Dear Friends,
A recent, credible, investigative news article by the Houston Chronicle tells a horrifying and heartbreaking story of 700 documented cases of sexual abuse over the last twenty years by 380 leaders and volunteers in churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Some of these sexual abusers were pastors, church staff, or ministry volunteers. What’s worse, in several of these situations, an abusive pastor or staff member was able to move from one congregation to another without detection, and in doing so, continue their illegal and immoral activities. Your Elders are profoundly saddened by this report. As we reflect on this sad reality, we ask you to join us in processing this information in the following ways:
Grieve: Our first thoughts and concerns are for these victims and other victims of sexual abuse waiting to be heard – longing for justice. When sin wrecked the world and embedded itself into the human heart, it produced countless opportunities to ruin lives. The Bible recounts numerous examples of the sinful abuse of power. Stories like the rape of Tamar (2 Samuel 13) should cause us to grieve for every child that suffers sexual abuse at the hands of an evil, wicked person. Jesus himself said, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he was thrown into the sea (Mk 9:42).” Make no mistake—God’s eternal judgment will be brought to bear against such evil. In the present, however, the aftereffects of abuse are debilitating and destructive. Please join us in praying for these precious folks who have suffered at the hands of people they should have been able to trust.
Repent: In recent years, we have all heard the global reports of abuse that have plagued the Roman Catholic Church. Sadly, we now know that this is a systemic sin and problem that plagues all of society, including the Southern Baptist Convention. After reading these articles, we must pause to reflect on the role that the Southern Baptist Convention and its agencies may have played in contributing to an environment where sexual abusers could move undetected from one church to the next. Even worse, we must pause to reflect on the role that the Southern Baptist Convention and its agencies may have played in contributing to an environment where some victims have gone unheard, unsupported, or unbelieved. At Cornerstone, we pledge to be part of a better tomorrow in the SBC on this front where we can.
Help: When we hear about situations like this, we often feel helpless to make a difference. One of the main ways we can help is to take accusations of abuse seriously when we hear about them. The guilt or innocence of an individual can be determined through the outworking of the legal process. We must report abuse allegations to the legal authorities, regardless of whether the abuse happened in a home, school, workplace, or the church. Further, if you or a loved one are among this number of victims, regardless of where that abuse occurred, we want you to know that you will be heard and helped at Cornerstone. It is our church policy to report all allegations of abuse promptly, once they come to our attention. And, we cooperate with law enforcement. You need not suffer alone—we’re here to help.
Best Practices: Finally, our thoughts turn to remaining vigilant in our efforts here at Cornerstone to provide a safe place to learn, grow, and follow Jesus. Our children and youth are treasures to us. So, we work tirelessly to screen, train, and supervise all of our pastors and staff, together with all volunteers who work with children and youth. We perform nationwide background checks and other forms of screening at regular intervals. We want to be sure that we’ve done everything in our power to eliminate any threats to our children and students. Sadly, no method is 100% foolproof. Yet, we want to err always on the side of vigilance and diligence. We have implemented the “gold standard” in child protection policies, and we carefully train and supervise all of our workers with children/youth. Also, we encourage folks to report any violations of our protection policies, even when no allegations of actual abuse exist. We encourage victims of abuse to come forward. And, we report all allegations of abuse promptly to law enforcement.
Pray: Our greatest defense against evil is prayer. When Jesus returned from the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, he discovered the remaining disciples embroiled in an argument with a large group of people. At the root of the argument was a father and his son. The son was possessed by an evil spirit, and Jesus’ disciples had been unable to cast it out of the boy. Jesus, however, was fully capable, and he delivered the boy from the demon. Later, his disciples were amazed by their inability to defeat the evil spirit. Jesus told them, “This kind [of evil spirit] cannot be driven out by anything but prayer (Mk 9:29).” The Church remains locked in a life-or-death struggle with an evil enemy who comes to “steal, kill, and destroy (Jn 10:10).” Nowhere can this evil be seen more clearly than in the abuse of power that destroys the weakest among us. At Cornerstone, we will do everything in our power to hold evil at bay from our church. Yet, our greatest weapon in this spiritual battle is prayer. Please join us in praying routinely that God would protect everyone at Cornerstone from this type of destructive evil. And, let’s put “feet to our prayers” by maintaining a culture of vigilance and diligence that helps guard our fellowship from this great evil moving forward.
Sincerely Yours,
The Elders at Cornerstone
