SBC Presidential candidate Tom Ascol spoke at An Evening with the Conservative Baptist Network last night. Although not the key speaker, in a panel discussion, he showcased his common tagline, “We have a Book!” This is the overarching philosophy of ministry that filled the Marriot ballroom last night. It echoes his recent social media post in response to the SATF report findings and recommendations. There, he posed, “looking for Scripture references. Did I simply overlook them?” It is a fundamental question and seemed fair considering our quest for the favor of God in the pursuit of genuine justice. To my surprise, this was followed by a “Twitter-storm” of vicious remarks and pithy comebacks. “There is no verse reference in your post.” “Do you need a verse to tell you abuse is wrong? I’ll give you some.” Adolescent responses like these abounded as I witnessed the slow, painful death of reason and maybe the unveiling of the sad state of the SBC. For some, the “Book” is not a primary issue. The ballroom was not an effort of division but an effort to unite those who feel the sufficiency of Scripture is being eroded. We simply want God’s Word to be the driving force of our solutions.
Rather than reflecting Ascol’s “Book”, the SATF recommendations to the churches of our Convention carried the same sterile, secular demeanor of Guidepost Solutions—and herein lies the problem. What is the danger of relying on secular advisors to help us solve spiritual problems? When looking closely at our advisors, it is becoming painfully clear that there is some great risk involved. Whoever leads our Convention through our current storm of division and mistrust must maintain the discipline of looking at issues through the lens of the “Book.”
It wasn’t long after Ascols’ question was raised that the advisor, Guidepost Solutions, “came out of the closet”—shaking our trust and revealing the danger. Their post celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride Month was stunning and has rightly raised concern with masses of church members across the Convention. The criticism is not intended to negate the evidence of sexual abuse in the Convention or undermine the reality of a problem in dealing with it, but people are expressing genuine discomfort with secular, pragmatic approaches that affect our churches. The average church member is hoping that messengers at the Annual Meeting in Anaheim, the executive committee, or a newly-appointed implementation task force will all exercise surgical scrutiny of both the information provided by Guidepost Solutions and the recommendations they have raised. We are hoping it is now clear that we don’t need their “solutions” to bring healing to these issues.
The reason for resolve here is simple: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly." (Psalm 1:1) We are not talking about buying bread at Walmart or a phone from Apple. We are not talking about electrical wiring in the church building being advised by an electrician, or a contractor telling us what kind of building material to use for the new fellowship hall. In this case, we are talking about secular companies advising churches on how to deal with the fellowship of churches and the associated remedies to keep the flocks of our fellowship of churches free of wolves. Our secular advisors are not the magistrate who is responsible for what is criminal, and they are not the church advising us on what is sacred. They are being called upon because apparently someone thought there is no one among us capable of getting to the truth in the matters, and setting up a plan to solve the problem, but the Scripture tells us we are capable. The weight of the “expert” recommendations may have discouraged putting the “Book” into words even though it is sufficient to provide the best remedies. Guidepost Solutions does not share our Christian worldview and without critical caution and comparison to the standards of God’s Word, there is much at risk.
To be sure, after seeing who Guidepost Solutions really is, I would not ever expect a biblical reference in a report from them. This is a secular company with an office in Manhattan—driven by market needs and profit margins. It doesn’t matter that they acted
“with integrity, they respected our faith and values, [or that] they even ate a significant amount of the cost because they wanted to help us discover the truth and assist us to be more Christlike in how we respond to sexual abuse."1
This is almost humorous. How can the lost advise us to be more Christlike? Although I appreciate Baptist Press’s defense of the secular company’s concern in helping God’s people be “Christlike,” the fact is, it is the “Book” that tells us how to do that. Besides that, we could get fair treatment in many public court systems. The issue for the Apostle Paul was clear: “Do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?”(1 Corinthians 6) Fundamentally, it undermines our witness and is undeniably unwise.
A Deeper Look at Guidepost Solutions
Montieth M. Illingworth told Baptist Press:
“Guidepost Solutions is a secular organization…Our integrity is not in any manner compromised by the recognition of LGBTQ+ month…. We believe our anti-discrimination position only strengthens our ability to conduct independent, fair, and bias-free investigations like our SBC investigation.”
