The rationale used to campaign for sweeping #MeToo overhauls within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination has now been thoroughly discredited. Newly released documents in Sills v. Southern Baptist Convention reveal how unwise decisions by denominational leaders, combined with unethical conduct by investigative consulting group Guidepost Solutions, manipulated Southern Baptists into a manufactured crisis. The result was a self-inflicted unraveling that exposed the denomination to litigation and has already cost $13 million and counting in investigative and legal expenses.
The recent revelations center on Jennifer Lyell, a former student at Southern Seminary, and missions professor David Sills, whom she alleged had abused her over a period of 12 years, as well as the investigation Southern Baptists contracted Guidepost Solutions to conduct regarding sexual abuse within the denomination.
Background
Lyell’s case, along with the 2018 firing of then-president of Southwestern Seminary Paige Patterson, and a series of articles in the Houston Chronicle reporting on abuse victims within the denomination, led to the Guidepost report, the SBC Executive Committee waiving attorney-client privilege, and the formation of an abuse report hotline.
Patterson’s controversy involved an accusation he advised a student to not report an alleged rape incident to the police in 2003 when he was then the president of Southeastern Seminary. This was never confirmed, but when it mattered most, Southeastern stated there was “no evidence discovered that disputes or discredits our former student’s account,” thus framing the incident without the presumption of innocence.
After the firing, Southern Baptists met in June 2018 and adopted a resolution on abuse that encouraged “ministry leaders . . . to implement policies and practices that protect against and confront any form of abuse.” SBC President J.D. Greear then launched the Sexual Abuse Advisory Group, which made recommendations and crafted an abuse prevention curriculum for churches. These resources adopted much of the #metoo movement’s assumptions, particularly the elevation of victim perspectives as superior in addressing abuse and the encouragement to believe accusations automatically, regardless of corroboration.
The Houston Chronicle added fuel to the fire in February 2019 when it released a story implying that the denomination had an unusually high number of sexual predators, even though it was much lower than the percentage in the general population. Despite this, President Greear said that Southern Baptists had “created . . . safe spaces for abusers.” The following month, Baptist Press escalated things further with their story on the accusations against Professor Sills.
A Manufactured Crisis
Sadly, Lyell passed away earlier this year at 47 years old. The New York Times reported that her “activism ignited an agonized reckoning over sexual abuse among the Southern Baptists.” Lyell earned a Master of Divinity from Southern Seminary in 2005 and worked in Christian publishing for Moody and later Lifeway, where she rose to vice president of book publishing and merchandising. According to her now deleted LinkedIn page, her professional goal was to “cultivate solutions for systemic challenges facing marginalized communities.”
Her relationship with Professor Sills began in 2004 and she continued the relationship even after relocating first to Chicago and later to the Nashville area. Sills acknowledged her help in publishing two of his books. Dr. Russell Fuller, who was a professor at Southern Seminary during that period, privately informed me that those familiar with the situation believed the relationship was consensual. Nevertheless, Albert Mohler, the president of Southern Seminary, moved almost immediately to frame it as abusive.
Initially, Baptist Press described the relationship as “morally inappropriate” but later retracted after Rachel Denhollander, Lyell’s attorney, publicly rebuked the outlet for using “the same language to describe her abuse that is used for consensual affairs.” In 2022, the SBC Executive Committee, which oversees Baptist Press, issued an apology for the initial language and paid Lyell more than $1 million in a settlement. A trailer for a documentary centered on Lyell’s account, titled Out of Darkness, featured Mohler reaffirming his original assessment, declaring unequivocally, “It was abuse.” The documentary has yet to be released.
Biased Investigation
In late 2022, David and Mary Sills filed a defamation lawsuit against multiple parties, including former SBC presidents and Guidepost Solutions, and the denomination itself. Discovery in that case has revealed, among other things, romantic private messages between Sills and Lyell, as well as an expert compliance and ethics assessment of Guidepost’s investigation conducted by Clear Resources, LLC.
In a 2007 email, Lyell wrote to Sills, “I really need to see you somehow soon,” expressing distress at the prospect of not seeing him for a month. In another email, she wrote, “I miss you. It is making me grumpy. I am going to try to get you on an earlier flight out of Newark on Sunday. Did I mention I miss you?”
In a sharply critical review, Clear Resources concluded that Guidepost departed from any recognizable professional investigative standard by permitting conflicts of interest and failing to uphold due process. Denhollander, who had previously represented Lyell against the Southern Baptist Executive Committee, was directly involved in the investigation of that same committee and, along with Lyell, was allowed to edit the final report. Investigator Samantha Kilpatrick and Denhollander both participated in survivor advocacy efforts on behalf of the denomination, making any claim of neutrality implausible. In March 2019, Kilpatrick emailed Lyell stating, “I support you.”
Clear Resources also concluded that Guidepost denied due process by treating Sills’ refusal to respond publicly to accusations as evidence of guilt and by interpreting decisions not to communicate with alleged abuse victims as mistreatment.
Identifying Sin, Not Activist Causes
In 2021, Dr. Russell Fuller publicly remarked, “Southern Baptists, not only do we not know what a pastor is, we do not know what adultery is either.” His observation appears increasingly accurate. The repeated and deliberate efforts by two adults to rendezvous and sustain a relationship over more than a decade, even when separated by hundreds of miles, with no indication that Lyell sought to escape the relationship, and while she later held authority over Sills in her role as a publisher, point clearly in one direction.
The logic of the #MeToo framework seeks to redefine such a relationship as abusive solely based on age, position, and gender differences. That framework is incompatible with any biblical standard. At this point, those who insist on framing Lyell exclusively as a sex abuse victim must reinterpret the romantic correspondence as evidence of psychological domination so extreme that it compelled genuine romantic attachment. Some have already begun hinting in this direction. Baptist News Global, for example, described the discovery materials as a “harrowing glimpse into the specific nature of the abuse Lyell reported,” claiming they “paint a far darker picture” than mere adultery.
The issue between Lyell and Sills centers on whether adultery remains adultery despite gender differences and alleged power imbalances. If Christians can reinterpret enduring moral principles to align with modern progressive sensibilities, there is little reason to follow the Bible’s ethical teaching at all. Now that the #MeToo framework applied in this case has been undermined by these revelations, Southern Baptists have an opportunity to refocus their attention on what Scripture identifies as sin rather than on categories defined by activists.
Jon Harris is an author, producer, and cultural commentator. He hosts the “Conversations That Matter” podcast.
