2014 Top SBC Stories, Part 2

Part 1 is here.

While you were reading the latest on Hobby Lobby, the Affordable Care Act, and the new Pope, these are some things of interest to Southern Baptists. You likely will not see these in any summary of the year's top Baptist stories in regular outlets.

Florida Baptist Convention Settles $12.5 Million Sex Abuse Case  

Background and summary of this game changing sex abuse case may be found here.

The reason this story is a top story is because it establishes a linkage in liability between a local church staff member and the association and state convention. The abuser was a Florida Baptist church planter who abused kids. Although he wasn't an employee of the FBC or local association, a local court held that these were liable due to failing to properly investigate the man's background. A jury awarded a $12.5 million judgment against the FBC which appealed and settled out of court. The terms of the settlement were not made public.

The salient point in all this is that our system of autonomy and non-connectedness is not absolute. The FBC was successfully sued over a sex abuse case involving a non-employee but an individual who was vetted by the FBC and who received some support from the convention. One hopes that our entities are paying attention here.

Baptist Press reports on sex abuse in local churches

Sex abuse by clergy and volunteers in Southern Baptist churches is a problem. If ignored it will not disappear. One can almost look in vain for any reporting by Baptist Press of such crimes among our almost 50,000 churches. One has to look elsewhere, Baptist News Global, and secular outlets for this.
BP finally got around to reporting on a case of sex abuse in one of our churches, here. BP didn't do any reporting on it, merely passed along the Alabama Baptist newspaper account.

Baptist Press may serve as the PR arm for our Executive Committee and do very little journalism; however, thousands of Southern Baptists rely on them for items of interest. BP should do a better job serving our churches and protecting children.

Twenty-three state conventions increase their Cooperative Program allocation

In a year-end story, Baptist Press reported that 23 states "increased the portion of Cooperative Program receipts forwarded to the Southern Baptist Convention missions and ministries in moving towards the goal of a 50/50 allocation between in-state and SBC causes."

The Cooperative Program is a declining funding stream as a percentage of church receipts but the primary beneficiaries of the program, state conventions, are moving towards keeping less in-state and sending more to the SBC's institutions and agencies. Not all states are on board with keeping less. My own state convention here in Georgia has sacrificed greatly but is sending signals that they are already at 50/50, which being translated into normal arithmetic means 60% stays in state and 40% is sent on to the mission boards, seminaries, etc. Contrast that with the...

Iowa Baptist Convention moves to a true 50/50 Cooperative Program split, instantly 

New IBC Executive Director, Tim Lubinius, took a look at the convention's budget and saw that they kept 85% of every CP dollar. He proposed and the convention accepted a move, instantly, to a 50/50 split. Boom! It's done.

Designated Giving is Up, Cooperative Program Giving is Down

Check the figures here. For the second consecutive year, our Executive Committee received more in designated funds from state conventions that they did in Cooperative Program funds. In a few years, the Lottie Moon offering itself will be larger than all Cooperative Program money received by the Executive Committee. In spite of the long term trends, there seems to be little energy devoted to making the CP more attractive to churches.

Baptisms are down...membership is down

But...we had a task force look into the matter. Their report was that we're not baptizing enough, not evangelistic enough, not praying enough...

Lack of Restoration for Fallen SBC Clergy

Dave Miller, moderator of SBC Voices, former SBC Vice President, a leading pastor in Iowa, and almost always a sagacious and insightful blogger has a nice article on clergy restoration.

Can a fallen leader be restored?

The piece is built off of the fall of a nationally prominent former pastor, Mark Driscoll.

Miller's conclusion is that, in time, a fallen leader can be restored...in due time.

I don't disagree with him (although I would offer a couple of scenarios where a wise former pastor would leave the pastoral or church ministry permanently) but I would point out this:

There is no effective program, system, or protocol for clergy accountability in Southern Baptist life and, therefore, there it is extremely rare that any minister is held accountable to other ministers or churches. The logical outcome of this is that there is no restoration for fallen SBC clergy because there is no body or group that can hold them accountable. 

If a pastor or staff member destroys his ministry by committing adultery, stealing from his church, or any of a number of other sins that cause him to be dismissed from his place of service and leave the ministry, if he is "restored" or not, if he requalifies for active ministry, if he is certified to have overcome the issues that caused his failure, almost always it's up to him and him alone.

He says, "I'm ready to return. I've settled my problems with the Lord. Here's my resume."

Of course, this is a function of our cherished autonomy and autonomy has its drawbacks. In the case of wayward clergy, accountability, and restoration autonomy has failed us as a loosely tied, collective body of churches and ministers completely.

The failure point is in the disconnect between ordination by a particular church and the distance, ministerially and often geographically, between that church and the modern itinerant pastoral ministry.

• Local churches ordain men called to ministry in ways that are often casual and perfunctory. The church pastor usually drives the process and however he chooses to conduct it is acceptable to the church. That pastor will leave the church after a few years at most.
• The newly ordained minister will likely leave the area to be educated and serve. His ties to the ordaining church may become tenuous in time.
• The ordaining church, should they become aware of moral failure is highly unlikely to initiate any action involving a restoration process, suspension or revocation of ordination.
• Many ordinands choose a church other than their "home" church in which to be ordained, often by a more visible and reknown minister presiding. It is a matter of prestige for these latter churches to ordain large numbers of men. They are unlikely to have much incentive and perhaps lack the resources to follow the men they ordain and hold them accountable, much less have a system of accountability and a process of restoration.

In over three decades of ministry in SBC churches, I have been involved in exactly one revocation of ordination and I was not aware if there was any attempt at restoration prior to that. I have heard of a few others. I am aware that there are some avenues for fallen ministers to voluntarily submit themselves to a program of restoration. 

To be candid and blunt: we have a system that lacks accountability. There is only one point at which a minister is held accountable and that is at the church he serves. They can fire him. They cannot disqualify him from moving to another church.

Where this is especially grevious and harmful is seen in clergy who have abused children. There are several prominent cases where ministers who sexually abused children were forced to move but easily found places of service in another area or state, sometimes to repeat the same behavior.

If ordaining churches do not exercise accountability over those whom they ordain, if associations do not have sufficient involvement in influencing the process, if state conventions and the national convention are powerless to hold ministers accountable, who does it?

No one.

You want to be restored? It's simple. Pronounce yourself restored and move far enough away from where your reputation was destroyed so that no one knows.

People have often complained about nosy bloggers who involved themselves in places they don't belong. We should rather thank God that there are some individuals who think that holding ministers accountable is important to us all and that they have a means to do so. 

I see no workable solution in all this. It would be nice if there was a body of SBC clergy, a guild that had some standards for membership, that was respected and relied upon for clergy certification. 

