The Executive Committee (EC) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is facing more pushback for its continued partnership with Guidepost Solutions, which investigated the handling of sex abuse claims and established an abuse-reporting hotline. Most recently, denominational leaders retained Guidepost Solutions to build a Ministry Check website, a database of SBC leaders credibly accused of sexual abuse.
On March 31, the governing body of the Florida State Baptist Convention unanimously approved a resolution calling for the denomination’s national leaders to cut ties with Guidepost.
A key concern is Guidepost’s June 2022 tweet in support of the LGBTQ community for Pride month. “The Florida Baptist Convention has been inundated by concerned pastors and churches regarding such a decision to retain a firm that has clearly demonstrated a deviation from the biblical sexual ethic that Southern Baptists have held to for generations,” the resolution from the State Board of Missions states.
Unless the denomination’s Executive Committee ends its association with Guidepost Solutions, Florida Baptists plan to put into escrow a percentage of the Cooperative Program receipts that would go to support the EC. According to attorney Jonathan Whitehead, that amounts to 1.5% of the Florida Baptist State Convention’s giving to the Cooperative Program—and 2.99% of the national Cooperative Program. The funds would stay in escrow until state leaders meet in November to modify the 2023-2024 fiscal-year budget.
Florida Baptists Commit to Fighting Sexual Abuse
In its resolution, the Florida Baptist State Board of Missions affirms “policies and procedures governing abuse prevention, abuse reporting and survivor care” and notes that its churches already have “extensive policies and procedures” in place. Instead of retaining Guidepost Solutions and its subsidiary Faith Based Solutions, the SBC should find an organization with “a solidly biblical worldview,” the resolution maintains.
As ChurchLeaders has reported, the SBC’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) voted in February to have Guidepost Solutions build a “ministry check” website and database of SBC leaders credibly accused of sexual abuse. The project’s estimated cost of $1.5 million to $2 million is allocated from the SBC entity Send Relief.
The March 31 resolution from Florida Baptists expresses “sincerest gratitude” to members of the ARITF and the SBC’s Executive Committee. It also calls for “fervent prayer” for those leaders and an end to “all personal attacks” against them. Florida Baptists, the resolution notes, have conducted their own “independent professional review” of abuse-related policies, and a task force found “no overwhelming flaws.”
If the denomination continues to engage with Guidepost Solutions, that would be “detrimental to our unity,” according to the Florida resolution. It adds: “Florida Baptist churches have been leaders in Cooperative Program support, contributing 51% of all undesignated receipts given to the Cooperative Program to the CP budget of the Southern Baptist Convention totaling $108,154,986 since 2016.”
SBC’s ‘Liberal Drift’ in the Crosshairs
Some SBC leaders who object to abuse reforms and how they’re being handled belong to the Conservative Baptist Network. The group, formed in February 2020, aims to combat “liberal drift” throughout the denomination.
