The Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board issued a statement making clear it will limit endorsement and funding exclusively to church plants with male pastors.

“Only qualified men” will “serve as the communicator for teaching and preaching” in the main worship services of church starts that receive NAMB financial support, according to the Oct. 14 statement.

NAMB cites “fidelity” to the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message as its rationale for limiting endorsement and funding to “church planters who have a faith and practice consistent with our convention’s adopted statement of faith and who seek to honor our Southern Baptist partners.”

“Our ministry assignment is to serve our brothers and sisters across the convention in autonomous SBC churches,” the NAMB statement says. “We recognize there are differing views on how best to interpret and apply Article VI of The Baptist Faith and Message, which affirms the truth that ‘both men and women are gifted for service in the church’ and that ‘the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.’”

‘Reflect the practice of most Southern Baptists’

The statement continues: “We will continue to partner with and assist any cooperating churches. We believe it best, however, to reserve endorsement and funding for planters who are willing to reflect the practice of most Southern Baptists in this issue.”

NAMB “has sometimes required church planters to adopt certain guidelines as a way of fostering a strong relationship with the majority of Southern Baptist churches in belief and practice,” the statement noted.

The agency compared its position restricting support only to churches with male pastors to its requirement that NAMB-endorsed church planters abstain from alcoholic beverages.

Consequently, NAMB requires its church planters to line up with the practice  of “the majority of Southern Baptist churches” that believe only “qualified men” can hold the title of “pastor/bishop/elder/overseer,” the statement says.

“Since culture, practice and methodology in the early years of a church plant set a foundation for future ministry, all endorsed Send Network planters will agree to abide by this guideline for the duration of their endorsement period,” the statement concludes.

Ezell: ‘Complementarian by conviction’

NAMB President Keith Ezell told Baptist Press: “We are always walking with planters through the challenges of their missionary work and clarifying our guidance as they seek to serve God as he has called them. NAMB reaffirmed again this week that we always have and always will only endorse biblically qualified men as pastors, fulfilling those responsibilities unique to that of a pastor.

“We are committed to the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 and are complementarian by conviction. There should be no doubt about our expectations.”

Tom Buck, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lindale, had been vocal in calling for NAMB to abide by the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message statement that limits the office of pastor to men.

Buck tweeted: “I am thankful for @kevinezell taking a stand on this. For the record, whether approved or not, multiple NAMB plants had women preaching and some with the title of pastor. This policy on prohibition of women pastors/preaching in corporate worship of NAMB church plants is new & needed.”

In a later tweet, he added: “I wish NAMB would have said, ‘While we have always held this commitment, we needed to be clear in our policy because some church plants chose to veer from our commitment. And we want the SBC to know we’re doing everything possible to assure this does not happen in the future.”

Baptist Press reported NAMB issued a statement in February saying out of 1,200 endorsed church planters at that time, six churches listed a woman with the title of pastor or in a staff role.

“Those have been addressed,” NAMB stated. “We individually and appropriately address these situations as they come to our attention.”

NASHVILLE (RNS)—Ronnie Floyd, the embattled president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, has resigned, effective at the end of October.

Floyd, a longtime Arkansas megachurch pastor, was elected as head of the Executive Committee in 2018, with high hopes of rallying the nation’s largest Protestant denomination to focus its energy on evangelism and missions.

But his plans were overshadowed by infighting among Southern Baptist leaders as well as controversies over racism and sexual abuse. In his resignation, Floyd said that his reputation was being harmed by serving as the committee’s president.

“In the midst of multiple challenges facing the SBC, I was asked to come here because of my proven personal integrity, reputation, and leadership,” he said in his resignation letter, made public Oct. 14. “What was desired to be leveraged for the advancement of the gospel by those who called me here, I will not jeopardize any longer because of serving in this role.”

Cites decision to waive privilege

His letter cited a recent decision made by the Executive Committee to waive attorney-client privilege in an investigation into the SBC leadership’s handling of sexual abuse claims as a reason for leaving. That decision would remove confidentiality between Executive Committee staff and members and allow an outside firm to review their communications.

During this summer’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn., local church messengers instructed the committee to waive privilege if asked to do so. But Floyd and a number of committee members balked, saying that waiving privilege could open the SBC up to lawsuits and financial harm.

He repeated his opposition to waiving privilege in his resignation letter. That decision, he said, left Southern Baptists in “uncertain, unknown, unprecedented and uncharted waters.”

“Due to my personal integrity and the leadership responsibility entrusted to me, I will not and cannot any longer fulfill the duties placed upon me as the leader of the executive, fiscal, and fiduciary entity of the SBC,” he said.

“In the midst of deep disappointment and discouragement, we have to make this decision by our own choice and do so willingly, because there is no other decision for me to make.”

Floyd repeated his disdain for sexual abuse and said that as a pastor and father and grandfather, he cares “deeply about the protection of all people.” He also defended committee members who opposed waiving privilege and said that many felt they had to resign when they were outvoted.

“One of the most grievous things for me personally has been the attacks on myself and the trustees as if we are people who only care about ‘the system.’ Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said.

Floyd’s resignation came a day after a group of Executive Committee members sent a letter asking the group’s chairman, California pastor Rolland Slade, to call a special meeting to fill a vacancy among the committee’s officers and to discuss “issues of leadership and trust among the committee, officers, and executive staff.”

Dean Inserra, an Executive Committee member and pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, Fla., called Floyd’s resignation sad and unfortunate. Inserra was one of a group of committee members who advocated for waiving privilege and found themselves at odds with Floyd.

The committee deadlocked over the issue for several weeks, during which time a series of Southern Baptist leaders—including the heads of the denomination’s seminaries—called for the committee to follow the will of messengers.

“There could have been a different outcome if he had done the right thing,” Inserra said.

Floyd was the longtime pastor of Cross Church, a congregation of about 9,000 based in Arkansas, and is a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The denomination’s longtime lawyers have cut ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, citing the decision to waive privilege.

