Jennifer Buck told ChurchLeaders that “discovering who leaked my story is important in order to uncover who used it as a political weapon of retaliation against my husband. If they get away with this, no one can feel safe to tell their story of God’s restorative work if the ‘gritty’ parts become a weapon and the private parts become reasonable collateral damage because destroying their perceived enemies is the greater goal.”
The following is Jennifer’s entire email to Barber requesting the meeting:
Dear Bart,
My husband reached out to you to request an in-person meeting with you and a couple of our elders regarding what happened to us in the SBC this past Spring. In all my years of ministry, I have never felt more attacked and betrayed than I have by the very convention that I and my husband have given the last 25 years of ministry to. Not only was I violated by those who chose to use me and my story as a political pawn, but I have been dismissed in every attempt to seek someone to care and help discover what happened.
We reached out to the Task Force and Rachael Denhollander to help after BNG published the hit piece on us. We were told they could not help. We reached out to Karen Prior to help. I was told that if I didn’t want the whole world to read it that I should’ve never written it. Then when we reached out to Danny Akin, he told us that he would help but then stonewalled us for several weeks while withholding vital information from us. When he finally revealed to us all that he knew, we were promised there would be an investigation, However, in the end I was told to be satisfied with an anonymous email from an anonymous couple as resolving everything.
I went to the floor of the convention in Anaheim to plead for an investigation, but was shut down. We have gone to multiple people who know individuals who were in possession of my private story. We contacted the President of Criswell College because he had an employee who was involved and the President refused to help us. Todd Benkert, as you know, refuses to tell us.
I am the victim in this whole situation, and I have a right to know who was involved in using me as a political pawn in the power structures of the SBC. I am the one person who has been ignored in all of this.
In all honesty, I thought you were different from the rest of the SBC leaders I had dealt with. So, it was shocking to me when you appointed to the new task force a man who was directly involved with circulating my story. Todd never asked permission to get my story and read it but went to someone he thought might have it and solicited it. He had no right to violate my free agency to tell my story to who I wanted it told to. That rough draft contained very private and sensitive information that was never to be made public. You cannot imagine the amount of trauma this situation has caused me and my family to know that my private and personal information has been passed around for people to gawked at for their pleasure. Yet, just a few months later Todd is appointed to a task force to advise the messengers of the SBC how to care for victims of abuse. I find that stunningly sad and hurtful as a victim myself.
When I and others questioned you publicly about this, you said that Todd reported the name of the individual to the Guidepost hotline and that it was in the hands of the best investigators you know. I took your word for that and began the process of seeking where the investigation stood.
I called the Guidepost hotline and they would not confirm or deny whether Todd called them and gave them a name. But they did say they did not do any investigating with any reports that they do get and said anything they received would be passed on to the Executive Committee. I reached out to the EC and they said they had not received any information from the hotline and that there was no investigation. They mentioned the Credentials Committee, so I contacted them and they too said they had received no information and there was no investigation.
Therefore, there is no evidence that Todd Benkert ever called the hotline and more importantly no one is investigating what happened to me. The thing that is most hurtful is that no one seems to care. If this is how the SBC intends to care for victims, God help us all.
So, I am asking you to meet with me, my husband, two of our elders and anyone you would want to bring with you so that we can share with you my story. I believe that this is a bigger issue than even just me. I don’t feel safe any longer in the SBC and I fear for other women who could be used in the future in the same way that I was used as a weapon against my husband.
Bart, I am asking you to care about what happened to me and to at least sit down and hear my story in person. I pray you will consider this request and honor it.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Buck
Barber’s Response to Jennifer
On Tuesday, September 20, Bart responded to Jennifer on official SBC letterhead explaining that he doesn’t have the time to meet with her due to the “some 200” sexual abuse cases the SBC has received on its hotline.
