Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber has named the nine men and women appointed to a new task force. One name stands out from the rest after he was accused of being involved in the leak and cover-up of Jennifer Buck’s rough draft of a document that outlines sexual abuse she suffered when she was younger, as well as the blackmail of her husband.
The newly appointed Implementation Task Force was formed in light of the ongoing scandals rocking the SBC. They’re the group that will decide how to implement and enact best practices for the Southern Baptist Convention and member churches to have all the tools they need to “be able to work to prevent and respond well to sexual abuse.”
Barber explains that there is a “deliberate diversity to the task force” and that no matter who he appoints, it will make someone uncomfortable or unhappy. Barber says that when he considered the task force list, he asked twelve women and ten men, and unfortunately, most women said no, so he ended up with a 7-2 male to female split. According to the Baptist Press, that list is:
- Marshall Blalock, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston, S.C., will serve as ARITF chair
- Mike Keahbone, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lawton, Okla., will be vice chair.
- Todd Benkert, pastor and lead elder of Oak Creek Community Church in Mishawaka, Ind.
- Melissa Bowen, member of First Baptist Church in Prattville, Ala.
- Brad Eubank, senior pastor of Petal First Baptist Church in Petal, Miss.
- Cyndi Lott, member of Catawba Valley Baptist Church in Morganton, N.C.
- Jon Nelson, lead pastor of Soma Community Church in Jefferson City, Mo.
- Jarrett Stephens, senior pastor of Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas
- Gregory Wills, member of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, as well as professor of church history and Baptist heritage and dean of the School of Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Addressing the controversy of having Benkert on the taskforce, Barber released a video where he introduces all the members, and spent a third of his time justifying his one appointee.
The third taskforce member is Todd Benkert. And this is one of the folks who really generated a lot of questions online about Todd’s participation. And the reason for that is there’s been some conflict between Todd and Tom Buck and Jennifer Buck. And some people said, ‘How could you even think about appointing Todd Benkert? Well, I’m gonna explain to you about that.
First of all, I think it’s important to point out that some of the people who’ve contacted me with DMS and stuff like that, have, who have been really kind hearted folks who said, ‘hey, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I can’t understand how you would appoint someone who leaked Jennifer Buck’s draft document about her abuse, and then covered it up. And, you know, I had to reply to folks like that and say that nobody’s even really alleging that Todd had anything to do with leaking that document.
Barber recaps the saga of the Bucks, (more on that here) and absolves Benkert of all involvement in the sordid affair, saying the only thing Benkert did wrong is lie to Buck about not knowing the identity of an anonymous source who may or may not have been involved in the dissemination of the document.
I think it’s wrong that Todd lied to Tom, but I don’t think that reasonably amounts to actively participating in a cover up. Todd doesn’t know who took that document, Todd does know who leaked the document, he would reveal that person’s identity if he knew it. I would too if I knew who it is….I don’t think that Todd is in a conspiracy to shame or blackmail or leak documents for anybody who’s a sexual assault survivor.
Barber concludes by answering the question of “even if Todd’s innocent and just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, there millions of Southern Baptists, why would you choose Todd?” This is true in light of the fact that there are so many other people who don’t stink of this scandal. He explains:
I’m so thankful that you’ve asked that. Todd’s a pastor and a lead elder of Oak Creek Community Church in Mishawaka, Indiana. This year at the SBC annual meeting, there was a booth at the SBC Pastors Conference in Anaheim just for sexual abuse survivors because Todd Benkert did that. This year in Anaheim, at the SBC there’s a breakout session to teach trauma informed ministry to SBC pastors and ministers. And that existed because Todd Benkert did that. Who else is doing things like that? Todd has worked really hard on his own initiative to build strong relationships with SBC survivors, and I just don’t know any other pastor in the SBC who’s done more to help those survivors. I just, I couldn’t imagine having this task force and ruling Todd out from serving on this task force.
Because again, it’s not, it’s not voting for who’s most likely to succeed or most popular in high school. Ultimately, this is about a task force that needs to have good ideas about preventing and responding to clergy sexual abuse. And Todd has demonstrated that he’s thinking about those ideas, and he’s working to try to implement them. And I think this taskforce will be stronger and more effective for hearing the ideas that Todd has. It’s true that Todd is my friend. He’s been my friend for a long time. Some people say it’s a good old boy’s network…, I tell you, I have a lot of friends who haven’t been appointed to anything yet. And, and most of this, most of the people on this taskforce, I’ve never sat in a room with and had a conversation.
A lot of them, I had to introduce myself to them on the initial phone call. I’ve never spoken to them before. So it’s not a good old boys club. It’s just that Todd has worked hard at this and I think he has good ideas. There’s one more thing. Todd represents something unique in the midst of all of this. A lot of people have expressed concern in the midst of are trying to prevent sexual abuse, that we’re not hearing that from the perspective of people who might have been the target of false accusations of sexual abuse. Todd has been the target of a false accusation of sexual abuse before. And so if you’re a Southern Baptists who’s has been concerned that we’re not going to pay attention to that possibility, even though it’s rare, false accusation, Todd’s presence on this taskforce provides that important perspective to help us keep in mind that reality. And so that should reassure you some that we have someone who’s had that experience.
