Hunt resigns NAMB post, denies sexual impropriety

ALPHARETTA (BP and local reports) – Longtime pastor and Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leader Johnny Hunt resigned from his position at the SBC North American Mission Board (NAMB) on May 13, after being included by name in the report from Guidepost Solutions on the alleged mishandling of sexual abuse claims by the SBC Executive Committee.

Hunt

The Executive Committee commissioned the independent Guidepost Solutions report late last year, and the findings were released on the afternoon of May 22.

In the report, Guidepost said, “During our investigation, an SBC pastor and his wife came forward to report that SBC President Johnny Hunt (2008-2010) had sexually assaulted the wife on July 25, 2010. …their report was corroborated in part by a counseling minister and three other credible witnesses; and our investigators did not find Dr. Hunt’s statements related to the sexual assault allegation to be credible.”

Hunt denied the claims May 22 on his Twitter account. “To put it bluntly: I vigorously deny the circumstances and characterizations set forth in the Guidepost report. I have never abused anybody,” he wrote.

Ezell

NAMB President Kevin Ezell said, “Prior to May 13, I was not aware of any alleged misconduct on the part of Johnny Hunt. I learned the details of the report today along with the rest of our Southern Baptist family.”

Jeremy Morton, senior pastor of First Church, Woodstock, where Hunt pastored before accepting the NAMB senior vice president position, said the church is processing the information in the Sexual Abuse Task Force report.

Morton

“No one at Woodstock, except Johnny Hunt and the counselor mentioned in the report, knew about this prior to the publishing of the task force’s report,” Morton told Baptist Press.

In his tweet, Hunt says, “I want to be clear: My heart breaks for all victims of abuse. I support the rights of abuse victims to be heard and respected and made whole. I also support transparency and accountability for abusers. But transparency and accountability must be founded on truth and accuracy.”

In the Guidepost report, investigators detail interviews with the “SBC pastor” and “wife” and the counselor the report identifies as Roy Blankenship. “He [Mr. Blankenship] also confirmed that there was an incident in Panama City Beach involving Dr. Hunt and the Survivor.”

The report goes on to say, “Mr. Blankenship stated that he did not think he received the full story,” and, “He [Mr. Blankenship] confirmed that, at the time, his assessment was based on what Dr. Hunt told him and that the sexual contact was consensual.”