Acknowledging continued challenges facing the Southern Baptist Convention, Executive Committee president and CEO Jeff Iorg presented a three-step plan during the EC’s Feb. 17–18 board of trustees meeting in Nashville.
Iorg used his Monday evening report time to not only explain how he and the EC staff came to the proposals EC board members would vote on the next morning but also to plead with Southern Baptists to stick together in the process.
“I signed on (as SBC EC president) to guide us through these current challenges, not around them but through them,” Iorg said. “My hope is that the leaders in this room (EC meeting), thousands of pastors and millions of Southern Baptists will sign on to go through this together.”
Primary business items
The three areas addressed by Iorg:
- Ongoing work related to sexual abuse prevention and response.
- A revised plan for how SBC entities, seminaries and others report information related to their finances.
- Budget management of the EC, which includes a one-time priority allocation of $3 million off the top of the proposed $190 million Cooperative Program budget for the 2025–2026 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, 2025.
The proposed budget and revised financial reporting plan were approved by EC members and will go before messengers for discussion and a vote during the SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas in June.
During the 2024 annual meeting, messengers tasked the EC with establishing a permanent home for sexual abuse prevention.
The EC responded by taking “measured, intentional, proactive steps,” Iorg said, pointing to the launch of the Sexual Abuse Prevention and Response department.
New EC staff member Jeff Dalrymple is leading this area and working on implementing six initiatives, Iorg said. They are:
- Updating the “Essentials” curriculum and making it free and available to all churches.
- Appointing a committee on sexual abuse prevention and response strategies.
- Operating and updating the SBC’s abuse prevention website.
- Pursuing ways to improve the administration and services of the sexual abuse hotline.
- Formalizing the network of state convention abuse prevention and response leaders and working directly with churches and leaders.
- Hosting a sexual abuse training event during the meeting in Dallas.
Iorg also shared recent data provided by the sexual abuse hotline.
Since the hotline was launched in May 2022, it has received 1,008 contacts by phone and email. Of those contacts, 674 (67%) reported an alleged abuse. Of those, 458 (68%) were among Southern Baptists. And of those, 187 (41%) involved adult-only incidents and 271 (59%) involved minors.
Iorg said 513 (51%) of the hotline contacts came during the first four months the hotline was open, which was expected due to “a backlog of concerns.” The hotline received 315 contacts, an average of 13 contacts per month, during 2023–2024.
Credentials Committee
Of the 315 cases, 128 were referred to the Credentials Committee for consideration of whether a church is in friendly cooperation with the convention, he reported.
Prior to the recent EC meeting, seven churches had been declared not in friendly cooperation and removed from the SBC based on their responses to the Credentials Committee on these issues.
An eighth church was added to the list following the Feb. 18 session, when EC board members approved a report from the Credentials Committee recommending removal of Centro Cristiano Jesus es el Camino Church in Merced, California.
Business & Financial Plan
Related to revising the SBC Business and Financial Plan, Iorg said it is a major overhaul of the documents required for financial accountability. The EC staff, board and officers worked with entity leaders and attorneys on the revisions, he said.
The new plan uses plain language as much as possible and has fewer pages than before, Iorg explained, noting it’s much simpler to fill out and asks for more specific details.
Covering legal fees
Concerning legal fees related to the 2021 sexual abuse investigation and 2022 report from Guidepost Solutions, Iorg said, “Decisions were made by messengers … (which) have consequences … (and) costs — and those bills … must be paid.”
Pending legal bills equal roughly $3 million and the EC plans to secure a loan to pay those off, but unless the SBC building (which is on the market for $35 million) sells soon, future legal bills will be paid with CP funds, Iorg explained.
The EC has spent its reserves down from $14 million to about $1 million covering legal bills to this point, he said, so all other options have been exhausted.
Also found not in friendly cooperation was Rabbit Creek Church in Anchorage, Alaska, for its support of women called as pastors.
Go to tbponline.org/proactive-steps to see the full EC report.