To them, their view of abandoning historic Christian moral ideals is seen as a strengthening feature for their discernment. I’m afraid “me and my house” don’t buy that even if others in the Convention do. It’s not how our Book looks at it.
If that is not enough to uncover the disparity between our values systems, Montieth Illingworth & Co., the PR company hired to respond to inquiries on behalf of Guidepost, seems to confirm that they found a like-minded ally. After all, they “don’t work with businesses or individuals whose actions or beliefs [they] believe undermine gender, LGBTQ+, ethnic, racial or social equality."2 As a partner of Guidepost MI&Co says, “We take seriously our responsibility to bring a greater diversity of voices to the narratives of our society.” Yes, in other words, their values can’t help but affect the narratives they engage. If nothing else, this should cause us to look with caution and great scrutiny over the recommendations and evidence provided through these avenues. Why would those who steward the Word of God need this organization to move forward? We have a “Book”.
Even from a secular perspective, Guidepost Solutions seems to have its detractors. The Summit Church, led by J.D. Greear in North Carolina, effectively utilized this group to deflect accusations of mishandling sex abuse and thus dodged their inclusion in the recent abuse report. Their public relations storm concerned Pastor Bryan Loritts, whose brother-in-law (Rick Trotter) was convicted of criminal voyeurism. Some were saying Lorrits “likely destroyed, or allowed the destruction, of evidence; discouraged victims from reporting Trotter to police; and threatened whistleblowers and victims with church discipline if they spoke.” According to some, by “losing” the phone with primary evidence, and “changing his story,” the accusations seem to carry some credibility.3 Yet, Guidepost Solutions determined there was no wrong-doing. As Julia Roy, who is no fan girl of conservatives in the SBC points out, “[Guidepost Solutions] is being upheld as the gold standard in SBC. Yet all one has to do is look at how they handled the [Summit] investigation to know something is wrong. They seem to specialize in exonerating the guilty."4 Yes, Guidepost Solutions has been involved with all kinds of cases like Harvey Weinstein, and Alex Rodriguez or closer to home with Ravi Zacharias,5 but it seems their experience may not always increase confidence that the truth will emerge or that victims will actually be cared for. Their practices may be “full of integrity,” but by what standard? Their competing worldview complicates the sense of caution we must take in weighing their recommendations.
This leads us to another issue that should cause us to think deeply about the information they provide. Not only is Guidepost’s worldview out of sync with Southern Baptists, but Guidepost’s report is also questionably incomplete. The last appendix in the actual Guidepost report is an appendix “H.” Since we have involved them at this point, we should add an Appendix “I.” This could be considered a supplemental addition of information missing in the initial report or information that should have also been addressed in the public and transparent effort to find the truth. For example:
As mentioned, JD Greear and the hiring of Bryan Lorrits, who allegedly was involved in sexual crimes, cover-up. https://julieroys.com/eyewitnesses-accuse-j-d-greear-summit-church-of-conducting-sham-investigation-of-bryan-loritts/
Willy Rice appears to cover for a sexual abuser in his church. https://baptistnews.com/article/willy-rice-no-longer-a-candidate-for-sbc-presidency/#.Yo4WjS-B1QI
Al Mohler, Danny Aiken, and Mark Dever supposedly supported an apparent sexual abuser after accusations were made. https://baptistnews.com/article/critic-says-sbc-leaders-enabling-sin/#.UlWXA7so7IU http://thewartburgwatch.com/2019/02/15/mea-culpa-analysis-of-albert-mohler-and-danny-akins-apologies-for-supporting-cj-mahaney-over-sgm-victims/
Al Mohler is accused of silencing the discussion of victims (Janet Mefford) https://janetmefferd.com/2019/02/al-mohlers-incomplete-apology-my-story/
Kevin Ezell and Mike Ebert were accused of silencing Joni Hannigan in the reporting of sexual abuse. https://truthisincrisis.wordpress.com/2022/05/26/un-friendly-fire-in-the-sbc-unearths-layers-of-deceit-resurfaces-old-wounds/?fbclid=IwAR2m_2N_91c7mGomxP-yUopkvyOcX0zjnf7DvRo5WAXZxuyGGtYcqVcqKQw https://www.facebook.com/will.mcraney/videos/1081767066088537/ https://reformnambnow.org/2021/06/10/silence/
Matt Chandler’s church appears to conceal abuse by a staff member. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/10/us/southern-baptist-convention-sex-abuse.html
