(Updated 3/13 2:45 p.m.) Nashville | The federal probe of the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sexual abuse claims has been closed, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) told SBC attorneys March 12. In a separate case, a former employee of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was found guilty of falsifying notes submitted to the DOJ about the school’s investigation of an abuse claim. He was given a light sentence.
No other charges were filed as result of the DOJ investigation.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York informed us that the investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention and Executive Committee has officially concluded,” SBC attorneys Gene Besen and Scarlett Nokes said in a statement to Baptist Press.
“We are pleased that the matter has been resolved without any charges or further expense against the Executive Committee or other SBC entities. It has been an honor to represent and support the Convention and the EC throughout this process.”
SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Jeff Iorg said, “We’re grateful that we can close this chapter in our legal proceedings and move forward.”
“[The] announcement from the Department of Justice marks the end of a long and painful chapter in Southern Baptist life,” SBC President Clint Pressley stated on X (formerly Twitter). “Our hearts are with all survivors of sexual abuse wherever such injustice occurs.
“As a people committed to the gospel, we have worked diligently to make our churches safer, and we will continue striving for a culture of accountability,” Pressley wrote. “This moment also calls us to lead with wisdom and humility avoiding false narratives or anything else that keeps us from reaching the world for Christ.”
The DOJ launched its investigation in August 2022, a few months after the release of the Guidepost Report, which was based on an investigation by the outside group Guidepost Solutions into the EC’s handling of sexual abuse claims.
Executive Committee members learned at their meeting last month that the EC had spent $2,060,534 on legal costs related to the DOJ investigation as of December 2024. The EC proposed a 2025-26 budget that will include $3 million for legal fees to cover those costs, and others that may arise.
One down, one to go
The defamation lawsuit against the SBC by former NAMB Vice President Johnny Hunt will go court at the same time as the SBC Annual Meeting, unless Hunt withdraws the case. Hunt claims his reputation was damaged and his ability to earn wages from speaking engagement diminished because of the Guidepost Solutions report on abuse claims in the Convention that detailed an alleged encounter and subsequent cover-up by Hunt. The wife of a fellow pastor said Hunt groped her at beachfront condo in Florida a week after he concluded his term as SBC President in 2010.
After a brief time away from the pulpit, Hunt, now 72, has resumed public preaching engagements.
The only charge brought by the DOJ in its two-and-a-half-year inquiry was against former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor and interim provost Matt Queen, who pleaded guilty to making a false statement to investigators. Queen was sentenced March 5 to a one-year supervised release and a $2,000 fine.
Southwestern released a statement March 12 confirming the DOJ’s closure of the investigation
“For more than two years, Southwestern fully cooperated with the DOJ throughout the investigation and is pleased that there were no findings of wrongdoing against the institution or current employees,” the statement said. “We remain committed to ensuring the safety of all members of the seminary community.”
In a similar vein, Iorg released a six-point report on recent EC actions to combat sexual abuse in SBC churches. That includes hiring an expert in the field to lead further SBC response, and administration of a hotline, website, and training for church leaders.
The EC will host a training event called “Safeguarding the Next Generation” at the annual meeting in Dallas. And the “Essentials” curriculum will be updated and made available to churches free of charge.
Web tracking less a priority now
The website planned to track credible accusations, and their perpetrators was not fully operable when the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) handed off its work to the EC after two years.
“I would say, it [the Ministry Check database is] not so much on the back burner as it is we want to teach churches how to access databases that already exist [and] how to do thorough background checks of people that they’re considering employing or using in volunteer positions with minors,” Iorg told The Baptist Paper as part of a series of online interviews with state newspaper editors March 11.
Iorg explained the concerns about an SBC-generated database were related to “its legality and our capacity to insure it and to insure our convention in light of doing it. And those are hurdles we haven’t found a way over yet.”
Additionally, SBC leaders will “continue to consider are there other ways that we can make information available to them that would help them to make the kinds of evaluations they need to make,” Iorg said. “So, it’s not that we’re ignoring the issue. It’s that we’re trying to think how do we solve this issue the best way, and that’s what we’re working on now.”
—Baptist Press, with additional reporting by The Baptist Paper and IB staff