Johnny Hunt, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a well-known Georgia preacher, has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman months after his presidential term ended in 2010.
Requested by SBC church delegates last summer and made public Sunday, the independent investigation found that denominational leaders downplayed years of warnings about sexual abuse of survivors and ignored expert advice on policies to protect children. , among other deficiencies of the members of the executive committee of SBC.
Hunt is accused of breaking into the condominium of the woman, whom he knew and was staying next door to Hunt while he was vacationing in Panama City Beach in July 2010. The woman, who is more than two decades Hunt’s junior, was alone in House. She told Guidepost that, after pressing her with inappropriate questions, as if she was “growing wild,” before pinning her down, groping her and pulling her clothes.
Shocked and frightened, the woman told Hunt that she didn’t want Hunt’s ministry to be ruined, after which Hunt “forced himself back on her by touching her, trying to pull her shirt down and kissing her violently,” according to Guidepost. report. “(The woman) she didn’t reciprocate, but she just stood wide-eyed and very stiff, hoping he would just stop and walk away from her. She finally stopped and left.”
Hunt then texted her to get out of his condo, then said he “would like to have sex with her three times a day,” Guidepost said.
Days later, the woman and her husband, a 25-year-old pastor who had worked with Hunt, were called to a meeting during which Hunt said he had kissed her, touched her breasts over her clothes and tried to pull down her shorts, but that was consensual, Guidepost wrote.
Hunt later told her husband “thank God I didn’t consume the relationship,” according to the husband. Hunt denied this and most of the woman’s account in interviews with Guidepost.
Hunt has denied the allegations both to Guidepost investigators and after the firm released its report Sunday, saying he hadn’t read it but “has never abused anyone.” He resigned this weekend from the North American Mission Board, the massive home evangelism wing of the SBC.
Still confused and traumatized, the couple accepted Hunt’s referral to a counseling minister at church. Guidepost found that the man was actually unlicensed, even though he also ran a counseling network.
Among other things the couple describe as emotional manipulation and spiritual abuse, the counseling minister and Hunt allegedly told them not to talk about the incident because it could damage SBC’s reputation, Guidepost wrote.
Guidepost also interviewed four people who were familiar with the couple and corroborated much of the woman’s story, including the counselor Hunt directed them to. Guidepost investigators found the woman credible, as did those who corroborated her story. Investigators said Hunt did not appear credible in his interviews with them.
The woman and her husband said it took them years to realize the mental and spiritual abuse that they said was used to silence them from coming forward. They are still reeling from the financial impact of having to move out of state, Guidepost said, and Hunt contacted them in October 2021 to offer to help her husband find a new job.
The couple decided to speak to Guidepost in hopes of preventing others from similar treatment, they said.
Reference-www.houstonchronicle.com