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1 Corinthians 6:9
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor
adulterers nor men who have sex with men


Southern Baptist leaders release a previously secret list of accused
sexual abusers


A cross and Bible sculpture stand outside the Southern Baptist Convention headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday. Southern Baptist leaders
have released a list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse.
Holly Meyer/AP

In response to an explosive investigation, top Southern Baptists have
released a previously secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church- affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse.

The 205-page database was made public late Thursday. It includes more than
700 entries from cases that largely span from 2000 to 2019.

Its existence became widely known Sunday when the independent firm,
Guidepost Solutions, included it in its bombshell report detailing how the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee mishandled allegations
of sex abuse, stonewalled numerous survivors and prioritized protecting
the SBC from liability.

Executive Committee leaders Rolland Slade and Willie McLaurin, in a joint statement, called publishing the list "an initial, but important, step
towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in
the Convention."
Top Southern Baptists stonewalled and denigrated sex abuse victims, report
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Top Southern Baptists stonewalled and denigrated sex abuse victims, report
says

"Each entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction
brought about by sexual abuse," they said. "Our prayer is that the
survivors of these heinous acts find hope and healing, and that churches
will utilize this list proactively to protect and care for the most
vulnerable among us."
Church officials kept a private list of abusers, an investigation found

The Guidepost report, released after a seven-month investigation,
contained several explosive revelations. Among them: D. August Boto, the committee's former vice president and general counsel, and former SBC
spokesman Roger Oldham kept their own private list of abusive ministers.
Both retired in 2019. The existence of the list was not widely known
within the committee and its staff.

"Despite collecting these reports for more than 10 years, there is no indication that (Oldham and Boto) or anyone else, took any action to
ensure that the accused ministers were no longer in positions of power at
SBC churches," the report said.
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Southern Baptist leader resigns amid internal division over sex abuse
review

The Executive Committee did not make additions to the published list, but
their attorneys did redact several entries as well as the names and
identifying information of survivors and others unrelated to the accused, Thursday's joint statement said.

They made public "entries that reference an admission, confession, guilty
plea, conviction, judgment, sentencing, or inclusion on a sex offender registry," and expect some of the redacted entries on the list to be made public once more research is done. The list also includes Baptist
ministers that are not affiliated with the SBC.

Survivors and advocates have long called for a public database of abusers.
The creation of an "offender information system" was one of the key recommendations in the report by Guidepost, which was contracted by the Executive Committee after delegates to last year's national meeting
pressed for an outside investigation.
Southern Baptists Vote To Hold Churches More Accountable For Mishandling

Also in the report was a shocking allegation that Johnny Hunt, a Georgia-
based pastor and former SBC president, sexually assaulted another pastor's
wife during a beach vacation in 2010. Hunt has disputed the allegation,
saying in a statement that he has "never abused anybody."

He resigned May 13 as senior vice president of evangelism and leadership
at the North American Mission Board, the SBC's domestic missions agency.
On Wednesday, NAMB leaders announced changes to address the issue
including committing to investigate abuse accusations and creating an
Abuse Prevention and Response Committee to assess and strengthen existing policies and procedures.
Sponsor Message
A hotline has been set up for survivors to report abuse allegations

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