NASHVILLE (BP) — At last month’s Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee (EC) meeting, EC President and CEO Jeff Iorg reported that as of Dec. 24, some $13 million had been spent on investigations related to sexual abuse and related legal costs. He further reported that the EC is pursuing a $3 million loan to cover legal costs in the current fiscal year. Additionally, EC members approved a 2025-26 budget that includes a $3 million priority allocation for legal fees. That budget awaits SBC messenger approval in June.

It may be hard to believe now, but funding wasn’t a primary part of the conversation — at least from the floor — when Southern Baptists approved the initial investigation in 2021. Approving the investigation itself took up the oxygen available in the packed Music City Center in Nashville.

Messengers also approved a $250,000 allocation for the evangelism-focused Vision 2025 that year. Before doing so, a sixth point was added to the initiative’s platform that called on Southern Baptists to “eliminate all incidents of sexual abuse and racial discrimination among our churches.”

Southern Baptist messengers essentially had two opportunities to allow the Executive Committee to handle the details of any inquiry into sexual abuse, but through an unusual procedural move and an overwhelming vote, they made it clear they wanted a no-holds-barred investigation.

On Tuesday morning, June 15, a motion by Tennessee pastor Grant Gaines asked for the formation of a task force that would, in turn, assume oversight of a third-party review previously announced by the EC or initiate a separate third-party review.

That motion was initially referred to the EC. The next morning, though, Gaines received a point of privilege to speak to the necessity of the motion’s going before messengers. Later that day, a motion to reject the Committee on Order of Business’ decision to refer Gaines’ motion to the Executive Committee passed overwhelmingly, and Gaines’ motion was brought back to messengers and adopted, setting the stage for a third-party investigation.

Gaines’ motion included language that the review would be “funded by allocations from the Cooperative Program (CP).”

First allocation

In July, SBC President Ed Litton named members of a Sexual Abuse Task Force (SATF) to oversee the third-party investigation. North Carolina pastor Bruce Frank served as chairman.

The first Executive Committee act to fund legal fees came at the group’s regular meeting that fall with a $500,000 allocation as part of the EC’s 2021-22 operating budget. The recommendation included a stipulation that EC members would be notified when half of the funds had been expended.

Up to $1.6 million was authorized for the investigation itself, funded through CP, in keeping with the motion’s intent. However, EC leadership ultimately opted to use EC reserves instead. It is unclear how using CP funds would have been accomplished since the current CP allocation budget had been adopted without any portion earmarked for an investigation.

No contract with Guidepost Solutions, the firm that would conduct the investigation, was signed at that meeting, due to debate over waiving attorney-client privilege.

Messengers had asked for it. Many EC members said it conflicted with their fiduciary responsibilities. Other trustees said not approving the contract, including waiving privilege, was equally a dereliction of their duty to follow the will of the messengers.

Leaders and pastors from around the SBC spoke out publicly urging the EC to waive privilege.

Baptist Press filed nearly 20 articles over the next few weeks, dealing with the EC’s discussions about waiving privilege, approving a contract with Guidepost and other issues.

The contract ultimately signed with Guidepost Oct. 5, 2021, by Frank and then-SBC EC Chairman Rolland Slade contained an indemnification clause, which means the EC bears financial responsibility for Guidepost’s defense in any legal action resulting from its investigation.

EC leadership had acknowledged during a marathon EC meeting on Sept. 21 that indemnification was a sticking point and would need to be negotiated. It is unclear what negotiations took place, if any.

The contract also waived attorney-client privilege, a move that was rare and controversial. It does not appear to have had much direct impact on the EC’s finances, but its indirect effects included the resignation of several Executive Committee senior staff, a large number of EC members and the Convention’s longtime legal counsel.

At the Executive Committee’s next meeting in February 2022, trustees approved separate $2 million allocations for the investigation and related legal costs.

Then-finance committee chair Archie Mason explained that the amounts would come out of reserves that, at the time, were $15 million total, approximately $12.2 million in unrestricted funds. The allocation for legal fees would be monitored monthly by the EC’s Finances and Stewardship Development Committee, and full EC approval would be required before exceeding the amount. The investigation cost increase came about from a Guidepost request. Both expenditures were expected to cover costs throughout the summer.

In April of that year, the Executive Committee learned that investigation costs had exceeded $1.7 million as of February. The initial cost estimate from Guidepost had been $1.3-$1.6 million.

