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(RNS) – Responding to allegations it has mismanaged allegations of abuse in the past, the Southern Baptist Convention executive committee announced Friday, June 11 that it had retained the services of a company to “carry out independent review of its processes, ”said Ronnie Floyd, chairman of the executive committee.
Guidepost Solutions’ review comes in response to allegations by Russell Moore, until recently chairman of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Freedom Commission, that Floyd and Georgia pastor Mike Stone attempted to delay attempts to deal with abuse and silence survivors of abuse.
“Guidepost Solutions is a global leader in surveillance, compliance, sensitive investigations and risk management solutions and has extensive experience in providing advice and guidance to religious communities in this area,” the statement said. .
In addition to reviewing Moore’s allegations, Guidepost will “review and improve the training” provided to executive committee staff and directors to respond to questions of abuse.
“SBC’s executive committee is committed to providing full support and transparency to Guidepost Solutions, including making people available for interviews and providing relevant documents,” the statement also said.
RELATED: Southern Baptist Pastors Call for Inquiry into Handling of Abuse Allegations
Some prominent members of the SBC were concerned that the executive committee’s review was not a full investigation. The Rev. Dwight McKissic, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Texas, questioned a review that would be “anything less than an independent investigation launched by the convention”, not by the executive committee.
It is scandalous to allow the EC to appoint an investigative team, independent of the SBC. Deserves protests. This kind of evil, crude, insensitive treatment of your face seems to be reserved for women and minorities. Only men who make decisions, for women victims, are horribly wrong. https://t.co/jyOpgpUvjt
– Dwight McKissic (@pastordmack) June 11, 2021
Attorney-at-law Rachael Denhollander, who has in the past criticized SBC officials’ treatment of alleged victims of sexual abuse, called Guidepost Solutions a “highly qualified company” capable of reviewing the actions of the executive committee. and to advise the leaders of the SBC.
“The question is whether the executive committee allows them to do their jobs,” said Denhollander, a former gymnast who was the first to accuse former US gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar of abuse.
Denhollander asked the executive committee to expand Guidepost’s mandate to include a full written report and review of all paid staff and elected officials.
“If they get those two things, Guidepost can do their job,” she said.
RELATED: ‘Preserving the Base’: Audio Leak Shows SBC Executives Reluctant To Face Abuse
Denhollander slammed SBC leaders at a 2019 “welfare conference” over responding to abuse, resulting in reluctance from those leaders. In leaked excerpts from meetings with Moore, then head of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Freedom Commission, Floyd said he was not worried about “what survivors may say.”
“I’m not worried about it,” he is heard in audio clips, posted by a pastor from Texas who is a former staff member of the ERLC. “I think at the base. I just want to preserve the base.
Floyd said the audio clips misrepresent his response to abuse.
Moore, who recently resigned after years of controversy, cited the decline in abuse and the RLC’s work on race in a letter to the Trustees of the ERLC before his resignation. This letter was recently published by Religion News Service.
Rolland Slade, chairman of the executive committee, has expressed support for an independent investigation into Moore’s allegations. Two Southern Baptist pastors have announced plans to offer an independent investigation at the SBC’s annual meeting next week in Nashville, which is expected to attract more than 16,000 attendees.
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