Brethren, we are professionals in our system of ministry, like it or not, accept it or not. Too bad there is no professional organization open to us whereby we would have some broad, SBC wide accountability.

Not an ice cube's chance in Gehenna of that. 

Florida Baptist clergy sex abuse case a game changer?

A church planter comes to Florida to plant churches affiliated with the Florida Baptist Convention. He is not an employee of the FBC but is supported by the Convention through training, administrative services such as insurance and retirement, and is acknowledged through listing of Florida Baptist ministers. The local association assists the planter by giving him office space. The churches he plants are autonomous.

The planter is also a child sex abuser, though not one with any record of arrests or convictions.

While planting churches in Florida he abuses a minor, is arrested, and convicted.

The FBC is sued by the victim's mother and is awarded a $12.5 million judgment.

The FBC appeals, signalling confidence in its case that the man was independent and that they did not supervise the man and are not responsible for his actions.

Buried in a Florida Baptist Witness article of September 26, 2014 are a few paragraphs noting that the lawsuit has been settled out of court. Find the relevant passage beginning at the ninth paragraph in this news article.

The article notes that the settlement is confidential, will not impact the FBC's financial "bottom line," sets no precedent, and "no record will exist".

Little may be said publicly among Southern Baptist leaders and entities but it's hard to view this lawsuit, even as settled out of court, as not being a game changer for clergy sex abuse liability in the SBC, among our state conventions and various entities.

The insulation from liability that our convention structures have had as a result of local church autonomy is clearly weakened.

The sex abuse victim of an independent church planter and autonomous local church pastor sued the Florida Baptist Convention and won the suit and a large judgment. The convention settled, presumably with a monetary award and the predictable confidentiality agreement. Insurance companies were undoubtedly involved. Perhaps the FBC is not out any cash.

This isn't what a successful defense of autonomy looks like. The wall of separation between the individual pastor and the state convention (or, by extension a national SBC entity like NAMB) is cracked.

Here's what this may mean:

1. Lawyers for victims of clergy sex abuse will be encouraged to sue along the same pattern as this suit. Although the FBC was determined not to be the employer of the abuser, it did have some connectivity through background checks, training, and pastoral support.

2. Those who appoint, approve, support, and sponsor church plants and church planters have a responsibility to be thorough in vetting personnel, even if they are not considered employees. The abuser served previous churches where abuse was suspected and the FBC could have easily found this out by checking references. They did not.

3. Life is more complicated for autonomous Southern Baptists and it should be. If a church, NAMB, state convention, or local association sponsors, assists, encourages, or appoints any personnel they should be as thorough in vetting them as they are with those who are their formal employees.

The goal here is not to protect assets but to protect children from being abused at the hands of ministers, staff, and volunteers in our churches and entities.

One hopes lessons have been learned here. 

Baptist Press and reporting child sex abuse in SBC churches

Most observers would agree that there is and has been sexual abuse of children in Southern Baptist churches and that this is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Unfortunately, our denominational press and public relations arm of the SBC Executive Committee, Baptist Press, has had a practice of ignoring and not reporting cases of such abuse in SBC churches.

Perhaps this practice is changing. Twice recently BP has reported such bad news:

Former Baptist youth minister arrested

Children's pastor pleads guilty to sexual abuse

The most recent case is the first link above, the arrest of a former youth minister in an SBC church in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Contrast Baptist Press' coverage of such bad news with that of Associated Baptist Press, the main daily news outlet for moderate Baptists. Bob Allen of ABP has hundreds of stories on the subject. His story on the most recent Muscle Shoals case: Former youth pastor charged with abuse.

Does it matter whether or not Baptist Press reports such things? Should our people focus on positive news and let others handle the bad news?

Yes and no. It does indeed matter and I commend BP for beginning to cover specific cases in SBC churches. It matters for several reasons:

1. Children should be safe and protected when their parents bring or send them to church. In many cases they are not and every Southern Baptist denominational employee and entity, every Southern Baptist pastor/staff and church, and every Southern Baptist volunteer and church member should do all they can to assure this.

No one likes bad news but who is helped when we ignore allegations and convictions of sex abuse in our churches? Those whose depravity preys upon young, weak, and powerless children.

2. Our churches and church staff should be educated on child protection policies. We understand and value our belief that a church is autonomous and that no SBC leader or organization has any power over even the smallest SBC church. I appreciate that state conventions, LifeWay, and the Executive Committee all dispense advice to churches and ministers on child protection; however, a single news story of abuse in one of our churches does more to motivate ministers and churches to put in place policies than all the sterile denominational advice available. When Baptist Press (and more importantly the state papers) ignores reporting in this area it is irresponsible and harmful. Ministers may blithely assume that child sex abuse is a problem for the Roman Catholics but not in our churches. It is a problem among us.

3. It helps to dispel the criticism that Southern Baptists are unconcerned about the problem. Try an experiment. Do a search on the website for Baptist Press or your state Baptist newspaper for sex abuse and see what you get. Chances are you will get many results that deal with sex trafficking, abuse in Roman Catholic churches and other matters more distant to Southern Baptists than cases of abuse in SBC churches involving SBC ministers.

Take the most recent SBC case of abuse linked above. Bob Terry, editor of the Alabama Baptist, has a 1000 word story yesterday, Allegations don't always equal facts, that deals with a minister accused who was found innocent decades ago. False accusations are a problem but the far greater problem is that most allegations that are true. I suspect that the Alabama Baptist will report on the latest case involving an Alabama Baptist church very soon. The editor will do a far greater service to Alabama Baptists by doing so. We need not choose between the two but absolutely should not ignore cases of abuse.

4. Churches and church staff have a chance to see both proper and improper responses when sex abuse allegations are made.  Most pastors don't have a chapter in their standard guidebook for ministers about how to handle an allegation of sex abuse in their church. We hope such is rare overall and that we never have to deal with the matter. But many SBC church staff and lay leadership will have to deal with an allegation of abuse in their own church. They should learn what to do and what not to do, what to say and what not to say.

For example, in the most recent case the current pastor who has been at the church less than a year and was not present when the former minister allegedly committed the abuse, is quoted as saying "We've been doing some really great things...and now some feel like the wind has been sucked out of our sails." Undoubtedly, this is an accurate statement and reflects an attitude that the pastor must handle in his membership but to present one's church as a victim is inappropriate. The child or children allegedly abused are the victims here and the focus must be on them not on how the church has been harmed. The church can recover and prosper. The victim or victims will deal with it until they die.

