The Alabama Baptist State Convention, which established a Sexual Abuse Task Force last year, on Tuesday commended the task force in its review of Baptist agencies.
The Rev. Buddy Champion, who was elected Wednesday to a second one-year term as president of the state Baptist Convention, appointed the members of the task force and said they had completed a review of policies and practices at Baptist agencies in the state.
“The culmination of the report emphasizes our concern and our desire to respond to the victims and to the situations in a very caring and loving and very thorough manner,” Champion told AL.com. “I think the report (that was) brought about our entities, about the work they’re doing, showed that they’re prepared to respond, but also our churches as well.”
All state Baptist agencies need to be “alert and responding” to concerns about sexual abuse, Champion said Wednesday after the conclusion of the annual two-day meeting of state Baptists, held at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Vestavia Hills.
The State Baptist Convention has used MinistrySafe training to educate volunteers and church leaders on how to prevent sexual abuse and respond to reports of it.
About 150 volunteers for camps and events for children and youth sponsored by the state Board of Missions in 2022 were required to complete MinistrySafe training, the resolution passed Tuesday said.
More than 1,300 Alabama Baptist church leaders have been trained in statewide MinistrySafe events, the resolution said.
At least 22 former Alabama Baptist ministers have been charged with sex crimes.
The state convention includes about 3,200 Southern Baptist churches throughout Alabama, with membership of about a million, making it the state’s largest denomination.
In other business, the Rev. Morgan Bailey, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in Ranburne, was re-elected first vice president. The Rev. Jarman Leatherwood, founding pastor of House of Hope and Restoration in Huntsville, was re-elected second vice president.
The Alabama Baptist State Convention met Nov. 15-16 at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Vestavia Hills and re-elected officers to second one-year terms: the Rev. Buddy Champion, the Rev. Morgan Bailey and the Rev. Jarman Leatherwood. (Photo by Greg Garrison/AL.com)
