By Message Staff
After taking time to examine a 288-page report from a task force that oversaw an independent review of the SBC Executive Committee over allegations of mishandling reports of sexual abuse, Louisiana’s three Executive Committee trustee members shared their thoughts on the findings with the Message.
The Task Force released its findings on May 22. The report — that can be found on sataskforce.net — outlines the Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse cases between 2000 and mid-2021. The independent investigation was conducted by Guidepost Solutions.
All statements are in their entirety as sent to the Message.
MIKE HOLLOWAY
Mike Holloway is pastor of Ouachita Baptist Church, West Monroe. He said:
“As a member of the Executive Committee Trustees representing Louisiana since 2014, I want to say that it has been an honor and most of the time a joy to serve. I rotate off as a trustee at the SBC Annual Meeting this June.
As all the others on the EC, I want to express my disappointment or sorrow about the many things that were revealed in this investigative report. Can I begin by explaining that there is a difference between the Executive Committee and the Executive Committee trustees?
As a trustee, we review institutional budgets and set policies for the Executive Committee staff to follow. We have nothing to do with the day-to-day operations of the Executive Committee staff. Day-to-day operations are overseen by the President and CEO of the Executive Committee.
Most everything in this Sex Abuse Task Force report, the trustees knew nothing about, and just as I am sure many, or most, of the EC staff also knew nothing of these troubling events. The report makes clear the trustees have been kept in the dark in these matters and changes need to be made as our names have been stained since it seems we approved of all that has happened.
I, like all the trustees who have read this report this week, have been sickened by any efforts to stonewall these survivors being heard publicly. If this private list of clergy, who were sexual offenders had been discussed with the trustees, I have no doubt we would have pushed to have that list made public for churches to check before hiring a staff member, but our opinion was never sought by the staff.
I want to make sure that all Southern Baptist understand the legal and polity issues of the Southern Baptist Convention structure. We are not organized as a top-down authority structure like the Catholic Church or any denomination that has the denomination in charge of and even owning the buildings of their participating churches. Every SBC church is autonomous and governs itself.
We have what is called a ‘congregational’ form of polity, which basically means ‘the people decide.’
Every institution or seminary is autonomous and has its own governing boards of ‘trustees’ and their own insurance to protect against such acts as mentioned in this investigative report.
Much of what is labeled as cover-up is some of the previous EC staff saying, we can’t handle this issue because we don’t have the authority to handle it and you need to take this to the appropriate governing boards where this abuse happened and let them handle this. Then, if after that attempt was made and no justice was found, the EC staff maybe should have gotten a little more involved by making phone calls to the appropriate governing boards and requested them to handle the issues.
Most people don’t understand that the EC staff in Nashville, TN consists of only 25-30 employees and they don’t have the manpower to handle every issue that arises out of some 47,000 churches and almost 15 million members.
Therefore, the issues must be confronted and dealt with in the local churches, seminaries or institutions where the problem occurred. The whole purpose of the SBC staff is to manage the pool of funds that come into the Cooperative Program and disburse those funds to the appropriate ministry they were given for.
I wish I could tell you today that every pastor is perfect and that every church will never make a mistake but that is not reality.
Man is flawed and churches are imperfect and should be confronted when they fail. They should be required to repent and make every effort to fix their mistakes while seeking to help their members heal from the pain they have experienced. I believe most seek to do well, but some don’t.
Let me explain from the report how many have done well.
On page five of the investigative report, it says “The most recent list prepared by the EC staff member contained the names of 703 abusers, with 409 believed to be SBC-affiliated at some point in time.”
Yet, to show that the individual churches have been making efforts to weed out and not cover up for those abusers, the report goes on to say that of those 703 abusers on the list, only nine were still in the ministry and of those nine only two were affiliated with the SBC.
It sounds like to me that our churches have done a pretty good job of discarding abusive ministers on their own, with only two falling through the cracks. Then, if those two are still leading in churches and the SBC church won’t deal with their sin and remove them from the staff, they can be brought before the credentials committee of the EC trustees. It is here where we have regularly removed such churches for not dealing with abuse properly. There is a system in place and if a church does its job these abusive ministers will be eliminated.
I was asked to comment on this current report as a person on the inside and I have done that.
We should be broken, saddened and repentant over many of these events listed in the report. We can do better and must but some of the accusations made against the EC and trustees really don’t understand our polity and just how much we can do.
Then some say we just need to change our polity, which in my opinion makes no sense. I don’t want Nashville telling any church what they must do. The next thing they will be assigning pastors to churches like other denominations do and I know we don’t want to go there.
Churches and institutions just do your job and clean up your ministry and with God’s help we can still have bright days ahead in our convention!”
CAROLYN FOUNTAIN
Carolyn Fountain, a member of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, recently moved to Monroe. She said:
“It took me a while to get through the 288-page report from the Sexual Abuse Task Force. There were times I fought back tears and just had to stop and pray. When I voted to waive attorney-client privilege, I felt there was information to be discovered. I was overwhelmed, to say the least, and saddened and disappointed at the findings. I am not speaking for the Executive Committee. I am speaking as one who has been a Christ-follower for more than 50 years and Southern Baptist for 40 years. Louisiana is home.
It saddens me to see evidence of how mean-spirited we (Christ-followers and Southern Baptist) continue to be to one another. The way that many added insult and cruelty to those who had already been wounded certainly does not represent who we are, or should be, as we represent Him. It saddens me to learn that persons who were hurting and seeking solstice were ignored or explained away.
What would Jesus do? I was reminded, in some instances, of the religious leaders who brought the woman who had been caught in adultery to Jesus suggesting that she be stoned (John 8:4-5) —stone her and not her partner. Punish her was the expectation of some back then, and it seems that it is the expectation of some even now. I was disappointed to read the names of people who I call friend and of some acquaintances who I held in high regard. Their responses, their conduct in some instances, their poor choices were disappointing.
The good news in the Sexual Abuse Task Force report is it also brought us recommendations for moving forward. The good news is there is room for repentance. We cannot go back and change the past, but we can repent and seek forgiveness. We can hate the sin but love the sinner. Jesus, on His way to the cross to redeem us all, prayed to the Father that the love the Father had for Him would be the love that is in us (John 17:26). I believe there is comfort for the hurting and hope for those who have caused hurt when we put our trust in Him.”
PHILIP ROBERTSON
Philip Robertson is pastor of Philadelphia Baptist Church, Deville, with a Horseshoe Drive campus in Alexandria. He said:
“While I am still reading and processing the report, it seems clear that mistakes were made in not providing adequate support for survivors and doing more in the area of prevention. Along with our SBC family I lament and grieve these mistakes. I trust that we can and will do better moving forward.”