5. God is honored and obeyed and we serve the people of our communities best when we hate sin and abuse and uphold righteousness. Those who commit such deplorable and depraved acts and who prey upon our children should be exposed and punished. We sin against God and our community when we cover up or ignore sex abuse in our churches.

6. As a denomination we have lost credibility on this issue and being open and transparent about it helps restore credibility. If we seem to believe that we are addressing sex abuse in our churches by merely formulating sample policies for child protection that are available for churches and staff if they wish to try them or by the occasional informational article that touches on the matter while ignoring concrete cases of such in our churches, we err. The public should see that we are acting as if we take this problem seriously.

I commend Baptist Press for beginning to pay more attention to these cases in our churches. We will all be better served by such.

Under the radar at the SBC meeting in Baltimore

Here are a few significant things that happened at Baltimore that didn't get much Baptist Press:

Kevin Ezell, NAMB, and state convention CEOs

No SBC entity has undergone more head-snapping, abrupt change, too often through mismanagement as well as poor leadership as has our North American Mission Board. We had two leadership meltdowns in the past few years and then some serious recalibration before the present leader, Kevin Ezell, led NAMB to get on the right track.

Ezell led the sprawling, amoebic organization to a more concentrated focus on planting churches as opposed to shuttling money back to state conventions for a panoply of good but lower priority uses, many of which are in areas where Southern Baptists are the dominant religious presence. Although this involved only a fraction of NAMB's budget it was a fraction that went back to states in kickbacks. No one rejoices when their budget is cut. Ezell and NAMB outlined a reasonable manner by which NAMB's funding would be distributed throughout North America. Eventually, folks got on board, partly because it's tough to justify spending NAMB money in Alabama when there are areas of America that don't already have SBC churches on every street corner and at every crossroads.

During NAMB's presentation in Baltimore, state convention leaders stood with Ezell in support of moving funding from their legacy states to less churched American regions through the new funding model. Ezell expressed gratitude for the leadership of the state executives and for their sacrifice. I suspect that few knew how hard it was to get to that place. Give Kevin Ezell a trophy for turning our dysfunctional mission board around.

Child Abuse Advocates...outside the convention hall

SBCers can expect organizations that advocate for reform in regard to clergy child abuse to be present at every SBC annual meeting from here on for the foreseeable future. The groups and advocates favor action that the SBC has refused to take, namely the establishment and funding of an independent investigatory group at the Executive Committee level which would receive, investigate, and maintain reports of clergy sex abuse in SBC churches. There are serious problems with this proposal but there are also serious incidents of child abuse by SBC clergy.

Had I been present I would have talked to some of these whom I suspect that I have corresponded over the past several years when writing on child sex abuse in SBC churches.

The group asked for a time to speak during the SBC meeting but was unsuccessful. I doubt they will ever get on the official SBC program but how about the Pastor's Conference? If the PC leadership wanted to help pastors avoid child sex abuse in their churches one way to get attention would be to give one of the victims of abuse a few minutes for a testimony. Let the victim describe how he or she was abused by an SBC church staff member, what happened afterward, and how he or she felt about the church's response. That would be an uncomfortable few moments for those in attendance but I'd bet it would rivet some to the problem and some pastors would go back to their church and see to it that child protection policies were put in place. That would have been a more profitable result from a pastor's conference that the latest forgettable rip-and-roar, stemwinder sermon from whatever fair-haired preacher boy had the platform.

Low attendance and low vote totals

Ronnie Floyd almost got surprised, partly because the composition and attendance levels of SBC meetings is declining. We may be at the place where a megachurch pastor cannot expect automatic election any longer. It's time to move on from the SBC Conservative Resurgence pattern of a parade of megapastors.

Maybe next year I'll make Columbus, Ohio.

Baptist Press and SBC clergy child sex abuse

Baptist Press, our Executive Committee's press arm, is not known for a lot of news reporting these days. I daresay that Southern Baptists get most of their religious news, indeed most of the news that includes our entities, state conventions, and other things of interest, from other sources. I suppose This merely reflects changes in the distribution of information in our society rather than demonstrates anything unique to Southern Baptists.

But one area where BP is lax has been in regard to the scandal of clergy sex abuse in our churches. With almost 50,000 individual churches and dozens of entities and organizations it is not uncommon for SBC clergy, staff, or church volunteers to be accused of the abuse of children. One reads of these incidents regularly if not frequently in Associated Baptist Press and secular outlets but very rarely in any BP stories.

These cases are ugly, a stain on all Southern Baptists, and most of all a great tragedy for those victimized. while I understand the motivation to let the secular press handle the reporting of such sordid things, I would say that in this area Baptist Press does a disservice to Southern Baptists by mostly ignoring them.

So, I was pleased to see that BP got around to doing a story on the most recent clergy sex abuse incident in an SBC church. Their story yesterday, Children's pastor charged with sex abuse, was a summary of  information "compiled by the Alabama Baptist staff" of the case of a children's minister in a Muscle Shoals, AL church arrested for child abuse. The Alabama Baptist is the state paper for the Alabama Baptist Convention. If that paper had an article on the matter, I couldn't find it.

When our Baptist news outlets ignore these highly visible and publicized cases, they convey to the public that we would rather not talk about such things. This exacerbates the impression that the SBC is less concerned about child safety in affiliated, autonomous churches than they should be. Such in an unfair impression but an understandable one.

One might ask what possible good could come from BP or state papers carrying such stories?

I believe that the reporting of such news conveys concern, provides an opportunity for education of other congregations in child protection, and gives denominational people who are knowledgeable about child protection policies and measures an inroad into our autonomous churches. I would speculate that there are many Alabama SBC churches that see some of the same things made public in this one case of clergy sex abuse. Perhaps some of these will ask for assistance in strengthening their child protection procedures and policies. Most SBC churches are small and I'd guess that most pastors are less well informed that they should be in what should be done to ensure the safety of children. State conventions surely have knowledgeable people in this area who are willing to help.

I commend Baptist Press for carrying this uncomfortable story.

When clergy sex abuse comes to your church

There are around 47,000 churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Most of these are smaller churches that have either a full-time pastor as the only full time staff or a bivocational, part-time pastor.
All the folks in these churches who do the usual ministry to preschoolers, children, students, and adults are volunteers who serve well and faithfully.

But occasionally one of our churches has the horror of a staff member or volunteer who sexually abuses children. Such is the case with a larger church in Alabama just this week where the children's minister was arrested for abusing children. You can read the ABP story here with links to news accounts. Our own denominational news organization, Baptist Press, is unlikely to report such news but may report some aspects of it later.

The case is about as bad a case as can be imagined. The accused, charged with several dozen crimes involving children, was the children's minister. He is reported to have confessed that he could not count the number of times he committed these crimes. He is in jail.

