“This is a horrible time for our convention, and the reckoning may be the end of us. If so, we have reaped what we have sown,” he said. “If we repent, provide care and restitution for those we have further abused by our silence, better protect those who are most vulnerable, and make the necessary changes to never let this happen again, God may be gracious and allow the SBC to continue and pick up the pieces.”
Darrell Gwaltney, interim pastor of First Baptist Nashville that averaged 630 in Sunday worship before the COVID-19 pandemic, petitioned Jesus to “create something new.”
“How is the heart of God grieved at these very real stories about people who suffered abuse. See, we cannot come in these doors and pretend these painful things are not happening among us and in our world,” said Gwaltney, who begin serving in late March as interim pastor. “We are the people of God who have been called out of the darkness and into great light. We are called to be the heart of God for the world to see something new. Jesus, make something new within us,” he said, referencing an original song sang by guest music minister C. Scott Shepherd of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. “Oh, people of God, we have work to do.”
He thanked First Nashville trustees for releasing a statement to the congregation “to express our sorrow and our commitment to be a congregation that supports victims, and be a positive advocate for change to foster an environment that empowers victims to come forward to report abuse while holding abusers accountable.”
Carter McNeese, in his first year as senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Fairmont, N.C., released a statement on Facebook shortly after the report’s release, and was preparing a formal statement to his congregation when Baptist Press contacted him May 31.
“I want to say this clearly and succinctly: there is no place in the body of Christ for unrepentant sinners of any stripe. There is no place for those that cover up the sins of others,” he said May 22 on Facebook. “There is no place for those that harass and demean victims. I trust the agency that was contracted to write this report and I trust the men and women who were named to the SATF (Sex Abuse Task Force.)
“Further, I fully believe that we will not see renewal and revival in our convention and in our churches until we pull sin out into the light, confess, and repent. Thus, the work of the SATF is not, as some have claimed, a distraction from the Gospel, rather it is gospel work, work that must be done if we are to see renewal and revival.”
If you are/have been a victim of sexual abuse or suspect sexual abuse by a pastor, staff member or member of a Southern Baptist church or entity, please reach out for help at 202-864-5578 or SBChotline@guidepostsolutions.com. All calls are confidential.
This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.
