Southern Baptist leaders remain undaunted as legal bills from abuse investigation mount

Nashville, Tennessee, US RNS Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee struck a hopeful and defiant tone on Monday night, acknowledging the fiscal woes facing the convention yet insisting the nation’s largest Protestant denomination remains a force for good in the world. “Some critics persistently claim we are corrupt, and the entire Southern Baptist […]
The Southern Baptist Convention will sell its Nashville headquarters to defray abuse-related legal costs

United States RNS An investigation into how leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have dealt with sexual abuse by clergy has cost more than $US12 million over the past three years, causing the nation’s largest Protestant denomination to put its Nashville, Tennessee, headquarters up for sale, the SBC’s Executive Committee announced on Tuesday, 17th September. […]
The future of SBC abuse reform is now in the hands of denominational committee

Indianapolis, US RNS Leaders of a volunteer taskforce charged with implementing abuse reforms in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination say they were given an impossible task. In the end, the task proved too much. Messengers vote at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, on 11th June, 2024. PICTURE: […]
The Long Read: Meet the six preachers who want to lead the Southern Baptist Convention

The SBC presidency is perhaps the most influential volunteer religious job in the country. Though unpaid, the SBC president has a bully pulpit to tout his beliefs and shape the leadership of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. BOB SMIETANA, ADELLE M BANKS and YONAT SHIMRON, of Religion News Service, report…
Southern Baptists pick a California seminary president to lead its troubled administrative body

United States AP A top Southern Baptist administrative body has selected its first permanent leader in nearly two-and-a-half years, a time when it has navigated a tumult of controversies ranging from a sexual abuse scandal to financial struggles – to its own stumbling efforts to find a new president. Jeff Iorg, the longtime president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s […]
What is happening with the SBC and the Department of Justice?

United States RNS Last week, lawyers for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee say they were contacted by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and were told an investigation into the committee’s handling of sexual abuse had been closed. News about the status of the investigation eventually leaked, and on […]
US Department of Justice closes investigation into SBC’s handling of abuse

United States RNS Federal officials have concluded an investigation into sexual abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, with no charges being filed. News that the investigation was closed was first reported by The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville. The first day of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting at the Ernest N Morial Convention Center […]
Heads of SBC mission boards say they will not fund new abuse reform non-profit

Nashville, Tennessee, US RNS Leaders of two major Southern Baptist mission boards said they will not help fund a proposed independent non-profit meant to implement the denomination’s abuse reforms. Plans for the non-profit were announced on Monday night during a meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee. The headquarters of the Southern Baptist Convention is seen […]
Southern Baptist leaders expel two churches for allegedly mismanaging abuse

United States RNS Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention voted to cut ties with four churches on Tuesday, two for alleged mismanagement of sexual abuse. One other had failed to give to the SBC’s common fund, while another hired a woman pastor. All four were designated as “being out of friendly cooperation” with the nation’s […]
Latest candidate to head Southern Baptists’ Executive Committee withdraws

United States RNS The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, has failed again in its search for a new leader for its Executive Committee, which handles the denomination’s business between annual meetings. The committee announced on Tuesday that the leading candidate for the president and CEO of the Executive Committee has withdrawn. He is the […]