Also at the same time Buck inserted himself into the behind-the-scenes interrogation of Lyell, he maintained a public campaign to identify an alleged leaker of a column written by his wife discussing difficulties in their marriage and in her earlier life. 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. Our policies and procedures are clear and are consistently applied. 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. Jennifer Lyell claims she never wanted the attention her abuse allegations created nor to harm the family of David Sills, her alleged abuser. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". What Ascol, Buck and Sills share in common is adherence to an extreme version of Reformed theology, known as hyper-Calvinism, that has been on the resurgence in the SBC over the past 30 years. 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, 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. Litigating this case publicly could cause extreme discomfort for some of the defendants named, forcing them to testify under oath about matters they have tried to handle discreetly. That happened three months prior to release of a bombshell report from an independent investigation that found widespread mishandling of known cases of sexual abuse in the SBC and its churches. Want to share a story? The following year, Jennifer Lyell, a former vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, told Baptist Press she had been a victim of emotional and sexual . The lawsuit challenges what has been accepted as fact in one of the highest-profile cases in the web of allegations regarding mishandling of sexual abuse within the SBC. She graduated from Southern with a master of divinity in 2006 and enrolled in an SBTS doctoral program for one year after that. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. When a pastor or leader is involved in a sexual scandal, the language of affair is used, even when its a predatory use of spiritual power, he said. The Complaint does not hid and it does not disappoint. 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. [I] became an aunt to their grandchildren, and their grown children became like siblings to me, she wrote. Mississippi lawyer Don Barrett, one of the attorneys representing David Sills and his wife, Mary Sills, said that part of the complaint was in error, the story said. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. The following year, Jennifer Lyell, a former vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, told Baptist Press she had been a victim of emotional and sexual abuse by Sills, who had been her professor. RELATED: Jennifer Lyell wanted to stop her abuser by . Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. RNS published a story about the Sills lawsuit Nov. 28 and noted at the end of the story the complaint against Smietana and RNS. Please click the "Register" link below to create a new account. Pooler said church members often become nonprotective bystanders, whose inaction enables abuse to continue and abusers to go unpunished. 1. Some especially a group of Calvinist pastors questioned Lyells account and accused her of trying to make a consensual affair look like abuse. David Sills Three Southern Baptist seminary faculty members have recently resigned their positions. 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. Why so much outrage over the burning of an LGBT Pride flag? NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) Jennifer Lyell was trying to do the right thing. Instead, from this news story (with details not included in the Guidepost Report), you can see that the sexual relationship between Jennifer Lyell and David Sills first occurred when Jenn was 26 and David Sills was 49. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. We say that we are not this hierarchy but in reality, we function like we are protecting the barracks of the Vatican, she said. A former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary student has come forward to detail how former professor David Sills, who resigned last year, engaged in an inappropriate and "abusive" sexual relationship with her that lasted for over a decade. The group has no apparent connections to the SBC, and its interview with Lyell seems outside its stated purpose. If not, why not? It was a Zoom call conducted June 6, 2021. All rights reserved. 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. 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. Lyell explained that she decided to go public with her story after hearing that Sills was appointed to serve as a missionary with a mission agency not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. One of Lyells advocates over the past three years has been Mohler, who has publicly stated he believed Lyells story as she has told it. My thinking was I could just verbally work through your article and clarify/add the information you didnt have or was inaccurate as well as answer the broader questions you asked when the information you had didnt reconcile for you. If I were not to come forward with this letter, a church or ministry who receives Dr. Sills CV and does an internet search for him would have no way to know the truth behind his resignation, she wrote. I am also grateful for the bold leadership of Grant Gaines, Ronnie Parrot, and Todd Benkert. Those documents include emails between the various parties. Such people have no fear of