Southern Baptist head calls for reforms
‘Season of lament’ for sex abuse urged; 3 Houston churches could be expelled
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The president of the Southern Baptist Convention on Monday evening called for a “season of lament, sorrow and repentance” over a sexual abuse crisis and provided a list of 10 churches, including Second Baptist Church in Houston, that he said should be scrutinized for their handling of sexual abuses and potentially removed from the nation’s largest Baptist group.
Two other Houston churches are on the list, in addition to Second Baptist, a 60,000-member congregation that has long been pastored by former SBC President Ed Young. The other local churches are Brentwood Baptist Church and Cathedral of Faith.
“Brothers and sisters, there is a problem,” current president J.D. Greear said at a speech to other SBC leaders in Nashville. “This is not a fabricated story made up by people with a secular agenda. We’ve not taken reports of abuse in our churches as seriously as our gospel demands, and sometimes even worse, outright ignored or silenced victims.
“It’s time we back up our words with actions.”
A spokesman for Second Baptist declined comment on Monday. The pastors of Brentwood and Cathedral of Faith could not immediately be reached.
Among the actions Greear said he would take: more resources for churches to deal with sexual
abuse; more background checks for SBC leadership groups and entities; and changes to the SBC bylaws that would allow for the removal of churches that show a “wanton disregard for sexual abuse.”
The SBC president stressed that “every option is on the table,” including a registry of convicted or credibly accused church leaders and volunteers. That registry has long been requested by survivors of sexual assault and activist groups, and has recently gotten the support of multiple other SBC figures.
Greear’s speech came days after the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News found hundreds of SBC church leaders and volunteers had faced criminal charges and convictions since 2008, when leaders rejected reforms such as a database. All told, since 1998, roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders have been accused of sex crimes or misconduct. They had more than 700 victims.
Some predators, the newspapers found, were able to operate without oversight or legal scrutiny for years thanks, in part, to SBC policy that says every church is self-governing and autonomous.
But in his Monday speech, Greear stressed that autonomy was not an excuse for inaction.
Inquiries ahead?
He also called on an SBC work group to “take the necessary steps to determine if 10 churches identified in the Chronicle’s report still “meet the standards of having a faith and practice which closely identifies” with that of the convention.
“I am not calling for disfellowshipping (expelling from the SBC ) any of these churches at this point, but these churches must be called upon to give assurance to the SBC that they have taken the necessary steps to correct their policies and procedures with regards to abuse and care for survivors,” Greear said. “Our goal here is never disfellowship, but correction.”
Houston’s Second Baptist was at the center of two of the Chronicle’s stories regarding claims that they mishandled or concealed sexual abuses. The church has denied those allegations.
In January, Second Baptist provided a one-page response to questions from the Chronicle for its investigative series “Abuse of Faith.”
Second Baptist stated it “takes allegations of sexual misconduct or abuse very seriously and constantly strives to provide and maintain a safe, Christian environment for all employees, church members and guests. … Our policy and practice have been and will continue to be that any complaint of sexual misconduct will be heard, investigated and handled in a lawful and appropriate way.”
Others in the SBC — including heads of seminaries and entities — have called for a third-party registry of convicted or credibly accused pastors and church workers. Such an idea was struck down in 2008 in part because SBC leaders could not force churches to report such information to a registry.
But in the wake of the newspapers’ reporting, there has been a growing call for drastic action.
Thom Rainer, CEO of the SBC’s publishing arm, LifeWay Christian Resources, told the Chronicle that his organization does not currently provide materials for how churches can assist victims of sexual abuse, something he called a “mistake we need to correct, and that we will correct.”
He also said background checks for ordination, ministerial or informal staff candidates have been almost nonexistent both at churches and entities he’s helped lead, an issue he said LifeWay plans to spearhead as soon as possible.
Rainer is one of multiple SBC entity heads who told the Chronicle that they support some sort of registry.
“I think this is the loudest I’ve ever heard it, (and) from the most influential sources,” he said. “That is absolutely huge. We’ve definitely had people advocating it up to this point, but it has never been at the crescendo that it is now.”
‘A safe place’
Women whose lives were affected by sexual abuse committed by former Second Baptist employees expressed hope that the call for reviewing the Houston megachurch might help make a difference in the future.
Gwen Casados’ daughter Heather was only 14 when she was sexually molested in a choir room at Second Baptist in 1994 by a church employee. Casados said she received a call from Young who initially offered to do whatever he could to help her daughter. But after she told Young she had already called police, he hung up. She said her daughter suffered more because church leaders seemed to take the employee’s side against the victim.
Casados told the Chronicle that she hopes a formal review will persuade Young and others to “take responsibility for these things happening and stand up against these people.”
“I think they should take the responsibility of listening to the child and not to the predator.”
Nicole for years belonged to Second Baptist Church’s Cypress campus, where she was one of several teenagers who were groomed and sexually harassed by former youth pastor Chad Foster.
She also welcomed news that her former church may be scrutinized for its inaction to response to pleas she and others made on behalf of all of Foster’s victims, including youth group members who never went to the police and those who did. “It sounds like this is making waves and that is what we need. It seems like people are talking about it now — and before no one was talking about this,” she said.
Foster is now a registered sex offender. Second Baptist was civilly sued over sex abuse allegations involving Foster.
The pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, another church on Greear’s list, has been sued three times for allegations that he or another pastor sexually harassed adults, court records show. Two civil cases involved parishioners he counseled; at least one was settled.
Houston’s Cathedral of Faith, The Church of New Beginnings, also appears on the list. It was founded by a pastor who is also a registered sex offender.