The report of the Alabama Baptist Sexual Misconduct Task Force was unveiled May 16 during a regularly scheduled meeting of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) in Montgomery.
The task force, composed of SBOM staff members and chaired by Dale Huff, released two booklets containing its findings and recommendations, "Preventing Sexual Misconduct in Your Church" and "Protecting Children and Youth from Sexual Misconduct in Your Church."
Huff, director of the SBOM office of LeaderCare and church administration, said each booklet offers information dealing with prevention of sexual misconduct in the pre-employment period, supervision of staff and volunteers, response when violations occur and resources for churches to use related to these topics.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure," he told members of the SBOM. "If churches will follow a few simple rules, it will go a long way toward preventing sexual abuse situations."
Prevention can begin in the hiring process with a background check and church employment covenant detailing expected conduct and consequences for misconduct. Samples of a form authorizing a background check and a covenant are among the booklets’ resources.
Huff said churches should use the "six-month rule" — no staff member or volunteer may work with children until he or she has been a member of the church for six months.
"Sexual predators seek immediate gratification," he explained, noting they usually will not stay in a church for six months before being allowed to be with children or youth.
Huff also said churches should follow the "two-adult rule" for working with minors.
That means that two adults must be in the room.
He added that a husband and wife count as one adult.
When sexual misconduct occurs, churches should focus attention on the victim, Huff explained. Sometimes churches focus on the perpetrator and convey the impression they are more concerned about the one who committed the offense than the victim, he said.
"Always tell the truth," Huff urged. He explained that if the pastor or a representative of the church conveys false information, then it undermines others’ ability ever to trust that source again. "You do not have to tell everything you know, but whatever you say had better be the truth."
In other business, SBOM members voted to purchase a new disaster relief feeding unit trailer, accepted the 2007 audit and voted to reorganize the office of global missions.
The new feeding unit will be a retrofitted 18-wheel truck that will allow greater mobility than the current 27-year-old feeding unit trailer, sources said. Its cost will not exceed $100,000, and funds will come from those designated for disaster relief equipment replacement.
The annual audit shows the SBOM received $48,112,129 from all sources during 2007. In addition, the accounting office received $25,440,089 in designated offerings for various causes. When designated funds are received, the SBOM acts as an agent and the funds are not reflected in receipts, the audit reported.
The audit contained no concerns and was unanimously approved.
In reference to the reorganized global missions office, SBOM Executive Director Rick Lance explained that under the current structure, disaster relief efforts sometimes end up in two SBOM offices. When needs are domestic, the efforts fall to the office of men’s ministries and disaster relief. When disaster response is outside the United States, efforts fall to the office of global missions.
To remedy this situation, Lance recommended that a new office of global missions be created and headed by director Reggie Quimby and co-director Tommy Puckett. Quimby serves as director of the current office of global missions, while Puckett is the director of the office of men’s ministries and disaster relief. Global partnerships, disaster relief and men’s and boys’ missions education would be areas of work within the new office.
The recommendation was approved and will take effect Jan. 1.
SBOM members also learned that Kyle Wiltshire has been employed in the office of collegiate and student ministries. His primary responsibility is directed toward youth from sixth grade through high school.
Wiltshire comes to the position from First Baptist Church, Alabaster, where he had served as minister of students since 2006. He has served in student ministry positions since 1998. He also writes Bible studies for Birmingham-based Student Life and has written for the North American Mission Board’s World Changers ministry and Cumming, Ga.-based Serve Management Group.
Wiltshire received his undergraduate degree in Christian ethics from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and master of divinity from Beeson Divinity School at Samford University in Birmingham.
Board members also voted to move the 2008 site for the Nov. 18–19 state convention annual meeting from the Montgomery Civic Center to First Baptist Church, Montgomery. Lance said cost and the fact than another convention had been booked at the center at the same time necessitated the change.
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