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SBC Executive Committee Agrees To Pay for Abuse Review, Stalls on Waiving Privilege

North Carolina pastor Bruce Frank, chairman of the abuse task force, urged the committee to waive attorney-client privilege so investigators could have access to all the information they need. During Monday’s meeting, he said that messengers had put their trust in committee members to do the right thing.

The question was, he said, would the committee live up to that trust; he warned of dire consequences if the committee failed to do so.

“God judge us if we are protecting the brand, or we are protecting the base and not doing all we can to protect the most vulnerable among us,” he added.

Committee members also heard from Julie Myers Wood, CEO of Guidepost Solutions, which has been hired by the task force to investigate the Executive Committee. The international consulting firm has become a go-to option for sex abuse investigations among prominent evangelical institutions.

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Wood, who described herself as a Baylor University graduate who had a long history with the SBC, told committee members waiving privilege is common for institutions like the SBC that are facing public scrutiny.

Wood also told committee members waiving privilege was an essential part of the review. Waiving privilege, she said, would give Guidepost access to all the documents it needs to understand how the Executive Committee responded to abuse.

Waiving privilege also would reassure Southern Baptists that the investigation was trustworthy.

“I will tell you that waiving privilege on this matter is the only way to ensure that the investigation is viewed as fully credible, transparent, and to show that the Southern Baptist Convention has nothing to hide,” she said.

In a question-and-answer session, Wood also told Executive Committee members to consult their lawyers before making a decision. The committee members took that advice to heart, moving into executive session to consult with former Bush administration official Harriet Miers and Paul Coggins, a pair of high-profile Texas attorneys hired specifically to deal with the question of privilege.

Discussions about the question of privilege were heated and passionate. Even the decision to go into the closed executive session became controversial, with committee members arguing all deliberations should be made public.

Executive Committee member Dean Inserra, pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, Florida, was outspoken about the need for transparency and the need to waive privilege — because messengers at the SBC annual meeting had specifically directed the committee to do so.

“I want to follow the will of the messengers and to err on the side of full transparency,” he said. “I’m not concerned with politics or with saving face or damage control or PR spin. I want to go in there and do the right thing.”

After the meeting, Inserra said he was disappointed the committee had not waived privilege during its meetings. But he did say some progress was made.

“It’s not a win but a step forward,” he said.

Committee members who opposed waiving privilege cited concerns that doing so would expose the Executive Committee to legal risks. Several pointed out the Southern Baptist Convention was recently sued by an abuse survivor and were reluctant to waive privilege.

A motion by Texas pastor Jared Wellman to waive privilege and allow the investigation to go forward failed.

Executive Committee member Joe Knott, an attorney from North Carolina, was outspoken in his opposition to waiving privilege. He also defended Floyd, whom he called one of the finest men in America.