“One of the things I’ve learned from Rachael (Denhollander),
as well as other survivors, is that the strongest words,
without actions that follow up those words,
are worse than not saying words at all.”
—J.D. Greear, President of SBC,
at the ERLC Sex Abuse Panel at SBC June 10, 2019.
Cheryl Summers, founder of For Such a Time As This Rally, and Rev. Ashley Easter, sat with their husbands just four rows from the front listening to the panel Monday night. The For Such a Time As This Rally had survivors and advocates travel from across the country to join in prayer and protest the thousands of victims who could have been spared. They all share a common bond and similar goal–to stop the SBC from hiding abusers in the church and to begin protecting the innocent.
Just moments before J.D. Greear gave the above response, Rachael Denhollander mentioned For Such a Time As This Rally: “When you see the survivor community–many of them even outside the SBC tomorrow–these men and women have been pleading with the church to hear their voices for decades and they have been shut out over and over and over again in the name of Christ. That’s what the SBC has done to these survivors. You need to feel the grief and the betrayal and the harm and the hurt that they have felt.”
It would have been difficult to miss the group of peaceful protesters on Tuesday with their red shirts and large millstone on display that Ashley’s husband Will made. It was intended to be a reminder of Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:6–“. . . but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” There has been extensive national media coverage of the For Such a Time As This Rally leading up to, and following the Southern Baptist Convention.
Among people at the rally who attended and/or spoke were Mary DeMuth, Christa Brown, Jules Woodson, Brooks Hansen, Michael Hansen, Kenny Stubblefield, Ashley Easter, Cheryl Summers, Carolyn Deevers, Dee Parsons, Dwight McKissic, Wade Burleson, and SNAP’s David Clohessy. Rachael and Jacob Denhollander sent cupcakes to the group on their way out of town and visited with rally members throughout the day. But eerily absent were the very SBC leaders who, ironically, were inside the convention center saying that survivors need to be listened to. I was not able to make it to Birmingham due to back-to-back trips and limited time off from work, but several of us who couldn’t make it sent videos Tuesday to For Such a Time As This Rally Facebook page to offer encouragement and our words of support.
I woke up today and it struck me that I saw zero pictures, words of support, or even an acknowledgment that the rally survivors were even in Birmingham, by any SBC leaders who took the stage inside. Nothing. Not. A. Word. It’s as if the survivors and advocates didn’t exist. Yet these courageous friends of mine at the rally, despite their abuse and mistreatment by the SBC, are madly in love with God, work tirelessly to save the lives of countless people who were abused, and openly shared their stories of pain, humiliation, and hope.
As survivors shared their stories, several SBC attendees shouted to the press that they should not give the rally any attention. Apparently, some assumed that the rally speakers and attendees were not Christians. One rally attendee told Cheryl Summers that an SBC attendee tried to talk to them about praying the sinner’s prayer to accept Christ.
I couldn’t shake the feeling of not seeing any SBC leaders there so I reached out to Cheryl Summers and asked her if J.D. Greear or anyone else from his office had taken time to walk outside and greet them or thank them or weep with them over the decades of abuse and cover-ups they’ve endured. I post Cheryl’s response with her permission:
“No. He certainly did not. He actually had 2 opportunities. The first was Monday night. A contingent of us from the Rally went to the ERLC’s panel on sexual abuse. Ashley and I were sitting side by side with our husbands four rows from the front in the center. JD was a panelist and we were right in front of him….feet from the stage. He knows what Ashley looks like. They met a few months ago by accident in a coffee shop and he recognized her then. He kept looking at her on Monday night. He could have walked off stage afterward and thanked us for being there. He didn’t. He was gone as soon as the panel ended.
We personally invited JD, Russell Moore, Beth Moore, and other big names. Initially, Russell and JD’s office said they couldn’t be there due to schedule conflicts. We changed the time to accommodate, but they still couldn’t make it.”
To be completely fair, Cheryl told me that Todd Unzicker’s wife, Bruce Ashford’s wife, Megan Lively, and some others from the Summit Church delivered two coolers of water and thanked them for being there. Believe me, that meant the world to the rally group. That was a kind gesture, and it won’t be forgotten.
But I don’t think this was an accidental oversight by Dr. Greear. Dee Parsons wrote a powerful piece recently that shows the rally organizers have been pushed aside for the past several months: [Updated] Why Won’t Southern Baptist Convention Leaders Allow the For Such a Time As This Rally Inside the Convention Doors? Lest people think I’m nitpicking here, I’ve spoken personally with Ashley Easter on several occasions about this. She happens to live in the same city as J.D. Greear and has attempted, on multiple occasions, to have a brief meeting with him. All attempts for the past year have been delayed or rejected.
To add insult to injury, Matt Chandler was invited, last minute, to speak Tuesday at the SBC about the New York Time’s article about Matt Chandler’s and The Village Church’s alleged mishandling of an abuse case with one of their youth ministers, Matthew Tonne. I couldn’t believe my eyes and my heart sank for my friends who, for months, had gone through every proper channel to be given a small space inside the convention center. Yet they were denied. And ignored. Meanwhile, yet another Southern Baptist pastor at the heart of an allegation of covering up abuse was given a microphone to defend his actions.
Lest my readers think I am being unfair or overly critical, my observation does not come in a vacuum. I personally reported my own father for sex abuse against minors and drove to the house of the parents of his victims immediately after I found out who his victims were. My wife and I wept with parents as I struggled to find the words to tell them over and over how sorry I was that my father had hurt their babies. And I live in Pennsylvania, where the biggest investigation into the Catholic church took place. I serve shoulder-to-shoulder with survivors from that report. I’ve been to Harrisburg on several occasions and have personally witnessed Attorney General Josh Shapiro drop everything and come out to hug survivors when he knows they’re present. AG Shapiro isn’t doing it for show. I’ve watched him greet each survivor by name. He knows who they are. He always thanks them for visiting. He happily gives them the space they need to talk, joins them, and smiles as he says that the capital is “our house.”
I am appalled that J.D. Greear didn’t take ten minutes to come out and greet these survivors. My heart breaks that these friends were pushed into a corner outside the convention and were ignored. I certainly credit Dr. Greear for all that he and the SBC have done to move this conversation forward. I really am grateful. And I want to see the SBC get this right. Honest to God above I do. I will proudly stand behind and cheer on those who are doing all that they can to right the wrongs of abusers and those who provide cover for them.
At the same time, I cannot ignore the fact that my friends were not given any acknowledgment or even a visit by Dr. Greear himself. The skepticism will continue, and for good reason. I pray that these survivors and advocates are given a voice. But they should be given more than that. The front row at the ERLC should have been reserved for these brave survivors. Dr. Greear should have invited them up, one by one, and said, “I’m sorry you’ve been hurt. Thank you for being here and taking a courageous stand against evil. I stand with you. This is our house.”
I close with the same words of Dr. Greear I began this post with:
“One of the things I’ve learned from Rachael (Denhollander),
as well as other survivors, is that the strongest words,
without actions that follow up those words,
are worse than not saying words at all.”