DALLAS (BP)—The Southern Baptist Convention’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force met with state leaders to preview the report it will present to the 2024 SBC annual meeting in June.

The group met in Dallas April 9 for a day that included presentations, roundtable discussions and question-and-answer times.

“I’m really grateful for the positive spirit of collaboration and mutual commitment to abuse reform in the room during our meeting today,” Chairman Josh Wester said after the meeting.

“It was encouraging to see leaders from across our convention come together, eager to share and learn from each other as we work to become an abuse-free family of churches. This gives me a lot of hope for the future.”

Kelley Lammers, a therapist and a layperson at a small church in northeast Arkansas, told BP her experience on the implementation task force has been life changing.

“I guess I just always thought the church was immune to major secular issues,” she said. “I’ve had to just do some research and see, oh my goodness, evil is everywhere.

“I had to do an about face, even within my own church and say, ‘You know, we haven’t done these things to protect our church and to care for members who may be around us and may have experienced these things.’ … I’m a therapist and I don’t take that into my church setting like that—the idea that individuals can be revictimized simply by coming into a church setting that isn’t sensitive,” she continued.

“We don’t alter our message or necessarily even alter our ways, but sometimes we just need to alter our heart.”

Step in the right direction

Lammers said the April 9 meeting was another step in the right direction.

“As a therapist, I’m deeply invested in making real change for abuse reform in our convention,” she said. “Witnessing leaders from different corners of the SBC engage in open dialogue, eager to pool our collective wisdom on building a safer environment for our churches, fills me with immense optimism. I think we’re laying the groundwork for a future where churches are proactive in preventing abuse and serious about caring well for survivors.”

Lammers said roughly half of the Baptist state conventions were represented at the meeting, adding that involvement at the state level and ultimately the church level is key.

“Everything important happens at the church level,” she said. “So we wanted to talk to them and invite them in and open the floor for questions. And we wanted to just be transparent and share where we are.”

Progress on goals noted

Task force members shared with state leaders three specific goals they have worked toward in the past year: an online database of convicted abusers; a sexual abuse prevention and care curriculum for churches; and a permanent home for abuse reform within the SBC.

The first goal is nearing the finish line, Lammers said, adding the task force has worked hard to solve the logistical challenges of a database of convicted abusers.

The second goal was realized in the form of the Essentials Sexual Abuse Prevention and Response Training curriculum, unveiled at the SBC Executive Committee’s meeting in February and ready to be launched for all Southern Baptists at the annual meeting.

Lammers said state leaders gave positive feedback about the curriculum at the Dallas meeting.

The curriculum is based on five major pillars for churches regarding sexual abuse—train, protect, screen, respond and care.

Lammers said the curriculum was written with churches like hers in mind—small churches with few full-time staff. It leads churches through the five pillars in a very practical way.

“And it’s not only like ‘this is what you should do,’ but literal examples of phone calls you can make [and] a flow chart a pastor can take,” she said.

“If an allegation occurs, if someone in your church calls the pastor, here’s the first thing you do. Here’s the second thing you do. Here’s the conversation. … Let’s say someone comes into your church who is on a sex offender registry, what do you do?”

The third goal—finding a permanent home for abuse reform—has presented the biggest challenge, Lammers said, and it remains unfinished, though the task force hopes to have “definitive answers” before the annual meeting in June.

‘Came away encouraged and equipped’

Greg Teel, president of the Colorado Baptist Convention and chair of that convention’s Sexual Abuse Prevention and Response Task Force, was at the Dallas meeting. He said he is “grateful to God for the fine work” of the implementation task force.

“I felt we all came away encouraged and equipped to serve our SBC churches and God’s kingdom better,” said Teel, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Delta, Colo.

Teel said the implementation task force “is doing a remarkable job addressing the issues they have been tasked with.”

“In addition, I personally feel certain that I am better equipped to serve Colorado Baptists,” he said. “I know that I have more colleagues in ministry to network and consult with to address Colorado Baptists’ needs.”

The day before the meeting, implementation task force members met on their own as a total solar eclipse made its way over the Dallas area. The group took a break to go up on the roof of a parking garage to witness it.

Lammers said the moment was a reminder of who is ultimately in control.

“Down to the second, the NASA scientists knew when we would see it,” she said. “[God] is in control, but he gives us brains and brilliant people around that can solve problems.

“We can do this,” she said of sexual abuse reform. “We can do this. And not just us, but the SBC, we can do this. … I left the eclipse feeling really optimistic.”

