In February, Lyell received a public apology from the SBC executive committee over its handling of the matter. (RNS) A former seminary professor and missionary who admitted sexual misconduct has sued a group of Southern Baptist Convention David Sills, former seminary prof accused of abuse, sues SBC and Guidepost - Aicren NASHVILLE (BP) Two Southern Baptist seminary faculty members have resigned their positions, vacating ministries that previously had placed them in the news. New details of former SBTS prof's resignation alleged Baptist Press reported Sills' resignation in June 2018 based on reporting by North Carolina's Biblical Recorder news journal, which cited a statement from the seminary affirming that Mohler "received the resignation of Dr. David Sills from the Southern Seminary faculty on May 23, 2018." Attorneys for Sills claim that Guidepost never contacted their client, who is mentioned repeatedly in the Guidepost report. (RNS) A former seminary professor and missionary who admitted sexual misconduct has sued a group of Southern Baptist Convention leaders and entities, claiming they conspired with an abuse survivor to ruin his reputation. Sills made his NFL debut in a Week 7 victory over the Carolina Panthers. Facebook/The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Bible teacher Jen Wilkin addresses criticism of her views on sending children to public schools, Teen, 21-year-old man indicted for murder of Memphis pastor, Deion Sanders' prayers are constitutionally protected, lawyer tells University of Colorado, Revival at Kentucky college faces hurdles from school leadership, moves worship off-campus. Join thousands of others to get the FREEDOM POST newsletter for free, sent twice a week from The Christian Post. The law should reflect that, Legacy of Wounded Knee occupation lives on 50 years later, Holy Queer author seeks Black church inclusion beyond singing with choir. David Sills has resigned from leadership positions as president of Reaching & Teaching International Ministries, professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) and member of the search team for a new president of the International Mission Board (IMB). When confronted about the relationship after Lyell presented her claims to SBTS President Albert Mohler, the lawsuit says, Sills resigned from his post at Southern Seminary. 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.. BNG has obtained documentation showing this section of the legal filing . Failed to subscribe, please contact admin. I believe it was by design.. He previously served as a missionary in Ecuador, as well as president and professor at the Ecuadorian Baptists Theological Seminary. "When I shared what had happened to me with my boss at LifeWay [Geiger] and then later with SBTS President Dr. R. Albert Mohler, I was quick to also share the responsibility I bore for being compliant at times, for not telling immediately and for so idolizing the idea of a whole family that I protected it despite what was happening within it," Lyell said. Things made a little more sense last Friday when a woman named Jennifer Lyell (below) released a statement explaining how she had been engaged in an "inappropriate relationship" with Sills for nearly a decade, beginning when she was his student. Previously: Kentucky Southern Baptist leaders among hundreds accused of sex abuse, Sills, who was a professor of missions and cultural anthropology, did not respond to a request for comment, while Mohler said he supported Lyell's decision to go public as a "brave and right thing to do.". Pouring more fire on allegations of sex abuse in Southern Baptist circles, a former student at Louisvilles Southern Baptist Theological Seminary says she was groomed and abused by a professor for more than a decade. NTT Assistant Professor of Mathematics, M.S. No one knows. The Sillses seek monetary damages from the named defendants: the SBC; the SBC Executive Committee; former SBC President Ed Litton; current SBC President Bart Barber; Lyell; Lifeway Christian Resources; Eric Geiger, a former executive vice president at Lifeway; Willie McLaurin, interim president of the Executive Committee; Rolland Slade, former chairman of the Executive Committee; Southern Seminary; Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary; and Guidepost Solutions, the firm that conducted the independent investigation. For Sills, no reason for his resignation was stated by Southern. He has planted and pastored churches in both the United States and Ecuador, and he is the founder and president of Reaching & Teaching International Ministries . Though Lyell asked that the article be changed, Baptist Press officials and leaders at the SBC Executive Committee initially refused. Reid, 59, SEBTS senior professor of . Pro Football Focus looks at Giants WR room. Gary Hollingsworth, executive director-treasurer of the 570,000-member body, said he accepted Aderholts resignation based on the importance of staying focused on the conventions vision statement of seeing every life saturated and transformed by the hope of the gospel.. George resigned on May 3 while Sills resigned on May 23, the Biblical Recorder reported. The Sillses suit claims Guidepost never sought statements from or interviews with Dr. Sills and Mrs. Sills, or their pastor, instead relying primarily on statements from defendants Mohler and Lyell, as well as purported SBC documents.. Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. told BP he could not disclose why Sills' employment at the seminary ended. ", Lyell said in her statement, "The denominational institutions, the local church, and the missions agency [Sills led] ultimately believed me, supported me, and took the action for which they were responsible. Other recent departures include the May 28 resignation of DavidSills, professor of missions and cultural anthropology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He joined Southern Seminary after serving as a missionary in Ecuador, where he served as church planter and general . 