In response, leaders at Hiland Park wrote to the credentials committee this week claiming there was no proof Hunt had been abusive and objecting to Benkert’s actions, accusing him of acting as both an activist and a task force member. Hiland Park’s leaders said they will meet with a lawyer to discuss “all of our legal recourses.”
Benkert, pastor of Oak Creek Community Church in Mishawaka, Indiana, said he has been honored to serve on the task force and that he hoped to support their work in the future.
“However, in order to maintain my ability to speak and act according to my conscience on these issues without representing the task force, it is clear I can best support survivors and advance reform in my role as an advocate rather than a task force member,” he said in a statement.
Relatively unknown until he took a key role in the SBC abuse reform movement two years ago, Benkert was one of several pastors who called for an investigation into the SBC’s treatment of abuse survivors at the denomination’s 2021 annual meeting in Nashville. SBC leaders initially moved to refer the matter to a committee, which would have effectively derailed any independent investigation.
But Benkert went to a floor microphone at the convention to challenge that decision, sending the matter to a vote by delegates at the meeting, known as messengers, that overruled the leaders. They eventually approved an independent investigation.
RELATED: Johnny Hunt, disgraced former SBC pastor, makes defiant return to the pulpit
In an announcement that Benkert had resigned, the task force’s chairman, South Carolina pastor Marshall Blalock, said, “Todd has a clear concern for survivors and a passion to see needed changes implemented concerning abuse. We are grateful for Todd’s work and ongoing advocacy in support of abuse reform in the Southern Baptist Convention.”
This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.
