How did Saddleback get kicked out of the SBC? They simply want to push their agenda & cancel anyone who refuses to kowtow to their self-righteous bloviating. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Mohler should have said, Now, Jennifer, thats not a promise I can make you like, we need to do whats right for the kingdom, Lyell said. Lyell wrote that she first shared her story with her boss at LifeWay and then with Mohler. They also risk losing their relationships with everybody else who has a relationship with that person because when the chips fall, you dont know how theyre going to fall.. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Basham is a conservative writer for the Daily Wire website, which describes itself as a counter-cultural outlet for news, opinion and entertainment., In June, Basham launched a full-force assault against Lyells credibility with an article titled Southern Baptists #MeToo Moment published on the first day of the SBC annual meeting. She lost her reputation, her job and even her health in the process. The court filing further claims Lyell maintained the relationship by driving several hundred miles from Nashville, Tenn., to Louisville, Ky. to see Sills. Jennifer Lyell was trying to do the right thing. Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Get this The Daily Telegraph page for free from Tuesday, July 29, 1975 97S IZIm THE COMPLETE CONSTRUCTION SERVICE HIM 1 Mb CHKlbTENINGb and IN MEMOR1AM Cl 10 Una MARRIAGES DEATHS and . Baptist Press eventually apologized for the article, but Lyell said she had already been devastated by the repercussions of its inaccurate reporting. It also names Jennifer Lyell, a former seminarian and vice president for Lifeway, who has repeatedly alleged that Sills was abusive, an allegation Mohler has also made on social media and in. In fact, she claims in a newly leaked audio recording that she has been vague intentionallyso that the Sills grandchildren wouldnt find out much about this by using Google. Jennifer Lyell Lyell previously was a vice president at Lifeway, which is located in Nashville, Tenn. She voluntarily agreed to an interview with Baptist Press in 2019, by her account hoping her story would encourage other survivors of sexual abuse to come forward. When I shared what had happened to me with my boss at LifeWay [Geiger] and then later with SBTS President Dr. R. Albert Mohler, I was quick to also share the responsibility I bore for being compliant at times, for not telling immediately and for so idolizing the idea of a whole family that I protected it despite what was happening within it, Lyell said. The campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship seminary for the Southern Baptist Convention, located in Louisville, Kentucky. She did so after learning her abuser, a former Southern Baptist seminary professor, author and missionary, had recently returned to ministry. . Such people have no fear of God, no interest in truth, no regard for justice, & no love for people. And now the two competing narratives of what happened between Sills and Lyell likely will add more fuel to the SBCs internal debate over the nature and extent of sexual abuse as a real problem. It takes years and years to recover from trauma, and no one should be in the position of having to explain it to the whole public while theyre still trying to do that, she said. ", Follow Samuel Smith on Twitter: @IamSamSmith. "She relayed to me what had happened to her. Henzel told CR that he did not know how the audio was leaked and did not feel comfortable speaking about it. In the spring of 2018, after more than two years of therapy, she disclosed to her boss at Lifeway that a former professor named David Sills had first sexually acted against her without her consent during a mission trip he was leading while she was a seminary student. So she wrote up a statement detailing the abuse and shared it with a reporter from a Christian news organization. All rights reserved. If this seems like a contradiction, this is just the beginning. All rights reserved. Yet victims who are not minors must decide for themselves whether to contact authorities, he said. The timeline raises many natural and difficult questionsquestions that are not prompted by a desire for lewd details, but rather to fully understand what has become a public case used to discredit how the SBC handles abuse allegations. Lyell, who served as vice president of LifeWay Christian Resources, posted a confession in 2018 claiming how Sills, who has been married for over 30 years, sexually abused her and groomed her. The court filing addresses this issue: This court has personal jurisdiction over the defendants. Mohler assured that he stands behind Lyell and her statement. I have never been unwilling to be questioned when making allegations that arent only moral, but are also criminal . But I am a victim nonetheless.. Lyell built a strong relationship with Sills family over the years as she spent many of her weekends and holidays with them. But we must not be silent. Baptist Press reporting did, in fact, mislead people. Just over two years later, she stated the allegations to then-LifeWay Senior Vice President Eric Geiger and Mohler. Ascol ran for SBC president on the slogan Change the direction.. Guidepost and the SBC are two of 12 total defendants named in the lawsuit that revolves around allegations that David Sills sexually abused Jennifer Lyell starting in 2004, when Lyell was a . The larger conversation around sexual abuse has dominated SBC life for the past two years and has been addressed by two special task forces, one of which is still working. Basham says whatever number of actual abuse cases may be found in the SBC, they represent such a small percentage as to be anything but a crisis.. Buck is an East Texas pastor who shares Ascols beliefs and is aggressive on Twitter in spreading his commentaries and accusations. David Sills, the professor, and his wife, Mary Sills, allege defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and wantonness in connection with untrue claims of sexual abuse made by Jennifer Lyell in 2021. The Southern Baptist Convention would pass Resolution 6 which acknowledged Jennifer Lyell as an abuse survivor and therefore labeling David Sills as an abuser. These ultra-conservatives believe the SBC is sliding into liberalism and needs to be rescued by them. Except the pattern of inappropriate sexual activity continued throughout the relationship., Lyell wrote that when she presented her claims to Mohler, she also shared the responsibility" for being compliant at times and for idolizing the idea of a whole family., I protected [the family] despite what was happening within it, she wrote. After BNG reported on the Sills lawsuit, Ascol tweeted: Wow. In a grievance filed Nov. 21 within the Circuit Courtroom of Cell, Alabama, David Sills, a former professor of missions and [] The ex-Southern Baptist Convention seminary professor accused of sexual abuse by his former student filed a defamation suit in Alabama against her and several SBC entities, claiming the allegations. Jennifer Lyell, who now works as an executive for LifeWay Christian Resources, posted a confession online last week claiming how Sills, who has been married for 30 years and has three grandchildren, sexually abused her and even groomed her from the time she was a master of divinity student until just a few years ago. It also names Jennifer Lyell, a former seminarian and vice president for Lifeway, who has repeatedly alleged that Sills was abusive, an allegation Mohler has also made on social media and in an interview for a documentary about the denomination's response to its sexual abuse crisis. Return to homepage. Things made a little more sense last Friday when a woman named Jennifer Lyell (below) released a statement explaining how she had been engaged in an "inappropriate relationship" with Sills for nearly a decade, beginning when she was his student. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Upon hearing Lyells claims last May, SBTS immediately took action. Pastoral misconduct is seen as a moral failing rather than an abuse of power. We hope you will! Sills files defamation suit against SBC, Lyell, others November 29, 2022 By Baptist Press MOBILE, Ala. (BP) - A former Southern Baptist seminary professor and his wife have filed suit against the SBC and 10 other individuals and entities connected to the SBC, including Jennifer Lyell and Guidepost Solutions. By admitting to having sinned and asking for forgiveness, they can mitigate the consequences of their actions and preserve a future in the church. Reaching and Teaching International told BP in a statement that they are aware of a statement by Lyell regarding her allegations and are committed to ensuring a culture of transparency and accountability., Lyell said, It is my hope that my story, one in which a SBC entity and its leaders acted swiftly and justly but in which that same individual was also in a ministry position only months later, will also help to illustrate the need for some form of a reporting tool that can ensure that those who have victimized others from a ministry position are unable to ever do so again., (EDITOR'S NOTE This story has been edited by Biblical Recorder staff. She said she was motivated to tell her story following the account of Megan Lively, who was raped by a fellow student at a Southern Baptist seminary in 2003 and then counseled by the president of the seminary to not report the incident to police. 11 - Motion to Introduce Report moved by Councillor Jennifer McKelvie (Carried) That the Report from Meetings 14 and 15 of the Scarborough Community Council listed on the Agenda of Council be presented for consideration. She graduated from Southern with a master of divinity in 2006 and enrolled in an SBTS doctoral program for one year after that. Lyell was the SBC Lifeway Christian Resources Vice President before she decided to come to the open on the sexual abuse done her by Sills. Now, David Sills and Mary Sills contend they have been smeared repeatedly in the process and seek monetary damages from the SBC; the SBC Executive Committee; former SBC President Ed Litton; current SBC President Bart Barber; Lyell; Lifeway Christian Resources; Eric Geiger, a former executive vice president at Lifeway; Willie McLaurin, interim president of the Executive Committee; Rolland Slade, former chairman of the Executive Committee; Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary; and Guidepost Solutions, the firm that conducted the independent investigation. However, not everyone has believed a sexual abuse crisis exists in the SBC. And so, we invoked our policies and procedures,"Mohler told The Christian Post in a phone interview. Hope youll give us another try and check out some other articles. Nine months after The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) professor David Sills resigned for undisclosed reasons, a woman has released a statement of allegations including details of what she describes as sexual abuse by Sills, beginning while she was a Southern Seminary student. Some especially a group of Calvinist pastors questioned Lyells account and accused her of trying to make a consensual affair look like abuse. MOBILE, Ala. (BP) - A former Southern Baptist seminary professor and his wife have filed suit against the SBC and 10 other individuals and entities connected to the SBC, including Jennifer Lyell and Guidepost Solutions. They didnt they just kind of defaulted to me, and then realized later, Oh, crap, we shouldnt have done that., SBC Elites cite distinguished lawyer and Southern Baptist Matthew Martens; however, Martens has written persuasively, Supporters of a constitutional amendment to ban women pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), New intel points to Covid origin in a lab leak, remember when this was a, NAMB PR VP Mike Ebert emerges as key witness in McRaney v. NAMB What will, Leaked audio interview with Jennifer Lyell hits, featured in a new documentary on sex abuse in the SBC, David raped Bathsheba promoter involved in new SEBTS abuse class, SBC Abuse Expert Rachael Denhollander Sided with Amber Heard, SBC Elites defend credibly accused standard to ruin lives, Bart Barber flipflops on pledge to bring vote to ban Women Pastors in SBC, Evangelical Elites lied you to about the origins of Covid, Woke SBC Elites Delete History To Hide Their Schemes. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. In 2004, Lyell was a 26-year-old master of divinity student when she met cultural anthropology professor David Sills, who is 23 years her senior, on the Louisville campus of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. For Sills, no reason for his resignation was stated by Southern. Buck, like Ascol, holds no official role in SBC life and has no direct connection to her claims of abuse from Sills. Scarsella, who also works with a nonprofit that advocates for abuse victims, noted that clergy abusers also often know how to use the theology of sin for their advantage. Want to help your child build lasting, meaningful friendships? Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Facebook/The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Bible teacher Jen Wilkin addresses criticism of her views on sending children to public schools, Teen, 21-year-old man indicted for murder of Memphis pastor, Deion Sanders' prayers are constitutionally protected, lawyer tells University of Colorado, Revival at Kentucky college faces hurdles from school leadership, moves worship off-campus. Anthony Jackson Age 51. Denhollander, an abuse survivor whose testimony led to the conviction of former national gymnastics doctor and serial abuser Larry Nassar, said evangelical theology had created a kind of porn culture in churches. RELATED: Southern Baptist leader, experts say churches should address the abuse of adults. Lyell said that at the time, she did not want the seminary or Lifeway to publicly disclose what had happened to her. Jennifer Lyell claims she never wanted the attention her abuse allegations created nor to harm the family of David Sills, her alleged abuser. 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