2023 Southern Baptist Convention. In a complaint filed November 21 in the Circuit Court of Mobile, Alabama, David Sills, a former professor of missions and cultural anthropology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, admits he lost his job in 2018 due to what he called morally inappropriate consensual intimate conduct with a student. An online biography of Sills indicated he is a member of Ninth & O Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. Southern Seminary, in a statement to the Biblical Recorder, said SBTS President R. Albert Mohler Jr. "received the resignation of Dr. David Sills from the Southern Seminary faculty on May 23, 2018. Sign up for our newsletter: Instead, her life fell apart, FILE - A cross and Bible sculpture stand outside the Southern Baptist Convention headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., May 24, 2022. I do not need to be under oath to tell the truthand there are no lies that will shake my certainty about what is true, she said. As sad as we are to lose Dr. George, we are optimistic about the future of the Spurgeon Center and look forward to introducing hundreds of new students to Spurgeon this [f]all., Sills, in addition to resigning his faculty position at Southern, has resigned as president of Reaching & Teaching International Ministries, an organization with 13 staff members seeking, according to its website, to help meet the great need for deep discipleship, pastoral preparation, leadership training, and theological education around the world.. The resulting Guidepost investigation and report found that SBC leaders had mistreated abuse survivors for years and downplayed abuse in the nations largest Protestant denomination. Yet victims who are not minors must decide for themselves whether to contact authorities, he said. David Sills is an employee working in University Of Western Ontario, according to the data provided by Province of Ontario, . "We will make this truth clear in any forum necessary and . ", Lyell said, "It is my hope that my story, one in which a SBC entity and its leaders acted swiftly and justly but in which that same individual was also in a ministry position only months later, will also help to illustrate the need for some form of a reporting tool that can ensure that those who have victimized others from a ministry position are unable to ever do so again.". A mainstay on the practice squad the past three years, Sills makes plays every summer in camp and he came up big in preseason game No. In a complaint filed Nov. 21 in the Circuit Court of Mobile, Alabama, David Sills, a former professor of missions and cultural . Find your friends on Facebook. Piano and Organ Faculty. The SBC Executive Committee apologized repeatedly to Lyell and reached a settlement with her. Because this a personnel matter, we cannot comment further.. The recent Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas passed resolutions affirming the dignity and worth of women in their distinctive God-assigned roles and condemning all abusive behavior as unquestionably sinful and under the just condemnation of our Holy God., Addressing what a news release called a months-long slew of firings and resignations within Southern Baptist entities, most for reasons of moral or ethical failure, Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler said during a panel discussion at the SBC annual meeting that Southern Baptists should not circle the wagons in response to what he called the humiliation of the Southern Baptist Convention., The church of the Lord Jesus Christ should be the safest place for anyone vulnerable to come and seek help, Mohler said, according to the release. Hope youll give us another try and check out some other articles. David Sills: Returns to New York. Lyells case was cited in the SATF report. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. See Photos. He is the author of numerous books on missions and missiology, including The Missionary Call: Finding Your Place in Gods World (Moody) and Changing World, Unchanging Mission: Responding to Global Challenges (IVP). Instead, Baptist Press wrote its own article about her experience. He received a BSc in Atmospheric Science and Certificate in Meteorology from York University in 1993, as well as a PhD in Atmospheric Science from York University in 1998. . The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has followed best practices in this matter and has nothing to hide, he said. Dr. David Sills is the founder and president of Reaching & Teaching International Ministries as well as A.P. Southern Seminary is committed to the highest standards of both principle and policy. Mohler told BP his "encouragement from the start in any case such as this is that authorities be contacted" and that only law enforcement should judge whether laws may have been violated in such situations. Southern Seminary is committed to the highest standards of both principle and policy, a spokesperson said. Our legal team is in the process of reviewing the complaint and we do not have any further comment at this time, said Carol Pipes, director of corporate communications. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, also reported that Sills was removed from Global Outreach International, the mission agency based in Branchville, New Jersey, that he joined after leaving the seminary. and Faye Stone Professor of Christian Missions and Cultural Anthropology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She also said Sills Louisville church took action after he resigned from the seminary May 23. The move was in light of controversy over past statements about divorce and domestic violence resurrected in the #MeToo climate protesting abuse of women by powerful men. Something that had been held tightly for years.. Baptist Press eventually retractedthe article. The truth will come out in this litigation, he said. Provost and Vice-President (academic) / Professor: University of Western Ontario: $345,000: 2020: David W. Litchfield: Vice-Dean / Professor: University of Western Ontario: 2020: Martin Belanger: Director, Investments: 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. It further stated, "Southern Seminary is . Conversions credited to women evangelists sharing the good news one-on-one in conversations. In a complaint filed Nov. 21 in the Circuit Court of Mobile, Alabama, David Sills, a . Lyell claimed she was groomed then abused by the professor for more than ten years. David Sills V is staying in the Big Apple. Bob Smietana November 29, 2022. He was born on November 1, 1953, to Willard Norman Sills, Jr. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Here's how. The SBC Executive Committee and several other SBC leaders did not immediately respond to requests for comment. While tens of thousands flocked to campus, school officials met in a storage closet to make decisions that would honor what is happening.. At the last minute, the story was changed to say Lyell had had an inappropriate relationship with Sills. When he was hired by a different mission group, Lyell informed Baptist Press, an SBC publication, that he had been abusive and offered to write a first-person account of the abuse. David Sills. 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