jennifer lyell david sills

Ascol, Buck and Basham are not newcomers to critiquing Lyell and Smietana. Of course, Lyell spoke to multiple media outlets and is featured in a new documentary on sex abuse in the SBC. Henzel told CR that he did not know how the audio was leaked and did not feel comfortable speaking about it. She mentions them many times during this recording. Louisvilles Ninth and O Baptist Church told BP it is the congregation referenced in Lyells statement. Women are seen first and foremost as sexual objects, means to an end, she said, adding women are seen as temptresses, trying to bring a good man down and getting married is seen as a way of helping men deal with their lust. George, as curator of the Spurgeon Library and digitized archive, worked with the . In February, the top-ranked Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) did something that's almost unprecedented: they apologized and offered a monetary settlement to Jennifer Lyell, who for years had been abused by an SBC seminary professor. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. In a post on her website, Lyell accused Sills of sexually abusing her during a 2004 mission trip and claimed the abuse continued over a decade. Lyell was even commended in an SBC Resolution for her bravery in standing against sex abuse. He resigned from his trustee post, and as a result from the search committee, in May 2018. Lyell contends it was not consensual. The resignations of Alvin Reid at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Christian George at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and David Sills at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary were reported by Baptist Press and the North Carolina Biblical Recorder. She did not revisit all the details of the abuse but did disclose those details to leaders at Lifeway and then to Al Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where the professor was employed. According to Lyell, the reason she waited so long to come forward with her claims is because she was afraid that her coming forward could cause collateral damage impacting people she loved. After Baptist News Global broke the news that former seminary professor David Sills and his wife, Mary, filed a defamation lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention and 11 other defendants, three high-profile Southern Baptists took to Twitter to highlight one specific section of the 31-page legal document. However, Baptist Press, the SBCs in-house news service owned by the executive committee, incorrectly reported that Lyell had admitted to being involved in a morally inappropriate relationship with her former professor. By the time Lyell had come forward publicly with her story, she had been in counseling for over two years. Lyell feared he would once again have the opportunity to abuse others and wanted to stop that from happening. Lyell told Religion News Service she wished she had never gone public. Jennifer Lyell, who now works as an executive for LifeWay Christian Resources, posted a confession online last week claiming how Sills, who has been married for 30 years and has three grandchildren, sexually abused her and even groomed her from the time she was a master of divinity student until just a few years ago. Geiger, senior pastor of Mariners Church in Irvine, Calif., confirmed to BP that Lyell shared her allegations with him. Thereafter, Ms. Lyell engaged in an effort to restore her reputation and preserve her powerful position of doling out lucrative book deals, while affirmatively and skillfully dismantling the reputations, careers, and family life of David Sills and Mary Sills, the court filing states. Its complicated. She has alleged Sills abused her over a multi-year period. It also names Jennifer Lyell, a former seminarian and vice president for Lifeway, who has repeatedly alleged that Sills was abusive, an allegation Mohler has also made on social media and in an interview for a documentary about the denomination's response to its sexual abuse crisis. In a grievance filed Nov. 21 within the Circuit Courtroom of Cell, Alabama, David Sills, a former professor of missions and [] Lyell sent a statement to both BNG and RNS: I do not need to be under oath to tell the truth and there are no lies that will shake my certainty about what is true. It looked idyllic on the surface. First, the defendants widely circulated their herein-described defamatory lies about Dr. and Mrs. Sills throughout Mobile County and the state of Alabama. Mississippi lawyer Don Barrett, one of the attorneys representing David Sills and his wife, Mary Sills, said that part of the complaint was in error, the story said. She said Lyell had repeatedly asked for the article to be corrected but her requests were denied and a number of Baptist leaders knew the story was wrong but failed to stand up for Lyell. Sills was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary until his resignation on May 23, 2018. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. He did call the police. Because this is a personnel matter, we cannot comment further.. Ascol is a Florida pastor who leads Founders Ministries, a group of Southern Baptist Calvinists. Sills local church, Ninth & O Baptist Church in Louisville, confirmed to Baptist Press that Sills is no longer a member and that the church acted swiftly and firmly after hearing the accusations. In the spring of 2019, Lyell, then a well-respected leader in Christian publishing, decided to publicly disclose that she was a survivor of sexual abuse. The abuser often spends years grooming a victim and then does not let the victim go. The lawsuit centers on allegations that Sills sexually abused Jennifer Lyell starting in 2004 when Lyell was a student and Sills was a professor. A former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary student has come forward to detail how former professor David Sills, who resigned last year, engaged in an inappropriate and "abusive" sexual relationship with her that lasted for over a decade. For example, why did Lyell continue the relationship with the alleged abusers after graduating from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS)? Want to share a story? The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. On July 6th, this story would resurface because Bob Smietana, a liberal reporter of the pagan Religious News Service wrote an apologetic for Jennifer Lyell, When abuse victims are adults . But I am a victim nonetheless.. If you do not know your new account number you can contact. That happened three months prior to release of a bombshell report from an independent investigation that found widespread mishandling of known cases of sexual abuse in the SBC and its churches. Here's how. It conclusively demonstrated the non-consensual nature of what happened to her. Return to homepage. Lyell still attends a Southern Baptist church, in large part because of the friendship and support she has received from her pastor and his wife. Sills files defamation suit against SBC, Lyell, others MOBILE, Ala. (BP) - A former Southern Baptist seminary professor and his wife have filed suit against the SBC and 10 other individuals and entities connected to the SBC, including Jennifer Lyell and Guidepost Solutions. BNG has confirmed Midwest Christian Outreach was working with Ascol, Buck and Basham in the background into 2022. They simply want to push their agenda & cancel anyone who refuses to kowtow to their self-righteous bloviating. One details Lyells complaint that the video of her interview with Midwest Christian Outreach that was supposed to be kept confidential had been shared with others, including Basham. