On May 15, 2022, Guidepost Solutions published their Report of Independent Investigation on the SBC Executive Committee’s response to sexual abuse allegations. Their report highlights the following:
EC members “closely guarded information about abuse allegations and lawsuits.”
The SBC had amassed a list of over 700 alleged abusers, yet despite this information and the repeated reports by sexual abuse survivors, senior EC leaders and outside counsel controlled the response to these reports with the seemingly singular goal to avoid liability by refusing to investigate.
SBC leaders failed to take steps to prevent ministers and others accused of sexual abuse from holding positions of power in SBC churches.
Survivors and others who reported abuse “were ignored, disbelieved, or met with constant refrain.” These victims were vilified, and their accounts of abuse trivialized, all while their abusers were allowed to quietly leave their churches or in some cases, continue on in their positions within their church or the SBC.
Guidepost’s investigation revealed that SBC leadership “were singularly focused on avoiding liability for the SBC” for many years at the expense of their members’ safety and physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
Two weeks after the release of the Guidepost Report on May 26, 2022, SBC leaders released the previously kept-secret list of hundreds of pastors and church personnel accused of sexual abuse. More than 40 of the church officials identified on that list are located here in Georgia.