By William Perkins
Editor
The president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention has announced he will appoint a Sexual Abuse Response Team to review the recent Guidepost Solutions report on sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) along with the report’s recommendations and bring its own report and recommendations before messengers to the Mississippi Baptist Convention’s 2022 Annual Meeting in October.
“Mississippi Baptists need to respond to the Guidepost Solutions report in positive ways to bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ,” said Lloyd Sweatt, pastor of Meadowood Church, Amory. “There is a need to put measures in place to do our best to not allow this to happen today nor in the future, and to do our best to help victims become victorious survivors.”
Questions had been growing for years about the alleged mishandling of sexual abuse claims involving churches and entities of the Southern Baptist Convention, which culminated in the commissioning of the Guidepost Solutions independent investigation by the SBC Executive Committee in the fall of 2021.
Guidepost’s final report, released May 22, provides a 288-page view into the highest echelons of SBC leadership and legal counsel where attention to protecting the Convention’s reputation and guarding it from legal liability took precedence over appropriate responses to scores of sexual abuse reports and neglect of victims.
The recent publication of a heretofore-secret list of alleged sexual abuse perpetrators within the Southern Baptist Convention compiled by Executive Committee staffers contains at least ten alleged instances of sexual abuse in Mississippi.
“This must be an all-in effort to ensure Mississippi Baptists will address this issue as swiftly and thoroughly as possible and move forward to reach our state, nation, and world with the Good News of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20),” Sweatt said.
Shawn Parker, executive director-treasurer of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, said, “I’m thankful for the leadership of Dr. Lloyd Sweat in appointing this Response Team, a step that will position us to continue our proactive mode of dealing with sexual abuse in Mississippi. I’m looking forward to working with the team to formulate the best response we can to the recommendations from the SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force.”
Sweatt is expected to name members of the Mississippi Baptist Sexual Abuse Response Team within the next few weeks.