God, no interest in truth, no regard for justice, & no love for people. There are plenty of reasons to stay silent in a situation such as this. For Sills, no reason for his resignation was stated by Southern. And for so long, people have been unable to understand those categories., RELATED: The cost for coming forward one survivors life after #MeToo. Anthony Jackson Age 51. Who those others were is not clear. Abusers in the church have figured out that if they are willing to admit partial, limited wrongdoing and if they are willing to perform apology, repentance and intention to do better, she said, behaving in sexually violent ways doesnt actually diminish their prospects for leadership in the church. And because of their power and influence, pastors and other religious leaders have a responsibility to set up boundaries in their relationships with other people. Lives in: Mayfield KY Used to live: Mayfield KY AKA: Anthony White, Anthony Scott Jackson, Anthony Scott Jackson, Anthony S Jackson Related to: Lindsey R Jackson, Akia T White, Antonio D Jackson, Carlos L Jackson, Darrell Albert White View Details This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. If this seems like a contradiction, this is just the beginning. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Jennifer Lyell was trying to do the right thing. Return to homepage. Its complicated. Yet victims who are not minors must decide for themselves whether to contact authorities, he said. The SBCs public relations service, Baptist Press, misrepresented her statements about the situation, which eventually led to a public apology and a financial settlement from the SBC Executive Committee, which runs Baptist Press. Photo by Karen Race Photography 2019. Police is an important part of Lyells narrative. 2023 Baptist News Global. The suit states: On June 18, 2022, Defendant Lyell wrote to Religion News Services (RNS) and Reporter Bob Smietana, the following: My thinking was I could just verbally work through your article and clarify/add the information you didnt have or was inaccurate as well as answer the broader questions you asked when the information you had didnt reconcile for you. A Response to Rachael Denhollander and Others.. 1. Lyell came to us with an allegation of abuse and should have been cared for throughout the entire process. at the height of awareness of SBC scandals.' There are elements that sound like an abuse victim pleading with an abuser, I just want you to be like a dad, and there are elements where the story does not seem plausible given what we knowpay special attention to the police. Just over two years later, she stated the allegations to then-LifeWay Senior Vice President Eric Geiger and Mohler. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. (RNS) A former seminary professor and missionary who admitted sexual misconduct has sued a gaggle of Southern Baptist Conference leaders and entities, claiming they conspired with an abuse survivor to break his repute. I have never been unwilling to be questioned when making allegations that arent only moral, but are also criminal . 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. Moore said he and his wife are friends of Lyell and he described her as one of the strongest, most courageous and brilliant leaders I know. He hopes she will eventually return to a leadership role in the church. Lyells case is of particular interest because Guidepost did not talk to some described as corroborating the allegations of abuse and because SBC Elites declared on their own authority that this was a case of Sex Abuse. The string of email correspondence viewed by BNG implies Buck contacted Lyell to ask questions about her claims. David Sills and Mary Sills contend they have been smeared repeatedly in the process and seek monetary damages. While churches say they want to care for survivors of abuse, those survivors are often viewed with suspicion, having to prove they are worthy of compassion and respect. Lyell built a strong relationship with Sills family over the years as she spent many of her weekends and holidays with them. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. 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. Last year, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills resigned from his position without much of an explanation. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills resigned last year. However, Ascol, Basham and Buck were copied on the email, and in another email, Lyell indicates Basham had accessed the video without Lyells knowledge or permission. And it was not just the real devastation was the fact that I could not understand and still no one understands why that Baptist Press and the EC did what they did.. In her statement, Lyell accused Sills of "grooming and taking advantage of his student." Lyell first disclosed the situation to a therapist in March 2016, she said. 