Jen Lyell News Today

"Folks, the Southern Baptist Convention is not truly reckoning with its sexual abuse crisis. That’s the reality, and there are SBC insiders who realize it."

(RNS) — Churches often blame adult abuse survivors for leading a ‘holy man’ astray.

For three minutes last summer, a call to investigate how Southern Baptist leaders have dealt with sexual abuse was dead in the water. Then a little-known denominational bylaw and a pastor from Indiana saved it. “I just had to do it,” said Todd Benkert, pastor of Oak Creek Community Church in Mishawaka, Indiana. “It was me or nobody.” During a morning business session at the

Christa Brown has tried to stop Southern Baptist predators and expose leaders who helped keep them in pulpits. They responded by calling her an “evildoer.”

(RNS) — A recently released report detailed how Southern Baptist leaders mistreated abuse survivors and tried to protect their institutions. The investigation that led to the report almost died numerous times.

(RNS) — A blockbuster report found that SBC lawyers worked for years to protect the institution and demonized abuse survivors and accused a prominent pastor of abusing a colleague's wife.

Investigation: SBC Executive Committee staff saw advocates’ cries for help as a distraction from evangelism and a legal liability, stonewalling their reports and resisting calls for reform.