FORT WORTH (BP)—Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees heard reports of renewed financial stability and enrollment growth during their April 9-10 meeting.

“Southwestern Seminary is in a very different place than in September 2022,” said President David Dockery. “All this has happened because of God’s providential kindness to us.”

Board Chair Jonathan Richard said the seminary’s current financial situation is “stronger than it has been in years, and I know that with continued hard work and sacrifice, the financial future is hopeful.”

The board approved a $35.6 million budget for the 2025 fiscal year, a decrease of $300,000 from the originally approved budget for the current year.

Dockery told trustees the seminary is “very hopeful” about ongoing giving to the institution. He noted unrestricted giving is “steady” and temporarily unrestricted giving is “ahead of the last three years.”

The seminary’s operational budget is “in a good place,” more than $1.5 million ahead of the same time last year, he said. Currently, the seminary has $8.4 million in cash “which no one would have imagined this time last year,” he added.

‘From crisis to challenge to stability’

Dockery also mentioned the $3.4 million that was placed in a “quasi-endowment fund” overseen by the board.

“We have moved from crisis to challenge to stability,” Dockery observed.

He added: “We’re not yet at a place where we can call institutional health. We still have work to do to get there.”

The seminary will “continue to work as hard and as wisely and as carefully as we can, but we must not fail to give thanks to God for answering our prayer,” Dockery said.

Dockery noted one-third of the objectives of the Advance Southwestern 2030 institutional plan, which trustees adopted in the spring 2023 meeting, have been completed.

During the meeting, Dockery publicly thanked the board officers for their decision to give him a raise and bonus, which he declined, explaining he wanted all employees to be rewarded while the president should be last.

Richard said Dockery’s actions were “the Lord affirming to me that we have the right man in the president’s office.”

Increased enrollment reported

Dockery reported an increase in enrollment and hours taught. He reported 34,836 credit hours taught in the 2022-2023 academic year, representing an increase of 1,583 credit hours from the previous academic year. Enrollment also showed an increase of 171 students in the 2022-2023 academic year from the prior year.

Dockery noted an increase of 479 credit hours taught in the fall of 2023 compared to the fall 2022 semester, and the 15,821 credit hours taught in fall 2023 also reflected an increase of 1,066 credit hours taught compared to fall 2021.

The spring 2024 academic semester includes 2,711 students, an increase of 71 students enrolled in spring 2023, which was up from 2,561 the year prior, he said.

Dockery said that “uptick in credit hours is the key to our stable tuition revenue line, which is so important for our overall budget.”

He noted the total hours taught for spring 2024 has increased by almost 600 hours over spring 2023—14,709 credit hours taught in the current semester compared to 14,152 credit hours taught in spring 2023. The credit hours taught in spring 2024 represent an increase of more than 1,350 credit hours taught compared to spring 2022.

Citing data from the Association of Theological Schools annual enrollment report, which includes 274 divinity schools and seminaries, Dockery said in the fall 2023 semester, Southwestern moved to 5th in total enrollment and 6th in total credit hours taught.

The increases in enrollment and total credit hours taught make Southwestern 3rd and 4th, respectively, among Southern Baptist seminaries.

Dockery also noted Southwestern was 3rd among all of the ATS institutions regarding the total number of graduates in the past year and 9th concerning the size of the total endowment.

He added no other Southern Baptist school finished in the top 10 in all four categories of number of graduates, enrollment, credit hours taught and endowment. He said the ranking “distinguishes Southwestern in a meaningful way” for which he gave “thanks to God.”

Providing a breakdown of the current student body, Dockery said 23 percent of students are women, while international students make up 26 percent of students. Additionally, 58 percent are online students. He reported 40 percent of students are white, 28 percent are Asian, 21 percent are Hispanic, 5 percent are Black, and 6 percent of unknown ethnicity.

Carl J. Bradford, assistant professor of evangelism, was appointed as dean of Texas Baptist College, the undergraduate school of Southwestern Seminary. His appointment is effective May 6.

Trustees named O.S. Hawkins, chancellor and senior professor of pastoral ministry and evangelism, to the L.R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism (“Chair of Fire”); Lilly H. Park, associate professor of biblical counseling, to The Hultgren Chair of Ministerial Counseling; Okinaga to the Hope for the Heart Chair of Biblical Counseling; and Joseph R. Crider, dean of the School of Church Music and Worship, to the McKinney Chair of Church Music.