The church involved took the following actions:

1. When possible crimes were made known to church leaders, they did what they should have done without delay, they called the police and cooperated with them in every way.

2. They removed the individual from his position.

3. They issued a statement to the media and posted it online. The statement was focused on victims, known and unknown, included an appeal for information and cooperation with local police, and offered counseling assistance for any children or families.

I commend the church and pastor for taking proper steps. Often churches make typical mistakes in such situations. They may attempt to have an in-house investigation when an incident is reported. This is not only unwise but a criminal act in and of itself. Also, when abuse is uncovered and made known, a church may issue a self-serving statement that focuses on the harm to the church and its ministry and well-being rather than focusing on the victims. And rather than a single statement and spokesperson, the church may have several leaders speaking to the matter, usually making it worse.

This church seems to have taken the proper steps in response to a horrific situation but to be candid there are more churches in similar situations who botch the initial response that those who do it right. Whether or not the church took the proper steps in the past to protect their children will unfold as the case progresses.

There have been and will continue to be calls for an SBC clergy abuse registry and/or a centralized, independent board that would receive and handle such cases. While these denominational steps may be helpful in some ways, it appears that neither would have had any impact on this case. The accused had no convictions nor accusations and was on no organization's registry. There is no indication at this point that church staff, parents, or other volunteers observed things that indicated this staff member was engaging in inappropriate or criminal behavior and then ignored those signals.

The only negative I would note on this case is that when the state convention was contacted they were reported to have stated that each church handles its own business. Perhaps the spokesman said something that indicated concern for the victims but it wasn't reported. Most of us understand local church autonomy but it looks bad to wave this flag in a case such as this without finding a way to express the same concern about victims as did the church.

Is the $12.5 million judgment against the Florida Baptist Conv. a game changer?

The assessment of a $12.5 million judgment against the Florida Baptist Convention last Saturday, damages awarded to a victim of sexual abuse by a Florida Baptist church planter/pastor, is being called a "game changer" by the victim's lawyers and by advocates for clergy abuse victims.

The story is reported by ABP in this article: Florida Baptists to appeal abuse award

A subsequent ABP article with comments from the plantiff's lawyer: Lawyer: Abuse verdict possible game-changer

Christa Brown of Stop Baptist Predators and the most well known advocate of Southern Baptist clergy abuse victims has a commentary: Change is coming to Baptistland

The matter of clergy sexually abusing children in SBC churches is no small matter and certainly not a game. I would offer that the landscape has already changed in the way abuse is viewed at every level in SBC life; however, the judgment against the FBC does escalate things. If the judgment stands (the FBC expresses confidence that their appeal will be successful, no surprise there) it will be the first time a denominational entity has been successfully sued in such cases (save for one other occasion where an insurer settled to avoid high legal costs) and awarded damages for the action of a local church minister.

We Baptists do have this polity that we tout early and often, local church autonomy. In our system everyone knows that "Southern Baptist Convention" hires, supervises, and fires exactly zero local church ministers. Each church does that on their own, as they see fit. Critics maintain that SBC leaders "hide behind" this local church autonomy polity to avoid responsibility for the actions of local church ministers. SBC leaders respond that there is no material connection between an SBC church and the denominational machinery, since the Executive Committee of the SBC, state conventions, and associations have no control and power over any church or any church's ministers. 

But  we do have some hybrid arrangements where ministers receive funds from various SBC organizations other than their local church, where some ministers have some supervision by denominational entities, and where some have mandatory reporting requirements. Church planters, for example, are interviewed, trained, vetted, and selected by various people representing associations, the North American Mission Board, or other entity and some by joint arrangements among these. The failure of the FBC to check the abuser's previous places of service was the cause of the jury's decision in this case.  

I'm guessing that associations and associational missionaries, denominational executives, seminary administrators, state convention executives, and some pastors are pondering this matter now moreso than ever. 

Questions:

1. Associational Missionaries often handle resumes, try and place ministers seeking a church position, and provide references to churches asking about particular ministers. Will the association be held liable for negligence if an abuser with a history easily discovered is passed along to a church? Will associational missionaries just stop handling resumes altogether?

The common scenario for a clergy sex abuser is for him to leave a church where he has been suspected of abuse, either voluntarily or by forced termination, but without arrest or prosecution and relocate to another association or state where he is unknown and can start over with the same behavior. Associational Missionaries are the closest to the local churches, so they may be involved, unknowingly, in helping such a minister relocate and find another church. 

2. State conventions maintain online resume services. Will they continue or require more of those whom they permit to place a resume on their server? Will the state convention pastor relations staffer restrict or refuse to make referrals?

Most of us have been referred to churches sometimes in our career by state convention staff who assist in relocations. In my state a minister may create and place his resume on the state convention's website where church may access it and contact the minister about a position. I am unsure if state conventions are as helpful in placing ministers as they once were.

3. Will any SBC entity who provides funding, training, and supervision for church planters or other ministry positions tighten up their vetting processes?

The answer to this had better be 'yes' or we have cases of denominational malpractice. We would be severely ill served were our denominational staff not to have already done and be doing this.

4. Will churches or SBC entities that sponsor an individual as a church planter by providing funding be open to liability for his actions?

Take the mammoth and successful North American Mission Board's Send North America church planting program. Among other things, each planter must have a sponsoring or partner church, some local SBC congregation that commends him and is involved in some way with his church planting work. Does this expose that church to liability for the planter's actions? NAMB provides millions in funding for planters. Do they thereby acquire liability for each planter's actions?

5. What can be done?

The question of what Southern Baptists can do is a rather prickly one. We have in the past refused to establish an SBC Executive Committee level registry for convicted and confessed clergy sex abusers. Part of the reason for not doing this was, as I have heard, the question of liability. Even if there were such a registry, the abuser in this Florida case would not have been on it.

Should Southern Baptists establish an independent committee of professionals who would receive and maintain credible accusations against SBC clergy? This is one of the goals of Christa Brown and Stop Baptist Predators. The abuser in this case might have been reported to such a committee. Do SBC clergy wish to have an independent committee evaluating accusations against them and judging whether or not they are credible accusations? 

The long running Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal has caused the matter of clergy sex abuse in local SBC churches to undergo not a few changes. Many, perhaps all, church insurers require churches to have formal sex abuse policies and to do background checks on staff and volunteers. State conventions and otther entities have had such policies for years. I expect more change is coming. 

Perhaps our denominational brain trust could be roused to address this.

Whether the FBC award stands or not, now would be a good time to do something more than we are doing.

