Southern Baptist Convention abuse list includes dozens of South Carolina pastors, others

A list of abusers and suspected abusers in Baptist churches, long kept secret by the Southern Baptist Convention, was made public this week and identifies more than two dozen people who have been affiliated with South Carolina churches.

The release of the list, which at one point had as many as 703 people, is seen as an important first step in response to a historic report from investigative firm Guidepost Solutions into SBC leaders' failure to address sexual abuse for more than two decades.

The list contains the names of nine people who remain in ministry, two of whom reportedly are at SBC affiliated churches, according to a USA Today Network review of the list.

List published: Southern Baptist Convention leaders publish long-secret list of accused minister

The list includes 29 people with a known connection to South Carolina. One of those listed includes only redacted information and a redacted name.

At least 20 of them have been convicted, and a majority of those received probation, according to the Guidepost report and a review of their findings by The Greenville News.

SC Pastors, volunteers, others named

The list includes pastors and volunteers and many others, and their ministries range from small churches to large mega-churches. The list also includes a former associate director and chief strategist of the South Carolina Baptist Convention who pleaded guilty in Texas to a charge of assault causing bodily injury in 2019 after being initially charged with four counts of sexual assault of a child under 17.

Some of the charges date back to the 1980s, but most are from between 2007 and 2018.

Many of the names have previously been reported, and most of the people on the list who are connected to South Carolina had been charged with child sex crimes; most of them were convicted on those charges or pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or visit hotline.rainn.org/online and receive confidential support.

What does the list mean?

In 2007, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee staff began logging news articles and other public reports of ministers accused of sexual misconduct. A year later, one of those officials later led the executive committee to reject a proposal for a clergy abuser database.

The existence of the list itself is significant because for years Southern Baptist leaders have said tracking abuse and abusers would be prohibitively difficult, if not impossible, due to a key tenet of the denomination: The autonomy and independence of individual churches.

The list was maintained by an unnamed employee and Roger "Sing" Oldham, former executive committee vice president for convention communications, on behalf of August "Augie" Boto, a former executive committee general counsel and then-interim president/CEO, Guidepost investigators found.

"No action was ever taken to share these materials outside a small cadre of people, or to take action to address the possibility that these accused individuals might continue in ministry in SBC churches," Guidepost's report found.

"We are going to keep doing this and there is absolutely nothing wrong with our doing it. Basically, we are stuffing newspaper clippings in a drawer," Boto emailed the unnamed employee, according to Guidepost's report. "Anybody could do that."

More: How to better track sex allegations in churches? A survivor says schools have the answer

The list was maintained within the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, a group of about 30 staff plus an elected board that conducts denomination business outside of an annual conference, also known as a convention.

The Southern Baptist Convention has set up an abuse and allegation hotline by phone at 202-864-5578 or SBChotline@guidepostsolutions.com

Southern Baptists are the second-largest Christian denomination in America and the largest Protestant denomination in the country. It represents around 2,100 churches in South Carolina, the leading denomination in the state.

Frank Page, who is currently pastor of Pebble Creek Baptist Church in Taylors, was president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2006 to 2008 and from 2010 to 2018 led the Executive Committee as president until he was ousted following an affair.

Page told The Greenville News on Tuesday that he was not aware of the existence of a list, he said it was created by others in the Executive Committee.

Naming names: Taylors pastor named in report on Southern Baptist sexual abuse handling

Page had previously told victims and advocates that he was not sure if creating a list or a database would be possible, but he told them he would see if it could be done.

"Every pastor, including myself, decries and hurts over any true abuse or molestation," he said.

Page said he uses words like true or real abuse to distinguish genuine pain and suffering from lawyers who are seeking paydays.

Liam Adams of The Tennessean and Kathrine Burgess of The Commercial Appeal contributed to this story.

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Mike Ellis lives in Powdersville and tells South Carolina stories with a focus on Anderson County and Pickens County along with faith and investigations. He's always looking for the next story that people need to read, please send any tips or feedback to mellis@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Dozens of South Carolinians named in Southern Baptist Convention list