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Press Release
The
Executive Committee
of the
Southern Baptist Convention
Statement
of the President and Chief
Executive Officer of the
Executive Committee of the
Southern Baptist Convention
Morris H. Chapman
on Sexual Abuse Prevention
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE REPORT
Southern Baptist Convention
Morris H. Chapman
June 10, 2008
Indianapolis,
IN, June 10, 2008 – As
Southern Baptists, we have
much for which to be thankful. Our
pastors preach the Word of
God with power. Our
churches witness effectively
to the unsaved in cities
and communities throughout
the country. God continues
to call many of our young
people to the mission fields
of the world; a new strategy
for evangelizing the United
States has been launched.
Our seminaries excel in teaching
new theologians and training
new pastors. Our moral and
religious liberty convictions
are well represented in the
public square. Our publications
are some of the finest Bible
study materials in the world.
Our pulpits
are filled with anointed
preachers. Our classrooms
are filled with brilliant
teachers.
Russ
Bush was one
whom God called years
ago and he became an
extraordinary Christian,
theologian, and author;
one of several great
men in our midst who
went home to be with
our Lord this year (Jan.
22, 2008). He was
a professor at two of
our seminaries – Southwestern
and Southeastern. He
was a fellow Mississippian
and a friend to many
of us. The words
he spoke and wrote during
his lifetime will be
long remembered in our
hearts. While reading
the Southwestern News
in recent weeks, I was
reminded of the paper
Dr. Bush presented at
Union University in 2004. The
paper was entitled, “Who
are the Baptists?” After
listing the basic biblical
doctrines of Southern
Baptists, he made this
statement. “Who
are the Baptists? They
are God’s faithful
band of saints who seek
above all to present
Christ to the world.” I
concur.
In church after
Southern Baptist church across
our country, God has called
out many of our young men
to “preach the Gospel,” teachers
to teach and train our young
people, and hundreds of missionaries
to go to the ends of the
earth. We have every
reason to rejoice in what
God has done and is doing
through Southern Baptists.
At the same
time, the United States is
in crisis. In fact,
morality helped make this
nation great; but now our
culture is spiraling downward
at an alarming rate. Why? Because
a nation founded upon the
principles of God’s
Word is abandoning such principles
as purity, honesty, and integrity. Many
people are facing crises
because they are living out
the consequences of defying
God. The crisis is
self-inflicted due to their
disobedience. We have
little time to get God’s
Word to the nation and the
world.
I am praying
for God to raise up a generation
that no longer tolerates
the moral lapses that characterize
much of this generation. Our
society is quick to disregard
God and His Word. There
are many crises, one of which
I want to address today.
The Southern
Baptist Convention is on
record for having stood strongly
against sexual abuse. We
have long condemned those
who would use our churches
as a hunting ground for their
own sick and selfish pleasure. At
the same time, sexual abuse
is a growing crisis in this
nation and we must continue
to do everything within our
power to stop this horrendous
crime. Even though
the number of Southern Baptist
ministers who are sexual
predators may seem to be
relatively small, we must
be on watch and take immediate
action against those who
prey on the most innocent
among us. One sexual
predator in our midst is
one too many!
We may not
be able to prevent every
sexual abuse crime in America. But,
our denomination and local
churches must condemn publicly
this despicable act in which
an individual is robbed of
human dignity and worth.
Jesus served
notice – “Men
love darkness rather than
light because their deeds
are evil” (John 3:19).
- Cities
post security lights
in dark corners and alleyways.
- Homeowners
install lights around
the house to eliminate
shadows.
- Companies
illuminate points of
access to minimize break-ins.
- Security
guards carry powerful
flashlights to cast light
toward unexpected sounds
and to lighten darkened
rooms.
- Patrol
cars are equipped with
powerful flood lights
to light up an area where
trouble has been reported.
We must do
no less forour churches. Sexual
predators invade the halls
and offices of our churches;
many of them build public
reputations as strong Christians
and upstanding citizens. Some
even send their resumes frequently
to other churches looking
for another field of vulnerable
victims. We have a
huge responsibility to our
Lord, our nation, our church
family, and potential victims. Sexual
predators must be stopped! They
must be on notice that Southern
Baptist churches are not
a harvest field for their
devious deeds.
We shall not
turn a blind eye when those
in leadership roles violate
our trust. We shall
be responsive to allegations
about ministerial misconduct;
and especially so when that
misconduct is perpetrated
against one of our children. Those
who would overpower our children
and violate their trust must
come to know that they will not be
coddled; they will not be
protected; they will not find
refuge in our churches.
They must understand
that they never again will
be allowed to minister in
Jesus’ Name as a ruse
for their sick minds and
dark deceptions. They
must understand that they
will be reported to the proper
law enforcement agencies
and charged with their heinous
crimes.
Sexual predators
lie about their lust, calling
it love, and in so doing
distort the very love of
God. They ask for special
grace when they themselves
have violated the grace of
God. They crave darkness,
not light. Therefore,
we must expose them and their
terrible deeds to the light.
Southern Baptists
believe that the local church
in New Testament times was
autonomous and thus our local
churches are autonomous. The
world may never understand
our polity. The Convention
has no hierarchy and no ecclesiastical
authority over our local
churches. Therefore,
the principal reason the
Executive Committee is not
recommending that a database
of sex offenders be developed
for the Convention is our
belief in the autonomy of
each local church; but we
do commend our churches to
the Department of Justice’s
national database which lists
convicted sex offenders.
