Findings of a third-party investigation issued by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) last Sunday reported that the convention’s national leaders concealed accusations of sexual assault and opposed reform plans for two decades.
The report details the investigation, sanctioned by the SBC and conducted by Guidepost Solutions, into allegations against the convention from January 2000 to June 2021 regarding the abuse of women and children by male pastors, church staff, and officials.
According to the report, rather than reporting sexual abuse charges to the police or terminating those said to be responsible, Southern Baptist Convention leaders either protected the perpetrators or stonewalled and disregarded the survivors.
Specifically, Pastor Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano is mentioned.
Prestonwood Baptist Church is one of the largest in the country, and Graham served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2002 to 2004.
Graham reportedly allowed a pastor of his church to leave quietly after allegations of the individual abusing young boys surfaced.
Previously, as reported in the Dallas Observer, Amy Smith, the daughter of a former deacon at the church, made allegations in 2010 against pastor John Langworthy.
Langworthy had relocated to Mississippi after being accused of child molestation as a youth minister at Prestonwood several years before.
Soon after Smith came forward, he resigned from the Mississippi church, facing criminal charges.
The former pastor and youth minister pled guilty to abusing five boys between the ages of 6 and 13 in Mississippi in the early 1980s. He bypassed prison but is now classified as a child sex offender.
Smith dedicated much time and effort to exposing Langworthy and put pressure on Graham to speak about Langworthy’s wrongdoings even after the headlines about the crimes disappeared.
After the investigation report was released on Sunday, Mike Buster, Prestonwood’s executive pastor, denounced the findings.
“Prestonwood categorically denies the way the report characterizes the incident 33 years ago. Prestonwood has never protected or supported abusers, in 1989 or since,” said Buster.
However, the report states, “Our (SBC’s) investigation revealed that, for many years, a few senior EC (executive committee) leaders, along with outside counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these reports of abuse.”
Furthermore, it says, “They (EC leaders) closely guarded information about abuse allegations and lawsuits, which were not shared with EC Trustees, and were singularly focused on avoiding liability for the SBC to the exclusion of other considerations.”
Guidepost Solutions’ report additionally suggested improvements SBC leaders could implement to better handle any future allegations.
These initiatives included developing an offender identification system “to alert the community to known offenders” that could be made available to churches on a “voluntary basis,” as well as a voluntary abuse-prevention program for churches and other Baptist organizations.
The document also suggested that the Southern Baptists form a new administrative group to oversee “comprehensive long-term reforms concerning sexual abuse and related misconduct,” and that church entities use nondisclosure agreements and civil settlements that demand confidentiality only if the survivor requests it.
It also recommended that the committee investigating complaints of abuse enhance its procedures to make them more transparent.
The executive committee’s leaders met on May 24 to review the findings.
The Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee, which was established in 1917 and consists of 86 representatives chosen from eligible states and regions, operates on behalf of the convention between sessions.
Although the executive committee has no authority or control over the actions of convention agencies, it does analyze their financial records and make recommendations for the annual operating budget of the convention.
It also accepts and distributes funds donated by Southern Baptists to denominational ministries, serves as the recipient and trust agency for all convention properties, and offers public relations and press services.