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. We must clearly tell the truth so that our churches and ministries are safe and as pure as they can be.. In February, the top-ranked Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) did something that's almost unprecedented: they apologized and offered a monetary settlement to Jennifer Lyell, who for years had been abused by an SBC seminary professor. BNG has confirmed Midwest Christian Outreach was working with Ascol, Buck and Basham in the background into 2022. Lawsuit protests the SBC and third-party firm for supporting allegations in a new legal challenge referencing historic abuse report. Part of Lyells reason for being "compliant at times" and remaining silent for as long as she did, she stated, was because she became like part of [Sills] family and feared the collateral damage that telling would cause for those around him. In her statement, Lyell accused Sills of grooming and taking advantage of his student.. "[O]ur policies and procedures work and we work hard to make certain that they are up to date with best practices. Lyells attorney suggested to Baptist Press that Sills filing the lawsuit in Alabama appeared inappropriate. We were horrified by what she shared with us. Buck, like Ascol, holds no official role in SBC life and has no direct connection to her claims of abuse from Sills. The court filing further claims Lyell maintained the relationship by driving several hundred miles from Nashville, Tenn., to Louisville, Ky. to see Sills. We hope you will! Then Basham quotes three male friends of Lyells alleged abuser who all say they cant imagine him behaving the way Lyell has described. I mean, I was like, literally like, I mean, it was it was police at my house and, you know, safety, Lyell said. As Veinot explains on the website: Our mission is to give clear answers, and a solid defense of the orthodox biblical faith, to all types of unbelievers atheists, agnostics, as well as members of cults and new religious groups such as the Jehovahs Witnesses, Mormons, the International Churches of Christ, and so on. Although the Sillses live in Mississippi and Lyell lives in Tennessee, the lawsuit was filed in Mobile County Circuit Court because former SBC President Ed Litton, who is among the defendants in the suit, lives in Mobile County and the SBC, the conventions executive committee and other SBC entities own and maintain property, employees and/or agents in Alabama, including Mobile County Alabama, the suit stated. She wrote, "Dr. David Sills, then a tenured professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, first sexually acted against me on a mission trip in 2004, a pattern that continued and escalated . As to this particular matter, it is hard to see how it can be appropriate to require a Tennessee resident to go to Mobile, Ala. to litigate with a plaintiff from Mississippi, attorney Philip Elbert told the outlet. Upon hearing Lyells claims last May, SBTS immediately took action. It interwove Lyells story with this discussion. I now wonder if the only reason that a family relationship was ever presented as an option was to ensure I wouldnt tell what had happened in those first instances.. She mentions them many times during this recording. Hilary Scarsella, assistant professor of ethics and director of women and gender studies at Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School, said survivors of clergy abuse can feel trapped because they know publicly disclosing the abuse may have consequences, both to their own faith and their place in the community. Sills files defamation suit against SBC, Lyell, others 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. Sills resigned from the Kentucky-based schoollast May shortly after Lyell presented her claims to SBTS President Albert Mohler. 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. First, the defendants widely circulated their herein-described defamatory lies about Dr. and Mrs. Sills throughout Mobile County and the state of Alabama. 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. Ascols group, Founders Ministries, once was a fringe movement in the SBC but today has a large following, especially among younger seminarians and pastors who were influenced by the Passion conferences in the 1990s. In a statement posted on her website, Jennifer Lyell, who is now 41 and works for a major Christian book publisher, said Sills first "sexually acted" against her on a mission trip in 2004 and. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". RELATED: Southern Baptist leader, experts say churches should address the abuse of adults. Lyell contends it was not consensual. The lawsuit centers on allegations that Sills sexually abused Jennifer Lyell starting in 2004 when Lyell was a student and Sills was a professor. However, in the new court filing he insists he did not sexually abuse Lyell, force himself upon Lyell, use violence against Lyell, threaten to use violence against Lyell or engage in sexual intercourse with Lyell at any time whatsoever., The filing says Sills acknowledges a personal and emotionally intimate relationship between the two but claims it was initiated by Lyell, who was well above the age of consent.. Lyell sent a statement to both BNG and RNS: I do not need to be under oath to tell the truth and there are no lies that will shake my certainty about what is true. Sills was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary until his resignation on May 23, 2018. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Nine months after Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills resigned for undisclosed reasons, a woman has released a statement of allegations including details of what she says was a morally inappropriate relationship with Sills for more than a decade, beginning while she was a Southern Seminary student. He said people often turn to clergy when they are at their most vulnerable. It conclusively demonstrated the non-consensual nature of what happened to her. Lyell said that at the time, she did not want the seminary or Lifeway to publicly disclose what had happened to her. 