SBC May Be Moving Toward Johnny Hunt Settlement, Will Sell Building – Baptist News Global

Facing unforeseen legal expenses of millions of dollars In connection with investigations, defenses, and settlements of sexual abuse cases, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee will sell its downtown Nashville office building, which is valued at more than $30 million.

While the news was made public at a Sept. 17 meeting in Nashville, other important matters related to the ongoing litigation were reportedly discussed in private. According to multiple sources, one of the items on the agenda was approving the framework for a possible settlement with former SBC President Johnny Hunt, who was cited as a perpetrator of abuse in a Guidepost Solutions SBC report two years ago.

Last year, Hunt filed a defamation lawsuit against the SBC, the SBC Executive Committee and Guidepost Solutions, accusing them of defamation and invasion of privacy by publicizing the story of his “brief, inappropriate, extramarital encounter with a married woman” in 2010.

According to the original contract with Guidepost, the SBC agreed to indemnify Guidepost against any litigation arising from the report. That indemnity has already cost $3.1 million, trustees were told, in addition to another $3.1 million spent to conduct the investigation and produce the report, plus the expenses of an Executive Committee task force working with Guideposts.

According to court records prepared a week before the Executive Committee meeting, a mediation meeting on a possible joint settlement was scheduled for Thursday, September 19, and the parties are to report on the meeting to the court the following week, on September 26.

SBC insiders speculate that the Executive Committee may be ready to end Hunt’s case with some form of monetary settlement. Both the Executive Committee and Guidepost Solutions have denied wrongdoing in reporting credible allegations against Hunt. Recently, Guidepost’s lawyers refused to provide all the information Hunt’s lawyers want in the escrow process, according to another court document filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

SBC and Executive Committee are defendants in another defamation case brought against them and several other SBC entities and individuals by David and Mary Sills. David Sills is a former professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, who has admitted to having an extramarital affair with a student. He says the affair was consensual; she says it was abusive and nonconsensual.

According to court records, the case has been bogged down in a massive effort to gather documents and prepare for depositions. No mediation or settlement meetings have been shown as scheduled.

The Executive Committee has already paid an undisclosed amount to the woman in the case, Jennifer Lyell, for misleading her in an article published by Baptist Press.

The Executive Committee Trustees learned that the Executive Committee had spent $12.1 million since 2021 to investigate, report, and defend against allegations of sexual harassment, with the Guidepost investigation at the heart of that. No budgetary funds were allocated for such expenditures, with most of the costs coming from the entity’s reserves.

A detailed report on these expenses came after messengers to the SBC annual meeting in June passed a motion calling for greater accountability.

The Executive Committee Trustees also approved a plan to create a new department within the staff structure that will implement sexual abuse prevention and response throughout the denomination. The last task force working on implementing sexual abuse prevention and response suggested the creation of an autonomous entity. It is not yet clear whether the new Executive Committee department will replace this independent group or not.

“We’ve had two task forces that have done some tough, hard work. But it’s time to stop talking about what we’re going to do and take an initial, strategic step that will implement an administrative response to this problem,” said Jeff Iorg, the new chairman of the Executive Committee.

The new department will be financed initially from $1.8 million in remaining funds provided by Send Relief — the joint humanitarian relief and disaster response ministry of the two SBC mission boards — in 2022. The initial gift was $3 million.

The sale of the 40-year-old building in downtown Nashville has been discussed for several years. The seven-story building houses not only the Executive Committee but also the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, SBC Seminary Extension, the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, and the Southern Baptist Foundation.

The board not only agreed to the possible sale of the property, but also agreed to take out a loan secured by the building in order to pump more money into the cash-strapped organization.

The Executive Committee is the central body the entity that organizes the denomination, receives and disburses offerings from local churches, and plans and organizes the annual meeting. The Executive Committee also oversees Baptist Press, an internal information service.

The building up for sale was built in 1984 and 1985 and is next to the former multi-block campus of Lifeway Christian Resources, the denomination’s publishing house. Lifeway sold its property for $125 million in 2015 and has since reduced the space by half.

The Executive Committee Building is located near Nashville Yards, an emerging downtown development just blocks from the historic Ryman Auditorium and Music Row.

Related articles:

“Pastor Johnny” Sues SBC and Guidepost

Guidepost report documents pattern of ignoring, denying and dismissing sexual harassment claims at SBC

“Pastor Johnny” is the head of a family empire that profits from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)

SBC Executive Committee lays off 20% of staff due to budget crisis

SBC Executive Committee Finances Missing from Online Report for Third Year in a Row, While 2022 Audit Shows Trajectory ‘Unsustainable’