remain in active
ministry or connected to ministry. Two appear to be associated with an
SBC church, while the remaining seven appear to be associated with
churches that are not SBC-affiliated.)

Pattern of Intimidation of Victims or Advocates: Those who suffered at
the hands of SBC clergy or SBC church staff or volunteers and who spoke
out the most, or who criticized the SBC�s inaction, were �denigrated as
�opportunistic,� having a �hidden agenda of lawsuits,� wanting to �burn
things to the ground,� and acting as a �professional victim.� In an
internal email, Mr. Boto [EC general counsel and later interim EC
president] even equated the focus on sexual abuse with the work of the
devil.�

The investigation finds that several former senior SBC leaders had
protected or even supported abusers:

Former SBC President Steve Gaines admitted that, as senior pastor at
Bellevue Baptist Church, he had delayed reporting a staff minister�s
prior sexual abuse of a child.
Former SBC President Jack Graham, when he was pastor at Prestonwood
Baptist Church, allegedly allowed an accused abuser of young boys to be
dismissed quietly in 1989 without reporting the abuse to police. The
accused abuser, John Langworthy, later was charged with abusing young
boys in Mississippi in 2011.
Former SBC President Paige Patterson was terminated from his position
at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2018 after it was
revealed that he told a student not to report a rape in 2003 and, in
2015, emailed his intention to meet with another student who had reported
an assault, with no other officials present, so he could �break her
down.�
Former SBC Vice President Judge Paul Pressler is the defendant in a
civil sexual abuse lawsuit alleging that he repeatedly sexually abused
the plaintiff beginning when the plaintiff was 14 years old. Two other
men submitted separate affidavits in the case also accusing Judge
Pressler of sexual misconduct.
Former EC Interim President and General Counsel Augie Boto testified
as a character witness for Mark Schiefelbein, a gymnastics coach
convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault against a minor.

Resistance to Sexual Abuse Reform Initiatives: The report notes that
various reform proposals have been brought to the EC but were repeatedly
opposed or rejected, �typically due to concerns over incurring legal
liability.�

The report concluded,

The prevailing attitude of some EC leaders was that the SBC had no
responsibility for addressing the sexual abuse crisis within member
churches because, under SBC polity, those churches were autonomous, in
charge of their own hiring, and not under the control of the SBC. When
abuse allegations were brought to the EC, including allegations that
convicted sex offenders were still in ministry, EC leaders generally did
not discuss this information outside of their inner circle, often did not
respond to the survivor, and took no action to address these allegations
so as to prevent ongoing abuse or such abuse in the future.
Does the SBC have authority over Southern Baptist churches?

No. Per the SBC Constitution, the SBC �does not claim and will never
attempt to exercise any authority over any other Baptist body, whether
church, auxiliary organizations, associations, or convention.�

The most the SBC can do is disassociate from abusive churches and
consider them out of fellowship. It also has no authority to remove a
pastor�s ordination. As the report notes,

Because the SBC is not a church, it has no role in ordaining pastors.
Both initial ordination and recognition of previous ordination are
addressed on a local church level. Every cooperating church decides
individually whether or not to ordain an individual, or whether to
require ordination of its pastor or ministry staff.
What are the recommendations to prevent further cover-up of abuse within
the SBC?