Illinois Baptist
Pastoring to gender fluidity Michael Nave Table Talk P. 13
Reconstruction
church a Mission Illinois Offering & Week of Prayer
in focus
September 11-18
Nate Adams P. 2 Preview P. 3
How can we help people rebuild their faith? P. 7 News journal of the Illinois Baptist State Association
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022
IB Nonprofit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Peoria, Illinois Permit No. 325
DOJ probes SBC abuse Leaders pledge cooperation in investigation
Vol. 116 No. 9
IllinoisBaptist.org
Making refugee life ‘normal’ P. 11
Springfield | Some Illinois Baptist leaders expressed surprise but are hoping for a godly outcome in a federal investigation of the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sexual abuse claims. “It caught me by surprise,” said Adron Robinson, an Illinois representative on the SBC Executive Committee (EC), while also urging prayer for justice. IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams said further exploration by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) seemed to be a natural next step. But observers outside the SBC and representatives of abuse survivors question whether the extensive report on abuse claims produced by Guidepost Solutions at the direction of the SBC’s Sexual Abuse Task Force (SATF) uncovered only the “tip of the iceberg.” The DOJ probe was revealed in a statement by the EC on Aug. 12.
The EC confirmed it had received a subpoena from the Justice Department and was complying with the request for documents. The statement was signed by the heads of the EC, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), six Southern Baptist seminaries, two mission boards, Lifeway Christian Resources, and the Woman’s Missionary Union, which is an auxiliary—eleven entities in all. The leaders all pledged cooperation in the investigation, but apparently none have been contacted yet. The Department of Justice would not confirm the SBC statement. “While we are aware that the SBC has made certain confirmations about this matter, the U.S. Attorney’s Office does not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation,” David Boling, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District P. 4
1,000-year flood P. 6
NEWS
Crisis averted Students return to HLGU P. 3
NOTEBOOK
The waiting game While the feds investigate P. 14