Florida Baptist Conv hit with $12.5mil judgment in sex abuse case

The Florida Baptist Convention plans to appeal a jury's decision to award $12.5 million in damages in a lawsuit claiming Baptist officials didn't check far enough into the background of a church planter convicted in 2007 of sexually abusing a 13-year old boy.

 Bob Allen of Associated Baptist Press has the story on this: Florida Baptists to appeal abuse award. He has done more to publicize sex abuse in churches than any other Baptist I know of.

Baptist Press almost never carries stories involving sex abuse in SBC churches or involving SBC entities but they used the Florida Baptist Witness article on this one: Fla. convention to appeal jury judgment.

Another jury in May 2012 found the Florida Baptist Convention liable for running criminal, credit and background checks but neglecting to check references before helping Myers plant two now-defunct churches with training, financial aid and what the lawsuit termed implied endorsement by reporting news of his endeavor in the Baptist state newspaper.

The perp in the case was an officially sanctioned church planter for the Florida Baptist Convention who received funding, insurance, and other institutional support from the FBC and was working in an area where he was given office space by the local association. He started two churches there before he was convicted in 2012 of abusing a child.The damages were awarded after a second trial, completed this month.

I wrote on the original case back in 2012.

There are three things important about this case, aside from the main issue of children being abused by a miscreant Southern Baptist minister.

1. Local church autonomy and connectionalism is in jeopardy

It has long been the position, rightly so in my view, that associations, state conventions, and the SBC cannot be held liable for the acts of ministers hired, supervised, and fired by any of the almost 50k local SBC churches and missions. The Florida jury found the state convention to have liability because they failed to check the abuser's references and former places of service.

The perp has no money. The two churches he started in Florida are defunct. If there is any money to be found to award to victims it has to come from some higher level. The FBC has money. Although it is confident (read "slam dunk" in the comments of the FBC lawyer) it will win on appeal, I daresay that these are uncomfortable times for the state convention.

2. There are gaps in our autonomous system that make it rather easy for criminals like this man to move around without being caught and to victimize more children.

While the abuser was serving a church in Alabama, a deacon became suspicious when the pastor "surrounded himself with preteen boys" and on one trip made the boys swim nude. The concerned deacon took the matter to the church which split over the matter and the pastor left. 

But get this. The deacon who pushed the matter "asked his pastor to alert directors of missions in his association and two neighboring counties about his suspicions." God bless a deacon like that. There was no arrest, no confession by the perp,  and no conviction.  

Should Southern Baptists have some sort of arrangement whereby credible accusations could be referred, kept, and consulted? 

3. Those entities which provide funding for church planters and other non-employee positions should tighten up their vetting process. 

A few phone calls to former churches likely would have smoked this abuser out.

Somewhere, at some point, some SBC entity is going to be in the position of paying millions for a sex abuse case involving a local church. The FBC is confident this is not the case (the jury made a finding that the abuser was NOT an employee of the FBC, yet still assessed them for damages). 

A resolution that has value: ON SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN

My friend and fellow Georgian, Peter Lumpkins, submitted this resolution and I confess that my prediction was that it would fail to be reported out of the Resolutions Committee and any attempt to bring it to the floor would likewise fail. Peter would then go home and drown his disappointment, rather expensively, in Starbucks coffee which he never seems to be without (ABP photo).

I was wrong and the SBC did pass an amended resolution but one that Peter favored.

The original resolution had this paragraph:

RESOLVED that we strongly urge denominational servants, entity leaders and our trustee boards to sever all ties, whether official or unofficial, with any evangelical organization, fellowship of ministers, and/or celebrity leader who, presently or in the past, is facing criminal and/or civil litigation for neglecting moral or legal obligations to protect the little children whom Jesus said suffer to follow Him, ties including but not limited to speaking engagements at conferences, entities, and/or agencies supported, whether full or in part, by Cooperative Program monies; and 

The target for this paragraph was C. J. Mahaney who has been loudly praised and touted by some of our SBC leaders, not the least of which is Albert Mohler.

The case of Mahaney, Sovereign Grace Ministries, and sexual abuse of children is long and somewhat complicated. There are horrible allegations of abuse, some while Mahaney was pastor and in his church, though he is not accused of any such behavior. A high profile civil suit has been filed against a number of SGM leaders. The lawsuit alleges that when abuse was reported to the church, church leaders did an in-house investigation and tried to handle it privately.

Background can be found in numerous articles by Bob Allen of Associated Baptist Press (you will not find much from Baptist Press which avoids such unpleasant subjects). The article here is from this week. Also, two blog queens (their own self-description) and their blog The Wartburg Watch 2013 are tireless victim advocates and keenly focused on the SGM scandal. Their research is stellar.

The Resolution Committee quickly deep-sixed that paragraph before they reported the resolution to the floor. An amendment was added from the floor that said:

RESOLVED: that we encourage all denominational leaders and employees of the Southern Baptist Convention to utilize the highest sense of discernment in affiliating with groups and/or individuals that possess questionable policies and practices in protecting our children from criminal abuse; 

You can still read "C. J. Mahaney" between the lines of the above paragraph.

Here's the deal: Even though Southern Baptists have said a lot about clergy sex abuse and have numerous programs to educate churches and pastors of the issue and how to handle such things at the local church level, we have not been very effective in handling cases that touch on our churches or our leaders.

This resolution helps somewhat, but let's be candid here, no one who should have been paying attention to this matter, Executive Committee, Resolutions Committee, high profile leaders like Mohler, thought it important to address it with a resolution at the annual meeting. The matter was left for a small church pastor and blogger. I give Mohler et al credit for realizing that they needed to get on board here.

One of my boasts is that I have never spend a dime on Starbucks coffee. It is one of my life principles not to pay $5 or so for a cup of drugged and flavored water.

But the next time I meet Peter at the Starbucks halfway between us, I'll buy. Good work.
______________________________________

If you are a pastor or church staff and haven't given this a lot of thought, I recommend your state convention who most certainly has a staff member with responsibility for child safety. But start with a couple of my articles:
Pick up the phone, call the cops.

They did not call the cops...and have been arrested.

Also, get Christa Brown's book (available on her website) and read what she has to say. It is ugly but may save your ministry down the road. She started talking about sexual abuse in the SBC before anyone else.

How can churches be so stupid in responding to clergy sexual abuse?

How can large evangelical churches, organizations with considerable resources, multiple specialized staff, and highly sophisticated social media resources be so stupid in their responding to allegations of sexual abuse of minors by their staff members?

I cannot explain it but see it regularly.


Check the recent case of The Church in Corinth, an Assembly of God church near Dallas:

Texas pastor tried to coerce high school girl into stripping for him

 The pastor, perhaps forty something, locked the high school girl in a room and tried for two hours to get her to strip for him. The actions, if proved, constitute a felony.

