Southern Baptist Convention CEO Ronnie Floyd Resigns After Dispute Over Abuse Investigation

In February 2019, NPR’s Rachel Martin interviewed Robert Downen of the Houston Chronicle about an investigation that documented sexual abuse inside some Southern Baptist churches, primarily in Texas. The investigation listed 700 victims.

In October 2021, an NBC News opinion column described the Southern Baptist Convention as the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, claiming about 14.1 million members. The column said delegates, called messengers, from member churches refused to let Ronnie Floyd control the investigation into abuse, and that this prompted him to resign the previous week.

In May 2022, the Convention published a 205-page database listing hundreds of accused sexual offenders, according to Vanguardia. The same month, Telemundo and the Los Angeles Times reported on a 288-page investigation conducted over seven months by Guidepost Solutions, an independent firm. The investigation was published on Sunday, May 22, 2022. Telemundo’s headline said the Convention had silenced victims of clergy sexual abuse to protect its reputation, and the Los Angeles Times headline said Southern Baptists were evading abuse victims. These are the outlets’ characterizations of the report.

On Tuesday, June 14, 2022, the Convention approved the creation and distribution of a register of pastors who committed sexual abuse, according to Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Welle reported that the vote took place during the annual meeting, which it said was held in southern Los Angeles and attended by some 8,000 people.

The Houston Chronicle reported the same week that the Convention overwhelmingly approved a measure to create a public database of accused sexual offenders to protect church members from predators. Survivors had requested such a database for years without success, and the Chronicle noted that leaders had declined to adopt similar reforms 14 years earlier (Proverbs 31:8-9).