Richard of New Mexico, Robert Brown of Tennessee and Angela Duncan, an at-large trustee, who have served as chairman, vice chairman, and secretary, respectively, were re-elected to one-year terms as officers of the board.

The next board meeting is scheduled Oct. 21-23.

NEW ORLEANS (BP)—Nearly a year after its original dismissal, attorneys argued the merits of a lawsuit against Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Paige Patterson, the school’s former president, before a three-judge appeals court panel April 3.

Plaintiff “Jane Roe” filed suit against Patterson and the seminary in 2019, claiming negligence, violation of privacy and defamation. She alleges she was sexually assaulted at gunpoint on at least three occasions in late 2014 and early 2015 by “John Doe,” a student with a criminal history, who also was employed as a plumber by the school.

Claims against both parties were dismissed April 6 of last year by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, but Roe appealed.

Ultimately, she seeks a jury trial on the facts of the case. Due to the sensitive nature of her allegations, many of the case’s documents have been sealed.

Focus on claims of defamation and negligence

In the April 3 hearing, Roe’s attorney, Sheila Haddock, focused her argument on two of her client’s claims—a defamation claim against Patterson and a negligence claim against Southwestern Seminary.

The defamation allegation comes from statements made in defense of Patterson after Roe’s sexual assault claims came to light. Patterson’s handling of the incident was one of the issues considered by Southwestern Seminary trustees prior to his termination in 2018.

In the weeks following Patterson’s departure, his supporters released and distributed information attempting to explain and/or defend his actions.

Roe maintains that some of the claims in those documents—including allegations she made false statements and had consensual sex outside of marriage—are defamatory toward her.

In court, Haddock argued some of the documents’ authors, including Sharaya Colter, wife of longtime Patterson aide Scott Colter, were acting as “agents” of Patterson in writing and disseminating the articles.

In his rebuttal, Patterson’s attorney, Travis Jones, said there was no evidence Patterson authorized any parties to make public statements on his behalf. He also asserted most of the assertions in the documents do not constitute “defamation per se.”

“The record evidence is that there’s no evidence tying Dr. Patterson to any of these alleged defamatory statements,” Jones said. “Nothing occurred within the scope of the agency relationship.”

With regard to the negligence charge against the seminary, attorney Brian Rutherford said none of the evidence submitted shows seminary officials could have foreseen Doe would commit sexual assault against Roe. He also argued the school followed its normal admission and hiring procedures with regard to Doe.

Finally, Rutherford said, since Patterson’s employment at Southwestern Seminary had ended prior to the dissemination of the alleged defamatory material, his client, the seminary, should be dismissed from those claims.

In her closing arguments, Haddock urged the judges to allow the case to proceed to trial.

“There are disputed fact issues even within just the testimony that was offered in support of a defendant’s motions for summary judgment,” she said. “And this court has told us that in cases like that, summary judgment is simply not appropriate.”

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—North Carolina pastor Bruce Frank will be nominated for Southern Baptist Convention president at the 2024 SBC annual meeting by Tennessee pastor John Mark Harrison.

“I have known Bruce personally for many years. When I led student ministry at Biltmore Church, Bruce became the pastor, and our plateaued church began to grow,” said Harrison, now lead pastor of First Baptist Concord in Knoxville, Tenn. “His relentless passion for evangelism and disciple-making changed the direction of our church.”

Chaired SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force

Frank has been the lead pastor at Biltmore Baptist Church, which has several campuses in and around Asheville, N.C., since 2008. In 2021 and 2022, he served as the chair of the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Force overseeing the independent investigation of the SBC Executive Committee for the alleged mishandling of sexual abuse claims.

The task force’s recommendations led to the creation of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force.

Frank previously was pastor of First Baptist Church in Humble before coming to North Carolina.

“Bruce has provided faithful pastoral leadership for three decades,” Harrison said in written comments. “He has served both the church and convention with sacrificial leadership. He’s theologically conservative, strategically minded and missionally focused. He will clearly and effectively focus our denomination on the Great Commission.”

Biltmore Church recorded 384 baptisms in 2023 and averaged 7,331 people across eight multisite locations, according to SBC Workspace. The church reported $14,476,412 in total undesignated receipts, giving $235,000 (1.62 percent) through the Cooperative Program, $15,000 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and $30,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

The church gave $40,000 to local associations in 2023, according to SBC Workspace.

“The Lord has used Biltmore Church and Pastor Bruce to make a tremendous impact in Western North Carolina and beyond,” Harrison said.

