Then Basham quotes three male friends of Lyells alleged abuser who all say they cant imagine him behaving the way Lyell has described. But we must not be silent. Geiger, senior pastor of Mariners Church in Irvine, Calif., confirmed to BP that Lyell shared her allegations with him. If the claims in this suit are true, then it would seem that he is as culpable as any of the other defendants., To which Basham replied: Note, Religion News Service reported that Sills admitted to abuse, though Sills told me through an intermediary that RNS also did not reach out to him before that story was published and he never admitted anything like this., Basham also tweeted a link to the BNG story with this comment: Ive read David/Mary Sills filing against SBC, Guidepost, & number of SBC leaders. But I am a victim nonetheless.. I mean, I was like, literally like, I mean, it was it was police at my house and, you know, safety, Lyell said. 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. Nine months after The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) professor David Sills resigned for undisclosed reasons, a woman has released a statement of allegations including details of what she describes as sexual abuse by Sills, beginning while she was a Southern Seminary student. Although the Sillses live in Mississippi and Lyell lives in Tennessee, the lawsuit was filed in Mobile County Circuit Court because former SBC President Ed Litton, who is among the defendants in the suit, lives in Mobile County and the SBC, the conventions executive committee and other SBC entities own and maintain property, employees and/or agents in Alabama, including Mobile County Alabama, the suit stated. She has alleged Sills abused her over a multi-year period. Lyell previously was a vice president at Lifeway, which is located in Nashville, Tenn. She voluntarily agreed to an interview with Baptist Press in 2019, by her account hoping her story would encourage other survivors of sexual abuse to come forward. 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. In May, Guidepost Solutions, which investigated the SBC scandal, issued a report that found alleges survivors of sexual abuse encountered resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility, from some on the SBCs Executive Committee. Lyell came to us with an allegation of abuse and should have been cared for throughout the entire process. Yet victims who are not minors must decide for themselves whether to contact authorities, he said. The group has no apparent connections to the SBC, and its interview with Lyell seems outside its stated purpose. For Sills, no reason for his resignation was stated by Southern. Sills was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary until his resignation on May 23, 2018. He also said churches often believe survivors were participants in their abusers sins. 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. There are elements that sound like an abuse victim pleading with an abuser, I just want you to be like a dad, and there are elements where the story does not seem plausible given what we knowpay special attention to the police. And because they, in a sense, represent God, they have more power than almost any other professional person that works with other people.. Hilary Scarsella, assistant professor of ethics and director of women and gender studies at Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School, said survivors of clergy abuse can feel trapped because they know publicly disclosing the abuse may have consequences, both to their own faith and their place in the community. Veinot and his senior researcher, Ron Henzel, had conducted a video interview with Lyell and wrote about it on their blog under the headline Does Abuse Absolve Adultery? Since Mohler made a public comment just a few days ago, surely, he now has an obligation to answer this important question. This led to a general understanding that what happened between Dr. David Sills and Ms. Jennifer Lyell was a consensual affair. Jen came forward at incredible personal cost to herself, to defend those who had no voice, Denhollander said. The string of email correspondence viewed by BNG implies Buck contacted Lyell to ask questions about her claims. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. I am grateful for the diligent, fast work of Guidepost Solutions, particularly as the EC leadership delays from June-October 2021 took up 1/3 of the investigation period allowed by the investigation motion. Anthony Jackson Age 51. Lyell was not writing to a professional journalist with a national news organization; she was writing to two bloggers who run a small nonprofit that investigates cults and preaches against the Enneagram. Want to share a story? Lyell said that at the time, she did not want the seminary or Lifeway to publicly disclose what had happened to her. And that retraction happened only after Denhollander had publicly criticized the SBCs treatment of Lyell during a major conference on abuse in the fall of 2019. In the spring of 2019, Lyell, then a well-respected leader in Christian publishing, decided to publicly disclose that. Pastors and churches called for her to be fired. 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. He said it is often easier for churches to blame victims than to look at the way they have empowered abusers. Im also fine to answer any questions you or the other gentleman has to ensure you have clarity and believe me. After Baptist News Global broke the news that former seminary professor David Sills and his wife, Mary, filed a defamation lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention and 11 other defendants, three high-profile Southern Baptists took to Twitter to highlight one specific section of the 31-page legal document. "[O]ur policies and procedures work and we work hard to make certain that they are up to date with best practices. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) Jennifer Lyell was trying to do the right thing. 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. Now, David Sills and Mary Sills contend they have been smeared repeatedly in the process and seek monetary damages from the SBC; the SBC Executive Committee; former SBC President Ed Litton; current SBC President Bart Barber; Lyell; Lifeway Christian Resources; Eric Geiger, a former executive vice president at Lifeway; Willie McLaurin, interim president of the Executive Committee; Rolland Slade, former chairman of the Executive Committee; Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary; and Guidepost Solutions, the firm that conducted the independent investigation. Litigating this case publicly could cause extreme discomfort for some of the defendants named, forcing them to testify under oath about matters they have tried to handle discreetly. Photo via Baylor University. