Get this The Daily Telegraph page for free from Tuesday, July 29, 1975 97S IZIm THE COMPLETE CONSTRUCTION SERVICE HIM 1 Mb CHKlbTENINGb and IN MEMOR1AM Cl 10 Una MARRIAGES DEATHS and . The Louisville, Ky., church where Sills was a member, Lyell said, also took action following Sills resignation. . Sills local church, Ninth & O Baptist Church in Louisville, confirmed to Baptist Press that Sills is no longer a member and that the church acted swiftly and firmly after hearing the accusations. But I am a victim nonetheless.. We say that we are not this hierarchy but in reality, we function like we are protecting the barracks of the Vatican, she said. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. She did so after learning her abuser, a former Southern Baptist seminary professor, author and missionary, had recently returned to ministry. While the SBCs reports on Lyells allegations claimed Sills was fired, the former professor claims he voluntarily resigned after admitting to a morally inappropriate relationship with Lyell. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Lyell told Baptist Press she has attempted to contact the Louisville Metro Police Departments Special Victims Unit. Denhollander, an abuse survivor whose testimony led to the conviction of former national gymnastics doctor and serial abuser Larry Nassar, said evangelical theology had created a kind of porn culture in churches. Its complicated. Instead, for many this incident may have contributed to a perception that the Southern Baptist Convention is not a safe place for sexual abuse survivors to disclose, the statement read. Any criticism of complementarianism is seen as a sort of gateway drug into theological liberalism., I think a culture that believes that its righteousness is dependent on preserving and protecting the strictest form of complementarianism is a culture that sees women as a threat, sees women as a risk, sees women as more likely to sin, she said. Those documents include emails between the various parties. Just over two years later, she stated the allegations to then-LifeWay Senior Vice President Eric Geiger and Mohler. Lyells experience reveals the difficulty survivors often face when they try to speak up about their experiences. But we must not be silent. "[O]ur policies and procedures work and we work hard to make certain that they are up to date with best practices. The group maintained a shared online file of their correspondence. Lyell tells the story in her own wordsso people can finally judge for themselves the particulars of the case. The conventions statement of faith says women and men are equal in Gods sight but have different roles in the church and the home. Geiger, senior pastor of Mariners Church in Irvine, Calif., confirmed to BP that Lyell shared her allegations with him. In June, BP reported Sills also had resigned as president of Reaching and Teaching International Ministries, a missions organization that engages in discipleship and theological education internationally. Scarsella, who also works with a nonprofit that advocates for abuse victims, noted that clergy abusers also often know how to use the theology of sin for their advantage. We must clearly tell the truth so that our churches and ministries are safe and as pure as they can be.. On July 6th, this story would resurface because Bob Smietana, a liberal reporter of the pagan Religious News Service wrote an apologetic for Jennifer Lyell, When abuse victims are adults . Survivors often deal with the trauma of the actual abuse along with a sense of betrayal and rejection from other believers, who often take the side of abusers. And so, we invoked our policies and procedures,"Mohler told The Christian Post in a phone interview. She said Southern Baptist leaders do not hesitate to use their public platforms to debate theology or drive culture war issues but rarely call out abusive behavior in their own camp especially if it means correcting other denominational leaders. What Ascol, Buck and Sills share in common is adherence to an extreme version of Reformed theology, known as hyper-Calvinism, that has been on the resurgence in the SBC over the past 30 years. How did Saddleback get kicked out of the SBC? A clergy person has enormous power. The SBCs public relations service, Baptist Press, misrepresented her statements about the situation, which eventually led to a public apology and a financial settlement from the SBC Executive Committee, which runs Baptist Press. she disclosed to her boss at Lifeway that a former professor named David Sills had first "sexually acted . She wrote, "Dr. David Sills, then a tenured professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, first sexually acted against me on a mission trip in 2004, a pattern that continued and escalated . "I think she was courageous in making those statements and I think it sets an example for how others should also demonstrate an equal courage," Mohler said. Then Buck retweeted Basham to highlight her commentary about Sills and the SBC investigation. It conclusively demonstrated the non-consensual nature of what happened to her. 2023 Baptist News Global. It also names Jennifer Lyell, a former seminarian and vice president for Lifeway, who has repeatedly alleged that Sills was abusive, an allegation Mohler has also made on social media and in an . I am also grateful for the bold leadership of Grant Gaines, Ronnie Parrot, and Todd Benkert. In addition to being missionaries to these groups it is also our purpose to train and equip those who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ, his death, burial and