Thread by @toddbenkert

God has broken my heart for abuse survivors since early in my 20s. Starting with a young woman who was a younger classmate of my wife, I saw first-hand the devastating long-term impact of sexual abuse.

https://twitter.com/EatReadProvoke/status/1405339178439696385

Jenny, I loved as a sister. She died in her 30s from heart failure, the result of years of coping with her trauma with pain medications and anorexia. I still miss her and grieve for her.

God continued to bring people into our lives who experienced significant trauma, particularly the trauma of sexual abuse. We spent 7 years advocating in juvenile court for a teenage girl to get her removed from her abusive home and get her the mental health care she needed.

At the same time, we also had a foster daughter who had been sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend. We learned along the way that we were ill-equipped to help any of these survivors because we were not trauma-informed.

My wife and I began to study -- trauma, abuse, eating disorders, self-harm, suicide, ACE,... everything we could get our hands on. I read everything @DianeLangberg ever written and her book "Suffering" twice.

Other works like Trauma and Recovery, The body keeps the score, and @BobKellemen's Beauty for Ashes gave me insight into the effects of trauma and ministering to victims of abuse. Langberg was especially helpful.

There's much more to that part of the story, but most of my advocacy was personal ministry and direct advocacy for specific persons. At this point, I was unaware of the stories of SBC abuse survivors like @ThigpenTiffany or @ChristaBrown777.

May 2018, I heard the news that my friend Jen Lyell had been serially abused by David Sills. Sills was on my PhD committee. I had been envious Jen's intellect, high capacity, and access to Sills. The devastating discovery that she was being abused filled me with grief & remorse.

Then in the spring of 2019, @RobertDownen's "Abuse of Faith" series, opened my eyes to what was happening in our Convention. My focused shifted to SBC abuse survivors.

I set out to educate myself on the stories of SBC survivors and attended the @SBCForSuchATime rally at the Convention that year. I met several survivors and was given a copy of Christa's book.

In October of that year, I attended the #CaringWell conference. There, I met @RobertDownen and heard the heartwrenching longing for action from Debbie Vasquez spending about an hour with her after the final session, begging for me and SBC pastors to act.

In the conference itself, I heard @R_Denhollander speak directly to us "“It is up to you as members of the SBC to surround these survivors with care, to make sure that the truth is told, to understand what abuse looks like, … to hold your leaders accountable"

Also, in the conference, @BozT called for a commission to study abuse and learn from survivors. I talked briefly with Boz in the lobby later and heard both his heart for survivors and his frustration with Southern Baptists. I left that meeting intending to make that motion.

Over the next few months I began following survivors and survivor advocates on Twitter, listening and learning what advocacy looks like and what I needed to know and do. I was now speaking out about SBCabuse at @SBCvoices blog and engaging with survivors.

All this time, Jen Lyell's case was on my mind. Especially when @BaptistPress wrongly led southern baptists to believe her abuse was consensual and refusing to correct themselves and make it right.

I prepared to make the motion at the 2020 Convention and then ... Covid19 hit The Convention was cancelled and focus shifted to my local church and navigating the pandemic. In the fall of 2020, I began the prep for this motion and working behind the scenes to make it feasible.

I reached out to @christabrown to inform her of my intentions and seek her advice. I didn't expect her to trust me but I sought her counsel and she gave it. I also reached out to the Denhollanders.

About 3 weeks ago I began working in earnest and worked closely with @R_Denhollander and a few other unnamed individuals both to craft the motion in a way that did not violate our polity and strategize to have the best chance of seeing it come to pass.

On Tuesday, I made the motion. But not until the messengers agreed to extend the time for motions. This was needed as other messengers squandered the time for motions, some with intentionally verbose and slowly delivered motions. Thanks to @jdgreear for asking to extend the time.

This morning, the Committee on Order of business reported that the motion was referred to the @ERLC, confirming that our strategy was successful. Now we continue the work to encourage the ERLC trustees to act on the motion.

I continue to learn and grow to know how I can best stand with survivors, care well, and minister in Christ's name. Grateful for so many others who have poured into me and worked with me as I have followed God's call on my life to stand with survivors.

Note: Very thankful for @Jonathan_Howe who led in getting the BP article changed. But other EC leaders did not make amends for what they had done and still refuse to take responsibility for spreading the false narrative or correcting it. I have no respect at all for those men.