In a special-called, online EC meeting on April 28, 2022, then-interim EC Chief Financial Officer Bill Townes also explained that the amount of available reserves had actually been closer to $7.3 million, with the previous $12.2 million amount including property, equipment and board-designated funds. A March 31 financial report showed that total contingency and operating reserves were approaching $5.2 million.

Townes, who had served as CFO previously for nearly 10 years, returned to the role temporarily following the Jan. 22, 2022, resignation of Jeff Pearson.

In May 2022, Guidepost released the report from its investigation.

Then on June 2, the EC approved initial and future funding for sexual abuse response based on recommendations from the SATF.

Recommendations included the first $5 million of 2021-22 budget overages going toward funding the section of Vision 2025 for the elimination of sexual abuse in churches. Another $4 million priority allocation to fund the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force was later rescinded when Send Relief pledged the same amount toward response efforts ($3 million) and victim care ($1 million). 

Economy, assets losses, lawsuits affect funding discussion

At the June 2022 SBC meeting in Anaheim, messengers adopted two recommendations from the SATF — the formation of an Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) to assist churches in responding to abuse and the development of a “Ministry Check” website to maintain “a record of pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees, and volunteers who have at any time been credibly accused of sexual abuse.”

Barber named the members of the ARITF in August 2022, appointing South Carolina pastor Marshall Blalock as chairman.

That fall at the September 2022 Executive Committee meeting, EC members learned from then-interim EC CFO Twila Roberts that approximately $3.8 million had been spent on the investigation and related legal expenses in the 2021-22 fiscal year. An additional $176,865 was spent on the investigation and work of the SATF during the previous fiscal year. 

Roberts told members the EC “is not in a critical situation” at this point as the entity has “enough capital for operating resources.” However, she was cautious because “we don’t know what the future holds.”

EC members heard a more concerning outlook at their next meeting in February 2023, when then-interim CFO Mike Bianchi told them auditors had called the EC’s fiscal situation “unsustainable.”

He also responded to concerns about a first-quarter net assets loss of $1,372,527. He confirmed those could be attributed to costs of the Guidepost investigation and subsequent implementation of sexual abuse reforms in the SBC as well as legal costs related to the initial investigation as well as a Department of Justice investigation launched in August 2022.

Then-interim EC President Willie McLaurin told members, “Everything is on the table in terms of how we’re going to maintain and move forward.”

Discussion among trustees for funding options included liquidating assets, changing financial arrangements, attaining other financing and looking to the SBC for future funding.

On March 12, 2023, former SBC president Johnny Hunt filed a lawsuit against the SBC, EC and Guidepost. Former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills, who had filed his own lawsuit the previous November, refiled in May 2024 in Tennessee. The Executive Committee, which serves as the SBC ad interim, is responsible for its own legal defense as well as that of the Convention.

In September 2023, then-EC interim president and CEO Jonathan Howe reported that reserves had fallen from more than $13 million to just over $4 million in two years.

A court-ordered mediation in the Hunt lawsuit failed in September 2024. The case is scheduled to go to trial on June 17, 2025.

Financial report comes from messenger motion

The September 2024 trustee gathering brought an extensive update of costs related to the sexual abuse investigation and reforms due to a motion adopted at June’s SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis asking for such.

Expenses related to sexual abuse investigations and related legal actions surpassed $12.1 million, EC members learned in a report presented by newly installed EC President Jeff Iorg, Finance Committee Chair Adam Wyatt, EC Chairman Philip Robertson and Bianchi, now permanent in his EC CFO role.

The Guidepost investigation accounted for $3.1 million, with $2 million going directly to Guidepost and the rest for legal and task force expenses. Another $3.45 million has been spent on the indemnification of Guidepost. The abuse hotline hosted by Guidepost cost $861,000, an amount that was paid for out of the Send Relief allocated funds.

Other costs included:

• $2.4 million for litigation and case management
• $2 million for the DOJ investigation
• $545,000 for general counsel
• $131,000 for post-investigation legal support.

Wyatt reported that the majority of litigation expenses were connected to the Hunt lawsuit.

Iorg also announced the formation of a dedicated office for sexual abuse prevention and response within the EC. Jeff Dalrymple was named to lead that effort in January 2025. Initial funding would come from Send Relief’s allocation from 2022, of which approximately $1.6 million remained.

SBC messengers are scheduled to vote on the CP allocation budget that includes a $3 million priority allocation to cover ongoing Convention-related legal expenses when they gather for the 2025 SBC annual meeting June 10-11 in Dallas.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press. Baptist Press Managing Editor Laura Erlanson contributed to this report.)