A spokesperson for the Executive Committee said Floyd would not give interviews or comment about his resignation.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—The longtime general counsel for the Southern Baptist Convention has decided to cut ties with the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

The decision came after members of the SBC Executive Committee decided to waive attorney-client privilege as part of a sexual-abuse investigation. That decision means records of conversations on legal matters among Executive Committee members and staff no longer would be confidential.

That decision made it impossible for the denomination’s legal counsel to continue its role, wrote attorneys James Guenther and James Jordan of Guenther, Jordan & Price.

“We simply do not know how to advise a client, and otherwise represent a client, with the quality of advice and representation the client must have, and in keeping with the standard of practice our firm tries to uphold, when the client has indicated a willingness to forego this universally accepted principle of confidentiality,” Guenther and Jordan wrote in a letter to Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd.

News of the break between the firm and the Executive Committee first was reported by the Baptist and Reflector, a Tennessee Baptist state newspaper.

Guenther, 87, has been general counsel for the SBC since 1966. Before then, he spent a decade working for what was then known as the Baptist Sunday School Board, now LifeWay Christian Resources.

Guenther told the Baptist and Reflector his firm has represented the SBC in about 50 cases where the denomination was being sued over the actions of a local congregation.

“Because Southern Baptists are not hierarchical, and the convention does not control churches, Guenther and his firm have never lost an ascending liability,” the newspaper reported.

The attorney warned Southern Baptists to stay true to their theology in order to protect themselves legally.

“We have got to always be diligent that we practice what we preach and conventions need to take care to respect what the Baptist Faith and Message says about local church autonomy,” he told the Baptist and Reflector.

Matter of intense debate

The issue of confidentiality and attorney client privilege was a subject of intense debate in recent weeks among Southern Baptist leaders, as was the issue of local church control over national SBC entities such as the Executive Committee.

The debate centered around a decision made by the denomination’s annual meeting to investigate how the Executive Committee has responded to allegations of sexual abuse and how Executive Committee members and staff treated abuse survivors.

The Executive Committee originally ordered an investigation of its own, but local church messengers to the SBC annual meeting took control of that investigation. Those messengers specifically directed the committee to waive privilege if asked to do so by the outside firm doing the investigation.

During meetings this fall, committee members argued waiving privilege could bankrupt the SBC by exposing it to lawsuits. They also argued waiving privilege went against the advice of Guenther and other attorneys brought in to consult on the matter.

Other committee members, including committee Chair Rolland Slade, argued they were obligated to follow the instructions of local churches’ messengers.

After weeks of deadlock, the committee voted on Oct. 10 to waive privilege. At least 10 committee members, most who opposed the waiver, have resigned. In their letter to Floyd, who also raised questions about the issue of waiving privilege, Guenther and Jordan defended attorney-client privilege.

“The attorney-client privilege has been portrayed by some as an evil device by which misconduct is somehow allowed to be secreted so wrongdoers can escape justice and defeat the legal rights of others,” they wrote. “That could not be further from the truth.”

Floyd praised Guenther’s firm for its long service to the SBC.

“With deep regrets, we accept their decision and fully understand their reason behind it and their need to withdraw,” he told Baptist Press. “We are extremely grateful for their 56 years of superior service to the Southern Baptist Convention and the Executive Committee.”

After news of Guenther’s break with the SBC, former Executive Committee President Morris Chapman posted a comment that appeared to be a response on social media.

“Southern Baptists will always have faithful representation before the throne of God,” he wrote.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—Ending weeks of debate, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee voted Oct. 5 to waive attorney-client privilege as part of an investigation of how Southern Baptist leaders have handled issues of sexual abuse in recent decades.

The motion, put forward by Jared Wellman, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, and passed by a 44-31 margin, was a referendum on how to deal with sexual abuse, but also on whether national Southern Baptist leaders have to follow the will of local churches in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

Six committee members resigned before Tuesday’s meeting, and at least one member threatened during the day’s passionate debate to quit if the motion passed. Other opponents pleaded for more delays.

Several who opposed waiving privilege in the past flipped their votes to pass the motion.

“This was not easy,” said Executive Committee Chairman Rolland Slade, a California pastor, who had advocated for waiving privilege. “Frankly, it should not be easy,” he added.

Mandated by messengers

The SBC’s long-simmering dispute over sexual abuse came to a head at June’s national gathering in Nashville, Tenn., when messengers empowered a special task force to hire a third-party firm to study how staff and members of the Executive Committee responded to allegations of abuse over the past two decades.

Executive Committee members had already proposed hiring the third-party firm Guidepost Solutions to run an investigation under its own supervision. But the messengers rejected that idea and took control out of the committee’s hands.

The messengers, as the delegates are known, also instructed the Executive Committee to follow best practices recommended by the third-party investigator, including waiving attorney-client privilege so investigators could have access to records of confidential conversations that staff and committee members had with their lawyers.

But the messengers’ instructions gave rise to weeks of fierce debate among committee members. Some claimed giving investigators access to their legal conversations was necessary to ensure a thorough review, while others argued doing so would bankrupt the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Other opponents of the waiver maintained there was no wrongdoing on the part of committee members.

Standoffs, negotiations and closed-door sessions

Ronnie Floyd, the president of the Executive Committee, warned waiving privilege could conflict with the committee’s fiduciary duty to protect the assets of the denomination, allegedly because the move would open the organization to costly lawsuits.

Floyd and others insisted on setting limits on how much information Guidepost Solutions, the third-party firm designated by the task force, would have access to.

The standoff continued over three marathon meetings, one during a scheduled meeting of the Executive Committee in Nashville, the other two over Zoom. Those meetings, usually open to the public, were interrupted repeatedly by closed-door executive sessions to hear from the committee’s attorneys. There were also a series of negotiations between committee officers and the task force to come to an agreement.

But those negotiations failed, leaving the committee to debate a fourth time on Tuesday.

“We cannot out of fatigue do the wrong thing,” committee member Joe Knott, a North Carolina lawyer, argued before the vote. Knott urged the committee members to put off a vote until they got it right, even if that meant delaying things till the next SBC annual meeting.

When the committee went into executive session again so committee members could hear from their attorneys, Georgia pastor Griffin Gulledge denounced what he called dirty politics and delay tactics.

