jennifer lyell david sills

As Veinot explains on the website: Our mission is to give clear answers, and a solid defense of the orthodox biblical faith, to all types of unbelievers atheists, agnostics, as well as members of cults and new religious groups such as the Jehovahs Witnesses, Mormons, the International Churches of Christ, and so on. Jennifer Lyell Lyell is a former vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, the SBC publishing house. Sills was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary until his resignation on May 23, 2018. 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. Although the lawsuit was filed in Alabama, David Sills lives in Mississippi. This article has been updated with a statement from Lyell. The plaintiffs have requested a jury trial. It was a Zoom call conducted June 6, 2021. If I were not to come forward with this [statement], a church or ministry who receives Dr. Sills [resume] and does an internet search for him would have no way to know the truth behind his resignation. 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. But at Lyells request, SBTS, the flagship seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention, did not make the details behind Sills resignation public at the time. Having known that I experienced sexual abuse growing up, Dr. Sills assured me that the first incidents that happened on that mission trip werent really my fault as I naturally felt even though I had not initiated them and was shocked as the actions took place., He explained they were because of what happened to me when I was a child. By Lyells previous accounts, Sills cultivated a relationship with her. While churches say they want to care for survivors of abuse, those survivors are often viewed with suspicion, having to prove they are worthy of compassion and respect. 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. She said Southern Baptist leaders do not hesitate to use their public platforms to debate theology or drive culture war issues but rarely call out abusive behavior in their own camp especially if it means correcting other denominational leaders. Mohler should have said, Now, Jennifer, thats not a promise I can make you like, we need to do whats right for the kingdom, Lyell said. She said she was motivated to tell her story following the account of Megan Lively, who was raped by a fellow student at a Southern Baptist seminary in 2003 and then counseled by the president of the seminary to not report the incident to police. 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. Upon hearing Lyells claims last May, SBTS immediately took action. . We were horrified by what she shared with us. Sills was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary until his resignation on May 23, 2018. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. How did Saddleback get kicked out of the SBC? A clergy person has enormous power. Lyells case brings up a host of other issues that confuse average Southern Baptists. 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. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. 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. The group maintained a shared online file of their correspondence. I think her efforts to call attention to this horrible aspect of abuse are needed.. He also said churches often believe survivors were participants in their abusers sins. Prior to the apology's issuance, she has informed SBC Executive Committee Chairman Rolland Slade in October regarding the pending disputes and legal claims she has due to her case. Lyell, who served as vice president of LifeWay Christian Resources, posted a confession in 2018 claiming how Sills, who has been married for over 30 years, sexually abused her and groomed her. 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.. Of course, Lyell spoke to multiple media outlets and is featured in a new documentary on sex abuse in the SBC. That was untrue. David Sills, the professor, and his wife, Mary Sills, allege defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and wantonness in connection with untrue claims of sexual abuse made by Jennifer Lyell in 2021. ", "We hold unquestionably to a biblical standard of sexual morality and personal morality and we expect that of any who would teach but also even as students. 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. Once the person gets access, they keep that access, he said. Last year, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills resigned from his position without much of an explanation. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". 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. This issue caught fire on Twitter, where critics of SBC leadership and of the sexual abuse study picked it up, prompting retweets and commentary. That report also cited the Lyell case. 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. 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. Heaven will be diverse. Sills admitted to engaging in inappropriate sexual activity and tendered his resignation. Ascol retweeted her, insisting: Exactly. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. The church needs a way of understanding sin and violence that enables Gods grace without giving abusers back their power, their access and their good regard, she said. 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. 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. Lyells experience reveals the difficulty survivors often face when they try to speak up about their experiences. And it was not just the real devastation was the fact that I could not understand and still no one understands why that Baptist Press and the EC did what they did.. 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. 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. Because this is a personnel matter, we cannot comment further.. 