Old login credentials will no longer work. Then the bulk of the article picks apart Lyells assertion she was held emotionally captive in an abusive relationship with Sills over a period of years a sexual relationship Lyell insists was not consensual. The suit was filed in the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Ala., on Monday, Nov. 21. David Sills and His Wife Claim There Was Never Any Sexual Intercourse At All, Ever, At Any Time Between David Sills and Jennifer Lyell. She did so after learning her abuser, former Southern Baptist seminary professor, author, and missionary David Sills, had recently returned to ministry. I mean, I was like, literally like, I mean, it was it was police at my house and, you know, safety, Lyell said. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. In his lawsuit filed Nov. 21, Sills claimed Lyells allegedly false claims were repeated in SBC media as an opportunity to improve the appearance and reputation SBCs handling of abuse cases and made him a bona fide scapegoat.. Just over two years later, she stated the allegations to then-LifeWay Senior Vice President Eric Geiger and Mohler. 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. 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. Heaven will be diverse. The group has no apparent connections to the SBC, and its interview with Lyell seems outside its stated purpose. David Sills and his wife, Mary, filed the suit Nov. 21 in Mobile County circuit court. "I think she was courageous in making those statements and I think it sets an example for how others should also demonstrate an equal courage," Mohler said. On July 6th, this story would resurface because Bob Smietana, a liberal reporter of the pagan Religious News Service wrote an apologetic for Jennifer Lyell, When abuse victims are adults . Basham frequently tweeted and replied to tweets about the issue, at one point portraying herself as an investigative reporter who was just asking the questions no one else would ask. InterVarsity Press, which published one of Sills' books, removed Sills' biography page from its website and the webpage for Sills book Changing World, Unchanging Mission: Responding to Global Challenges. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. After BNG reported on the Sills lawsuit, Ascol tweeted: Wow. Our policies and procedures are clear and are consistently applied. The abuser often spends years grooming a victim and then does not let the victim go. These ultra-conservatives believe the SBC is sliding into liberalism and needs to be rescued by them. How did Saddleback get kicked out of the SBC? Filing claims Guidepost never interviewed or even contacted him before publicly naming him a predator. (Guidepost Solutions is the firm hired by the SBC Executive Committee to investigate charges of sexual abuse within the convention. All rights reserved. Hes wrong. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. George resigned on May 3 while Sills resigned on May 23, the Biblical Recorder reported. 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. She did not revisit all the details of the abuse but did disclose those details to leaders at Lifeway and then to Al Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where the professor was employed. That was not accurate. Today, she feels that belief, known as complementarianism, has created an unhealthy culture. 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 that the relationship continued until she was 38. So that's not up for renegotiation," he explained. David Sills and his wife, Mary Sills, claim Lyell 'constructed a false narrative . The Complaint does not hid and it does not disappoint. The case as outlined by David and Mary Sills directly contradicts the narrative told by Lyell and widely accepted as truth. "She relayed to me what had happened to her. Please click the "Register" link below to create a new account. I am also grateful for the bold leadership of Grant Gaines, Ronnie Parrot, and Todd Benkert. at the height of awareness of SBC scandals.' 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. 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. 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. The church said it acted swiftly and firmly and that Sills is no longer a member. But I am a victim nonetheless.. In addition to being missionaries to these groups it is also our purpose to train and equip those who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ, his death, burial and physical resurrection, for their salvation to do the same., At one point last summer, Henzel sent two emails to Ascol, asking him to communicate with elders at Lyells church about Henzels and Veinots concerns regarding Lyells wellness.. All rights reserved. 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. After several years of dispute, the SBC Executive Committee earlier this year reached a financial settlement with Lyell and issued a public apology for the Baptist Press story. I couldnt deal. The conventions statement of faith says women and men are equal in Gods sight but have different roles in the church and the home. 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. Sills resigned from the Kentucky-based schoollast May shortly after Lyell presented her claims to SBTS President Albert Mohler. In a release to Baptist Press (BP) and others, Jennifer Lyell, now 41 and director of the books ministry area at LifeWay Christian Resources, alleges Sills initiated sexual contact with her on a mission trip in 2004. Yet victims who are not minors must decide for themselves whether to contact authorities, he said. 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 claim that she was abused by David Sills while he was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary resulted in a controversial news story published by Baptist Press, the denominational news service, which portrayed the relationship as consensual. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Russell Moore, a Southern Baptist ethicist and president of the denominations Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said the power dynamics involved in abuse have often been misunderstood in evangelical circles. Whatever else is accurate or inaccurate in the lawsuit filed by David and Mary Sills against the SBC, Lyell and 10 others, the quotation attributed to a Lyell email to Smietana of RNS actually comes from a different Lyell email sent to Veinot and Henzel June 18, 2021. By admitting to having sinned and asking for forgiveness, they can mitigate the consequences of their actions and preserve a future in the church. Her story has already helped countless other people around the country, in ways that she may not even know about. 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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. 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.. What I originally wrote below was based on the limited information I had at the time. The law should reflect that, Legacy of Wounded Knee occupation lives on 50 years later, Holy Queer author seeks Black church inclusion beyond singing with choir. 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. 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. This and so much more is contained in a roughly 2-and-a-half-hour audio interview never released that hit the Internet today. But he didnt make it public disclosure, Lyell said. She stated that the pattern continued and escalated for more than a decade following that trip.. Southern Baptists oust Rick Warrens Saddleback Church for naming a female pastor, Southern Baptists plan to hire Guidepost Solutions to run abuser tracking database, Beth Moore tries to untangle her all knotted-up life in new memoir, Copyright 2020, Religion News Service. 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. And these men couldnt even lift a finger when she was defamed and crushed and destroyed. 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.. 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. 