“I will give you my car if the lawyers of the SBC just got new information,” he said during an audio chat on Twitter that drew hundreds of listeners. “We are not a convention of nitwits who are beholden to the legal opinions of a certain law firm,” he said.

Tiffany Thigpen, abuse survivor, also spoke on Twitter Spaces about how convention leaders have handled the question of abuse in the past.

“We deserve what is coming for us as a people,” she said.

After the vote, before the committee was able to adjourn, opponents of waiving privilege made a last-ditch effort to derail that decision. Idaho pastor Jim Gregory appealed to the chair of the meeting, saying that the committee’s decision was out of order. His appeal was denied by the committee’s parliamentarian.

‘The messengers spoke very loudly’

Baptist pastors and other leaders have warned that refusing to follow the messengers’ will expressed at the annual meeting risked upending the trust that keeps the nation’s largest denomination together. For many, Tuesday’s decision restored that trust.

“The messengers spoke very clearly,” Wellman said on Tuesday in urging his fellow committee members to approve the waiver. “This is what they want.”

Tuesday’s vote earned praise from abuse survivors and the task force.

“We are very pleased that the vote was so strong in favor of the messengers’ plan,” said R. Marshall Blalock, pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston, S.C., and vice chair of the task force that will oversee the investigation.

The six who resigned before Tuesday’s meeting began were L. Melissa Carlisle Golden, a counselor from Alabama; Tennessee pastor Ron Hale; Robyn Hari, a financial adviser from Tennessee and chair of the Executive Committee’s finance committee; Alabama pastor Paul Hicks; Gene McPherson, a retired CPA from Arkansas; and Chuck Williams, a Tennessee pastor.

Hari, Hale, McPherson and Williams had previously voted against the waiver. Golden voted for it at the last meeting, which Hicks did not attend.

Blalock said he and task force members expect the Executive Committee will fully cooperate with the investigation. He said there’s a lot of work to be done.

“We are just at the starting line,” he said.

For his part, Floyd promised to work with Guidepost. “Now that the Executive Committee’s Board of Trustees have made their decision, the leadership and staff of the Executive Committee will provide support to Guidepost on implementing next steps to facilitate their investigation,” he said, but he declined to answer whether he would remain at the Executive Committee.

Slade told committee members he was concerned by how the debate had been conducted and told committee members apologies might be in order. Still, he said, the committee had done the right thing.

“Most importantly, it’s time to know for sure, where we have fallen short on the question of sexual abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention so that we can correct any errors, and move into the future as a convention that is safe for our most vulnerable members.”

El pastor Israel Rodríguez-Segura recibió sorpresa tras sorpresa cuando escuchó la noticia de que 15.000 migrantes, en su mayoría haitianos, acampaban bajo el puente internacional entre Ciudad Acuña, México, y Del Río, Texas. La cantidad de migrantes lo sorprendió, al igual que los informes sobre sus miserables condiciones, y el hecho de que funcionarios del gobierno habían cerrado el puente.

Rodríguez, pastor de la Primera Iglesia Bautista en Piedras Negras, México, a sesenta millas río abajo de Acuña/Del Río, opera el único refugio para migrantes permitido por las autoridades en su ciudad. Se preguntó cómo podría ayudar a los migrantes cuyas dificultades aparecían en las pantallas de televisión de todo el mundo y a las congregaciones de Acuña a ministrarles.

Se puso, pues, en contacto con dos pastores en Acuña, reunió a un grupo de voluntarios y lanzó una iniciativa para alimentar a los migrantes.

“Viajamos con seis voluntarios de nuestra iglesia a Ciudad Acuña para alimentar a los haitianos”, informó Rodríguez. “Llevábamos 2000 platos de comida con nosotros. Los repartimos todos”.

Los voluntarios de la Iglesia Bautista Betel y la Primera Iglesia Bautista de Acuña ayudaron a Rodríguez y a los miembros de su iglesia. “Disfruto cuando nuevas personas se involucran en el ministerio a los migrantes”, dijo. “Había mucha gente que sufría por falta de comida”.

La semana pasada, el Department of Homeland Security (Departamento de Seguridad Nacional) de EE. UU. cerró el puente internacional y redirigió todo el tráfico a los puertos de entrada cercanos para disuadir a los migrantes de cruzar a Del Río. Las estrategias del DHS para lidiar con el aumento de migrantes en Del Río también han afectado al ministerio de Rodríguez en Piedras Negras.

“Estamos albergando a 37 migrantes, y la mitad de ellos son haitianos recién llegados”, señaló. “No sé qué pasará después, porque [los inmigrantes haitianos] están comenzando a llegar a Piedras Negras”.

Las autoridades de Piedras Negras están impidiendo que los autobuses que transportan migrantes desde la frontera sur de México ingresen a Piedras Negras, agregó. “Fuera de la ciudad las autoridades locales están deteniendo los autobuses que transportan a los migrantes hacia adentro de la ciudad”, dijo. “La semana pasada, 10 autobuses llenos de migrantes buscaban ingresar desde Tapachula, Chiapas (la ciudad más al sur de México), y las autoridades les dijeron que no podían ingresar a Piedras Negras”.

Las autoridades de Piedras Negras escoltaron los autobuses de regreso a Acuña, dijo. “Por eso tenemos algunos [haitianos] alojados en Piedras Negras, porque las autoridades no nos permitirán recibir más migrantes”.

Al otro lado de Acuña, en Del Río, la Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition (Coalición Humanitaria Fronteriza de Val Verde), una organización religiosa que ayuda a los que solicitan asilo a viajar a sus patrocinadores estadounidenses, se ha visto abrumada por cientos de familias necesitadas. El presidente de la coalición, Shon Young, describe la situación bajo el puente internacional como un “país del Tercer Mundo”.

“Estamos comenzando a ver que están mandando gente a nuestro centro en el lado estadounidense a un ritmo récord”, agregó Young, pastor de misiones en City Church (Iglesia de la Ciudad) en Del Río. “Por favor, manténgannos en oración”.