Here is the initial statement of the church:

“We have no knowledge of nor any reason to suspect any inappropriate behavior,” Fink said. “We intend to and will fully investigate the allegations, and we will fully cooperate with the authorities. Our prayers go out to this family of our church.”

Here is a formal statement issued later by the church:

 

Allegations have been made. At this time, they are allegations. And, our Pastor is on a leave of absence. A leave of absence is the best thing we can do for him to give him time to be with his family and to deal with everything going on in his life. Any time, when something like this happens, the impact that it has on everyone is painful. With that pain often comes a response that looks very much like the stages of grief. You may be feeling hurt, afraid, and confused. Many of us will feel angry. Anger is a response that we use to defend ourselves against the hurt, fear and confusion. Some will feel depression. But, with time – and a lot of prayer, we will begin to go through a period where we can begin to heal.

Wonder of wonders, the pastor is a victim!

We are going to give HIM time to be with HIS family, to deal with what is going on in HIS life...it's painful...the church family is grieving, hurt, confused, afraid, and angry...but in time WE can begin to heal.

The church website has this message for members:

So, what will the future look like at The Church of Corinth? In the short term, the Deacon board will continue to help in the day to day decision process of the operation of the church. We have already been in contact with the leadership of the Assemblies of God about the events of this week and are following their direction as well as getting input from their vast experience and wisdom.... 

Something missing from the church's response?

How about ANY mention of the victim, the girl the spiritual leader, authority figure trapped in a room with lecherous intent?

Not a syllable.

This is as pathetic as it is stupid.

Sure, the charges are allegations (although authorities have audio recordings, a couple of hours worth, of the pastor) and a measured response would be appropriate.

But to read the church statements one would think that it is all about them, their people, their future.

Oh, by the way, the church website says this:

Our community believes that it is our responsibility to be the hands and feet of Christ to the world. We desire that our body is marked as Christ-followers in a culture that is broken and in need of hope.

 Something is indeed broken here.

Association expels church with accused pedophile pastor

A Southern Baptist association in Missouri has dropped from its membership a church whose pastor is to stand trial for sex crimes with minor females. The charges include six felonies involving two different women who were minors when the incidents allegedly occurred.

Bob Allen of Associated Baptist Press has the story:

Association drops church with accused pastor

Headlines notwithstanding, the Lamine Baptist Association dropped the church for "non-compliance with the association’s constitution and bylaws" without mention of the sex charges.

The pastor was acquitted of similar charges in 2011 and the current charges are for forcible rape, statutory rape, sexual abuse and sodomy that are alleged to have occurred in 1998, 1999 and 2005.

Our cherished and closely guarded doctrine of autonomy, each level of Baptist life is independent and cannot be ordered to do anything, means that a local church may have an accused sexual predator as pastor if they wish, and this church, inexplicably, so wishes.

Southern Baptist pastors are fired for the most trivial of reasons and one would think that if a church's pastor is indicted for such serious felonies, he would not last long in the pulpit.

Think again in this case. The church stands by her man.

Indeed, one of the earlier crimes for which the pastor was acquitted was a statutory rape charge. It turned out that the victim was 17, the age of consent in Missouri, and that no crime occurred. 

The church is comfortable with their pastor having crime free sex with a 17 year-girl?

Evidently.


Sure, the law presumes innocence until guilt is proven in a court of law. But, if a church volunteer worker or staff member is accused of sexual crimes with minors, at the very least such an individual would ordinarily be suspended from their duties and prohibited from contact with minors until the charges are resolved.

I'm not sure how one can pastor a church without contact with  minors, but the church is untroubled by such things, one member claiming that the pastor is "wonderful" with children in the church.

Wonderful indeed.

Autonomy and clergy sex abuse

Southern Baptists have no real power when it comes to removing even the most offensive pastors from their church staff positions. No associational missionary, no state convention executive, no Southern Baptist Convention CEO, no megachurch pastor - no one compels even the smallest SBC church in the handling their church matters.

So, what should be done when a local church affiliated with a Southern Baptist association, state convention, or national SBC has as their pastor a man who has credible accusations of and pending charges for child sex crimes?

Such is the question raised concerning a pastor and Baptist church in Missouri that is affiliated with a local Baptist association, the Missouri Baptist Convention, and the SBC.

The story is reported by a local television station:
Missouri pastor remains in pulpit after sex crimes allegations

The pastor faced child sex crime charges in 2010 that resulted in one charge dropped and acquittal on the other. There are two new charges against the pastor.

Some people in his church are openly supportive of the pastor. Others associated with his former church are aghast at it all.

The Missouri Baptist Convention has issued a statement that provides an explanation of local church autonomy and the high standards for church leaders. It then says:

We're aware of the situation at First Baptist Church, Stover, and are in contact with the association's director of missions, who is working closely with the pastor and the church. While we respect the independence of the local church and have no direct authority over it, we are deeply grieved by the allegations. We pray that the courts will administer justice fairly and swiftly, and that there will be healing among the wounded church members. We also pray that the church members will have the wisdom, grace and courage to act biblically in their dealings with their pastor. The biblical qualifications for pastor as spelled out in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 are clear that a pastor must be above reproach — and even above suspicion. God is gracious to forgive all sins — even grievous sins — and we should be forgiving as well if and when our leaders suffer moral failures. At the same time, we should understand the Lord holds leaders in the church to a higher standard that, when violated, disqualifies them from continuing in their leadership role.

Clearly, the state convention and association desire that the pastor resign or be terminated by the church. One hopes that if the church fails to take action that the association will move to disfellowship the congregation.

But there is a glaring omission in this article. With child sex abuse by clergy being so prominently reported and discussed for the past decade or more, how could a state convention possibly issue any statement that fails to include anything about the alleged victims of an accused abuser?

Not a syllable.

They did not call the cops...and have been arrested.

"They" would be five employees of Tulsa megachurch, Victory Christian Center, who were informed of a rape of a 13 year old girl on church property but who waited two weeks to report the crime to authorities.
 

Tulsa megachurch officials suspected of waiting 2 weeks to report rape of 13-year-old girl by church worker

Prosecutors this week also charged five church employees — including [Pastor Sharon] Daugherty’s son and daughter-in-law, who are both youth pastors — with failing to report the alleged assault between Aug. 15 and Aug. 30. John Daugherty, Charica Daugherty, Paul Willemstein, Anna George and Harold “Frank” Sullivan each face one misdemeanor count of failing to report child abuse and are due to be arraigned Wednesday in Tulsa County District Court.

