NASHVILLE (BP) — The four men who announced their intention to be nominated as president of the Southern Baptist Convention in June are seeking support for sexual abuse reform in the SBC, a constitutional amendment requiring only men to serve as pastors of any kind, and more. raised the issue. “Friendly cooperation” and transparency between organizations in the SBC.
Tom Askol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida, hosted the forum. space event on his X (formerly Twitter) account on Tuesday night, March 26th.
The candidate expected to participate was Jared Moore, pastor of Homestead Baptist Church in Crossville, Tennessee. Clint Presley, pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte; Mike Keyborn, pastor of First Baptist in Lawton, Oklahoma; and David Allen, professor and dean of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary.
Responding to sexual abuse
Almost half of the hour-and-47-minute discussion focused on sexual abuse reform in the SBC, beginning with the question of whether Ascol was justified in describing the level of abuse in SBC churches as “systemic.” “Apocalypse” by former ERLC President Russell Moore.
“It's a very heinous crime… [but] The short answer is no. “There is no abuse crisis at the SBC,” Jared Moore said, acknowledging isolated high-profile abuse cases.
He added that positive aspects have also emerged from sexual abuse reform, such as the Caring Well curriculum and training to recognize and prevent abuse. But overall, “there is no concrete evidence that children within the SBC are safer today than they were five years ago.” [before abuse reforms]”
Allen similarly agreed that abuse “cannot legitimately be described as a crisis” in Southern Baptist churches.
“There is no doubt that [it’s] “It's a serious problem,” he said, and it's worth noting.
“Sexual abuse cannot be ignored. Survivors deserve justice… their voices[es] I believe that tournaments must responsibly do everything within our power to prevent sexual abuse. ”
Allen noted that local churches should take the lead in addressing the issue of sexual abuse, and that the SBC's involvement should focus on training, abuse prevention, and victim care.
“We're going to need divine wisdom to deal with this problem,” he said.
Mr Keyborn, a member of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF), said the framing of questions was important.
“I believe this is a crisis,” he said, noting that he has seen church leaders within ARITF campaigning for help.
“We are constantly dealing with this issue, receiving more reports and hearing more.”
He said citing established figures could be misleading, adding that two-thirds of abuse cases are not reported to authorities.
“When pastors and victims are going through this situation, this is the worst crisis they have ever had to endure. , I think we needed to make sure that there was no systematic process that facilitated this in any way, shape, or form.
“I don't see the dollar as a waste. I think it was necessary to look at where we are and what's going on. So far, we have a system that allows us to make all of this happen. But what it doesn't address is the obvious abuse that we see in many churches across the country.”
Mr. Pressley said that even one incident of abuse or victimization is a crisis, and that “the impulse for Christians is to rush toward that crisis.” The SBC did this, but its response also created a “fog” that limited clear visibility, he said.
“As the fog has cleared a little bit, we know this is not a system-wide crisis,” he said. “This is a crisis, but it's not showing up in every church. But every church needs to be prepared. Every church needs to respond.”
The positives coming out of the fog are a growing awareness of sexual abuse and how it can seep into the church, and a growing appetite for prevention training, Pressley said. added.
The future of abuse reform
In the funding debate, Ascol suggested that all Southern Baptist churches should support training and some form of compensation for sexual abuse survivors, regardless of whether the abuse occurred, and later He said he acknowledged that nothing had been formally proposed. Will the candidate support it?
“That's not what's required [of churches]”Kieborn said. “It's not even on the table. The beauty of Southern Baptists is voluntary cooperation. If a church wants to help, they can. If they don't, they don't have to.”
Other candidates agreed that churches should have the right to participate in such funding.
“The SBC is an autonomous association of churches, and my church is not responsible for what a church 1,000 miles away does,” Moore said.
“I think this is a bridge too far,” Allen said. “I think this is a form of corporate sin…it’s unwise and even opens the door to litigation.”
“The church has the freedom to do that. [but] They shouldn't be held accountable for doing that,” Pressley said.
Candidates were asked about the possibility of setting up an abuse response committee and steps to fund it.
Allen noted that there is “a lot of uncertainty” about the creation and funding of an ARC, but noted that individuals have the right to form any organization they wish.
“We are concerned about funds going to this group because it is independent and not under the responsibility and control of the SBC,” he said.
Pressley admitted that Send Relief's announcement that it would not donate its original sexual abuse reform donation to ARC made the organization's leaders “a little nervous” about “backing” the organization. .
“I think we just don’t know enough about how to do it.” [the funding] It works,” he said. “We want to support good things. We're not convinced it's the right thing yet.”
Moore called it “a blank check to another department…the wrong move.”
The creation of a database of people credibly accused of sexual abuse is at the center of reform discussions. One of the purposes of ARC is to host and manage things like databases.