Hasta el lunes 20 de septiembre, más de 6.000 migrantes habían sido sacados del campamento de Acuña. Mientras tanto, circularon ampliamente los informes de abuso de migrantes por parte de la patrulla fronteriza montada a caballo.

Continúe orando por la seguridad de estos migrantes y por sabiduría para los funcionarios de inmigración de Estados Unidos y México.

Fellowship Southwest apoya a la Primera Iglesia Bautista en Piedras Negras como parte de su ministerio de ayuda a inmigrantes a lo largo de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México. Si desea contribuir a nuestra red de pastores que sirven a los migrantes en la frontera, haga clic aquí.

Elket Rodríguez es el especialista en misiones y defensa de inmigrantes y refugiados de Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (Cooperativa Compañerismo Bautista) y de Fellowship Southwest.

Primeramente publicado por Fellowship Southweast en https://fellowshipsouthwest.org/blog/2021/9/22/fsw-partner-primera-iglesia-bautista-in-piedras-negras-mobilizes-to-aid-haitian-migrants?rq=piedras%20negra.  

NASHVILLE (RNS)—Pressure continues to build on the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention to allow a third-party firm full access to investigate how it has handled allegations of sexual abuse over the past 20 years.

All six Southern Baptist seminaries expressed their dismay at the Executive Committee’s unwillingness to act.

“From my vantage point, the present situation is inexcusable and unacceptable,” Adam W. Greenway, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, tweeted on Sept. 28, after the Executive Committee declined to waive attorney-client privilege in the probe for the second time in as many weeks.

“This is beyond disappointing and potentially damaging to the trust essential to the SBC,” tweeted Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

Trustees of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan passed a resolution Sept. 29 calling on the Executive Committee to “fully abide” by the wishes of delegates, called messengers, calling for an investigation. The statement said it stood with survivors of sexual abuse “in an unyielding desire to see justice accomplished.”

The following day, a group of 25 South Carolina pastors issued a statement, saying that if the Executive Committee does not comply, they will consider reallocating their donations away from the Executive Committee. It was followed by a group of 32 Texas pastors who implored the committee to waive privilege.

The SBC Hispanic Council also urged the Executive Committee “to comply with the clear and precise directive that was approved, almost unanimously, by the messengers” to the SBC annual meeting.

“This includes that the task force direct the investigation, that the Executive Committee waive attorney-client privilege in order to have a transparent investigation, and that the task force’s report be made public,” the council stated. “We believe that our God will bless the transparency and unity of is people in our family of Baptist churches.”

Members of the Executive Committee have insisted they must shield certain communications from investigators despite the express wishes of Southern Baptists, whose chosen representatives voted in June to allow a transparent investigation of how the Executive Committee has handled sexual abuse.

A motion passed by messengers to the SBC annual meeting in June ordered the creation of a task force to oversee the hiring of an outside investigator and explicitly called on the Executive Committee to waive attorney-client privilege as it relates to communications between the denomination, its lawyers and sex abuse victims.

Struggling to deal with sexual abuse

The denomination has been roiled for more than a decade by its members’ attempts to reckon with sexual abuse, including a push to establish a national database of known abusers. In 2020, the delegates to the annual meeting approved procedures for expelling churches that knowingly hire abusive clergy.

The Executive Committee’s response has long been to argue that the denomination’s bottom-up structure—where local churches choose their own clergy and govern their affairs—means that national Baptist entities are not responsible for the actions of abusive clergy.

In 2019, D. August “Augie Boto,” a former interim president of the Executive Committee and longtime staffer, said in an email that abuse advocates were part of “a satanic scheme to completely distract us from evangelism.”

The issue was brought to a head when an extensive investigation published that year by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News revealed about 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers had faced allegations of sexual misconduct.

Earlier this year, leaked letters and secret recordings revealed the Executive Committee was slow to address sexual abuse, mistreated survivors and was generally more concerned with donations than with finding justice for the victims.

Autonomy an issue

The crisis over waiving attorney-client privilege strikes at the heart of how the denomination, the largest Protestant group in the United States, is run. Southern Baptists have no bishops and are governed by the will of messengers who meet once a year to conduct the denomination’s business. When the convention is not in session, the Executive Committee handles its affairs on behalf of the messengers.

But the Executive Committee, and its president and CEO, Ronnie Floyd, insist the messengers’ motion does not bind them on the issue of attorney-client privilege.

“We are confident that the intent of the messengers to the 2021 annual meeting can be accomplished without risking unnecessary damage to the Southern Baptist Convention,” the Executive Committee said in a statement Thursday.

The members who oppose waiving privilege seem to be acting on the advice of the group’s lawyers, who have counseled the group not to allow investigators access to sensitive communications.

Legal concerns

During a contentious five-hour meeting on Sept. 28, several of the 86 members of the committee argued that they risk costly lawsuits if they were to waive attorney-client privilege. Specifically, some said, the denomination’s insurance carrier might not pay damages if the privilege were waived and a court awarded damages to a sex abuse survivor.

At least four of the Executive Committee’s members are lawyers; all four are opposed to waiving attorney-client privileges.

Others on the committee, including its chairman, El Cajon, Calif., pastor Rolland Slade, are willing to give up attorney-client privilege. So, too, is SBC President Ed Litton, an ex-officio member of the Executive Committee.

The seven-member task force, led by Bruce Frank, a North Carolina pastor, acknowledged that waiving privilege may hold legal risks.

“Both our attorneys and the (Executive Committee) attorneys confirmed that any waiver of privilege at any time does create the risk that in a lawsuit related to a case where privilege is waived, the insurance company could argue that they are discharged from paying the judgment in that case due to waiver,” the statement said.

But the statement added: “It is impossible to follow the will of the Messengers and avoid this risk.”

Many Southern Baptists believe the potential risk of legal liability is worth it if the ultimate goal is to do justice to the victims.

“If we’ve done some things wrong that require restitution, then we need to make restitution,” said Akin, the seminary president. “If we’ve done things wrong and need to apologize, then apologize. We need to do the right thing for the right reasons and live out the faith we profess and trust that the Lord will provide for us and bless us if we do what is right.”