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. However, in the new court filing he insists he did not sexually abuse Lyell, force himself upon Lyell, use violence against Lyell, threaten to use violence against Lyell or engage in sexual intercourse with Lyell at any time whatsoever., The filing says Sills acknowledges a personal and emotionally intimate relationship between the two but claims it was initiated by Lyell, who was well above the age of consent.. Reid, 59, SEBTS senior professor of . 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.. 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. I deeply regret that anyone could have been led to conclude that it was consensual based on what I wrote.. And recovering from abuse as an adult is a long-term process. at the height of awareness of SBC scandals.' In February, the top-ranked Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) did something that's almost unprecedented: they apologized and offered a monetary settlement to Jennifer Lyell, who for years had been abused by an SBC seminary professor. Sills files defamation suit against SBC, Lyell, others MOBILE, Ala. (BP) - A former Southern Baptist seminary professor and his wife have filed suit against the SBC and 10 other individuals and entities connected to the SBC, including Jennifer Lyell and Guidepost Solutions. I am not a sinless victim. Baptist Press eventually apologized for the article, but Lyell said she had already been devastated by the repercussions of its inaccurate reporting. The court filing further claims Lyell maintained the relationship by driving several hundred miles from Nashville, Tenn., to Louisville, Ky. to see Sills. David Sills (Photo via Baptist Press) Plaintiffs David Sills and Mary Sills file this complaint against Defendants, alleging defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and wantonness concerning untrue claims of sexual abuse initiated by Defendant, Jennifer Lyell, and thereafter (RNS) A former seminary professor and missionary who admitted sexual misconduct has sued a gaggle of Southern Baptist Conference leaders and entities, claiming they conspired with an abuse survivor to damage his repute. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. To date, none of the named defendants has issued a public comment on the lawsuit. My thinking was I could just verbally work through your article and clarify/add the information you didnt have or was inaccurate as well as answer the broader questions you asked when the information you had didnt reconcile for you. In the spring of 2018, after more than two years of therapy, she disclosed to her boss at Lifeway that a former professor named David Sills had first sexually acted against her without her consent during a mission trip he was leading while she was a seminary student. 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. Mohler did that. So that's not up for renegotiation," he explained. The group maintained a shared online file of their correspondence. After BNG reported on the Sills lawsuit, Ascol tweeted: Wow. Mississippi lawyer Don Barrett, one of the attorneys representing David Sills and his wife, Mary Sills, said that part of the complaint was in error, the story said. There are plenty of reasons to stay silent in a situation such as this. That, in turn, led Smietana to write a story titled When Abuse Victims are Adults, Theyre Often Treated as Sinners, Threats to Churches, explaining the attack on Lyell. Lyell mentions police at her house and Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary calling the police. Venue is appropriate in this court because defendant Ed Litton is a resident citizen of Mobile County, Alabama., Guidepost report documents pattern of ignoring, denying and deflecting on sexual abuse claims in SBC, SBC Executive Committee publicly apologizes to sexual abuse survivor, SBC report shows how five words turn abuse victim from survivor to whore | Opinion by Marv Knox. Also at the same time Buck inserted himself into the behind-the-scenes interrogation of Lyell, he maintained a public campaign to identify an alleged leaker of a column written by his wife discussing difficulties in their marriage and in her earlier life. The following year, Jennifer Lyell, a former vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, told Baptist Press she had been a victim of emotional and sexual abuse by Sills, who had been her professor. Women are seen first and foremost as sexual objects, means to an end, she said, adding women are seen as temptresses, trying to bring a good man down and getting married is seen as a way of helping men deal with their lust. Join thousands of others to get the FREEDOM POST newsletter for free, sent twice a week from The Christian Post. But that's not quite what we see. Those documents include emails between the various parties. All this played out as the SBC addressed the independent report of Guidepost Solutions about a long-term pattern of ignoring or mishandling known cases of sexual abuse in SBC churches and agencies. We must clearly tell the truth so that our churches and ministries are safe and as pure as they can be.. The lawsuit also claims that Sills broke off the relationship and that Lyell continued to pursue him. Instead of receiving support and compassion, she found herself trying to convince critics she was not responsible for the abuse she had experienced at the hands of the former professor. First, the defendants widely circulated their herein-described defamatory lies about Dr. and Mrs. Sills throughout Mobile County and the state of Alabama. Lyell sent a statement to both BNG and RNS: I do not need to be under oath to tell the truth and there are no lies that will shake my certainty about what is true. Lyell was labeled on social media as an adulteress rather than an abuse survivor, with users leaving scores of vile comments about her on Lifeways Facebook page and the Baptist Press website. Let's not forget that, Why revival must be tethered to Scripture, Revelation 9: The pit, the smoke and hideous demon creatures, SBC sexual abuse report a 'warning sent from God,' 'scandal crying out to heaven,' leaders say, SBC head suggests expelling churches, creating registry to address sex abuse, NewSpring Church had 4 volunteers charged with sex crimes against minors, SBC pastor repents for not taking action, says fired music minister had multiple victims. Came to us with an allegation of abuse and should have been for! Across websites and collect information to provide customized ads to pursue him a multi-year period Sills, reason! Lawsuit also claims that Sills broke off the relationship and that Lyell continued to pursue him of Lyells alleged who! Circulated their herein-described defamatory lies about Dr. and Mrs. Sills throughout Mobile County the! 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