physical resurrection, for their salvation to do the same., At one point last summer, Henzel sent two emails to Ascol, asking him to communicate with elders at Lyells church about Henzels and Veinots concerns regarding Lyells wellness.. Why so much outrage over the burning of an LGBT Pride flag? Venue is appropriate in this court because defendant Ed Litton is a resident citizen of Mobile County, Alabama., Guidepost report documents pattern of ignoring, denying and deflecting on sexual abuse claims in SBC, SBC Executive Committee publicly apologizes to sexual abuse survivor, SBC report shows how five words turn abuse victim from survivor to whore | Opinion by Marv Knox. Facebook/The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Bible teacher Jen Wilkin addresses criticism of her views on sending children to public schools, Teen, 21-year-old man indicted for murder of Memphis pastor, Deion Sanders' prayers are constitutionally protected, lawyer tells University of Colorado, Revival at Kentucky college faces hurdles from school leadership, moves worship off-campus. I am not a sinless victim. While churches say they want to care for survivors of abuse, those survivors are often viewed with suspicion, having to prove they are worthy of compassion and respect. Now, David Sills and Mary Sills contend they have been smeared repeatedly in the process and seek monetary damages from the SBC; the SBC Executive Committee; former SBC President Ed Litton; current SBC President Bart Barber; Lyell; Lifeway Christian Resources; Eric Geiger, a former executive vice president at Lifeway; Willie McLaurin, interim president of the Executive Committee; Rolland Slade, former chairman of the Executive Committee; Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary; and Guidepost Solutions, the firm that conducted the independent investigation. The Southern Baptist Convention would pass Resolution 6 which acknowledged Jennifer Lyell as an abuse survivor and therefore labeling David Sills as an abuser. News broke today that former Southern Baptist Seminary professor, David Sills (who resigned 9 months ago), resigned due Continue reading When Sin Goes Unchecked the Nations Suffer This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. It also names Jennifer Lyell, a former seminarian and vice president for Lifeway, who repeatedly alleged Sills was abusive, an allegation Mohler has also made on social media and in . This wasnt by accident; I believe it was by design, Lyell wrote. The hundreds of titles that the Books business team has acquired, developed, or managed under Jennifer's leadership include more than a dozen New York Times bestsellers, as well as CT . This issue caught fire on Twitter, where critics of SBC leadership and of the sexual abuse study picked it up, prompting retweets and commentary. At its simplest level, it is abuse because it is not consensual, he said. David Sills, the professor, and his wife, Mary Sills, allege defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and wantonness in connection with untrue claims of sexual abuse made by Jennifer Lyell in 2021. Pastoral misconduct is seen as a moral failing rather than an abuse of power. This and so much more is contained in a roughly 2-and-a-half-hour audio interview never released that hit the Internet today. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Nine months after Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills resigned for undisclosed reasons, a woman has released a statement of allegations including details of what she says was a morally inappropriate relationship with Sills for more than a decade, beginning while she was a Southern Seminary student. Im also fine to answer any questions you or the other gentleman has to ensure you have clarity and believe me. Sills also served as an International Mission Board (IMB) trustee and a member of the IMBs presidential search committee. The audio came to the Capstone Report from a source not connected with Midwest Outreach. After Baptist News Global broke the news that former seminary professor David Sills and his wife, Mary, filed a defamation lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention and 11 other defendants, three high-profile Southern Baptists took to Twitter to highlight one specific section of the 31-page legal document. David Pooler, professor of social work at Baylor University, said sexual misconduct by clergy and other religious leaders is often labeled as having an affair. But that description misses the power imbalance at play. This led to a general understanding that what happened between Dr. David Sills and Ms. Jennifer Lyell was a consensual affair. The suit states: On June 18, 2022, Defendant Lyell wrote to Religion News Services (RNS) and Reporter Bob Smietana, the following: My thinking was I could just verbally work through your article and clarify/add the information you didnt have or was inaccurate as well as answer the broader questions you asked when the information you had didnt reconcile for you. Lyell is a former Reaching and Teaching International board member. In the spring of 2019, Lyell, then a well-respected leader in Christian publishing, decided to publicly disclose that she was a survivor of sexual abuse. Pastors and churches called for her to be fired. After Denhollanders criticism, Baptist Press issued a statement, saying it had failed to convey that the heart of Lyells story was about sexual abuse by a trusted minister in a position of power at a Southern Baptist seminary.. But that's not quite what we see. It looked idyllic on the surface. Want to share a story? He said people often turn to clergy when they are at their most vulnerable. He said that he could fix it by me becoming part of his family and then once I was part of his family, that sort of thing would never happen again, she continued. Upon hearing Lyells claims last May, SBTS immediately took action. Whatever else is accurate or inaccurate in the lawsuit filed by David and Mary Sills against the SBC, Lyell and 10 others, the quotation attributed to a Lyell email to Smietana of RNS actually comes from a different Lyell email sent to Veinot and Henzel June 18, 2021. Once the person gets access, they keep that access, he said. Today, she feels that belief, known as complementarianism, has created an unhealthy culture. