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Thursday Silver
June 13, 2019
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Southern Baptist leader bemoans abuse crisis, vows action

By J. REEVES and D. CRARY do better in screening po-
Associated Press tential pastors.
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama The Rev. Russell Moore,
(AP) — Sharing a stage head of the SBC’s pub-
with tearful survivors of sex lic policy arm, said the
abuse, the president of the abuse crisis is a result of sa-
Southern Baptist Conven- tanic forces at work in the
tion apologized Wednes- church.
day for the abuse crisis “The vital question is what
besetting his denomination we will do next,” Moore
and outlined an array of said during an address.
steps to address it. Moments earlier, dozens of
“We are broken-hearted abuse victims and support-
and angry,” said the Rev. ers stood during a prayer for
J.D. Greear as the largest survivors of sexual miscon-
U.S. protestant denomina- duct. Some wept openly.
tion neared the end of its Abuse survivor Stephanie
two-day national meet- Davis stood onstage and
ing. “Give us the courage received a standing ova-
to make the changes that tion after a video presenta-
genuine repentance re- tion in which she recounted
quires.” her experience. Davis said
In an impassioned speech, she was abused as a teen
preceded by prayers by a music minister who
of lamentation, Greear went on to seminary and
blamed the crisis on years kept working in churches
of cover-ups. He praised a until last year. “No one ever
new anti-abuse curriculum told me it wasn’t my fault,” Jim Hill of Denver, Colo., from left, joins Shawn Summers and Ella Summers, both of St. Louis, Mo., in
is being offered to all SBC she said. handing out information outside the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting Tuesday, June
churches and seminaries, 11, 2019, during a rally in Birmingham, Ala.
and he said the SBC must Continued on Page 3 Associated Press