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 outlet additionally reported that Sills has also resigned as a trustee of the SBC International Mission Board and his position on IMB's presidential search committee. Ascol is a Florida pastor who leads Founders Ministries, a group of Southern Baptist Calvinists. Jen came forward at incredible personal cost to herself, to defend those who had no voice, Denhollander said. He said people often turn to clergy when they are at their most vulnerable. 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. "So I want to make very clear that I stand with her in that statement.". 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.. In a grievance filed Nov. 21 within the Circuit Courtroom of Cell, Alabama, David Sills, a former professor of missions and [] 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. Lyells case brings up a host of other issues that confuse average Southern Baptists. Today, she feels that belief, known as complementarianism, has created an unhealthy culture. As I understand it, that is not accurate. 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 leaders who had the information and ability to correct the inaccuracies supported her privately but were publicly silent. 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 . 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.. Ascol ran for SBC president on the slogan Change the direction.. One details Lyells complaint that the video of her interview with Midwest Christian Outreach that was supposed to be kept confidential had been shared with others, including Basham. [I] became an aunt to their grandchildren, and their grown children became like siblings to me, she wrote. In the spring of 2019, Lyell, then a well-respected leader in Christian publishing, decided to publicly disclose that. She did so after learning her abuser, a former Southern Baptist seminary professor, author and missionary, had recently returned to ministry. On October 7, 2019, Jennifer Lyell, a LifeWay employee, penned an open letter to Southern Baptists expressing her grief caused by what she alleges was an erroneous Baptist Press report released in March this year. BNG has obtained documentation showing this section of the legal filing misrepresents the context of a quotation attributed to sexual abuse survivor Jennifer Lyell a fact available to the three tweeters because they apparently had access to the original email from which it was drawn. 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. But he didnt make it public disclosure, Lyell said. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. 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.. Lyell feared he would once again have the opportunity to abuse others and wanted to stop that from happening. RNS published a story about the Sills lawsuit Nov. 28 and noted at the end of the story the complaint against Smietana and RNS. 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. 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. 2023 Baptist News Global. Lyell is a former Reaching and Teaching International board member. At SBTS, Mohler assured that the institution's biblical and moral standards "aren't up for any renegotiation. In a grievance filed Nov. 21 within the Circuit Courtroom of Cell, Alabama, David Sills, a former professor of missions and [] But I am a victim nonetheless.. 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. He said it is often easier for churches to blame victims than to look at the way they have empowered abusers. Survivors dont just lose their trust in that one person, she said. Lyell was even commended in an SBC Resolution for her bravery in standing against sex abuse. Sills, former professor of missions and cultural anthropology at Southern, did not respond to request for comment. Any criticism of complementarianism is seen as a sort of gateway drug into theological liberalism., I think a culture that believes that its righteousness is dependent on preserving and protecting the strictest form of complementarianism is a culture that sees women as a threat, sees women as a risk, sees women as more likely to sin, she said. And the incidents Lyell describes would have caused the creation of police reports. This led to a general understanding that what happened between Dr. David Sills and Ms. Jennifer Lyell was a consensual affair. Pooler said church members often become nonprotective bystanders, whose inaction enables abuse to continue and abusers to go unpunished. David Sills and Mary Sills contend they have been smeared repeatedly in the process and seek monetary damages. A reasonable inference is also that Defendant Lyell intended to advance her false narrative by taking a hand in the actual writing of an article by RNS and Smietana, each of whom had previously served as a resource to Defendant Lyell for the purpose of publishing her malicious allegations against the Sills Plaintiffs. 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. Lyell said that at the time, she did not want the seminary or Lifeway to publicly disclose what had happened to her. It looked idyllic on the surface. 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. Lyell told RNS she did not initially report what happened because she was in shock, confused and scared about what people would believe. I shared how 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 for more than a decade following that trip. She has alleged Sills abused her over a multi-year period. 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. She did so after learning her abuser, a former Southern Baptist seminary professor, author and missionary, had recently returned to ministry. In a filing made in the Mobile, Ala., Circuit Court, David and Mary Sills allege "defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and . By Lyells previous accounts, Sills cultivated a relationship with her. 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. Police is an important part of Lyells narrative. At its simplest level, it is abuse because it is not consensual, he said. We hope you will! Such people have no fear of God, no interest in truth, no regard for justice, & no love for people. 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. And so, we invoked our policies and procedures,"Mohler told The Christian Post in a phone interview. 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 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. 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.. It also names Jennifer Lyell, a former seminarian and vice president for Lifeway, who repeatedly alleged Sills was abusive, an allegation Mohler has also made on social media and in . Her name appears on 37 pages of the report. Although the lawsuit was filed in Alabama, David Sills lives in Mississippi. But her feelings toward the denominations beliefs about gender roles have shifted. The BP trampled on a survivor and shielded a VIOLENT sexual predator who then sought new employment." She continued: But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Hes wrong. Please click the "Register" link below to create a new account. 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. The campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship seminary for the Southern Baptist Convention, located in Louisville, Kentucky. On page 18 of the Sills lawsuit, Sills and his attorneys present their accusation as fact. Critics of the SBC investigation and of the existence of a crisis of sexual abuse in the denomination frequently point to Lyells story as questionable, but they have been minority voices. Man At Center of Massive SBC Sex Scandal Sues Denomination, Along with 11 Prominent Southern Baptists For Lying About Him The Soap Opera Plods On News broke today that former Southern Baptist Seminary professor, David Sills (who resigned 9 months ago), resigned due Continue reading When Sin Goes Unchecked the Nations Suffer 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, Three big numbers that tell the story of secularization in America. 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. When I shared what had happened to me with my boss at LifeWay [Geiger] and then later with SBTS President Dr. R. 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