Frank holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University, a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Luther Rice Seminary.

He and his wife Lori have two grown sons.

‘Coach, friend, mentor and encouragement’

“For the last decade, Bruce has been a coach, friend, mentor, and encouragement to me in my journey as a senior pastor,” Harrison said. “God has uniquely equipped Bruce to connect, encourage and coach pastors. He regularly makes time for me and many other pastors to grow us as Christian men and pastors.”

Frank joins Jared Moore, pastor of Homesteads Baptist Church in Crossville, Tenn.; Clint Pressley, pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte; Mike Keahbone, pastor of First Baptist in Lawton, Okla.; and David Allen, professor and dean at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, who all have been announced as potential candidates for SBC president.

The 2024 SBC annual meeting is set for June 11-12 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

ONTARIO, Calif. (BP)—Gateway Seminary’s presidential search committee nominated Adam Groza, vice president for enrollment and student services, as the candidate to serve as the seminary’s next president.

“After a thorough selection process, we are thankful to be able to unanimously present a candidate to the full board,” said J. Robert White, chair of the search committee. “Adam Groza has demonstrated capable and godly leadership during his service at Gateway these past 14 years.”

Groza joined Gateway in 2010 as vice president. He previously worked as director of admissions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Scarborough College. He has served churches in California and Texas, most recently supporting a number of local churches as interim pastor.

Groza earned his Ph.D. in philosophy of religion from Southwestern Seminary in 2009. He is a research fellow with the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and a teaching fellow with the Agricola Theological Institute in Finland.  He has taught at California Baptist University, Korea Baptist Theological Seminary and Logos College in Kerala, India.

Gateway’s board will vote on Groza’s presidential nomination at its regularly scheduled meeting April 15-16. Board Chairman Phil Kell appointed White to serve as chair of the presidential search committee during the fall 2023 trustee meeting. Other members are vice chair Kevin Carrothers, Daniel Atkins, Gilroy Chow, Steve Davidson, Rally de Leon, Andrew Dyer, Marsha Gray, Vincent Hayes, Phil Kell, Chuck Morton and Kevin Scott.

The search committee’s six-month selection process included a survey of current Gateway students and face-to-face dialogues between committee members and seminary faculty and staff, and the executive directors of western Baptist state conventions.

The planned transition of Groza to the presidency will take place on May 13 when Gateway’s current president, Jeff Iorg, enters his new role as president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee. Iorg’s final day as president of Gateway is May 12, after the last graduation service of the spring semester.

“Dr. Groza has my confidence as a leader,” Iorg said. “He is spiritually mature, firm in his theological convictions and committed to serving Southern Baptist churches.

“I cannot imagine a more qualified person to lead Gateway, and I am thankful for the opportunity I have had to work alongside him these past 14 years.”

CAP HAITIEN, Haiti(BP)—Four weeks after they became trapped in Port-au-Prince, two staff members of Louisiana Reach Haiti arrived safely at the ministry’s Children’s Village in Cap Haitien.

Darrin Badon, president of Louisiana Reach Haiti, said the women left on a bus from the capital city early March 26 and took the eight-hour bus ride for a long-awaited reunion with the children and staff at the Children’s Village.

They had been living in a relative’s home since March 4, when gang activity forced them to remain inside the house.

Badon expressed gratitude for the many prayers on behalf of the women and the children and other staff of Louisiana Reach Haiti, a partnership between the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Haiti Baptist Convention, Louisiana Baptist churches and the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home & Family Ministries.

“God protected them while they were there with family,” Badon said. “By his grace, we got them out of there today. The kids and staff were elated to see them. Lots of hugs were exchanged and we are so grateful they were brought back.

“I can’t help to think a year ago Antonio was kidnapped, and God released him on Good Friday,” continued Badon, referencing the safe return of Children’s Village Director Antonio Auguste in March 2023 after he was kidnapped by gang members in Port-Au-Prince three weeks earlier. “My prayer was on Good Friday they would be home and spend Good Friday at the church in Cap Haitien.”

Since Feb. 29, gangs in Haiti have burned police stations, attacked the country’s main airport and raided two of the nation’s largest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates, the Associated Press reported.

Additionally, more than 33,000 Haitians have left Port-au-Prince. And, more than 340 U.S. citizens have been evacuated out of the country since March 17.

Continuing the share Christ’s love

While the violence continues, Badon said, Louisiana Reach Haiti continues to share the love of Christ with the children. He asked for continued prayers as they press forward.

“Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for our children and staff,” Badon said. “Most of all, we thank our Lord and Savior for his grace, mercy and refuge in a time of need. Those ladies and many in Haiti have been in a desperate time of need.

“We are looking to hear from the Lord on how to continue making a difference in Haiti in the lives of our children and staff. And we are eager for other ways to serve.

“Despite all the hardships in Haiti, we know God has a purpose for us. We still are working to be in his will and serve the people of Haiti who face one adversity after another.”

NASHVILLE (BP)—North Carolina pastor J. Allen Murray plans to nominate fellow North Carolina pastor Micheal Pardue to be second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 2024 SBC annual meeting.

Pardue is the pastor of First Baptist Church Icard in Connelly Springs, N.C.

“I’ve had the privilege of serving beside him in the board room and the mission field overseas and seen his character on display first-hand,” Murray said. “Micheal’s heart for missions both local and abroad inform his life and ministry as he and First Baptist Icard have made a gospel impact around the globe.”

Pardue, 40, has been pastor at First Baptist Church Icard since February 2013. He previously served as pastor of High Shoal Baptist Church in Mooresboro and in other ministry positions in several North Carolina churches.

He served as president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina from 2020 to 2022. He was the state convention’s first vice president in 2018 to 2020. He led the state pastors’ conference in 2015, serving as the vice president in 2011.

He has served on the North Carolina convention’s board of directors and communications committee. He has been moderator of the Catawba Valley Baptist Association and currently serves on the Fruitland Baptist Bible College board of directors.

“I’ve never seen anyone as dedicated to serving the church through convention ministries as I witnessed him serve as president” of the North Carolina state convention, Murray said. “I believe this executive experience will allow him to serve Southern Baptists well.”

First Baptist Church Icard reported total undesignated receipts of $255,661 in 2023, and gifts of $22,250 (8.7 percent) through the Cooperative Program, $5,570 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and $1,805 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. The church reported four baptisms and 100 people in average worship attendance in 2023.

“Micheal is an all-in servant who loves the SBC and wants to see it honor the Lord Jesus and make his name known in every tribe, tongue and nation,” Murray said.

Pardue holds a bachelor’s degree from Gardner-Webb University, a Master of Christian Ministry degree from North Greenville University and an Ed.D. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He is an instructor for North Greenville University and Liberty University, according to Murray.

He and his wife Rachel are parents to seven children.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission voted March 21 to re-designate $250,000 toward the SBC Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force.

Trustees approved funds for the task force as it “wraps up its work in response to the mandate given by the messengers.”

Those funds originally were set aside following the 2021 SBC annual meeting when a motion requested the ERLC “hire an outside organization to oversee an audit and assessment of sexual abuse within the SBC.”

When task force leaders reached out to the ERLC in the following years to request a pause in the “audit and assessment,” the ERLC agreed, holding those funds in reserve.

Providing the $250,000 to the task force will help it “with the next phase of implementing what messengers overwhelmingly have requested at multiple SBC annual meetings,” ERLC President Brent Leatherwood told trustees during the meeting, which was held virtually.

Doing so would ensure the ERLC “continue[s] playing the supportive role that we have had with them for the last several years,” he said. “This will not only be consistent with our ministry assignment. It will align with what is called for in the [2021] motion.”

‘Steadfast support for abuse reform’

Task force Chairman Joshua Wester expressed gratitude for the ERLC’s “steadfast support for abuse reform.”

“For many years, the ERLC has stood at the forefront of our convention’s efforts to raise awareness, change the culture and care for survivors of sexual abuse,” Wester said. “This latest act of generosity will only strengthen our ability to advance this work among Southern Baptists.”

A motion at the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans by Maryland pastor Keith Myer asked that the SBC Organization Manual be amended “to ask the ERLC to assist churches and entities in responding to abuse.”

The motion was voted down by ERLC trustees, but Leatherwood made clear it wasn’t over disagreement to its sentiment.

“He is a strong voice for abuse reform and someone who understands the desperate need that we have in our convention to combat abuse,” Leatherwood said of Myer. “Not only did I thank Keith at the time when he made this motion, I wholeheartedly agree with it.”

However, Leatherwood went on to highlight the ERLC’s work through areas such as the Caring Well Initiative, the Church Cares curriculum and Caring Well Sunday.

“We obviously view [response to sexual abuse] as part of our ministry assignment, and we consider it a privilege to do so. Therefore, it doesn’t necessarily require any sort of an amendment,” he said.

