Johnny Hunt resigned a week before the Guidepost Solutions report was made public on May 22. Hunt turned in his resignation to North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell on May 13, the day the SBC Executive Committee received the report. Hunt denies the allegations that he forcibly groped and kissed the wife of a pastor he had mentored almost a decade before joining NAMB to head evangelism efforts.
“To put it bluntly: I vigorously deny the circumstances and characterizations set forth in the Guidepost report. I have never abused anybody,” Hunt said. The incident, as detailed in the report, said Hunt forced himself on the woman at a condo in Panama City, Florida, in 2010, then spent years trying to cover the incident. The report found credible the woman’s story that Hunt arranged for the condo for her, next to the one occupied by Hunt and his wife, to attend a conference featuring Florida football coach Bobby Bowden. The woman’s husband had known Hunt for 25 years and considered him a mentor.
The report said Hunt later arranged counseling for the couple, and both Hunt and the counselor urged the couple to keep the encounter secret so that Hunt’s ministry would not be disrupted. The counselor, Roy Blankenship, was on staff at Hunt’s church, First Baptist of Woodstock, Georgia. He confirmed to investigators that Hunt admitted the contact, which Hunt has denied since the release of the report.
The couple told Guidepost investigators they have undergone counseling and experienced emotional and spiritual trauma, as well as financial struggles, as a result of the alleged incident.
Hunt is pastor emeritus of FBC Woodstock, Georgia, and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2008 to 2010. The incident is alleged to have occurred a month after Hunt concluded his SBC presidency. He went to work for NAMB in 2019.
“Prior to May 13, I was not aware of any alleged misconduct on the part of Johnny Hunt,” Ezell said in a statement. “I learned the details of the report today (May 22) along with the rest of our Southern Baptist family.”
“The work of the task force is important for our convention and for the healing of survivors. The details in the report, which we are just now beginning to process, are egregious and deeply disturbing,” Ezell stated. “We honor the courage of the survivors who came forward. We are praying for survivors and their families, for our churches, for wisdom, for discernment and for the humility to use this report for God’s glory.”
Hunt denies all the claims. “I want to be clear: my heart breaks for all victims of abuse. I support the rights of abuse victims to be heard and respected and made whole. I also support transparency and accountability for abusers. But transparency and accountability must be founded on truth and accuracy,” Hunt stated.
“I have never abused anybody,” Hunt said. “Southern Baptists navigating this challenging season must remember, ‘It is the truth that will set us free.’”
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