NASHVILLE (BP and local reports) – Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee on Sept. 21 allocated $500,000 in their 2021-2022 operating budget for initial costs related to an independent investigation into complaints of mishandling of sex abuse reports by Executive Committee personnel.
Messengers to the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting in Nashville passed a motion that instructed SBC President Ed Litton to appoint a Sexual Abuse Task Force, which will coordinate with Guidepost Solutions to conduct the investigation.
According to the Guidepost Solutions website, the company is staffed by a “global team of investigators, experienced security and technology consultants, and compliance and monitoring experts,” operating out of 17 offices worldwide. The Guidepost Code of Commitment can be found at https://guidepostsolutions.com/about-us/.
The Sexual Abuse Task Force is to receive a written report 30 days before the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting on June 12-13 in Anaheim, Ca. The report is to be made public within a week, along with suggested actions for messengers.
“Southern Baptists, I urgently call you to pray for this process and to bear the burden alongside this task force as they pursue truth, identify issues, and move forward toward greater health in the area of response to abuse,” Litton said in a statement at the time he appointed the Sexual Abuse Task Force in July of last year.
John Damon, chief executive officer of Canopy Children’s Solutions in Jackson and a member of Broadmoor Church, Madison, serves on the seven-member Task Force.
