Former Lifeway VP Jennifer Lyell Has Passed Away
Jennifer Lyell, the former Lifeway Christian Resources VP whose relationship with former professor David Sills acted as the catalyst for the Southern Baptist Convention’s sex abuse controversy, passed away on Saturday after suffering a series of strokes. She was 47.
Her death was met by an outpouring of grief online, with several prominent progressive cultural commentators like David French and Kristen Du Mez, suggesting that her death was hastened in some way by online critics who rejected her claims of being an abuse survivor.
Similarly, Rachael Denhollander, who represented Lyell against the SBC before becoming the SBC’s go-to “authority” on abuse issues, partially blamed those discussing the Lyell case for her death, writing, “[Lyell’s] death is not fodder for social media, and blog posts, and podcasts. Her life, and her sexual assaults, never should have been either. Had they not been, yesterday would not have happened. There is much, much more to be said…”
Along with friends on social media, major news organizations covering her death have described her as an “abuse survivor,” despite a continuing lack of evidence and vociferous denial by David Sills, who in 2023 filed a multi-defendant defamation lawsuit against the SBC and a host of SBC leaders and institutions, including Ed Litton, Lifeway, Lyell herself, Eric Geiger, Bart Barber, Willie McLaurin, Rolland Slade, Al Mohler, Solutionpoint and Guidepost Solutions. The lawsuit remains in active litigation in the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The death of Jennifer Lyell is undeniably tragic, but her untimely passing from health issues she reported as early as 2019 has sparked a gross revisionist history, casting her not just as a purported victim of sexual abuse, but a victim of people talking about the case, particularly those asking questions about the case’s circumstances – notably the lack of evidence, reporting to authorities, corroborating witnesses, and Lyell’s adulthood at the time of the relationship.
Lyell, once self-described as the “highest ranking” woman in the Southern Baptist Convention, became a national figure after reporting a 12-year intimate relationship with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills to SBC leadership. She claimed the relationship stemmed from Sills’ “grooming” her in 2004, when she was 26 years old and enrolled in a missions class at the seminary, continuing until 2016, when she was 38 and had long moved on from the institution.
In 2018, Lyell alleged to SBC leaders at Lifeway and SBTS that Sills “sexually acted” against her. Sills was swiftly terminated from his position while Lyell remained employed at Lifeway. In 2019, The Baptist Press (the SBC’s press arm) reported the case, yet (reportedly as Lyell’s claims against Sills continued to lack hard evidence), framed the accusations of sexual abuse as a “morally inappropriate relationship.”
As Lyell – aided by trauma-informed proponent and Lyell attorney Rachel Denhollander – began distancing herself from any personal responsibility for the relationship, she stated that just because she was “compliant,” it did not mean their relationship was “consensual.” As her perspective of her role in the relationship evolved, she seemed to reject any notion of personal sin, positioning herself as a wholly guiltless victim, with culpability akin to a 4-year-old being molested by her stepfather.
Led by Denhollander, outrage ensued over the Baptist Press’s framing of the issue. While the paper eventually apologized and retracted the offending article, it was not before supposedly damaging Lyell’s reputation, with readers decrying her as ‘an adulteress,’ among other things.
Despite the continuing lack of solid evidence in the case, its usefulness to the “power dynamics” redefinition of abuse gained widespread support, and the 2022 SBC-commissioned report produced by Guidepost Solutions in 2022 devoted approximately 35 of its 288-page report to Lyell’s story, unequivocally labeling Sills an “abuser” rather than an “alleged abuser.” This was despite the fact that Sills claimed Guidepost never tried to contact him or even ask him about his side of the story.
The report framed their 12-year relationship as a single, prolonged incident of “nonconsensual sexual abuse” between adults. The SBC Executive Committee went further, issuing a rare personal apology to Lyell for failing to “adequately listen, protect, and care” for her after she came forward with her allegations.
They also acknowledged the “unintentional harm” caused by mishandling her case and framing it in a way that distressed her, ultimately leading to a confidential multimillion-dollar settlement with Lyell.
Peter Lumpkins asks in a 2019 article:
“Assuming a unilateral manipulative, exploitative, wrongful beginning (“grooming”) of the relationship by the perverted professor, at what point does a 12-year voluntary but illicit sexual relationship between two grown adults, at times, miles apart, cease to be a unilaterally manipulative, exploitative, and wrongful relationship? Or does it? Are we to understand that a 38-year-old woman who is having a sexual relationship with a married man, and does so at long distances, is doing so because she is trapped in a sexual abuse scandal in which she cannot escape?”
