Updated Sept. 24 to include statements from the SBC Executive Committee Office of Media Relations and Ron Hale.
The SBC Executive Committee voted this week against waiving attorney-client privilege in an investigation called for by the messengers to the 2021 Annual Meeting, but not all members agreed. The day after the vote some members who disagreed issued a statement that they were “grieve[d]” by the vote. They contended the EC was not following messenger’s direction and the committee was not being transparent about its own investigation into sexual abuse allegations in its own denomination.
The Committee was advised to waive attorney-client privilege by Guidepost Solutions, an independent firm chosen by the Sex Abuse Task Force, which was appointed by SBC President Ed Litton. Attorneys for the Committee recommended against waiving attorney-client privilege, while some Committee members were lamenting a lack of trust by messengers in the Executive Committee and leadership itself. In June, SBC messengers called for an independent, third-party review of the body’s handling of sexual abuse allegations from January 2000 to June 2021.
After much debate, the Committee voted late in the afternoon Tuesday, Sept. 21 to approve a motion to fully fund the Guidepost Solutions budget of $1.6 million through Cooperative Program funds. It also voted to require the officers of the SBC Executive Committee and the Sex Abuse Task Force to agree on a contract in seven days without waiving complete attorney-client privilege. The agreement will then be submitted to the Executive Committee, Task Force, and Guidepost by September 28. However, the motion stipulated “at this point, attorney-client privilege is not yet being waived but is being fleshed out through negotiation.”
Litton addressed the Committee early in the meeting. “Our convention is struggling right now and it’s a crisis of trust,” he said Monday night. “However you label it, there’s a solution and that solution is with us. Our churches want to see our entities working together in harmony, and they want to see the EC leading the way.”
Bruce Frank, chairman of the Sexual Abuse Task Force and a North Carolina pastor, also addressed the Committee. “A nonprofit that doesn’t have the trust of either the messengers or the mission or the missions field is going to be impacted far more by not dealing transparently with any mess than if they deal honestly with it,” he urged.
Ronnie Floyd, opened the meeting Monday, Sept. 20, telling Committee members, “As president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, 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.”
At the close of the meeting, the issue had not been resolved to the satisfaction of some on the EC members who said messengers had instructed them to abide by all recommendations of the third-party firm. Other members said they had the responsibility to protect the SBC. They also raised the question of personal financial risk.
Ron Hale, a member of the EC, said in a statement he voted against waiving attorney-client privilege. Hale is a former IBSA State Evangelism Director and retired pastor now living in Tennessee.
Hale stated, “When my fellow messengers voted on the motion, we were not in a lawsuit. It is my conviction that signing the contract before the EC would have waived our attorney client privileges forever in this case.”
Expressing concern, he said, “Let me say it this way — once waived, always waived! Our SBC would be opened to endless lawsuits and the possible future bankruptcy of our Cooperative Program and the largest missionary force in the world.”
Members of the Committee who disagreed with the vote issued a statement Wednesday, Sept. 22, which stated “We join with the messengers who desire justice for survivors of sexual abuse, and we feel that this cannot happen so long as the Executive Committee forbids an open and transparent investigation, which must include the waiving of privilege.” Signees included Committee Chair Rolland Slade. Read the entire statement.
The Executive Committee’s Office of Media Relations also released a statement Sept. 22 noting differing perspectives of committee members, but stated, “From our point of view, the Executive Committee has demonstrated yet again its support for an effective and independent review and the Executive Committee still does not —and has not — oppose in principle the fundamental questions at issue, including requests to waive privilege when appropriate and in coordination with the third party commissioned to conduct the inquiry.”
The statement ended with a plea for Southern Baptists to pray over the next week “that the ultimate outcome of this process strengthens and unifies our convention as it relates to this independent review but especially as it relates to our collective concern for survivors of sexual abuse.”
Read complete coverage from multiple viewpoints:
Baptist Press: EC adopts motion to fund contract with Guidepost, delays waiving privilege
Baptist Press: EC responds to task force, authorizes funding at September meeting
Christianity Today: SBC Executive Committee Balks at Directive to Open Up to Abuse Investigation
Religion News: SBC Executive Committee agrees to pay for abuse review, stalls on waiving privilege