For the last two years, observers have watched the Southern Baptist Convention deal with a crisis of abusive pastors. After a 2019 Houston Chronicle report, it seemed like the leadership of the denomination was becoming intent on protecting the vulnerable…
Kieve senses a calling to new role helping churches prevent and respond to sexual abuse
One of the worst mistakes a church can make in cases of clergy sexual abuse or other sexual abuse is to be unprepared for the situation, said Jay Kieve, the recently appointed abuse prevention and response advocate for the Cooperative…
What the SBC should learn from the Ravi Zacharias tragedy
According to an investigative report released earlier this month, deceased celebrity evangelist Ravi Zacharias abused multiple women with “sexting, unwanted touching, spiritual abuse and rape.” The evidence is overwhelming. The details are stark and nauseating. Many have described the report…
LGBTQ inclusion and clergy sexual abuse treated equally in SBC expulsions
Four churches were expelled from the Southern Baptist Convention Feb. 23 in a joint action that gave the appearance of equating LGBTQ inclusion with predatory sexual behavior. Among the four churches expelled, two were removed due to welcoming LGBTQ Christians…
Two years after the Chronicle’s expose, has anything changed to prevent clergy sexual abuse in Baptist churches?
Editor’s note: While the issue addressed in this column speaks primarily about the Southern Baptist Convention, the ordination processes referenced are typical of many Baptist bodies in America, which operate with complete autonomy on clergy ordinations. Two years ago, the…
A prescription for healing the American church
I’ve been to my share of doctors. Many of those visits happened when I was so young that they have no conscience in my adult brain. My earliest memories were of Dr. Matchett, an orthopedic surgeon who was assigned the…
Carl Lentz and the pitfalls of male power
As news of another megachurch pastor’s indiscretions makes headlines, not only in The New York Times, but in outlets such as Vanity Fair, People and even Page Six, it’s a reminder that when leaders abuse their power, they do so…
New podcast illuminates crisis in the Catholic Church
Revelations in the summer of 2018 that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a high-ranking and well-known cleric in the U.S. Catholic Church, had abused minors and seminarians throughout his career ignited a firestorm of turmoil. A grand jury report that same summer…
SBC’s new reporting process again fails clergy sex abuse survivors. What’s needed is an independent review panel
The SBC Credentials Committee has recklessly ignored the long history of churches inflicting dreadful, additional harm on those who report abusive clergy. Its new reporting process is not even a safe process, much less an effective one.