Other trustee business

Longtime Baptist Press contributor Tom Strode was presented the Richard D. Land Distinguished Service Award for his career in journalism, primarily through his 32 years as BP’s Washington bureau chief.

Originally hired by Land under the ERLC’s predecessor organization, the Christian Life Commission, Strode continued his work of reporting on political and public policy areas for decades.

Congressman Chris Smith, R-N.J., received the John Leland Religious Liberty Award.

Smith was cited for his more than four decades as a leading advocate for international religious freedom and efforts for raising global awareness over religious persecution.

One of the 19 letters the ERLC issued in 2023 was in support of Smith’s resolution regarding violations of religious freedom in Nigeria and for that nation to be designated a “Country of Particular Concern.”

CAP HAITIEN, Haiti (BP)—Louisiana Baptists and others urgently are praying for the safe return of two Louisiana Reach Haiti Children’s Village staff members trapped in Port-au-Prince, capital city of a country that has seen a rapid increase in gang activity.

Darrin Badon, president of Louisiana Reach Haiti, told the Baptist Message the staff members were visiting family members when the most recent explosion of violence occurred and have been trapped since.

Badon said the children and other staff at the Children’s Village are safe in Cap Haitien, a city 85 miles north of Port-au-Prince. However, he said, the airport in the city is closed, and they are starting to see shortages of food and goods that come from Port-au-Prince.

The ministry is a partnership between the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Haiti Baptist Convention, Louisiana Baptist churches and the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home & Family Ministries.

“There are no flights or bus service, so the two staff members can’t get out of Port-au-Prince,” Badon said. “This is our biggest prayer request now. Pray for these two ladies to remain safe, for God to meet their physical needs and for God to find a way to get them back to Cap Haitien.”

According to the Associated Press, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced March 12 he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created. Henry, who arrived in Puerto Rico a week ago, has been unable to enter Haiti because recent violence closed the country’s main international airports.

Gangs have burned police stations, attacked the country’s main airport and raided two of the nation’s largest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

Additionally, more than 15,000 Haitians are homeless after leaving neighborhoods raided by gangs.

What is Louisiana Reach Haiti?

In 2015, a Louisiana Baptist team felt led to create a permanent presence in Haiti and partnered with Pastor Odvald Louis and his members at New Evangelical Baptist Church in Croix-Des-Bouquets. The Haitian congregation and Louisiana mission teams combined to complete a Children’s Village in Croix-des-Bouquets. They also teamed up to dig a well and build a church building and school in neighboring Canaan.

However, the facilities in both cities were overtaken and vandalized by gangs in early 2022, Badon said.

Louisiana Reach Haiti then refocused its ministry on multiple fronts:

• In February 2022, escalating gang violence forced the Children’s Village to relocate to the Florida House, a Florida Baptist Convention-owned home for missionaries in Port-au-Prince. The facility housed 21 children and six staff members. After more than a year at the Florida House the gangs started closing in on this area as well.
• Louisiana Reach Haiti leaders helped relocate Pastor Odvald Louis and his family from Haiti, which he fled after surviving an attempt on his life.
• Louisiana Reach Haiti began partnering with Connect International Church, a congregation in New Orleans. In April 2022, the church formed and hosted an international church—led by a Haitian American graduate Pastor Dawest Louis of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary—that reaches out to Haitians and other nationalities.
• In July 2022 and 2023, Louisiana Reach Haiti partnered with Fellowship Church, Prairieville, and worked with this newly formed congregation to conduct Vacation Bible School for more than 30 children.

Badon said he is thankful for God’s hand over the children and staff throughout the many years of unrest in Haiti.

Children’s Village Director Antonio Auguste was kidnapped by gang members in Port-Au-Prince in March 2023 but was released three weeks later.

On July 1 last year, Badon flew into Cap Haitien, Haiti, and met with a small group of Haitians to prepare a new rental home for the children and staff. On July 4, Auguste, the staff and children loaded on a bus and traveled from Port-au-Prince to the new Children’s Village home near Cap Haitien, where they have remained.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Jared Moore will nominate Cincinnati pastor Michael Clary for Southern Baptist Convention first vice president at the 2024 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis, Moore told Baptist Press March 11. Moore is a candidate for SBC president.

Moore cited Clary’s support of the so-called “Law Amendment” and Internal Revenue Service Form 990 financial disclosures of SBC entities in announcing the intended nomination, as well as Clary’s 25-year career in Christian ministry.