Aiken, Swallow Prior apparently misused abuse information concerning Jennifer Buck. This is followed by the self, internal invesitgation of SEBTS, who exhonorated itself and its faculty from any wrongdoing. It was not subject to independant investigation, nor did it involve waiving of attorney client privledges. https://capstonereport.com/2022/04/19/southeastern-seminary-at-center-of-plot-to-damage-tom-buck/37995/; https://www.sebts.edu/news-and-events/headlines/2022/06/spr22_tbs.aspx; https://janetmefferd.com/2022/06/clarifying-matters-a-statement-from-tom-and-jennifer-buck/
Grant Gaines and the claims of manipulating victims. https://capstonereport.com/2021/08/22/abuse-victim-claims-southern-baptists-exploited-her-in-pr-stunt/36927/
Pastors involved in Johnny Hunt allegations in the SATF Report: The witnesses who heard about the information at the time of the incident believed someone had been sexually assaulted and reported it to no authorities. Why are their names not included, and why are they not investigated?
Russell Moore: Emails from Moore accused the SBC Executive Committee of “covering up sex abuse.” Now that the report is out, it would be interesting to know to what he was referring. The report doesn’t seem to show too much that was not already widely known around the Convention. It would be of value to the Convention to follow up to ensure that all that Moore referred to is included in the report or that he is rebuked for sensationalizing his limited personal knowledge.
SWBTS was confronted concerning an alleged gay student soliciting other men for sex. https://protestia.com/2022/04/11/sodomy-baptist-theological-seminary-swbts-graduating-known-homosexuals-according-to-former-student/ Is that accurate? It may be a misdemeanor crime in Texas that involves jail time and a fine. Was this referred to law enforcement? Was it reported to trustees?
For a discounted price tag in the millions, it seems like these things should have been looked into as well. Are they accurate? Are there other issues that had been raised where some should be cleared of guilt? Is there information in the report that our Christian worldview might have made us look at differently? With the above list being public knowledge, their absence from the report could make the findings seem politically motivated. If the information in the report is not gleaned through a Christian lens, will it lead us to solutions that uphold our Book? We don’t want to negate the findings of actual sexual abuse by poor handling or by the incomplete or neglegent reporting of the information. On the other hand, if the missing information has been looked into, in the spirit of transparency—which was demanded by the messengers, we should have complete access to their findings and rationale for not including those things. It would bring great clarity to the convention, and might better serve the justice we are all after.
The biblical basis for processing our ecclesiological problems is critical, and Ascol’s question must not be lost in our quest for some sense of temporal justice. Without that basis, an unbelieving organization's moral and ethical handicap only threatens to undermine any hope for lasting reform or justice that pleases God. Without it, we merely become an angry mob driven by the undercurrents of worldly philosophies, and our solutions become just as void of God’s Word as the problems themselves. My church doesn’t want that for victims, those wrongly accused, our autonomous church that has worked hard to prevent abuse in our own setting, or for the denomination as a whole.
All the recent revelations of Guidepost Solution’s findings are not negated by their unmasked love for and pursuit of the LGBTQ+ agenda. However, it must make us look carefully at their information and their recommendations, and solidify their discontinued use. God demands our response be biblical, careful, and within the parameters of our sacred Book. We must get this right. Our hope would be that when examined one hundred years from now, we will clearly be identified— not as a reactionary mob and not as the elect coached by the world to success, but as the gathered people of God who sought His face and heard His voice. We want it said of us that we took what Satan meant for evil and used it for the good of all and for the Glory of God and our blessed Gospel. We want it said that we took God’s Word with the inherent gravity it has and shined the light of Christ into the problems we faced and saw the healing power of the Blood applied. Ascol’s question was fair and must continue to be asked as we jettison the worldly solutions to our great problems.