Southern Baptist leaders react swiftly to ‘devastating’ news
Editor’s Note: The Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Task Force released the results of an independent investigation by Guidepost Solutions on Sunday, May 22, at 3 p.m. CST. The following story contains a synopsis of the results of the nearly 300-page report which can be read in its entirety at sataskforce.net.
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
NASHVILLE — Southern Baptists are still digesting the enormity of an independent investigation by Guidepost Solutions on behalf of the Sexual Abuse Task Force that investigated how the Southern Baptist Executive Committee handled sexual abuse cases within a 21-year time frame from 2000 to mid-2021.
The task force and resulting investigation were authorized by messengers to the 2021 SBC annual meeting in Nashville after a recommendation made by Tennessee pastor Grant Gaines of Murfreesboro and North Carolina pastor Ronnie Parrott.
As stated in an introduction on the task force’s website:
“We grieve for what has been revealed in this report. We lament on behalf of survivors for how they have not been protected and cared for as they deserve and as God demands. With broken hearts, we want to lead the way by publicly repenting for what has happened in our convention. We implore our Southern Baptist family to respond to this report with deep repentance and a commitment to the ongoing moral demands of the gospel as it relates to sexual abuse. We must resolve to give of our time and resources to not only care well for survivors of sexual abuse, but to provide a culture of accountability, transparency and safety as we move forward. We acknowledge that any act of repentance requires ongoing, deliberate, dedicated obedience and sacrifice. This is the calling of our Savior to unite as a body in following Him. [Read more…]