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. In fact, she claims in a newly leaked audio recording that she has been vague intentionallyso that the Sills grandchildren wouldn't find out much about this by using Google. Jennifer Lyell in 2019 decided to reveal she had been sexually abused by a former Southern Baptist seminary professor who had recently returned to ministry. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Pastors and churches called for her to be fired. The group maintained a shared online file of their correspondence. she disclosed to her boss at Lifeway that a former professor named David Sills had first "sexually acted . Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here. According to documents obtained by BNG, however, Ascol, Buck and Basham had collaborated with the source of the original quotation that Sills took out of context in his recent lawsuit. 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 . And because they, in a sense, represent God, they have more power than almost any other professional person that works with other people.. 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. ", "We hold unquestionably to a biblical standard of sexual morality and personal morality and we expect that of any who would teach but also even as students. Henzel told CR that he did not know how the audio was leaked and did not feel comfortable speaking about it. . Buck is an East Texas pastor who shares Ascols beliefs and is aggressive on Twitter in spreading his commentaries and accusations. The audio came to the Capstone Report from a source not connected with Midwest Outreach. Basham questions Lyells description of events, her claims to have reported the abuse to police, and her ability to enlist others to corroborate her story. Photo via Baylor University. That post cited the biblical story of David and Bathsheba to ask what constitutes a consensual sexual relationship versus rape. 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. David Sills (Photo via Baptist Press) According to Baptist Press, Lyell was involved in the relationship with Sills from the time she was 26 until she was 38. Jennifer Lyell Lyell is a former vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, the SBC publishing house. We hope you will! Ascol is a Florida pastor who leads Founders Ministries, a group of Southern Baptist Calvinists. She has alleged Sills abused her over a multi-year period. And the incidents Lyell describes would have caused the creation of police reports. Baptist Press eventually apologized for the article, but Lyell said she had already been devastated by the repercussions of its inaccurate reporting. George resigned on May 3 while Sills resigned on May 23, the Biblical Recorder reported. The case as outlined by David and Mary Sills directly contradicts the narrative told by Lyell and widely accepted as truth. In a filing made in the Mobile, Ala., Circuit Court, David and Mary Sills allege "defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and . He also said churches often believe survivors were participants in their abusers sins. What happened instead was a controversy over what kind of relations are consensual and nonconsensual and who gets to make that determination and challenges to the veracity of Lyells account. 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.. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson thinks he redeemed himself. The Southern Baptist Conventions Executive Committee earlier this year offered a public apology and a confidential monetary settlement to Lyell and announced the resolution during their February meeting in Nashville. In a post on her website, Lyell accused Sills of sexually abusing her during a 2004 mission trip and claimed the abuse continued over a decade. However, Baptist Press, the SBCs in-house news service owned by the executive committee, incorrectly reported that Lyell had admitted to being involved in a morally inappropriate relationship with her former professor. They may, at best, support survivors or criticize fellow denominational leaders in private but will not use their power to do the same in public, she said. 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. David Sills, a former seminary professor and missionary who admitted sexual misconduct, has sued a group of Southern Baptist Convention leaders and entities, claiming they conspired with an abuse survivor to ruin his reputation. The plaintiffs have requested a jury trial. As of earlier today, we declared his one IVP title (in both print and digital formats) as out of print.. And that retraction happened only after Denhollander had publicly criticized the SBCs treatment of Lyell during a major conference on abuse in the fall of 2019. 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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. She stated the allegations to then-LifeWay Senior Vice President at Lifeway that a former professor named David,! 51. who those others were is not clear claims last May, immediately... The abuse of adults ministries are safe and as pure as they be... Link below to create a new legal challenge referencing historic abuse report pastors and called... 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