“We want to vindicate him without destroying the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said.
Frank said he was encouraged the Executive Committee had agreed to pay for the investigation. He told Religion News Service two items still need to be resolved — the question of privilege and the question of whether the Executive Committee will be able to make any changes to Guidepost’s report before it is released.
The investigation could go forward even if the committee does not waive privilege, he said, even though that would defy the will of local church messengers. But the task force would not agree with any request from the Executive Committee to control or edit the final report.
“That is a nonstarter,” he said.
Ed Litton, president of the SBC, said the decisions made by the Executive Committee “fell short” of the mandate given by the messengers at the denomination’s annual meeting. But he said he was hopeful more progress will be made in the next week.
During the meetings, several SBC leaders, including Litton and Slade, acknowledged a number of abuse survivors were in attendance, and at one point, committee members gave survivors a standing ovation.
Tiffany Thigpen, a longtime advocate, said that for years survivors had been sidelined and ignored by Southern Baptist leaders.
“Now we are here,” she said. “We are finally in the room.”
Thigpen said she was grateful local church messengers demanded SBC leaders take action to prevent abuse and care for survivors. She said she had been just about ready to give up on the convention when messengers decided to act.
Still, she said, the process has taken a toll on survivors who had often waited decades to be heard.
“We are not doing this for show. This means something to us and it takes a lot from us. This isn’t an easy thing.”
This article originally appeared at Religion News Service.