Todd Benkert, a Southern Baptist pastor who was on the Southern Baptist Convention’s task force to address sexual abuse policies, has stepped down from the team.
Benkert recently filed a complaint against Florida church Hiland Park and another church where former SBC President Johnny Hunt had been restored to ministry work after he was accused of sexual assault, Religion News Service reports.
Church leaders at Hiland Park wrote to SBC’s credentials committee that Benkert could not be on the task force and also be an “activist.”
The church says they are looking into “legal recourses.”
“However, in order to maintain my ability to speak and act according to my conscience on these issues without representing the task force, it is clear I can best support survivors and advance reform in my role as an advocate rather than a task force member,” he said in a statement.
South Carolina pastor Marshall Blalock, the task force’s chairman, said Benkert was one of the first to call for an investigation into the SBC’s treatment of abuse survivors.
“Todd has a clear concern for survivors and a passion to see needed changes implemented concerning abuse. We are grateful for Todd’s work and ongoing advocacy in support of abuse reform in the Southern Baptist Convention.”
A 2022 report from the private investigative firm Guidepost Solutions found that Hunt was one of several SBC leaders who mistreated abuse survivors. The report said that Hunt had assaulted another pastor’s wife in 2010 and then covered up his actions.
Hunt initially denied the allegations and then said the incident was consensual. He stepped down from preaching but, in January, returned to the pulpit at Hiland Baptist Church.
Last fall, a group of pastors announced that Hunt had been through a “restoration process” and could return to ministry, but Baptist leaders said the group of pastors should not have made that decision themselves.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Brian A. Jackson
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