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. Sills local church, Ninth & O Baptist Church in Louisville, confirmed to Baptist Press that Sills is no longer a member and that the church acted swiftly and firmly after hearing the accusations. "So I want to make very clear that I stand with her in that statement.". Pastoral misconduct is seen as a moral failing rather than an abuse of power. Rather than seek the truth, defendants repeated and circulated false statements about Dr. Sills, causing him to be cast as a toxic pariah, the brief states. 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. 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. 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. The lawsuit centers on allegations that Sills sexually abused Jennifer Lyell starting in 2004 when Lyell was a student and Sills was a professor. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. The BP trampled on a survivor and shielded a VIOLENT sexual predator who then sought new employment." She continued: As such, Jennifer Lyell seems to be someone who is the victim of horrendous sexual abuse. . We say that we are not this hierarchy but in reality, we function like we are protecting the barracks of the Vatican, she said. But we must not be silent. The Sillses contend neither Mohler nor the SBC nor Guidepost did sufficient investigation to find out the truth of the matter. This is why the most egregious, cruel lies do not leave me without hope when those asserting them are reckless enough to do so in a form that not only allows my witness but provides a clear means by which it will be formally provided., Sills files suit against SBC and 11 other defendants, claiming his relationship with Lyell was consensual and he became a scapegoat in the SBCs sexual abuse crisis, Not everyone believes theres a sexual abuse crisis in the SBC, No, we will not take down an article you dont like | Opinion by Mark Wingfields, Guidepost report documents pattern of ignoring, denying and deflecting on sexual abuse claims in SBC, SBC Executive Committee publicly apologizes to sexual abuse survivor, SBC report shows how five words turn abuse victim from survivor to whore| Opinion by Marv Knox. In the spring of 2019, Lyell, then a well-respected leader in Christian publishing, decided to publicly disclose that she was a survivor of sexual abuse. I am not a sinless victim. 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. Hope youll give us another try and check out some other articles. ", As a result of the conversation upon Sills' return, Mohler said "he was no longer a member of the faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from that time.". . 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. The plaintiffs have requested a jury trial. 1. 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. Sills also served as an International Mission Board (IMB) trustee and a member of the IMBs presidential search committee. Return to homepage. The article was eventually retracted, but the damage was done. He said people often turn to clergy when they are at their most vulnerable. It was a Zoom call conducted June 6, 2021. Her name appears on 37 pages of the report. 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. George, as curator of the Spurgeon Library and digitized archive, worked with the . Sills is also an author. This wasnt by accident; I believe it was by design, Lyell wrote. Three Southern Baptist seminary faculty members have recently resigned their positions. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Lyell told RNS that at first, she did receive a great deal of support from Southern Baptist leaders when she told them about the abuse she experienced. Lyell first disclosed the situation to a therapist in March 2016, she said. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". 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.. 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.. 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 . The leaders who had the information and ability to correct the inaccuracies supported her privately but were publicly silent. Lyell urged denominational leaders as well as pastors to recognize the responsibility they have to protect survivors from more harm when they come forward. The Louisville, Ky., church where Sills was a member, Lyell said, also took action following Sills resignation. 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. And there were aspects of it certainly that I think is something that an abuser can use., Abuse advocate and attorney Rachael Denhollander said that Lyells story reflects a bigger problem with a complementarian culture that defends male leaders but views women leaders and survivors of abuse as expendable., Abuse survivor Rachael Denhollander, right, discusses the Southern Baptist Conventions history of addressing sexual abuse with ERLC President Russell Moore at the Caring Well conference in Dallas, on Oct. 4, 2019. Want to share a story? Ascol retweeted her, insisting: Exactly. He said that he could fix it by me becoming part of his family and then once I was part of his family, that sort of thing would never happen again, she continued. 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. The court filing further claims Lyell maintained the relationship by driving several hundred miles from Nashville, Tenn., to Louisville, Ky. to see Sills. We must clearly tell the truth so that our churches and ministries are safe and as pure as they can be.. A Response to Rachael Denhollander and Others.. Im also fine to answer any questions you or the other gentleman has to ensure you have clarity and believe me. David Sills | MOODY PUBLISHERS Sills was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary until his resignation on May 23, 2018. Lyell contends it was not consensual. If this seems like a contradiction, this is just the beginning. However, not everyone has believed a sexual abuse crisis exists in the SBC. Lyells experience reveals the difficulty survivors often face when they try to speak up about their experiences. 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. Instead of reporting she had been abused, Nashville-based Baptist Press, which is overseen by the Southern Baptist Conventions Executive Committee, reported in March 2019 that Lyell, then a vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, had admitted being involved in a morally inappropriate relationship with her former professor. Lyell built a strong relationship with Sills family over the years as she spent many of her weekends and holidays with them. He did call the police. 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.. She mentions them many times during this recording. Help keep The Christian Post free for everyone by making a one-time donation today. It took months for Baptist Press to retract the article and address errors in it and that only happened after the former BP staff had been replaced and the article had been criticized by abuse advocate Rachael Denhollander. Lyell is a former vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, the SBC publishing house. However, according to media reports none of the local police had any reports regarding these alleged incidents. ", "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. Her case has become one of the most high-profile illustrations of the larger reckoning over mishandled knowledge of sexual abuse within the SBC. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. 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.. She said she was a 26-year-old Master of Divinity student when it began. 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. She May not even know about a Zoom call conducted June 6 2021! Retracted, but Lyell said, also took action following Sills resignation contend neither Mohler nor the SBC nor did... Not everyone has believed a sexual abuse within the convention from the Kentucky-based schoollast May shortly Lyell! 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