The Executive Committee is expected to meet again Oct. 5.

EDITOR’S NOTE; This article originally was posted on Sept. 30. It was edited Oct. 1 to include additional information.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) – Recursos descargables de este año para la Semana de Oración (del 28 de noviembre al 5 de diciembre) y La Ofrenda de Navidad de Lottie Moon  (LMCO por sus siglas en inglés) ya están disponibles en el sitio web de la IMB.

Además de historias, fotos y videos a todo color, la IMB ofrece gráficos para redes sociales, materiales promocionales, gráficos para presentaciones, carteles, carteles publicitarios y encartes para boletines.

Este año, la IMB también proporcionará un video y una página de actividades para niños para cada día de la Semana de Oración. Estos recursos están diseñados para invitar a los niños a participar activamente en la tarea de orar por los misioneros y aumentar su conciencia sobre la obra de Dios en todo el mundo.

Los recursos están diseñados para unir a individuos e iglesias en oración y para cumplir la meta de los $185 millones de LMCO de este año. El objetivo es un aumento con respecto a la meta de 2020 y está en consonancia con uno de los objetivos de la IMB de 2025 para aumentar las ofrendas a la IMB en un 6 por ciento anual.

“Enviar más misioneros y alcanzar a más personas y lugares requiere dar sacrificialmente”, dijo el presidente de la IMB, Paul Chitwood.

Chitwood dijo que en los últimos años aproximadamente la mitad de las iglesias bautistas del sur dieron a las misiones a través de la ofrenda de Lottie Moon. Espera ver que ese número aumente a medida que más iglesias se sientan conectadas con los misioneros y comprendan la urgente necesidad de llegar a las naciones con el Evangelio.

“Queremos que todos los misioneros se conecten, que todas las iglesias participen y que todos nosotros administremos bien la visión de Apocalipsis 7: 9”, dijo Chitwood.

Los materiales para LMCO y para la Semana de Oración se proporcionan en inglés, coreano, español y chino.

Encuentra todos los recursos en https://www.imb.org/pray/week-of-prayer/.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—After a contentious five-hour meeting on Sept. 28, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee called for a further week of deliberations with a special task force on sexual abuse.

The delay stemmed from failure to agree on the ground rules for a third-party review commissioned to study the denomination’s handling of abuse claims.

The call came as the two sides, meeting via Zoom, hit an impasse, unable to agree on the terms of a contract with the investigative firm Guidepost Solutions.

At issue is whether the Executive Committee can shield certain communications with its lawyers from Guidepost Solutions’ investigators.

Many of the Executive Committee’s 86 members believe they should be able to claim attorney-client privilege, while the majority of the task force wants the committee to waive the right to confidentiality to ensure an honest accounting of the Executive Committee’s actions over the past 20 years.

Earlier in the meeting, much of which was held behind closed doors in executive session, a motion to waive attorney-client privilege was defeated, 39-35.

It was not immediately clear if the task force would agree to the seven-day extension of deliberations. The task force chairman, Bruce Frank, a North Carolina pastor, said he would issue a statement on Sept. 29.

At the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in June, messengers rejected a plan by the Executive Committee to investigate its own handling of sexual abuse and instead put it in the hands of the abuse task force, which was appointed shortly after the meeting.

The task force was charged with hiring an independent third party to investigate the Executive Committee and deliver the results to the 2022 SBC annual meeting.

“We further move that the task force agree to the accepted best-standards and practices as recommended by the commissioned third-party, including but not limited to the Executive Committee staff and members waiving attorney client privilege in order to ensure full access to information and accuracy in the review,” the motion, which passed unanimously, said.

In doing so, the delegates sent a clear message: Tell us the truth about how you’ve handled allegations of sexual abuse and how you have treated survivors of sexual abuse.

Baptist governance requires the Executive Committee to follow the will of its messengers.

Tennessee pastor Grant Gaines, who called for the independent investigation and defied the annual meeting’s chairman to get the motion approved, said that waiving privilege was a crucial part of his motion.

The intent was to give the third-party investigator “access to anything they need to do a thorough investigation,” Gaines told Religion News Service in an email.

The Executive Committee agreed in principle to spend $1.6 million to fund the outside review.

SANTA BÁRBARA D’OESTE, Brasil (BP)—El trabajo bautista en Brasil ha crecido desde un pequeño grupo de personas hace 150 años a 15.000 congregaciones y 3,5 millones de personas en la actualidad.

La semana pasada, los Bautistas del Sur de Brasil se reflexionaron sobre esa historia y celebraron el 150 aniversario de la primera iglesia bautista conocida, plantada en el país.

Una variedad de oradores e invitados participaron en una celebración de tres horas el viernes 10 de septiembre, en conmemoración de la primera iglesia bautista que se cree que se plantó allí en esa fecha, en 1871.

Los misioneros Scott y Joyce Pittman de la Junta de Misiones Internacionales han servido en Brasil durante casi 25 de esos 150 años.

Los Pittman fueron nombrados misioneros en Brasil en 1991 y sirvieron hasta 2007 cuando regresaron a los Estados Unidos, donde Scott trabajó en el personal de la Convención Bautista de Kentucky. Regresaron a Brasil como misioneros en 2013.

La pareja asistió a la celebración representando a la Junta de Misiones Internacionales y los estadounidenses que plantaron la iglesia original en 1871. Presentaron un breve saludo del presidente de la IMB, Paul Chitwood, que fue traducido a la multitud en portugués.

Los Pittman ahora sirven como líderes de 13 misioneros de la IMB en la ciudad de São Paulo, Brasil. Scott Pittman dijo que es asombroso ver el trabajo que Dios ha hecho en el país durante 150 años empezando con un pequeño grupo de personas.

“Es una fuente de inspiración pensar, no solo en lo que hicieron, sino también al considerar que eran solo un puñado de personas, y ahora hay más de 3 millones de bautistas aquí”, dijo.

La Convención Bautista Brasileña fue fundada en 1907 y actualmente hay 33 convenciones bautistas regionales en el país.

