SBC Executive Committee Sparks Outrage After ‘Unprecedented’ Vote on Sexual Abuse Investigation By Tré Goins-Phillips for Faith Wire
GNN Note – Hard to get a politician to ALLOW someone to investigate their guilt. /END
The executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention sparked outrage Tuesday when, for the second time in two weeks, it defied the will of the denomination’s members, or “messengers,” by refusing to waive attorney-client privilege for an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse.
In June, during the SBC’s annual meeting, messengers voted overwhelmingly to create a task force charged with overseeing a fully transparent, third-party investigation into the matter.
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Since its inception, SBC policy has advocated a bottom-up, congregational style of governance. However, in failing to endorse the will of the vast majority of its messengers, the SBC’s executive committee is upending that long-established structure.
Jared Wellman, an executive committee member and pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, submitted a motion during the Tuesday meeting, which was held via Zoom, to honor the request of the messengers. His motion, though, failed, according to Baptist News Global.
“A historic moment in the SBC as the [executive committee] has chosen to defy the messengers in an investigation concerning themselves,” he wrote in response to the 35-40 vote against waiving privilege.
At the close of the virtual meeting, the committee voted 77-23 to grant themselves another week to try to resolve disagreements with the task force. A similar vote last week is what necessitated the meeting this week.
The focus on the issue of sexual abuse stems from a 2019 report in the Houston Chronicle, documenting the stories of 700 survivors as well as alleged efforts to keep accusers quiet.
As a result, this summer, messengers called for an outside investigation — that would include a waiver of attorney-client privilege — into how the SBC’s executive committee has handled sexual abuse allegations over the last two decades.
