Next week, the Southern Baptist Convention will hold our Annual Meeting. On Tuesday and Wednesday, thousands of Southern Baptists will gather in Anaheim, California, to make decisions concerning the direction of the denomination. To the outside observer, the Annual Meeting of the SBC is often misunderstood. The SBC is unlike other denominations that are governed through hierarchical authority. The SBC is comprised of over 47,000 autonomous churches that have cooperated to advance global and North American missions, theological education, and other related ministries. We voluntarily associate and are bound together by our cooperative support of missions and our adherence to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, which is our doctrinal statement.

Each cooperating church can send messengers (similar to a delegate) to the Annual Meeting. The ultimate authority and control of the convention rest with the messengers. There are many advantages to this governance structure, not the least of which is that the messengers can act contrary to the denominational leadership when corrective action is needed. However, the messenger model also means that our disagreements, deliberations, and discussions are all done publicly. In a world where many get their news from social media, these open debates often overshadow the actual final decision of the messengers.

This past Sunday, the Southern Baptist Convention's Sexual Abuse Task Force released the report of Guidepost Solutions, which performed an independent investigation on issues related to sexual abuse and how the SBC's Executive Committee members and staff have responded to sexual abuse issues. Since the report's release, there have been many news reports; however, because secular media generally does not understand what the SBC is or how it is governed, it often misunderstands and thus misreports events related to the SBC. Add to this a general distrusts of secular media because of their hostile bias toward Christians many have struggled to understand the actual impact and ramifications of Guidestone's report. The report is 288 pages and includes two appendices that are 73 and 106 pages, respectively. Because of its size and complexity, many are relying on secondary sources to inform them about the report's findings and conclusions.

I have read the report, and I intend to give my initial thoughts on it in this post. I am sure that as additional time provides an opportunity to further appreciate the gravity of what is revealed and more thoughtfully understand how Southern Baptists should respond to it, there will be more to say.

These past few weeks have been deeply troubling for many in the Southern Baptist Convention as we witnessed some of the Executive Committee members and Executive Committee staff attempt to ignore the directive of the messengers and thwart an investigation into their handling of sexual abuse issues. It was ugly. It was frustrating. And it revealed a serious threat to the polity and stability of our Convention.