“By waiving our ACP, potential risks now exist that could have been avoided,” Floyd said. “There was a way it could have been done that fulfilled these desires without creating these potential risks relating to the Convention’s liability.”
Related article: ‘We Did It!’—Abuse Survivors Win Victory in SBC Executive Committee Investigation
Floyd also shared that the decision to waive ACP has forced some of the SBC’s laypeople who serve the trustees to submit their resignations, because their profession won’t allow them to serve due to the potential risks.
The 65-year-old Floyd stressed in his letter that sexual abuse “abhors” him, saying, “As a husband, father, and grandfather of seven, I deeply care about the protection of all people.”
EC Member Adam Wyatt Speaks to The Tennessean
Adam Wyatt, EC Member and pastor of Corinth Baptist Church in Magee, Mississippi, sent an email to The Tennessean on Thursday stating, “It is also important to remember that each one of us serves at the will of the convention. But it is also important to remember that the staff works for the trustees. And, right now, there is a bit of a cloud over all of us and it is going to take an awful lot to remove it.”
Wyatt was one of 25 EC members that met on Wednesday to express their frustrations regarding the guidance they’ve received from Floyd and the EC’s vice president Greg Addison. The 25 EC members sent a letter to the committee’s chairman Rolland Slade addressing their frustrations.
“As a new trustee, I am not sure that I can completely trust everything that is going on within the executive leadership of the EC,” Wyatt said. “A lot of what I have seen, at least on the major issue of our response to the sexual abuse allegations and investigation, have not seemed to be very proactive.”
The Tennessean reports that the letter Slade received didn’t specifically call for the termination of Floyd or Addison, though it did voice serious concern.
Mike Keahbone, senior pastor of Oklahoma City’s First Baptist Church Lawton, told the Tennessean Thursday via a telephone call, “I think it’s just good for us to be able to get together and ask, ‘Why are these things out there? What’s causing it? Are there things we can do to build trust and to strengthen integrity?’”
Reactions to Floyd’s Resignation
A number of SBC messengers and leaders have voiced their reactions to Floyd’s announcement on social media.
Pastor Dwight McKissic of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas tweeted, “I had no idea Dr. Floyd would be resigning today as SBC EC President. However, after prayerfully & carefully reading through John 15:1-12 early this morning, The Lord laid this tweet on my heart. Love Ronnie Floyd. But,I truly (sic) believe all we are witnessing is The Lord’s doing.”
