ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Newly elected Southern Baptist Convention Supreme Committee leaders have backed a clearer investigation into allegations that Named misrepresented reports of sexual assault and mistreatment of survivors . They defeated the candidates opposed to the move.
Executive committee members elected Pastor Jared Wellman of Texas as president, Pastor David Sons of South Carolina as vice president, and Pamela Reed, a retired nurse from North Carolina, as secretary at a meeting Monday in Anaheim.
All three winners confirmed the waiver of attorney-client privilege by the highest administrative body for an external investigation by an independent company, Guidepost Solutions. Opponents – Pastor Andrew Hunt of Indiana, Louisiana Minister Philip Robertson, and Pastor of Missouri Mount Shinkley – opposed.
Last year, the executive committee was involved in a heated debate over whether to allow investigators to access messages between lawyers and committee staff. Finally, the supporters of granting access won in October.
Whether their victory on Monday predicts what awaits the SBC, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, remains unseen. Its annual meeting will be held Tuesday and Wednesday in Anaheim, where more than 8,000 local church delegates – known as messengers – are expected to elect a new president and decide whether to implement sexual harassment reforms.
The 288-page Guidepost report, released after a seven-month investigation on May 22, detailed how executive committee members and staff handled cases of violence, stoned many survivors, and prioritized protecting SBC from liability.
The selection of new Executive Committee officers seems to indicate a willingness to continue to lead the investigation.
The committee’s new chairman, Wellman, who was elected with nearly two-thirds of the vote, was part of a push last year to allow Guidepost to launch a more thorough investigation, a step that has proven crucial to a company’s work.
Both Wellman and Son said at a press conference on Monday that they did not want to interpret the meaning of their election for the future of the SBC. Both agreed that the waiver of attorney-client privilege was an important moment for the committee and SBC.
“The information we learned (thanks to the release) has been remarkable to many,” Wellman said.
Sons said he supported the attorney-client privilege waiver because “he wanted to do the right thing and do the will of the messengers.”
A Guidepost report revealed that committee staff had secretly kept a database of accused church staff for many years, despite public claims that maintaining such a list would violate the right. of self -governing churches. The committee then published the list.
Two of the three candidates who lost Monday’s election – Robertson and Shinkley – were leaders of the Conservative Baptist Network, a group that aims to push the Conservative denomination further to the right.
But executive committee votes are by no means a signal of how the annual general meeting of church representatives will vote.
The Conservative Baptist Network has moved beyond claims that the SBC is abandoning issues such as racial theology and ideology, claims disputed at the Convention. CBN supported Florida Pastor Tom Ascoll in the SBC presidential election, which also included Texas Pastor Bart Barber.
At a meeting Monday, Willie McLaughlin, interim chairman and executive director of the executive committee, said that “there is no network of churches that is not part of the challenges.”
“Challenges for God are an opportunity to move from our comfort zone to our creative zone,” he said, emphasizing the need to unite the denomination and find solutions.
SBC President Ed Leighton, whose successor will be elected this week, said he believes the denomination will go in the right direction.
“We can trust people to finally do what’s smart and right,” he said.
Do I need help? Visit RAINN National hotline for online sexual abuse O National Sexual Abuse Resource Center website.
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Smith reported from Pittsburgh.
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Source: Huffpost
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.