“No tolerance for abuse and every church a safe place for the vulnerable,” Iorg said.
“We also acknowledge that the hotline data does not define the full scope of the problem,” Iorg said. “The explosion of child pornography, rising licentiousness across our culture, and the predatory nature of offenders means we must be ever vigilant. I say again, even one case is one too many.”
“The second conclusion, according to hotline data, in the context of what I’ve just said, is that abuse is not frequently being reported in Southern Baptist churches,” Iorg said.
“While we fully acknowledge incidents of sexual abuse, we also reject the false narrative [that] Southern Baptist churches are dangerous places for children,” Iorg said, “that Southern Baptist churches are protecting predators, and that Southern Baptists churches are uncaring in their response to survivors.”
Iorg acknowledged that some might “twist” his words, accusing him of “minimizing the problems,” but he said, “That’s simply not true.”
“We are responding to the problem now and creating an ongoing response framework for the future,” Iorg said. “Thousands of SBC churches have already implemented prevention measures over the last five years.”
“With seven rare exceptions, Southern Baptists churches, even those contacted by the Credentials Committee are cooperating to prevent abuse and address these allegations,” Iorg emphasized, reiterating that any instance of sexual abuse “is an evil we want stopped.”
During this same meeting, Iorg indicated that the long awaited “Ministry Check” website, which would serve as a database of pastors, church leaders, and volunteers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse, is no longer “a focus” for the Executive Committee.
At the annual meeting of the SBC in 2022, local church delegates (called messengers) overwhelmingly voted in favor of creating the database. But after two years, a task force charged with the database’s implementation was unable to complete the task.
The task force dissolved after the SBC’s annual meeting in 2024. However, Josh Wester, the task force’s chairman, expressed confidence that the Executive Committee would complete the work of implementing the database under Iorg’s leadership.
“If we hadn’t had the cooperation and leadership that we’ve seen from Dr. Iorg, we probably would have just tried to extend the task force another year,” Webster said at the time.