Pittman dijo que la historia del trabajo bautista en Brasil comenzó cuando un grupo de colonos estadounidenses llegó a vivir allí unos años después de la Guerra Civil. La primera Iglesia Bautista se plantó unos años más tarde en 1871 y la congregación envió cartas a la Junta de Misiones Extranjeras (ahora la IMB) pidiéndoles que enviaran misioneros al país.

Los primeros misioneros bautistas enviados a Brasil, William y Anne Bagby, llegaron en 1881.

La iglesia donde asisten los Pittman, que recientemente celebró su 87 aniversario,, fue plantada por el hijo de William y Anne.

Pittman dijo que este es uno de los muchos ejemplos de impacto generacional de los bautistas en Brasil. Luego ofreció una palabra de aliento a los misioneros que sienten que no están viendo frutos tangibles en su ministerio.

“A veces pensamos que lo que hacemos no es nada o nada va a salir de ello, pero quién sabe qué es lo que estaremos haciendo dentro de 100 años”, dijo Pittman. “También nos llena de orgullo saber que eres parte de la historia continua de los bautistas aquí en Brasil y que tuvimos parte en esa historia”.

“Es posible que (el fruto del ministerio) no lo vea  en su vida, tal como hubo muchas personas en la Biblia que nunca llegaron a ver lo que Dios les había prometido”.

Pittman enfatizó que estos bautistas eran simplemente cristianos ordinarios que priorizaron su fe al comenzar una iglesia en un lugar nuevo, y los efectos del evangelio todavía se sienten, cientos de años después.

“Ellos (los colonos estadounidenses) no tenían que hacer eso; podrían haberse mantenido a sí mismos. … Entre las otras cosas que trajeron consigo, también trajeron su fe en Dios y se encargaron de pedir a la IMB (Junta de Misiones Extranjeras) que enviara misioneros ”, dijo Pittman.

“No eran misioneros, simplemente continuaron su fe donde estaban”.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—After two days of passionate debate, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee remained divided on whether to waive attorney-client privilege as part of an outside review into how the committee handled sexual abuse claims over the past two decades, but the committee agreed to spend $1.6 million to fund the investigation.

Rolland Slade, chairman of the Executive Committee, said committee members made progress on setting up the investigation. He and other officers of the committee plan to meet with the independent task force that will oversee the investigation to hammer out final details over the next week.

“We are not done yet,” said Slade, pastor of Meridian Baptist Church in El Cajon, Calif., on Sept. 21 at the conclusion of the meetings. “But we all now grasp the urgency. And we have a commitment with the task force to find a way forward.”

Slade made an impassioned plea to committee members not to leave Nashville without making progress on setting up the investigation. He pointed out messengers to the SBC annual meeting instructed the committee to fund the independent investigation and to cooperate with that investigation.

At one point, Slade gave a minisermon, warning committee members of the fallout if they failed to make progress.

“That is not going to be acceptable to the messengers,” he said. “And it should not be acceptable to the SBC messengers.”

Long struggle to respond to sex abuse

The nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the SBC has long struggled to respond to sexual abuse in its churches. A 2019 investigation by the Houston Chronicle reported hundreds of abuse cases in Southern Baptist churches over decades.

In response, SBC leaders held a service of lament and launched a new denominational program to care for abuse survivors. The denomination also set up a system to cut ties with any church that fails to take abuse seriously.

Earlier this year, the SBC Executive Committee ousted a pair of churches that had abusers on staff.

Leaders at the Executive Committee also have been accused of mistreating abuse survivors, of mishandling claims of abuse and of resisting any efforts to set up a national response to abuse. The Executive Committee initially hired Guidepost Solutions, an international consulting firm, to review its response to abuse.

But SBC messengers took over the review process—putting a task force in charge of overseeing the investigation and instructing the Executive Committee to waive attorney-client privilege as part of the process.

Floyd seeks to set limits on cooperation

Ronnie Floyd, president of the Executive Committee, has promised repeatedly to cooperate with the investigation—but has set limits on that cooperation, citing SBC bylaws.

He started the Executive Committee’s two-day meeting in Nashville by condemning abuse, mistreatment of survivors and any mishandling of abuse claims. But he also stressed the limitations for cooperation with the investigation.

“I encourage the members of the SBC Executive Committee to work with the sex abuse task force and the independent review firm in every way possible, but within our fiduciary responsibilities as assigned by the messengers,” he said.

Floyd also made it clear the SBC’s mission took precedence.

“The SBC Executive Committee is committed to doing the right thing, in the right way, in order to elevate the mission of the convention—eliciting, combining and directing our energies for the global propagation of the gospel,” he said.

Task force chair: Do the right thing and waive privilege

North Carolina pastor Bruce Frank, chairman of the abuse task force, urged the committee to waive attorney-client privilege so investigators could have access to all the information they need. During Monday’s meeting, he said messengers had put their trust in committee members to do the right thing.

The question was, he said, would the committee live up to that trust; he warned of dire consequences if the committee failed to do so.

“God judge us if we are protecting the brand, or we are protecting the base and not doing all we can to protect the most vulnerable among us,” he added.

Committee members also heard from Julie Myers Wood, CEO of Guidepost Solutions, which has been hired by the task force to investigate the Executive Committee. The international consulting firm has become a go-to option for sex abuse investigations among prominent evangelical institutions.

Wood, who described herself as a Baylor University graduate who had a long history with the SBC, told committee members waiving privilege is common for institutions like the SBC that are facing public scrutiny.

Wood also told committee members waiving privilege was an essential part of the review. Waiving privilege, she said, would give Guidepost access to all the documents it needs to understand how the Executive Committee responded to abuse.

Waiving privilege also would reassure Southern Baptists that the investigation was trustworthy.

“I will tell you that waiving privilege on this matter is the only way to ensure that the investigation is viewed as fully credible, transparent, and to show that the Southern Baptist Convention has nothing to hide,” she said.

Consulting with attorneys in executive session

In a question-and-answer session, Wood also told Executive Committee members to consult their lawyers before making a decision. The committee members took that advice to heart, moving into executive session to consult with former Bush administration official Harriet Miers and Paul Coggins, a pair of high-profile Texas attorneys hired specifically to deal with the question of privilege.