The accused is, or was, a 20-year-old employee of the church. When church leaders, apparently not including the pastor, were informed of the crime, they took a week to do an internal investigation before reporting it to their Human Resources Department. The HR department took another week to call the cops.

The church has issued a statement saying that "its employees failed to follow a written policy requiring any allegation of abuse to be reported by employees to the state’s Department of Human Services, and internally within one hour to their department head and the director of human resources."

A few observations:

1. Churches should have written child protection policies but should also have annual mandatory training on those policies. How could a thirteen year old claim to be raped and a volunteer worker or even the lowest paid employee NOT think, "We have to call the police"?

2. A tight church leadership circle, family in this case or just ministerial staff in most SBC churches, is an additional risk factor. There is always a temptation to keep bad news in-house.

3. Although this is a megachurch, average-sized churches are no less susceptible to such things. The typical single staff SBC church is less likely to have any written child protection policies at all. Let's be honest, churches sometimes have a default mode of, "Let's handle this in-house."

4. In my state, anyone who works with children is a mandatory reporter. This would include all church volunteer workers, even the worker who spends just an occasional Sunday morning in the church nursery or preschool department.

5. Fail to pick up the phone and call the cops and you will be arrested.

Volunteer nursery worker arrested...

...for failing to report an allegation of abuse at church in a timely manner.

It hasn't happened yet but surely will one of these days here in Georgia because our state has expanded the list of mandatory reporters. This article explains the law and says:

Volunteers at churches, colleges, clubs, summer camps or soccer fields or parents who chaperone a field trip could go to jail if they fail to report suspected abuse under the new provision approved by lawmakers last week.

Consider the recent case of a local high school principal, a position that has been a mandatory reporter of abuse for quite some time. After an underage girl told her school counselor of inappropriate behavior by a teacher, the counselor reported to the principal, who promptly called the school system HR director. It took several days of missed phone calls before the principal finally reported the alleged abuse.

The principal was subsequently arrested, charged with a misdemeanor, and retired. Her photograph, a mug shot, found its way to the local newspaper and online side-by-side with the teacher charged with felony child abuse.

If a school principal was not clear on the law consider the knowledge level of our typical church nursery, vacation Bible school, or other volunteer church worker, including the occasional chaperone for a children's day trip. Such folks may find themselves charged with a crime.

School systems have mandatory training for their employees. Hierarchical churches (check this article on the Episcopal church) do the same.

Southern Baptists?

State convention folks talk about it and hope churches and pastors pay attention. Our state paper, The Christian Index, has a brief article about the new law but it is unavailable without a subscription.


Picture one of your children's workers in 'Bad and Busted' for failing to report in a timely manner. Better yet, pastor, picture your face in 'Bad and Busted.'

Better get in gear on this one.

Sandusky/PSU-like situations in SBC churches

Clergy sex abuse is one of the main subjects that occupy my thoughts and blogging that is not strictly an SBC matter. I read a good bit on such things and occasionally write about it partly because of the appalling ignorance and ineptness among pastors and churches in handling such things.

Yesterday, the lengthy, near exhaustive, independent report on the Penn State, Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno child sex abuse scandal was released. It has some jaw-dropping information.

Consider this paragraph:

"Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State," Freeh wrote. "The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized."

 And this:

"None of them [Joe Paterno and other PSU leaders] even spoke to Sandusky about his conduct. In short, nothing was done and Sandusky was allowed to continue with impunity."

Wait a minute. Joe never sat Jerry down for a talk, to ask questions, to issue warnings? 

Shocking. 

The preference, apparently, was for the old ship keep sailing along smoothly. No boat-rocking (or possibly sinking) scandal must be allowed because the cost to the football program and university would be too great.

No one followed this by saying, "...and to hell with the children being abused" but it is impossible to conclude that such was the attitude of leaders.

Not us. Not the church. Not the called ministers of the Word.

I wouldn't make that bet. 

 

Update on Florida sex abuse liability case

A jury found the Florida Baptist Convention liable for the criminal actions of a church planter they trained and assisted. The jurors concluded that the FBC and local association did not do enough checks on this man who is a convicted child abuser.

Now, the Florida Baptist Convention requests verdict reversal in liability case and the Convention will appeal if motions fail. 

While the jury found the Convention liable for sexual abuse of a minor committed by a church planting-pastor, it also agreed with the Convention’s contention the pastor was not its employee.

“You can’t make a finding that we’re responsible for, in essence, behavior that is associated with someone who’s under my employ and then turn around and make a decision factually that the person was never under my employ,” said E.T. Fernandez III in a June 7 interview with Florida Baptist Witness.

“Legally, we call that an inconsistent verdict,” the Jacksonville-based attorney representing the Convention explained.

Fernandez has filed a motion for a new trial and a motion for “judgment notwithstanding the verdict.”

I read "slam dunk" between the lines of the Florida Baptist Convention lawyer's statements.

Nonetheless, one would hope that those in positions of responsibility have already tightened the procedures for vetting church planters that we may enlist, train, and support. It doesn't look good for Southern Baptists at any level to be putting child abusers in new churches.

We can do better than the FBC and Lake County Association did in this case. It will cost more money and take more time but has to be done.

A thirteen year old boy, in the eighth grade at the time, was selected and abused repeatedly over a period of six months by this man who convinced the kid it was a normal part of growing up.

The man had incidents but no convictions in two previous churches once authorities began to investigate.

A more thorough vetting process would have uncovered no prior convictions but would have found these prior suspicions and incidents.

Someone is at fault here and it is not the victim nor the church plant. The state convention and association should have strict rules and procedures in place to approve fund, and train church planters.

If state conventions and associations, along with churches, do a better job here and less kids get sexually abused in churches.

The changing landsape of clergy sex abuse in the SBC

We are autonomous; always have been and always will be.

Every church that identifies with the SBC, with any state Baptist convention, with any local association of Baptist churches hires and fires their own clergy and any crime committed by the pastor or staff is a local church matter, Responsibility and liability fall to the individual and perhaps the church.

Right?

Yes, maybe, sort-of. But not always.

Last month a jury in Florida held the Florida Baptist Convention and the Lake County Baptist Association partially liable for a pastor of two FBC church plants who was convicted of abusing a boy. (My blog on this case is here.) The FBC and association provided funding and training and were found to have been negligent in checking the perpetrator's former churches.

Damages were to be assessed and the case is continuing in that phase.

But just last week a pastor of a cowboy church in Alabama, affiliated with the Alabama Baptist Convention and the Marshall Baptist Association, was arrested on sex abuse charges for alleged crimes in Texas.

The pastor was a former convict with a long record. Evidently, someone in Alabama didn't do their homework.

No accusations have been made of crimes by the pastor while at the Alabama church but the Alabama cowboy church that he pastored has fired him.