(https://baptiststandard.com/news/baptists/sbc-approves-amendment-limiting-pastorate-to-men/)

“He’s in favor of passing the Law Amendment. He sees the Law Amendment as just a reflection of Scripture and a reflection of our confession that Southern Baptists have voted on,” Moore said of Clary. “And [Clary believes] that putting that in the constitution would actually serve Southern Baptists well.”

The SBC Executive Committee has made no recommendation on two motions from the 2023 SBC annual meeting that would require SBC entities to submit to messengers financial information that would be included on IRS Form 990 for nonprofits. The IRS exempts certain religious organizations from submitting the form. The SBC and its entities receive the exemption.

Moore described Clary’s support of 990 disclosure as a matter of financial transparency.

“He believes that our trustees at our various SBC entities should submit 990-level financial disclosures at every SBC annual meeting,” Moore said. “And it’s not that he doesn’t trust the trustees–he trusts the trustees–but he wants to make sure that trustees trust Southern Baptists. And Southern Baptists have to be able to see that our money is being spent wisely. It’s God’s money.”

Moore described Clary as a mature Christian and a faithful husband and father.

Clary is the founding pastor of Christ the King Church, launched in 2009, in Cincinnati. Christ the King gave $792 to the Cooperative Program in 2023 from undesignated receipts of $472,854, according to the 2023 Annual Church Profile. The church reported four baptisms, 127 members and an average worship attendance of 201.

Clary told Baptist Press of an additional $32,000 in Great Commission giving in 2023, asserting donations of $10,000 to plant Christ the King Church, a Southern Baptist Church plant in Eastern Hills, Ohio, and $817 in donations to the Cincinnati Area Baptist Association.

Clary cited other donations of $4,200 to the 1520 Coalition global church planting ministry; $6,000 to Vision Nationals church planting organization based in Vishakhapatnam, India; $2,000 to the Acts 29 Network; and $3,000 to Cornerstone Church in Detroit (Acts 29), and several smaller outreaches.

Clary since has left the Acts 29 network, he told Baptist Press, which Moore confirmed.

Moore is the senior pastor of Homesteads Baptist Church in Crossville, Tenn.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Last week, lawyers for the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee say they were contacted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and were told an investigation into the committee’s handling of sexual abuse had been closed.

News about the status of the investigation eventually leaked, and on March 6, the interim head of the Executive Committee confirmed the investigation was concluded “with no future action to be taken.”

That news came as a surprise to abuse survivors and advocates such as Megan Lively and Tiffany Thigpen. They reached out to Department of Justice investigators, who they say told them the investigation was ongoing. Both said they were told the lead DOJ investigator had no more questions for the Executive Committee, but the investigation remains open.

“The lead investigator from the DOJ concerning this investigation was as surprised as we were by these reports. She answered both Megan and I immediately when we called (separately) and said the investigation is very much open and active,” Thigpen told Religion News Service in a text message.

Something has changed. But what?

A staff member in the press office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said she could not comment on investigations. When asked whether the attorney general’s office disputed the statement made by the SBC Executive Committee, the staff member had no comment.

An attorney for the SBC also declined to comment.

Both sides agree something has changed with the DOJ’s investigation. They appear to disagree about what that change means. The confusion over the status of the DOJ investigation has strained the already tense relationship between abuse survivors and SBC leaders.

After this story was published, Baptist Press, an official SBC publication, published additional comments from the SBC’s lawyer.

“Legal counsel for the SBC has since confirmed that the investigation into the SBC as a whole remains open and ongoing,” Baptist Press reported.

“I am grieved the SBC, yet again, continues to take unnecessary measures to manipulate, discredit, and silence those who attempt to bring the truth to light,” said Lively in a text about the confusion over the status of the DOJ report.

Background on the SBC response to abuse

In 2022, the SBC’s annual meeting passed a series of reforms intended to address sexual abuse—focusing on identifying abusive pastors, creating training to prevent abuse and developing better systems for assisting survivors of abuse. In 2023, messengers at the SBC annual meeting reaffirmed their support for reforms.

While some Baptist state conventions have made progress on implementing reforms, there has been little progress on a national level—largely due to legal concerns and lack of a permanent funding plan. A task force charged with implementing reforms recently announced a plan to start an independent nonprofit to oversee those reforms.

Few details are available about the proposed nonprofit and almost no funding for it. Recently, the leaders of two SBC mission boards that have been funding the work of the task force said they would not fund the new nonprofit, known as the Abuse Response Commission.

