REVISED JANUARY 14 TO ADD A PARENTHETICAL NOTE IN THE THIRD PARAGRAPH. By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) – Just prior to the Christmas holiday, reli­gious news outlets report­ed that the jury trial in the lawsuit by Johnny Hunt against the Southern Bap­tist Convention, the SBC Executive Committee and Guidepost Solutions was scheduled for June 17, 2025, in the U.S. District Court located in Nashville. RECAP Hunt was named in the controversial “Report of the Independent Inves­tigation” about alleged sexual abuse and claims of mishandled cases in the SBC. Released in May 2022 by Guidepost Solutions for the SBC and SBC EC, the report accused him of having groomed a pastor’s wife, 20 years younger than him, (which included time while he served as SBC president, 2008-2010); and having sexually as­saulted her in a Florida condo (July 2010) just weeks after his tenure as SBC president ended with the closing of the SBC an­nual meeting. In an April 2024 de­position, Hunt said that he kissed and fondled the woman’s body for “a couple of minutes” after she had lowered her top and that he pulled down the woman’s shorts before he was convicted to stop and leave. However, his lawsuit is based … [Read more...]