Discussions about the question of privilege were heated and passionate. Even the decision to go into the closed executive session became controversial, with committee members arguing all deliberations should be made public.

Executive Committee member Dean Inserra, pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, Fla., was outspoken about the need for transparency and the need to waive privilege—because messengers to the SBC annual meeting had specifically directed the committee to do so.

“I want to follow the will of the messengers and to err on the side of full transparency,” he said. “I’m not concerned with politics or with saving face or damage control or PR spin. I want to go in there and do the right thing.”

After the meeting, Inserra said he was disappointed the committee had not waived privilege during its meetings. But he did say some progress was made.

“It’s not a win but a step forward,” he said.

Committee members who opposed waiving privilege cited concerns that doing so would expose the Executive Committee to legal risks. Several pointed out the Southern Baptist Convention was recently sued by an abuse survivor and were reluctant to waive privilege.

A motion by Jared Wellman, lead pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, to waive privilege and allow the investigation to go forward failed.

Attorney defends Floyd, speaks against waiving privilege

Executive Committee member Joe Knott, an attorney from North Carolina, was outspoken in his opposition to waiving privilege. He also defended Floyd, whom he called one of the finest men in America.

“We want to vindicate him without destroying the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said.

Frank said he was encouraged the Executive Committee had agreed to pay for the investigation. He told Religion News Service two items still need to be resolved—the question of privilege and the question of whether the Executive Committee will be able to make any changes to Guidepost’s report before it is released.

The investigation could go forward even if the committee does not waive privilege, he said, even though that would defy the will of local church messengers. But the task force would not agree with any request from the Executive Committee to control or edit the final report.

“That is a nonstarter,” he said.

Litton: Decisions ‘fell short’ of mandate by messengers

Ed Litton, president of the SBC, said the decisions made by the Executive Committee “fell short” of the mandate given by the messengers at the denomination’s annual meeting. But he said he was hopeful more progress will be made in the next week.

During the meetings, several SBC leaders, including Litton and Slade, acknowledged a number of abuse survivors were in attendance, and at one point, committee members gave survivors a standing ovation.

Tiffany Thigpen, a longtime advocate, said that for years survivors had been sidelined and ignored by Southern Baptist leaders.

“Now we are here,” she said. “We are finally in the room.”

Thigpen said she was grateful local church messengers demanded SBC leaders take action to prevent abuse and care for survivors. She said she had been just about ready to give up on the convention when messengers decided to act.

Still, she said, the process has taken a toll on survivors who had often waited decades to be heard.

“We are not doing this for show. This means something to us and it takes a lot from us. This isn’t an easy thing.”

NASHVILLE (BP)—Trustees of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission committed the entity to an assessment of sexual abuse in the convention during their annual meeting Sept. 14-15.

The board approved without opposition a response to a motion referred to it at the SBC’s 2021 June meeting by expressing its support of the request for the ERLC to engage an outside organization “to oversee and audit” such an appraisal.

In a later vote, the trustees passed, again without opposition, a motion to “set aside” $250,000 as an initial commitment for the assessment.

The ERLC is “deeply grieved” by the reported sexual abuse and also grieved by the abuse of the past that went unreported because of the mishandling of those cases, the trustees said in their response to the motion at this year’s SBC meeting requesting an assessment.

The response to the motion said the entity is committed to securing “the best oversight team and funding” needed for “a comprehensive and thorough” evaluation.

The motion offered by Indiana pastor Todd Benkert at the 2021 SBC annual meeting requested a three-year study, with preliminary reports by the ERLC at the next two annual convention meetings and a final report at the 2024 meeting.

The trustees said the ERLC will attempt to coordinate its assessment with a task force called for in a motion approved overwhelmingly by SBC messengers in June. SBC President Ed Litton has named the task force members, who announced Sept. 9 they had selected Guidepost Solutions to conduct a third-party review of the SBC Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse issues. Trustees committed the ERLC board and staff to “fully comply” with the investigation.

In other business, the ERLC trustees:

• Named Brent Leatherwood, the commission’s chief of staff and vice president of external affairs, as acting president. Leatherwood succeeds Daniel Patterson, who served in that role after Russell Moore stepped down June 1 following eight years as the commission’s president. Patterson, whose last day at the ERLC was Sept. 3, will be the new executive pastor at Central Baptist Church in College Station.
• Approved a candidate profile to guide the search for the entity’s next president and initiated the process of receiving applications and recommendations for the office. The trustees endorsed a candidate profile consisting of eight criteria. The profile calls for the candidate to be: (1) spiritually mature; (2) a faithful servant; (3) convictionally Southern Baptist; (4) appropriately educated; (5) an excellent communicator; (6) pastoral in heart; (7) an experienced leader; and (8) a proven unifier. The committee will accept applications and recommendations until Nov. 30.
• Elected Lori Bova of New Mexico as trustee chair, making her the second female to serve in that role. Bova, a member of Taylor Memorial Baptist Church in Hobbs, N.M., served as vice chair the last two years. Eunie Smith of Alabama is the only previous woman to serve as chair.
• Endorsed former ERLC President Russell Moore for the Distinguished Service Award. Moore was cited for “his faithful and consistent witness” as the ERLC’s president from 2013 to 2021. He “helped move the ball forward on what it means to stand for life in all its stages” and promoted religious freedom for all Americans. Moore is now public theologian for Christianity Today and leads the evangelical magazine’s new Public Theology Project.
• Named Southern Baptist pastors Griffin Gulledge and Mark Dever as recipients of the John Leland Religious Liberty Award.

Gulledge, pastor of Madison Baptist Church in Madison, Ga., was recognized for his social-media advocacy for the Uyghur people and his drafting of a resolution approved at this year’s SBC meeting that condemned the Chinese Community Party’s treatment of them as genocide.

Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., was recognized for his “model engagement with local authorities and his stand for religious liberty during the COVID-19 pandemic.” With Dever’s leadership, the church abided by the city’s restrictions on corporate worship by meeting outdoors outside the District of Columbia but filed suit when the government prohibited it from gathering outdoors in D.C. with safety measures while allowing gatherings of thousands for other events. A federal judge ruled in the church’s favor, and the government agreed in July to pay $220,000 in legal fees.

