Liam Adams Profile picture
Sep 12 26 tweets 11 min read
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… Image
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." Image
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…

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More from @liamsadams

May 22
Today is when a long-awaited report is released with findings from an investigation into SBC leaders' response to sexual abuse w/in the last 2 decades.

Not knowing what this day or future ones will hold, I’m starting this thread to log updates, statements, articles, etc.
#SBC
The report is expected to be released at 1 p.m. PT at the website for the SBC sexual abuse task force: sataskforce.net
#SBC
As we wait, I'll plug a few things I came across earlier this week in anticipation of the report's release. @RobDownenChron's story on what to know: houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t… #SBC
Read 121 tweets
Feb 3
Southern Baptists are calling for more transparency. For some, that means taking a close look at how SBC entities are using nondisclosure agreements. I took a close look and was surprised at what I found. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
I obtained five nondisclosure agreements for five Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated entities dated between 2019 – 2021. None of the circumstances were identical. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
First, a little background. For decades, many have called for more transparency across the SBC, most notably sexual abuse survivors. There have just been new examples of calls for transparency.
Read 32 tweets
Feb 2
Gov. Bill Lee aims to partner with Hillsdale College, a conservative school in Michigan, to provide teachers with new curriculum and develop new charter schools. Since an announcement on Monday, here’s what I learned about the prospective partnership. tennessean.com/story/news/pol…
First, what is Hillsdale? A home to about 1,500 undergrad and grad students. It has preserved a Christian identity since its founding, which it has since infused with intellectual, cultural and political conservatism, @AdamLaats explained to me.
Laats said the school has positioned itself as a "a sort of libertarian or 'fusionist,' is what the nerds call it, type of conservative alignment.” tennessean.com/story/news/pol…
Read 9 tweets
Feb 1
Nashville’s largest Reform Jewish synagogue selected a new senior rabbi to succeed its current one. But the decision wasn’t reached without controversy. My look into what happened at The Temple: tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
Members of The Temple voted at 387-81 at a Jan. 20 meeting to approve a board recommendation to choose Michael Danziger as the next senior rabbi, according to a preliminary vote count announced at the meeting.
At the Jan. 20 meeting, prior to the vote, members expressed frustration about the senior rabbi selection process and the outcome. The frustration was less about the final selection (Danziger) than it was about the candidate who was not picked…
Read 15 tweets
Jan 24
In June, the Southern Baptist Convention didn’t vote on a resolution that denounced January 6. So, where does the conversation on Christian nationalism in the SBC go from here? Turns out, the answer is slightly more complicated, but I still sought it out. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
Here’s the full text of Resolution 7, which the resolutions committee drafted ahead of the meeting, but didn’t put it before the convention for a full vote due to technical reasons.
Some felt that Resolution 7 was effective because its focus on Jan. 6 provided a concrete illustration of Christian nationalism. Some rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 displayed Christian symbols. tennessean.com/story/news/rel…
Read 26 tweets
Jan 19
So, I wanted to give a little more attention to the numbers for our story (tennessean.com/story/news/rel…).
Even though Ramsey Solutions is hiring a lot of people quickly, the number of employees leaving has also increased. At minimum, there were 112 departures in 2020 and 148 in 2021.
Again, I will note here the full response from Ramsey Solutions to our questions about the number of employee departures. Image
Simply looking at the number of departures wasn’t enough. We wanted to put it in context and make sure we were looking at the information from different angles…
Read 7 tweets

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