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Sills was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary until his resignation on May 23, 2018. However, not everyone has believed a sexual abuse crisis exists in the SBC. Things changed, however, once the abuse became public. Southern Baptists oust Rick Warrens Saddleback Church for naming a female pastor, Southern Baptists plan to hire Guidepost Solutions to run abuser tracking database, Beth Moore tries to untangle her all knotted-up life in new memoir, Copyright 2020, Religion News Service. The timeline raises many natural and difficult questionsquestions that are not prompted by a desire for lewd details, but rather to fully understand what has become a public case used to discredit how the SBC handles abuse allegations. Basham questions Lyells description of events, her claims to have reported the abuse to police, and her ability to enlist others to corroborate her story. Pastors and churches called for her to be fired. For Sills, no reason for his resignation was stated by Southern. David Pooler, professor of social work at Baylor University, said sexual misconduct by clergy and other religious leaders is often labeled as having an affair. But that description misses the power imbalance at play. Attorneys misidentified an email from Lyell, which was sent to a pair of ministers, not to RNS. Help keep The Christian Post free for everyone by making a one-time donation today. The lawsuit also claims that Sills broke off the relationship and that Lyell continued to pursue him. They didnt they just kind of defaulted to me, and then realized later, Oh, crap, we shouldnt have done that., SBC Elites cite distinguished lawyer and Southern Baptist Matthew Martens; however, Martens has written persuasively, Supporters of a constitutional amendment to ban women pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), New intel points to Covid origin in a lab leak, remember when this was a, NAMB PR VP Mike Ebert emerges as key witness in McRaney v. NAMB What will, Leaked audio interview with Jennifer Lyell hits, featured in a new documentary on sex abuse in the SBC, David raped Bathsheba promoter involved in new SEBTS abuse class, SBC Abuse Expert Rachael Denhollander Sided with Amber Heard, SBC Elites defend credibly accused standard to ruin lives, Bart Barber flipflops on pledge to bring vote to ban Women Pastors in SBC, Evangelical Elites lied you to about the origins of Covid, Woke SBC Elites Delete History To Hide Their Schemes. Jen came forward at incredible personal cost to herself, to defend those who had no voice, Denhollander said. When a pastor or leader is involved in a sexual scandal, the language of affair is used, even when its a predatory use of spiritual power, he said. Lyell built a strong relationship with Sills family over the years as she spent many of her weekends and holidays with them. 2023 Baptist News Global. In fact, she claims in a newly leaked audio recording that she has been vague intentionallyso that the Sills grandchildren wouldn't find out much about this by using Google. Part of Lyells reason for being "compliant at times" and remaining silent for as long as she did, she stated, was because she became like part of [Sills] family and feared the collateral damage that telling would cause for those around him. In her statement, Lyell accused Sills of grooming and taking advantage of his student.. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. I am not a sinless victim. Lawsuit protests the SBC and third-party firm for supporting allegations in a new legal challenge referencing historic abuse report. That report also cited the Lyell case. What Ascol, Buck and Sills share in common is adherence to an extreme version of Reformed theology, known as hyper-Calvinism, that has been on the resurgence in the SBC over the past 30 years. In fact, the key facts alleged are right in the first few paragraphs: 1. The audio discussion features Jennifer Lyell speaking to Ron Henzel and Don Veinot of Midwest Outreach. "So I want to make very clear that I stand with her in that statement.". Based on the information we now have I retract any suggestion that Jennifer Lyells physical relationship with David Sills was consensual. Survivors often deal with the trauma of the actual abuse along with a sense of betrayal and rejection from other believers, who often take the side of abusers. The campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship seminary for the Southern Baptist Convention, located in Louisville, Kentucky. Police is an important part of Lyells narrative. How did Bob Smietana avoid being named in this lawsuit? And because of their power and influence, pastors and other religious leaders have a responsibility to set up boundaries in their relationships with other people. This led to a general understanding that what happened between Dr. David Sills and Ms. Jennifer Lyell was a consensual affair. And the incidents Lyell describes would have caused the creation of police reports. In May, Guidepost Solutions, which investigated the SBC scandal, issued a report that found alleges survivors of sexual abuse encountered resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility, from some on the SBCs Executive Committee. The audio came to the Capstone Report from a source not connected with Midwest Outreach. "Dr. Sills was out of the country traveling internationally. The following year, Jennifer Lyell, a former vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, told Baptist Press she had been a victim of emotional and sexual abuse by Sills, who had been her professor. Instead of receiving support and compassion, she found herself trying to convince critics she was not responsible for the abuse she had experienced at the hands of the former professor. "David Sills was repentant and obedient to the rules of the SBC," the complaint alleges. It was a Zoom call conducted June 6, 2021. All this played out as the SBC addressed the independent report of Guidepost Solutions about a long-term pattern of ignoring or mishandling known cases of sexual abuse in SBC churches and agencies. , and as a result from the search committee, in May 2018 not... And as a result from the search committee, in May 2018 very that! Can contact to herself, to defend those who had no voice, Denhollander.. `` Cookie Settings '' to provide a controlled consent Theological Seminary ( )! & cancel anyone who refuses to kowtow to their self-righteous bloviating jennifer lyell david sills agenda & cancel anyone who to... To be fired Lyell and Smietana resignation was stated by Southern consent plugin, you May ``... For his resignation on May 23, 2018 Sills family over the years as spent., and as a result from the search committee, in May 2018 graduating from Baptist. 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