Thread by @liamsadams

Valerie Swope (@ValerieLSwope) is a survivor of clergy sexual abuse and is sharing her story for the first time in this way.
It’s a story about her first and foremost. But it’s also a story of the SBC and how it’s responding to a crisis of sexual abuse. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…

Valerie shared her story for the first time on Oct. 10, 2002. She was 19 and she told leaders at Bethany Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, that she and the youth pastor at the time, Christian Watts, had been having sex starting when she was 16. (🧵) tennessean.com/story/news/rel…

“I didn’t mention any of these things — the handholding, the groping, the kissing, all these things that had started since I was 13,” Valerie said about that meeting. “Now, to the detriment of all of us, we didn’t call law enforcement of any kind.” tennessean.com/story/news/rel… #SBC

Watts, then 31, acknowledged Valerie was telling the truth in that meeting. Though, according to all three Bethany Baptist leaders present that day, Watts emphasized Valerie was 16 when intercourse began, the legal age of consent in Kentucky at the time.

“Knowing what I know now, then in that moment, I would have called the police,” Todd Robertson, one of the church leaders there that day, told me. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
#SBC

Bethany Baptist had Watts resign and notified Southern Seminary, where Watts was a part-time student. But Watts left Kentucky and continued a career in ministry. Today, he is pastor of Life Change Church in Tullahoma, TN. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
#SBC

In a statement, Watts told us he never denied having sex with Valerie after she turned 16. However, he said, “this was not a situation of grooming or manipulation." tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
#SBC

Fast forward 17 years after that Oct. 10, 2002 meeting. The Houston Chronicle published its “Abuse of Faith” series. (houstonchronicle.com/news/investiga…)
Valerie, living in New Delhi, India (where she still lives), was largely removed from SBC life, when Robertson sent her the articles.

It was the start of Valerie sharing her story more publicly. Robertson helped connect her with other advocates and survivors of Southern Baptist clergy abuse, one of whom encouraged Valerie to write out her story. #SBC

“This was not an affair, these were not consensual sexual encounters, this was NOT just an inappropriate relationship, this was abuse,” Valerie wrote in a personal essay in May 2019. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
#SBC

Reading Valerie’s written account was the first time Robertson learned about Watts’ behavior before Valerie turned 16. It also led Valerie to realize she was unsure if Watts’ actions were truly immune to criminal prosecution.

What followed was a Louisville PD investigation. Though a felony in Kentucky today, prosecutors ultimately determined they couldn’t charge Watts because of laws at the time. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
#SBC

Fast forward to the 2021 SBC annual meeting when voting delegates approved a resolution saying a pastor is no longer qualified if they are credibly accused of sexual abuse and called for a third party abuse investigation. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…

That abuse investigation by Guidepost Solutions finished in May, and many found its findings revelatory. (commercialappeal.com/story/news/202…)
It was also a pivotal moment for Valerie…
#SBC

“I am sharing this story with you…to ensure Christian (Watts) is not in a position of power and authority,” Valerie wrote in a letter to churches where Watts has worked and to Southern Baptist officials in Tennessee. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…

In her email to these officials and churches, Valerie shared her story. She also included letters corroborating her account, including one from Robertson. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
#SBC

“Hasn’t Christian forfeited his right to serve in vocational ministry? And should Life Change be allowed to continue affiliation with the SBC…if he continues to serve as their pastor?” Robertson wrote in his letter, alluding to the 2021 resolution.

In response, the Southern Baptist officials in Tennessee shared some unexpected news: Three days after the release of Guidepost’s report, Watts’ church left the SBC. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…

Watts said the decision for his church to leave the SBC was unrelated to the release of Guidepost’s report.
“We have always functioned as a nondenominational church," Watts said in a statement. "We had stopped giving to the SBC months before we withdrew from it."

But Valerie believes the decision sends a clear message and produces the same result. “An accountable person doesn’t evade more accountability. What is the SBC trying to establish? More accountability,” she said.

If Life Change had stayed in the SBC, a similar result might have followed a vote to oust the church from the SBC. That process is seen as more public, though. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…

New standards in the SBC were first a source of hope for Valerie and then disappointment when she learned Watts was exempt. #SBC

But that disappointment is met with gratitude for Southern Baptists whose understandings have changed over time, including those who acknowledge they could have done more 20 years ago. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
#SBC

“It’s a full circle story. Strangely the people that have come out are the ones that have been there all along,” Valerie told me. “It’s what’s going to make them the first to stand up when this happens to the next girl in their own churches and their own lives.”

Obviously, the story goes into far greater detail about these events. It’s currently a subscriber-only story, so please consider subscribing. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
#SBC

Lastly, I just want to say that this story — both Valerie sharing her story and us publishing this article — have been a long time coming. So, thanks to Valerie (@ValerieLSwope) and others who helped me, spoke up and patiently waited. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…