Trustees heard reports from Elizabeth Graham, vice president of operations and life initiatives, and Jason Thacker, chair of research in technology ethics, and approved motions affirming the staff’s work in both areas.

Graham described the ERLC’s pro-life work, including the Road to Roe50, which she described as a “short-term strategy to engage the church” in a collaborative effort with other organizations leading to the 50th anniversary in January 2023 of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. She described aged-based curriculum, a multi-stop tour in the fall of 2022 and a Washington, D.C., event in January 2023 as part of the Roe50 initiative.

“We need to make abortion illegal, but we need to make it unnecessary and unthinkable,” she told the trustees.

Thacker introduced the board to the Digital Public Square, a newly launched project to help the church think wisely about the challenging issues raised by technology. The effort, he said, will consist of such major elements as a “state of digital governance” report, an evangelical statement on content moderation and digital governance, a church resource kit and the publication of two books before 2023.

“The ERLC wants to equip Christians and the wider culture to make sense of an ever-changing digital culture and to gain wisdom to navigate the most challenging aspects of technology and social media—including the nature of religious freedom and free expression in the public square,” Thacker said.

Dealt with motions referred from SBC annual meeting

In responses to motions referred to the ERLC from the SBC’s 2021 meeting, the trustees:

• Affirmed in reply to a motion to study strategies to abolish abortion the commission’s work “toward the goal of ending abortion, both through legislation, litigation and ultimately working towards a culture where abortion is both unthinkable and unnecessary in our society. We deeply lament and oppose every legal effort to further protect or establish abortion in the United States, and we grieve the loss of lives for millions of preborn babies due to abortion.” In affirming the work of pregnancy resource centers and other pro-life efforts, the trustees said, “We should appreciate every step that can be taken—whether accomplished through legislative channels, court decisions, or cultural developments—to save one additional preborn life.”
• Affirmed that offering puberty blockers and “transitioning hormones” to minors is “harmful and unethical” and said the ERLC has resources regarding the issue on its website and will continue to oppose federal efforts to approve sexual orientation and gender identity legislation.
• Postponed responses to motions referred to all SBC entities regarding audits and the use of non-disclosure agreements until more discussion occurs with the other entities.

Trustees approved a 2021-22 operating budget of $3.912 million, about $70,000 less than the previous budget. After 10 months of the current fiscal year, the ERLC had a net income of $243,635 and total available cash of more than $2.328 million. The trustees also approved a motion to affirm Bobby Reed for his 22 years of service as the commission’s chief financial officer.

EL PASO (BP) – Los inmigrantes detenidos en la frontera México-Estados Unidos enfrentan muchas necesidades, la mayor de las cuales es quizá la esperanza. Lifeway Christian Resources recientemente pudo asociarse con una planta de iglesia de la Junta de Misiones Norteamericana (NAMB, por sus siglas en inglés) para enviar 1,000 Biblias en español a los niños desplazados en la frontera.

“Estoy muy agradecido de que Lifeway haya tenido la oportunidad de asociarse con nuestros amigos de NAMB para suministrar Biblias en español a los niños y familias en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México”, dijo Ben Mandrell, presidente y director ejecutivo de Lifeway. “El Evangelio de Jesucristo es el mensaje de esperanza más poderoso que existe en el mundo, y sabemos que Su Palabra nunca vuelve vacía”.

Lifeway fue consciente de la necesidad de Biblias por Félix Cabrera, director principal de Send Network Español de la NAMB, que había estado en contacto con Brandon Hembree, pastor principal de Impact Church en Virginia. Impact Church tiene una iglesia hermana cerca de la frontera en El Paso, Texas, que regularmente ministra a inmigrantes en centros de detención.

“Tan pronto como supimos de la necesidad en la frontera, inmediatamente pensé en mis hermanos y hermanas de Lifeway para que juntos pudiéramos aprovechar esta oportunidad y regalar Biblias a estos niños”, dijo Cabrera. “Este es un trabajo colaborativo del reino que se alinea perfectamente con lo que estamos tratando de lograr en NAMB”.

Hembree señaló la forma en que Dios se mueve como el viento (Juan 3:8) al describir el camino inesperado que lo llevó a plantar una iglesia en el área de D.C. para llegar a las naciones, un paso que, a su vez, enviaría a uno de los miembros de la iglesia a la frontera sur para facilitar el alcance del Evangelio.

“Desde el fondo de mi corazón, gracias, Lifeway, por tu generosidad centrada en el Evangelio. Debido a su misión y amor por Cristo, pudimos proveer la Palabra de Dios a miles de personas desplazadas en nuestro propio vecindario”, dijo. “Nunca olvidaré la primera llamada telefónica que recibí de nuestro miembro que trabajaba en la frontera – la urgencia y la compasión en su voz – transmitiendo que todo lo que los niños seguían pidiendo eran Biblias.”

“Debido a nuestra asociación, los niños han sido consolados, los padres se han sentido amados y familias enteras han recibido la eterna e inmensa esperanza del evangelio de Jesucristo”.

Lifeway Global se encargó de organizar y facilitar la donación que consistió en 1.000 copias de Biblias RSV cubiertas de tela de B&H Publishing.

“Oportunidades como estas son raras y providenciales”, dijo Giancarlo Montemayor, director de publicación global. “Cuando recibí la llamada de NAMB preguntando si podíamos ayudar, mi corazón se llenó de alegría. Estas Biblias donadas no podrían haber terminado en mejores manos. Nuestra oración es que estos niños lleguen a conocer a Jesús a través de Su Palabra”.

César Custodio es director de ventas y marketing en español de Lifeway.  “Dios ha bendecido nuestra línea editorial y gracias a nuestras diferentes asociaciones pudimos donar estas Biblias y satisfacer una necesidad”, dijo Custodio. “Sabemos que serán de gran bendición para aquellos que necesitan paz y guía a través de la Palabra”.