United States Magistrate Judge Jeffery S. Frensley ruled in November that Guidepost Solutions must produce records of its interviews with former SBC president Johnny Hunt’s alleged victim and that some currently redacted records may not be shielded from public view.
The documents being unsealed include information the couple provided to Guidepost investigators (text messages and interview notes), audio recordings of counseling sessions with the couple and the husband’s private journal.
Hunt filed a defamation suit in March 2023 against the Southern Baptist Convention, SBC Executive Committee and Guidepost after he was highlighted in the May 2022 Guidepost report. The report came out of the SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force review of the EC’s handling of reports of abuse during a 20-year period.
Complaint filed by Hunt
Hunt’s suit states: “On May 22, 2022, Guidepost, the SBC and its leadership publicly released a report that purported to focus on whether the SBC’s executive leadership had inappropriately responded to allegations of child and other sexual abuse.
“But the first name mentioned in the report was Pastor Johnny — not because he was accused of ignoring reports of child or other abuse and not because he was accused of some similarly heinous crime.
“Instead, Pastor Johnny was named because the woman with whom he had the brief, extramarital encounter in 2010 had disclosed that encounter to the Guidepost investigators,” the complaint section of the lawsuit states.
“The encounter involving Pastor Johnny had nothing to do with the types of reports that led to Guidepost’s engagement.”
Other details about the case
Guidepost has argued against unsealing the documents, noting it would violate its contractual relationship with the SBC and could “further victimize” an alleged sexual assault victim.
While the female and her husband connected to the Hunt case have not been identified, the then staff counselor at First Baptist Church Woodstock, Georgia, involved in the situation is allegedly Roy Blankenship. It is unclear what credentials he maintained as a counselor.
A jury trial for the case has been set for Nov. 12, 2024.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This article was compiled by The Baptist Paper staff after researching court documents and reviewing media reports by The Baptist Paper and Baptist News Global. To read BNG’s report, click here.