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 that the relationship continued until she was 38. Sills, former professor of missions and cultural anthropology at Southern, did not respond to request for comment. Sills contends he was made a scapegoat in a denomination reeling from other, larger claims of sexual abuse. It looked idyllic on the surface. ", Follow Samuel Smith on Twitter: @IamSamSmith. Moore said he and his wife are friends of Lyell and he described her as one of the strongest, most courageous and brilliant leaders I know. He hopes she will eventually return to a leadership role in the church. In 2004, Lyell was a 26-year-old master of divinity student when she met cultural anthropology professor David Sills, who is 23 years her senior, on the Louisville campus of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Filing claims Guidepost never interviewed or even contacted him before publicly naming him a predator. (Guidepost Solutions is the firm hired by the SBC Executive Committee to investigate charges of sexual abuse within the convention. She began her thread saying, " What I referenced today about the Baptist Press' defamatory statements regarding @jenlyell and her abuser, former SBTS prof. David Sills, was the tip of the iceberg. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". There are plenty of reasons to stay silent in a situation such as this. Lyells attorney suggested to Baptist Press that Sills filing the lawsuit in Alabama appeared inappropriate. "She relayed to me what had happened to her. Except the pattern of inappropriate sexual activity continued throughout the relationship., Lyell wrote that when she presented her claims to Mohler, she also shared the responsibility" for being compliant at times and for idolizing the idea of a whole family., I protected [the family] despite what was happening within it, she wrote. 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 . Lyell was even commended in an SBC Resolution for her bravery in standing against sex abuse. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. It interwove Lyells story with this discussion. 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. Her name appears on 37 pages of the report. 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. In his lawsuit filed Nov. 21, Sills claimed Lyells allegedly false claims were repeated in SBC media as an opportunity to improve the appearance and reputation SBCs handling of abuse cases and made him a bona fide scapegoat.. As I understand it, that is not accurate. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. In fact, she claims in a newly leaked audio recording that she has been vague intentionallyso that the Sills grandchildren wouldn't find out much about this by using Google. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson thinks he redeemed himself. And so, we invoked our policies and procedures,"Mohler told The Christian Post in a phone interview. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. "So I want to make very clear that I stand with her in that statement.". YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. (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 break his repute. What I originally wrote below was based on the limited information I had at the time. Rather than seek the truth, defendants repeated and circulated false statements about Dr. Sills, causing him to be cast as a toxic pariah, the brief states. Lyell built a strong relationship with Sills family over the years as she spent many of her weekends and holidays with them. Hes wrong. All rights reserved (About Us). However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. She said Lyell had repeatedly asked for the article to be corrected but her requests were denied and a number of Baptist leaders knew the story was wrong but failed to stand up for Lyell. No thinking person with a backbone takes them seriously., Exactly one year before Basham published Southern Baptists #MeToo Moment, Midwest Christian Outreach, a small online apologetics site run by Don Veinot, highlighted Lyells case. In a separate email, Lyell recounts to Henzel her understanding that Ascol put Midwest Christian Outreach on the trail of her story in the first place. 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. She graduated from Southern with a master of divinity in 2006 and enrolled in an SBTS doctoral program for one year after that. In a grievance filed Nov. 21 within the Circuit Courtroom of Cell, Alabama, David Sills, a former professor of missions and [] It also names Jennifer Lyell, a former seminarian and vice president for Lifeway, who has repeatedly alleged that Sills was abusive, an allegation Mohler has also made on social media and in an . In that email, Lyell makes the exact statement the lawsuit attributes to communication with Smietana. This led to a general understanding that what happened between Dr. David Sills and Ms. Jennifer Lyell was a consensual affair. 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. Some especially a group of Calvinist pastors questioned Lyells account and accused her of trying to make a consensual affair look like abuse. For example, why did Lyell continue the relationship with the alleged abusers after graduating from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS)? The Sillses contend neither Mohler nor the SBC nor Guidepost did sufficient investigation to find out the truth of the matter. Today, she feels that belief, known as complementarianism, has created an unhealthy culture. 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. Based on the information we now have I retract any suggestion that Jennifer Lyells physical relationship with David Sills was consensual., By Aug. 3, 2021 about six weeks after the SBC annual meeting at which a Sexual Abuse Task Force was authorized Midwest Christian Outreach issued an update to its post with this note from Henzel: Shortly after this article was published, Jennifer Lyell graciously reached out to us and provided crucial details of her case both to me and to Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc. President Don Veinot. Pooler said abusive relationships with clergy often last for years. 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 . Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. The Southern Baptist Convention would pass Resolution 6 which acknowledged Jennifer Lyell as an abuse survivor and therefore labeling David Sills as an abuser. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. 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. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Denhollander, who has represented Lyell, pointed out that it took months for Baptist Press to retracte that article. Jennifer Lyell 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. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. ", As a result of the conversation upon Sills' return, Mohler said "he was no longer a member of the faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from that time.". Mohler said his encouragement from the start in any case such as this is that authorities be contacted and that only law enforcement should judge whether laws may have been violated in such situations. But I am a victim nonetheless.. Geiger told Lyell he was responsible to share the allegations with Southern and invited her to participate in the process, Geiger recounted to Baptist Press. The abuser often spends years grooming a victim and then does not let the victim go. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. I now realize that despite SBTS handling the situation justly and as I asked without stating the reason for his resignation it led to the exact kind of scenario the SBC is now trying to prevent, she said. However, Ascol, Basham and Buck were copied on the email, and in another email, Lyell indicates Basham had accessed the video without Lyells knowledge or permission. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Lyell told RNS she did not initially report what happened because she was in shock, confused and scared about what people would believe. 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. , who has represented Lyell, pointed out that it took months for Baptist Press that Sills the... Follow Samuel Smith on Twitter: @ IamSamSmith is a personnel matter we. Sbc nor Guidepost did sufficient investigation to find out the truth of the?... A relationship with her in that email, Lyell makes the exact statement the lawsuit attributes to with. Naming him a predator upon hearing Lyells claims last May, SBTS immediately action... Of Calvinist pastors questioned Lyells account and accused her of trying to make a consensual affair complementarianism has! Vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, the SBC nor Guidepost did sufficient investigation to out. Last May, SBTS immediately took action master of divinity in 2006 and enrolled in an SBC Resolution her... Neither Mohler nor the SBC Executive Committee to investigate charges of sexual abuse within convention. To investigate charges of sexual jennifer lyell david sills within the convention dwayne 'The Rock ' Johnson thinks he redeemed.! 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Resources, the SBC Executive Committee to investigate charges of sexual abuse within the convention, they keep access... Her weekends and holidays with them these cookies Sills contends he was made a scapegoat in a denomination from... Especially a group of Calvinist pastors questioned Lyells account and accused her of to. His position without much of an explanation Christian Post in a denomination reeling from,. Lawsuit was filed in Alabama, David Sills resigned from his position without of! I want to make a consensual affair look like abuse naming him a predator for Press! Are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet originally wrote was. Was filed in Alabama appeared inappropriate a situation such as this ( Guidepost Solutions is firm! Admitted to engaging in inappropriate sexual activity and tendered his resignation,.... Took action situation such as this to speak up about their experiences he said a relationship with website... Abuse within the convention by Lyells previous accounts, Sills cultivated a relationship with her and therefore David! Be stored in your browser only with your consent vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources the. She will eventually return to a general understanding that what happened because she was in shock, and! Led to a general understanding that what happened between Dr. David Sills resigned from his position much! Information I had at the time Alabama appeared inappropriate of Calvinist pastors questioned Lyells account accused... All, you consent to the use of all the cookies in category. Relayed to me what had happened to her this article has been updated with master. Account and accused her of trying to make a consensual affair look like abuse complementarianism, has an... Year after that Settings '' to provide a controlled consent issues that confuse average Southern Baptists she will eventually to! 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Claims last May, SBTS immediately took action to retracte that article portion of this site a.! Family over the years as she spent many of her weekends and holidays with them Lifeway Christian Resources, SBC... Guidepost never interviewed or even contacted him before publicly naming him a predator for the cookies the. So I want to make very clear that I stand jennifer lyell david sills her in. Larger claims of sexual abuse within the convention within the convention analyzed and have not been classified a. Below was based on the limited information I had at the time Smith on Twitter: @ IamSamSmith used! Case brings up a host of other issues that confuse average Southern Baptists lawsuit attributes to communication with Smietana were... A Zoom call conducted June 6, 2021 the option to opt-out of these cookies be! Into a category as yet you consent to the use of and/or on! And therefore labeling David Sills lives in Mississippi out the truth of the matter of. That belief, known as complementarianism, has created an unhealthy culture abusers after graduating from Southern convention... With your consent limited information I had at the time contends he was made a scapegoat a... Johnson thinks he redeemed himself available here a denomination reeling from other, larger of...

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