In general, the DOJ does not comment on investigations and has not acknowledged the status, scope or existence of an investigation into the SBC and its entities, which include the Executive Committee, the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board, six seminaries, Lifeway Christian Resources and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

In 2022, the SBC Executive Committee announced it had received a subpoena from the Department of Justice and would cooperate with federal officials. Leaders of the SBC’s entities issued a joint statement to the same effect.

“Individually and collectively each SBC entity is resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation,” said the SBC statement in 2022. “While we continue to grieve and lament past mistakes related to sexual abuse, current leaders across the SBC have demonstrated a firm conviction to address those issues of the past and are implementing measures to ensure they are never repeated in the future.”

No further details have been forthcoming, other than the Executive Committee reporting that the DOJ investigation has added to its growing legal expenses. It’s not clear whether any other SBC entities have been or continue to be under investigation by the DOJ.

Strained relationship with abuse survivors

The delay in implementing national reforms has strained relations between abuse survivors and SBC leaders, undermining the tenuous trust those survivors had in the reform process. That trust already was under stress after SBC entities filed a controversial amicus brief in an abuse case in Kentucky.

That case before the Kentucky Supreme Court involved the state’s statute of limitations and whether changes made by the Kentucky Legislature applied retroactively. Lawyers for abuse survivor Samantha Killary, who had been abused for years by her adoptive father, a Louisville police officer, argued the changes should allow her to sue the police department her father worked for and other third parties.

The Kentucky Supreme Court eventually ruled against her.

Abuse advocates and survivors were angered at the SBC entities that filed the amicus brief, saying those entities took the side of an abuser instead of an abuse survivor. The SBC entities were not parties in Killary’s case but were being sued in at least one other past abuse case in the state.

That amicus brief also caught members of the Executive Committee and leaders working on abuse reform by surprise.

The SBC Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force is expected to make a report to the denomination’s annual meeting this summer in Indianapolis. The task force is expected to unveil training materials for churches on how to respond to abuse.

But it’s unclear what the task force will report about other reforms, such as a database of abusive pastors or a permanent funding plan for reforms.

Jonathan Howe, interim Executive Committee president, said the SBC is committed to moving forward with reforms.

“While we are grateful for closure on this particular matter, we recognize that sexual abuse reform efforts must continue to be implemented across the convention,” he said. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to assist churches in preventing and responding well to sexual abuse in the SBC.”

(RNS)—Federal officials have concluded an investigation into sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, with no charges being filed.

News the investigation was closed was reported first by The Tennessean in Nashville.

“On February 29, 2024, counsel for the SBC Executive Committee was informed that the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has concluded its investigation into the EC with no further action to be taken,” Jonathan Howe, Executive Committee interim president and CEO, told Religion News Service in a text responding to a request for comment.

News of the investigation became public in August 2022, after the Executive Committee first received a subpoena from the Department of Justice. That subpoena was issued a few months after the release of a major report showing some SBC leaders had mistreated abuse survivors for years and had intentionally sought to downplay the number of sexual abuse cases in the 13.2 million-member denomination.

Few details about the investigation have been made public, and the Department of Justice never has acknowledged an inquiry was underway.

The Executive Committee has reported the DOJ investigation has added to its growing legal expenses in recent years. The committee also faces ongoing civil lawsuits, including one filed by a former denominational president named in the 2022 abuse report from Guidepost Solutions.

Last December, several SBC entities settled a lawsuit prompted by years of alleged sexual abuse by legendary SBC leader and retired Texas judge Paul Pressler.

That Guidepost report, which was commissioned by messengers at the 2021 SBC annual meeting, found a number of cases where SBC leaders had mistreated abuse survivors and one case where a leader was accused of sexual assault.

Reform efforts stalled

A series of reforms aimed at addressing sexual abuse in the denomination has stalled in recent months, largely due to uncertainty over how those reforms will be paid for.

Members of a task force assigned to implement those reforms recently announced plans to start a new nonprofit to oversee the reforms. However, leaders of two SBC mission boards funding the task force have said they will not fund the new nonprofit.

Howe said SBC leaders are committed to moving forward with reforms.

“While we are grateful for closure on this particular matter, we recognize that sexual abuse reform efforts must continue to be implemented across the Convention. We remain steadfast in our commitment to assist churches in preventing and responding well to sexual abuse in the SBC,” he said in a statement.

NOTE: Religion News Service updated the headline and first sentence of the article to clarify the SBC Executive Committee—not the denomination—was the subject of investigation.