Listen to Lyell’s words again, words she wrote to describe the fiasco not words Baptist Press used to describe the relationship:
“But a family relationship did develop. Over the years I spent weekends with them, my holidays with them, became an “aunt” to their grandchildren, and their grown children became like siblings to me. It looked idyllic on the surface. Except the pattern of inappropriate sexual activity continued throughout the relationship (emphasis added)“
Lyell said she spent weekends with the family; enjoyed holidays with them; and became very close to their grandchildren. Apparently, Lyell must have been close to Mrs. Sills during this time. Friends. Except for one qualifying factor that made it different–Lyell continued the pattern of “inappropriate sexual activity” with her friend’s husband.
…More problematic still is the notion that the definition of ‘nonconsensual sexual abuse’ has now been broadened to include voluntary sexual affairs by two consenting adults. It’s true that powerful people in authoritative positions can exploit, manipulate, and deceive others into an initially unwanted relationship. Granted. No one is suggesting otherwise, and we rightly condemn it when it undeniably takes place.
However, to argue that an illicit relationship between two adults that started by devious exploitation of one over the other while the other was under the manipulative person’s authority but continued on years later after no such authority was present, remains morally absurd.”
In response, David Sills, along with his wife Mary, filed a lawsuit (at the bottom of this article) against Lyell and eleven SBC entities. While Sills has admitted to having an inappropriate relationship with Lyell, he has denied abusing, grooming, or forcing himself upon her in any way. He claims that their encounters were completely consensual and did not include intercourse (she, too, has admitted the latter). In court filings, he offers that they had a “personal and emotionally intimate relationship,” but claims it was initiated by Lyell, who was “well above the age of consent.”
In fact, Sills claimed he was not “adequately informed of the specific nature and extent of accusations made by Lyell” and accused the defendants of repeating and circulating “false statements” about him.
He alleged that, “Rather than seek the truth, defendants repeated and circulated false statements about Dr. Sills, causing him to be cast as a toxic pariah. After various mischaracterizations, misstatements, and a contrived ‘investigation’ by defendants, the plaintiffs, David Sills and Mary Sills, have been wrongfully and untruthfully labeled as criminals and shunned by the SBC.”
In an article on Sill’s lawsuit, Baptist News Global reveals:
The court filing further claims Lyell maintained the relationship by driving several hundred miles — from Nashville, Tenn., to Louisville, Ky. — to see Sills. It also claims Sills “ended the relationship with Defendant Lyell who nevertheless persisted her pursuit of Sills and undertook efforts to reach Dr. Sills through his family.”
David and Mary Sills also contend that Lyell, “relying on her expertise as an accomplished writer and executive in the fields of advertising and publishing within the SBC, a lucrative and powerful position, constructed a false narrative against Dr. Sills and Mrs. Sills, at the height of awareness of SBC scandals.”
“Thereafter, Ms. Lyell engaged in an effort to restore her reputation and preserve her powerful position of doling out lucrative book deals, while affirmatively and skillfully dismantling the reputations, careers, and family life of David Sills and Mary Sills,” the court filing states.
Children are groomed. Adults are manipulated. A 26-year-old adult woman who enters into an inappropriate relationship with a married man, even if she is manipulated into doing so, does not lack agency and is not absolved of the basic requirement of biblical justice, which in this case was to report incidents of criminal abuse. No matter the details of the sordid case, it is clear that Jennifer Lyell was used as a political pawn in the #churchtoo conspiracy to manipulate SBC leadership, settle scores, smear thousands of faithful churches, and rack up untold millions in needless legal expenses paid by faithful churchgoers.
About Author
I wonder if she was involved in the decision to buy up all the mom and pp Christian bookstores and then close all the Lifeway locations down. Or in Lifeway’s decision to sell nothing but Beth Moore heresy books.
Also WHY WAS SHE EVEN IN SEMINARY? Any seminary that allows women students or professors is heretical. Period.
This also means any woman going to seminary is a heretic. Women trying to be pastors are heretics.
Also David French wanting to blame people who ask questions like I just asked, but the real cause of her massive strokes is undoubtedly the Covid Vaxx and Boosters.
What does “Trauma-Informed” mean? What it usually means is this: “I’m-the-expert-and-anyone-who-disagrees-with-me-is-obviously-evil”
David French complains about someone calling her a temptress. But what other reason does a woman have to go to seminary than to be a Jezebel?