In the wake of a joint report released by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News about sexual misconduct in churches associated with the Southern Baptist Convention, a local pastor is encouraging churchgoers to ask about youth ministry regulations, sexual harassment complaint procedures and policies about reporting sexual misconduct.

Pastor David O. Dykes, Senior Pastor at Green Acres Baptist Church said in an email he is shocked and saddened by the report.

“My heart is grieving over the report published by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News,” Dykes wrote. “I was personally shocked and

saddened to learn that they have uncovered accounts of so many Southern Baptist leaders who have been identified with allegations of sexual abuse, sexual assault and other serious misconduct. One allegation of sexual misconduct is one too many.”

Chris Legg, lead pastor at South Springs Baptist Church in Tyler, said he has seen the report from the Houston Chronicle and believes the numbers are low because Southern Baptist churches are independent.

“Part of why the victimization numbers are low and not in tens of thousands is because we can monitor and shepherd the people we work with better than a team of people in some other state,” Legg said. “We can hire and fire and create our own bylaws. There is no authority structure, no pope or bishops.”

Dykes said through email Monday he believes the structure of the Southern Baptist Convention is one of the reasons why incidents go unreported.

“Every Baptist church is an autonomous congregation,” he wrote. “I believe this independent ‘stand-alone’ structure has been one of the reasons why some of these incidents were not reported.”

Dykes went on to say church autonomy is no excuse for a lack of accountability.

“I am calling on our congregation, and every Baptist congregation, to a recommitment to transparency, and accountability,” he wrote. “Sexual abuse is not only a terrible sin; it is a crime that should be reported.”

Legg said his church has had procedures in place to protect children and adults who work with youth since the church became an independent congregation about two years ago.

“It’s what we have for anyone who works with minors,” Legg said. “They have to read and sign it. We also do background checks and checks of the sex offender registry and get references for every single person who takes on a ministry role with a minors whether they are on staff or not.”

Dykes said the staff at Green Acres Baptist has been trained on how to recognize signs of both sexual harassment and sexual abuse.

“Our policy is to report suspected sexual abuse to the authorities immediately,” he wrote. “In addition, we have had a policy for years of conducting full criminal background checks on every member of our staff and every member of our congregation who works with children, youth or adults at risk.”

Legg said South Springs’ procedures also are outlined in his church’s employee handbook.

He said he urges people to let a church leader know if they feel uncomfortable around someone.

Dykes said the the steps he has taken at Green Acres can’t undo the pain of the victims in the Southern Baptist churches detailed in this latest report.

Legg, who is also a licensed professional counselor and owner of Alethia Family Counseling, said the church has training for staff and people who work to minister to youth and a policy in place that doesn’t allow adults to be alone with children.

“I’m very aware of abuse issues that are faced,” Legg said, adding that he helped develop the procedures used by a local Christian camp to protect minors against predators.

Legg said he is very engaged, aware and invested in preventing sexual misconduct issues in his church.

He said the policies he has are open to anyone to use.

Legg said he also makes a point to openly communicate with his congregation about the issues and even does that in his sermons.

“We communicate about it openly as a church even from the pulpit,” he said. “I think it sets us apart from other ministries.”

Legg said he asks those hard questions of congregation members about inappropriate activities with minors in hopes anyone who has bad motives or is an abuser is run off by the conversation. This, he said will allow would-be predators to see that his church is not a place for a person to abuse children or harm adults.

He said he believes that asking questions will show predators or potential predators that South Springs Baptist is not squeamish or unaware of sexual misconduct issues.

“We are not afraid to have that conversation,” he said. “We don’t keep it internally.”

Legg said if someone suspects abuse he is required to report it to law enforcement within 48 hours.

He said he works to correct people who demonstrate poor boundaries around youth to make sure their actions are corrected and encourages churchgoers to ask their church for its procedures and plans regarding sexual misconduct and abuse.

“I think its scripturally appropriate to protect children and appropriate to punish people who harm children and adults in that manner,” he said. “It’s appropriate to check and see what procedures and plans churches have on these issues. It’s healthy to ask leadership about them.”

Matt Edwards, chief operating officer at Pine Cove, said the Christian camp ministers to more than 40,000 children and families in four family camps, seven youth camps and 11 mobile day camps. Pine Cove is not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

He said safety is Pine Cove’s No. 1 priority.

“Clearly, it’s unfortunate when we read about children who get hurt,” he said. “When parents bring their children to us that’s a sacred trust and we have a 20year track record with Praesidium Inc.”

Praesidium Inc. is a third-party company that works with churches and ministries as an external accreditation agency that helps put safety procedures in place and gives the ministry a rating and a score.

“They have a safety equation we follow,” he said. “They look at policy, screening and monitoring of supervision.”

Edwards said Pine Cove operates with a policy called “Rule of 3” that he said ensures an employee is never allowed to be alone with a camper.

Edwards said there have not been any credible allegations of abuse against any staff at the camp.

He said the camp’s policy is to report anything we see that doesn’t look right and when employees violate the “Rule of 3” policy they are terminated.

“If it’s not criminal, but still concerning, we report to Child Protective Services,” he said. “We have also been trained to watch for any pedophilia type of grooming.”

Edwards said the camps undergo random security checks of areas where a predator could privately gain access and control.

He said the staff goes through training that is videotaped and accessible through a link so parents have the ability to access the videos.

Edwards said sexual misconduct is one of the deepest concerns that the camp works hard and prays hard to do everything they can to avoid and prevent.

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