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson thinks he redeemed himself. After various mischaracterizations, misstatements, and a contrived investigation by defendants, the plaintiffs, David Sills and Mary Sills, have been wrongfully and untruthfully labeled as criminals and shunned by the SBC.. In a filing made in the Mobile, Ala., Circuit Court, David and Mary Sills allege "defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and . By the time Lyell had come forward publicly with her story, she had been in counseling for over two years. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Please click the "Register" link below to create a new account. He resigned from his trustee post, and as a result from the search committee, in May 2018. And recovering from abuse as an adult is a long-term process. It does not store any personal data. The audio discussion features Jennifer Lyell speaking to Ron Henzel and Don Veinot of Midwest Outreach. Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. told Baptist Press he could not disclose why Sills employment at the seminary ended. Nine months after The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) professor David Sills resigned for undisclosed reasons, a woman has released a statement of allegations including details of what she describes as sexual abuse by Sills, beginning while she was a Southern Seminary student. InterVarsity Press, which published one of Sills' books, removed Sills' biography page from its website and the webpage for Sills book Changing World, Unchanging Mission: Responding to Global Challenges. Lyell said she no longer trusts the convention, feeling like key leaders betrayed the faith she put in them. Lyells claim that she was abused by David Sills while he was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary resulted in a controversial news story published by Baptist Press, the denominational news service, which portrayed the relationship as consensual. In February, the top-ranked Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) did something that's almost unprecedented: they apologized and offered a monetary settlement to Jennifer Lyell, who for years had been abused by an SBC seminary professor. Filing claims Guidepost never interviewed or even contacted him before publicly naming him a predator. (Guidepost Solutions is the firm hired by the SBC Executive Committee to investigate charges of sexual abuse within the convention. Buck is an East Texas pastor who shares Ascols beliefs and is aggressive on Twitter in spreading his commentaries and accusations. All rights reserved. In a release to Baptist Press (BP) and others, Jennifer Lyell, now 41 and director of the books ministry area at LifeWay Christian Resources, alleges Sills initiated sexual contact with her on a mission trip in 2004. She claims . Buck, like Ascol, holds no official role in SBC life and has no direct connection to her claims of abuse from Sills. How did Bob Smietana avoid being named in this lawsuit? In a statement posted on her website, Jennifer Lyell, who is now 41 and works for a major Christian book publisher, said Sills first "sexually acted" against her on a mission trip in 2004 and. In her statement, Lyell accused Sills of "grooming and taking advantage of his student." Lyell first disclosed the situation to a therapist in March 2016, she said. At the time, she was a 26-year-old master of divinity student, and the alleged relationship continued until she was 38, spanning a period in which Lyell moved from Louisville, Ky., to Chicago and then to Nashville, she told BP. Why Midwest Christian Outreach was interested in such a deep dive into Lyells story is not clear. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. And it was not just the real devastation was the fact that I could not understand and still no one understands why that Baptist Press and the EC did what they did.. I deeply regret that anyone could have been led to conclude that it was consensual based on what I wrote.. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Sills, former professor of missions and cultural anthropology at Southern, did not respond to request for comment. However, today's topic is not about an up-and-coming musician, rather it is a cautionary tale for up-and-coming ministers of the Gospel. She has alleged Sills abused her over a multi-year period. According to Baptist Press, Lyell was involved in the relationship with Sills from the time she was 26 until she was 38. Because this is a personnel matter, we cannot comment further.. The police issue is difficult because this would have been a call to the local SBTS area police in 2018. Interview never released that hit the Internet today the bold leadership of Grant Gaines, Ronnie Parrot and. Lyell told Baptist Press she has attempted to contact the Louisville,,! 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