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SBC Executive Committee Member Under Fire for Social Media Posts Featuring Sexual Humor

Fredrick’s initial response seemed to indicate he felt the criticism was motivated by the divide within the denomination over how—or if—the SBC should respond to its sexual abuse crisis.

“You should see what all the ‘good guys’ send my way,” Fredrick said, apparently referring to SBC leaders who have strongly advocated for reform in the wake of revelations of mishandled sexual abuse allegations. “Sorry, all. I’m a man from a different generation and I still understand the concept of humor. And, no, it isn’t a pattern and there are not ‘posts.’ You have two…and you ignore the context of both.”

When asked to provide the context that would make his posts appropriate, Fredrick did not reply. He did however add to his previous statement, “Bear in mind that your ‘pattern’ is to destroy people you do not like.”

Sexual abuse survivor advocate Christa Brown replied to Fredrick, “This is crude, lewd, misogynistic, disgusting, dehumanizing & gross. ‘Humor?’ No, it’s not funny. ‘Different generation?’ No, I suspect I’m the same generation & that’s not acceptable. ‘Context?’ No, additional context isn’t gonna cure this.”

Tiffany Thigpen, another abuse survivor advocate who has also been working for reform in the SBC, noted elsewhere that she had called attention to Fredrick’s sharing of the inappropriate meme when he first posted it, but to no avail. 

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“This one really got me, and he defended it after I called him out publicly on it – during the sexual abuse reform funding talks that were on the table,” she tweeted. “Tone deaf.” 

Others pointed out that Fredrick’s actions worked against efforts to restore trust in an entity that has a documented history of failing to understand the gravity of sexual abuse and respond to it accordingly. 

Fellow SBC Executive Committee member Mike Keahbone also weighed in with criticism, expressing that he was actively looking into what can be done to address Fredrick’s troubling online behavior. 

Keahbone, an Oklahoma pastor who is also the Vice Chair of the ARITF, tweeted, “As a member of the @SBCExecComm I am aware of the inappropriate tweets made by one of our members. Our leadership is aware and is currently walking through the Biblical process of confronting a brother.”

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“Organizationally, our bylaws only allow removal from the board by the messengers at the annual meeting. Our next meeting is in June. Our board has the option of censuring or issuing a reprimand of the offending action. This will come after the Biblical process has finished its course,” Keahbone explained.