author: BAPTISTLAND: A Memoir of Abuse, Betrayal & Transformation || #SBCtoo #ThisistheSBC https://t.co/khclicbR6b
Dec 9 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
When I was a kid, my pastor told me I should "be like Mary." God knows I tried.
He wanted service of my young body & I was balky. So, he chastised me: "Where would we all be if Mary hadn't trusted God even when her special role was something she couldn't understand?"
🧵 1/2/ Pastor said that I too was "chosen" for a special role & I needed to "live by faith." So, like Mary, I said "according to God's will."
It was incomprehensible but I trusted God knew best & I trusted the pastor as God's emissary.
I answered the call of God & complied.
Sep 12, 2022 • 7 tweets • 6 min read
Dear @SBCExecComm: When you meet next week, how about speaking directly & transparently to these 5 questions & requests? All are within your power. 🧵1/7 #SBCtoo#SBCreckoning#ThisistheSBC@williemclaurin
I’m named dozens of times in Guidepost’s report. Awful conduct by YOU the @SBCExecComm & your members. YOU did me harm – separate & beyond harm of sexual abuse. Do you intend to make any effort toward making amends for YOUR harms? 2/7
In this exceptional piece, @sarahposner pulls together a lot of pieces to show how the SBC got to this place of merging religion & Trumpism and what it's meant for their abysmal response on sexual abuse.
I'm proud to be quoted in it... 1/4 #ThisistheSBCthenation.com/article/societ…2/ When Brown saw SBC leaders "giving support to a president who bragged about assaulting women," she said "it felt like déjà vu. Their minimization of horrific conduct was a pattern that we had already seen up close." #SBCtoo
Aug 13, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Hallelujah. Three times, I've publicly called for a federal investigation of the SBC & clergy sex abuse. 2018. 2021. 2022.
When my pastor wanted service of my body & I balked, he chastised me: "Where would we all be if Mary hadn't trusted God even when her special role was something she couldn't understand?"
As a faith-filled young girl, I pondered that a lot. 1/5
Pastor said I too was "chosen" for a special role & I needed to "live by faith." So, like Mary, I too said "according to God's will."
It was incomprehensible but I trusted God knew best & I trusted the pastor as God's emissary. So, I answered the call of God & complied. 2/5
Nov 21, 2021 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
I’ve got fire coming out the top of my head today. According to their own public statement, @TexasBaptists destroyed information about clergy sex abuse.
Destruction of evidence that could protect kids & congregants. It makes my blood boil. #SBCtoo 1/7 baptiststandard.com/news/texas/tex…2/ For 15 yrs @TexasBaptists “maintained a confidential file of ministers who were credibly accused.” They accepted info for the file only FROM CHURCHES, not from victims, & by their policy, info went into the file based on confession, conviction or substantial evidence of abuse.
Jun 20, 2021 • 11 tweets • 8 min read
🧵I give thanks for the #SBC21 vote for investigation of @SBCExecComm & audit re #SBC abuse. But I want to also be clear about the limitations of this vote. It carries POTENTIAL but for that potential to eventually be realized there must be bird-dogging & follow-up. 1/
The #SBC21 vote does not serve to expose a single clergy abuser or enabler; nor does it create a database of clergy predators. It doesn't provide communal validation to #SBCtoo survivors by naming their abusers. It doesn't provide any aid or therapy costs to #SBCtoo survivors. 2/
Jun 16, 2021 • 8 tweets • 6 min read
🧵re @toddbenkert motion at #SBC21. It's referred to @ERLC. Todd shared this strategy with me in advance. Yes, I'm wary of ERLC, no getting around it. You know me. Long history has dug a deep well of skepticism. Still...This is something substantive & real. It's earnest effort...
...that holds POTENTIAL to bring #SBC institutional reform, accountability for abusers & enablers, and true care for survivors. The word POTENTIAL is critical. THIS IS A BEGINNING, NOT AN END. There will be many possibilities for derailment. SBCers: You must persist. #SBC21
Apr 11, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
The 1st of 2 invasive cancers was diagnosed 10 yrs ago today.
Surgeon said it had begun growing about 6 yrs earlier, tho hidden to imaging.
My mind went back in time. Cancer began when I was in the thick of trying to report the #SBC pastor who repeatedly raped me as a kid.🧵1/4
So Hellish was the prolonged experience of trying to report an SBC pastor-rapist & protect others that the very cells of my body had mutated.
Cancer is a multi-factorial process but 1 factor correlated to its inception in me was church bullying & #SBC#InstitutionalBetrayal. 2/4
Mar 13, 2021 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
I'm so weary of those who persist in minimizing the sexual predations of pastors as "sexual sin." I wrote about this in 2008 & sadly, it's still just as relevant today. 1/7 #ChurchToo#SBCtoo goodfaithmedia.org/its-not-about-…2/ When you combine the tactic of sexual assault...the authority of a pastor & the weapon of God’s word, dehumanization of the victim is complete.
There is no weapon more powerful than the word of God in the hands of a perverse pastoral con man who traps true believers as prey.
Jan 2, 2021 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
What's needed for #SBC2021 🧵: 1/ Motion to establish an independent #SBCTruthandJustice Commission on Sexual Abuse in the #SBC, with 7 Comm'n members to be initially named by @BozT, and to be people who are not affiliated with any SBC church or entity.
2/ The function of Comm'n shall be to A) create a safe & transparent process to receive, assess & document reports of sexual abuse committed by any pastor, minister, deacon or staff - current or past - paid, interim or volunteer - of any church or entity affiliated with SBC;
Jul 2, 2020 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
Dear @FirstOrlando: Despite being a documented clergy predator who sexually abused me as a kid, Tommy Gilmore has had 50 years’ worth of care, cover-up & career advancement within the #SBC & the support for him obviously continues to this day. 1/10 #SBCtoothewartburgwatch.com/2020/07/01/ope…
Meanwhile, I’ve been shamed, blamed, bullied, intimidated, ignored, threatened & vilified by Southern Baptist leaders – lots of them. The contrast is stark and painful.