Additionally,
we have taken a strong stand
against this reprehensible
crime. The Executive
Committee has produced a
list of resources for Sexual
Abuse
Prevention
on the web page, sbc.net,
and a special pull-out section
of the current issue of SBC
Lifein order
to post a security light
for our churches, to shine
the spotlight of God’s
Word, to bring to light the
reality of crimes that are
far too frequent in our churches,
to expose to the light these
horrible crimes against innocent
children by those who have
turned the grace of God into
lasciviousness…their
own lusts (Jude 4).
Our president,
Frank Page, has spoken to
this very issue again and
again during his terms in
office. He has said, “Sexual
abuse in our denomination
occurs at the local level
and protection must be strongest
at the local level. The
Convention’s role is
to encourage, empower, and
educate local churches as
to how to best do their local
work to protect our precious
children.”
But never let
it be said that we are anemic
in our fight against sexual
abuse. To say
so is a false accusation. Southern
Baptists do and shall always
turn on the spotlight when
danger is lurking in the
shadows.
- We shall
protect the weak and
vulnerable.
- We shall
preserve the integrity
of our witness.
- We shall
provide safe havens for
our people.
- We shall
point out the inevitable
consequence of sin.
- We shall
not allow predators to
infiltrate our ministries.
- We shall
not allow uncertainty
to hinder our strong
rapid response.
- We shall
not allow fear of reprisal
to stifle the stories
of those who have been
abused.
We owe our
boys, girls, and women of
our churches, every protection
possible. We owe them
our prayers and loving care
if they are victimized.
In American
prisons, a sexual predator
is considered the worst of
the worst. We must
determine that a sexual predator
shall find no solace and
no cover in our churches. We
must never rid ourselves
of the problem by pawning
a sexual offender off upon
an unsuspecting church where
he will once again violate
our children. It is
a known fact that sexual
predators are opportunistic
and frequently migrate from
one victim field to another.
We must adopt
policies at local church
levels to prevent first occurrences.
We must determine
that when we know someone
is a sexual predator we will
expose him and bring charges
against him for his crimes,
whether he is the pastor,
a member of the staff, or
a member of the church. We
cannot stand by and refuse
to stand up against these
vile criminals and allow
them to practice their evil
deeds.
In Matthew
18:6, Jesus spoke about those
who might “cause a
little one who believes in
Me to stumble.” He
said it would be better to
have a millstone hung around
their necks and be drowned
in the depth of the ocean. Better than what? Better
than what God would do to
the person causing the damage.
God’s
Word commands us not to have
fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather
reprove them (Eph. 5:11,
KJV). The word “reprove” means
to “show, expose, rebuke,
refute, convince, and convict.”
Just last month
a minister on the staff of
the Prestonwood Baptist Church
of Plano, TX, was arrested
in a police sting operation. The
minister allegedly solicited
sex from an officer posing
online as a 13-year-old girl. An
editorial in the Dallas Morning
News headlined the incident
this way, “Prestonwood
Church does the right thing.” The
editorial stated that two
days after the incident,
senior Pastor Jack Graham
addressed the scandal from
his pulpit. Did he
defend the disgraced minister? Did
he speak of all the good
things the perpetrator had
done in his ministry? Did
he call for forgiveness? Did
he say that the pastor was
going off for counseling
and would be back in ministry
soon, a “wounded healer”? Did
he blame pop culture for
the minister’s fall,
or lash out the news media?
No, he did
not.
The editor
wrote, “In his address,
Dr. Graham said the accused
pastor had been asked to
resign and had done so. He
acknowledged pain, but praised
God for purifying the church.
“He exhorted
his congregation to uphold
Christian standards of morality.
No excuses,
no cheap grace. Just
clear, firm, sober action.
“Because
of this, it’s probably
safe to say that the Prestonwood
congregation has a lot more
faith in its clergy today
than it might have otherwise.”
Then the editor
concluded by saying, “In
the end, the real scandal
in cases like this comes
not from the sins and crimes
of sexual offenders. No
church will ever be free
of that. The truly
damaging scandals arise when
church leaders mishandle
these crises by failing to
treat them with the gravity
they deserve. Many
in church authority have
failed their calling and
their congregations under
similar circumstances, through
defensiveness, dissimulation,
and deferring hard decisions. Not
Jack Graham.”
We must join
Dr. Graham in confronting
this horrible crime, exposing
it for what it is, and doing
everything within our power
to protect the children under
the care of the ministries
of our churches. I
hope this offense never happens
in your church. Regardless,
we must be ever vigilant
and watchful lest it happen
within our congregation. Dr.
Graham said that “in
forty years of ministry I
never had one moral problem
with a staff member…until
now!” We never
know, but we must be ready! We
must be decisive. We must
be resolved. We must
stand in the gap against
those who would distort the
grace of God for their own
lustful purposes. Paul’s
challenging word to Titus
is a word we must hear and
heed, “For a bishop
must be blameless, as the
steward of God…Holding
fast the faithful word as
he hath been taught…” (Titus
1:7, 9).
The Llama is
a domesticated hoofed mammal
that is raised in South America
for its soft, fleecy wool. But,
in the western United States,
the cowboys use the long-necked
Llamas to guard the sheep. While
the sheep graze, a Llama
can be seen standing as a
stately sentry protecting
the sheep from wolves and
coyotes. As long
as the Llama is on watch,
the sheep are safe from these
predators. With God
as our helper, we shall stand
as a sentry in the midst
of God’s children.
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END --
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media inquiries or to
request an interview
contact the SBC Executive
Committee Office for Convention
Relations at (615) 782-8610.
Visit our Web site at www.sbc.net.
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