Moore suggested that churches would be better off using curriculum and other training options, and working directly with local police regarding calls.
“The database is about criminals [and] Preventing secondary abuse [case], not the first,” he said. “…As a local Southern Baptist pastor, this sounds like the SBC’s version of the FBI. To think we can investigate potential abuse allegations is so unrealistic and unattainable. I I admire their enthusiasm, but I think they're wrong.”
Keyborn expressed strong support for the ARC, calling it a “great step” for the SBC's continued need to respond to sexual abuse.
Efforts to implement the recommendations voted by the envoys have been “exhausted,” he said, and various SBC leaders have told the ARITF that such steps cannot be taken within the treaty. .
Therefore, the idea of establishing an external organization, ARC, came up. Mr. Keyborn is one of the founders of the organization, along with ARITF President Josh Wester and current ARITF members Melissa Bowen, Brad Eubank, and John Nelson. Former ARITF Chair Marshall Blalock will also participate.
Keyborn said discussions with SBC leaders about forming the ARC have yielded a positive response. Funding discussions did not include the possibility of using co-op program gifts, but businesses were asked to consider how they could help.
The Ethics and Religious Freedom Commission announced last week that it would donate $250,000 from its initial set aside funds in 2021 to help ARITF “round out its efforts.” Regarding the initial allocation of $4 million from Send Relief to sexual abuse reform, Mr Keyborn characterized it as a “disagreement” over where the talks would go.
amendment
Moving forward to the upcoming vote on the SBC constitutional amendment that would clarify that only men can use the title “pastor,” do the candidates feel there is a “crisis of women pastors” in the SBC or do they support the status quo? I was asked if I could. Citing Virginia pastor Mike Roe, it is known as a law reform.
“I don't see this as a crisis, but I can see where we're headed in that direction and I'd like to see the legislation passed,” said Pressley, who has been an early supporter. I pointed out that.
“It repeats that we [Baptist Faith and Message] '' Moore expressed his support. “…This makes it even clearer where it falls within the Constitution.
“I've heard reports that there are over 1,500 SBC churches that have some form of female pastor. … That seems like a pretty big problem, and it needs to be addressed now.”
Allen felt that the issue of women pastors in the SBC is “a problem,” but not at the level of a “crisis.”
He cited an article published last year that claimed more than 1,800 women ultimately held pastoral leadership roles in churches that are at least partially affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
These numbers are taken from the SBC's searchable church database. The article claimed to have randomly selected 3,847 churches and assembled “99 SBC churches with female pastors, totaling 149 female pastors.” The numbers Mr. Allen cited were derived by applying these results to his 47,614 SBC churches.
The accompanying Google document shows the results of the original query. Of these 99 churches, 11 churches have some variation of either “leader” or “senior” next to the words “pastor” or “elder.”
Five were co-senior pastors with their husbands. Both are senior pastors. The rest are given the titles of lead pastor, lead leader, lead elder, and lead elder. The 88 people left on the list serve in roles such as “worship pastor,'' “children's pastor,'' and “associate pastor,'' overseeing a variety of ministries.
Keyborn questioned those who try to describe SBC women pastors as a crisis rather than a sexual abuse problem, and urged caution in using the word “crisis.”
Mr Keyborn said he would not vote in favor of the amendment, reiterating his commitment to complementarianism and the role of chaplaincy being reserved for men. He also said the SBC's current status was vindicated by its vote last summer to disfellowship Saddleback Church, the largest church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention at the time.
transparency
All candidates endorsed requests for greater SBC financial transparency, with one motion filed in February to the Finance Committee of the SBC Executive Committee calling for an equivalent version of the Internal Revenue Service's Form 990. I asked for a report.
Keyborn and Allen said such coverage could help heal a lack of trust within the tournament. While Pressley supported increased transparency, he opposed his desire to potentially bypass the current fiduciary system between organizations.
“The trustees are appointed to be accountable, to have oversight, to be able to investigate everything. … [the route] Why is there a trustee if everyone is watching everything? ”
These trustees need to be “accountable and accountable,” he said.
Moore said he trusted the trustees, but the bigger question was whether the trustees trusted Southern Baptists.
“Why can't we know how that money is being used in our entities?” he asked. “It makes no logical sense [and] It doesn't work in local churches. …We are the ones who fund these missionary institutions. …I think if there is transparency, there will be more cooperative donations. ”
Candidates also discussed alleged security video showing then-presidential candidate Mike Stone's interactions with abuse victims on the eve of the election at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting in Nashville. did. Asked by Askol if the candidates would demand the release of the video, all said yes, with Keyborn saying, “We would like to know more details…especially whether the video actually exists.” he added.
Other areas covered include cooperative groups and their future recommendations, the use of nondisclosure agreements among SBC organizations, the impact of litigation involving the SBC, and the recent decline and future of cooperative program contributions.