The association's Director of Missions released a statement that refused comment due to "legal issues." No comment was reported from the Alabama Baptist Convention.

While further details weren't given, these cowboy churches almost always are congregations promoted, supported, and touted by state conventions and local associations. Were I with the Alabama Baptist Convention or the Marshall Baptist Association, I would be just a bit nervous. Who knows what the man might have done while in this church in Alabama.

Another month, another SBC clergy sex abuse report.

A few observations:

• The landscape for liability of SBC clergy has changed. State conventions, associations, along with the North American Mission Board and any other SBC entity have to be deliberate, meticulous, and thorough when finding, training, supporting, and placing clergy into churches or they may be liable for the actions of the clergy. Local church autonomy may no longer be a bulletproof defense.

• State conventions have to take the lead here, since most laypeople in churches and many associational missionaries are not sufficiently current on the legal issues in clergy sex abuse.

• NAMB has the resources to put internal controls in place immediately for their church planting program. If they have not already addressed this I would be surprised.

• It is not a bad development that Southern Baptists at every level have a strong incentive to be more careful in calling ministers. It has always been a scandal that SBC clergy who act unethically and sometimes criminally, have been able to move to new places of service with tacit approval of former churches, DOM's, and others who have knowledge but kept quiet because they didn't want to ruin a brother's ministry.

It is somewhat surprising to me that we loyal, dedicated, and supporting Southern Baptists have yet to hear from our denominational leadership on this matter.

Business as usual, where SBC clergy who behave badly easily move among our churches because of the silence of those who know, has to end. Would some denominational leader please take the lead in this? We are all harmed.

I have yet to read a syllable from the Executive Committee, Baptist Press, the Florida Baptist Witness, the Florida Baptist Convention, or other SBC entity on the issue.

We do have lawyers on the payroll, right?

Let's hear from them.

Game changer on sex abuse liability in the SBC?

A church planter who received support and training from the Florida Baptist Convention (FBC) was convicted of sexually abusing a thirteen year old boy in one of the autonomous churches he planted. The man is in prison for his crime and a jury has just found not just the church involved but also the FBC to be liable for damages he caused.

Is this jury decision that jumps beyond the autonomous church to both the local association and state convention a game changer in sex abuse liability for Southern Baptist entities?

I don't know the answer but the case is perhaps the single most significant development on clergy sex abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Here's a link to a news report of the case: Florida Baptist Convention found liable for former pastor who abused Eustis boy

The sex abuser was a pastor who planted two churches in the area with financial support from the Florida Baptist Convention and the Lake County Baptist Association.

Some of the facts of the case (from the news report):

Before Myers started his church work in Florida, the convention ran a background search on him, including a search of criminal cases, motor-vehicle violations and a credit check, according to testimony. However, none of the convention officials had checked his references or called the prior churches, according to testimony.

 [Lawyer for the FBC] argued that the convention is more of a support group for the affiliated Baptist churches and that Baptist churches are run independently. The convention doesn't maintain any kind of authority over churches, he argued.

"We had no right to control anything he did," [lawyer for the FBC] said to the jurors. "We didn't hire him. We didn't fire him. We didn't control him."

 However, the argument of the lawyer for the plaintiff proved to be persuasive to the jury:

[the sex abuser, Myers] came to Florida as a "church planter," and that the convention had a more direct role over him. Baptist churches may be independently run, but it wasn't a church committee that brought Myers to town, he argued to the jury.
Instead, Myers received his funding and training directly from the convention, was in contact with the convention's mission division and was included in church directories and Baptist publications as being affiliated, Weil argued.

"He wasn't a rogue. He wasn't on his own," Weil told jurors. "He was part of an affiliated church."

The Florida Baptist Convention did background checks on the man and found that he had no arrests or convictions. What the jury saw as negligent on the part of the state convention was their failure to check previous places of service where there was there was controversy over his behavior with young boys. 


If a Baptist pastor or staff member receives financial support, is included in denominational directories, is a recipient of training, and/or other types of support does this make the state convention or association liable for the independent actions of that pastor or staff member even though they do not employ or supervise him?

It does in this Florida case, so far.

If the verdict stands it could be expensive for the Florida Baptist Convention and catastrophic for the  Association. The latter could be easily bankrupted and the FBC with substantial assets could be hit hard.

The issue of how Baptists handle clergy is problematic. A man like the felon in this case may move from association to association, state to state, with impunity. That's not good for any of us. I don't know what the best solution to this is, but if the FBC has to pay damages in this case, the incentive should be sufficient for any SBC entity to ratchet up their level of scrutiny for all whom they fund and train.

A legitimate question out of this is whether or not state conventions and other Baptist entities are able to provide sufficient scrutiny for all the non-employees who may receive some funding and for all those who are involved in some level of training but who work in local churches.

For example, will the North American Mission Board, which is launching a major church planting effort as I write, one that will involve training and support for perhaps thousands of church planters, have to retool their vetting process? The same NAMB church planting initiative will employ a principle of not utilizing any planter or planting a church that is not related to a current SBC congregation. Does this relationship expose all those churches to liability even though they will not supervise the planter?

Will any of these SBC entities be able to thread the needle and support these people but without acquiring liability for their independent actions?

Serious questions. The answers should be formulated on the basis of what policy and procedures are best for protecting children and for keeping abusers out of our congregations. 

The solution proposed by some child protection advocates is a national, SBC funded, independent, objective review board to research abuse allegations. Even with that in place, this abuser would probably have not have had any record on such a board. No one can require churches to report unproven accusations. My thinking is that the vast majority of SBC churches are unlikely to send a report of local church gossip about a minister to any national board.

The holy grail for church sex abuse litigation among Baptist or other traditions where there is local church autonomy is to get liability moved up from the abuser's local church to one of the higher Baptist bodies.

As it stands now, this case has accomplished this. 

Is it a game changer?

I don't know but you can be sure every state convention, along with the Executive Committee, and SBC entities are looking at it closely.

So, how long do we have to wait for denominational executives and lawyers to address this with the greater SBC public?

Not long, I hope.

Autonomy? Baptist planet shakes a bit...

...after a Florida jury found the Florida Baptist Convention liable for a church planter that they funded and trained who later sexually abused a 13 year old boy.

Florida Baptist Convention found liable for former pastor who abused Eustis boy

Jurors decided that the  convention didn't do enough to investigate the background of Douglas W. Myers, who started two churches in Lake County after receiving funds and training from the convention.

At the same time the jury made a finding of fact that the man was not an employee of the FBC.

There is surely more to come on this but various convention entity lawyers are having a moment of anxiety today.