‘No settlement with Johnny Hunt,’ SBC president says as defamation trial looms

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Friday, September 20, 2024

Southern Baptist Convention President Clint Pressley has squashed speculation that the denomination was possibly settling a defamation lawsuit filed by former SBC president Johnny Hunt in March 2023 after he was accused of sexually assaulting a young minister's wife.

"Despite what you may be hearing, there is no settlement with Dr Johnny Hunt," said Pressley in a terse response on X to the speculation cited in reports made by news outlets such as Baptist News Global.

Hunt previously admitted to engaging in "kissing and some awkward fondling" with the younger minister's wife, who accused him of sexual assault while on a beach vacation with his family in Panama City, Florida, in 2010. He has since argued that he was stalked and seduced by the woman in a 368-page deposition on April 18 conducted as a part of the federal defamation lawsuit.

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"I would say that anyone that is greatly used in life, it seems like there's a target on them. I think some people would be drawn to a person of influence or feel like they have got their act together. I have often wondered if that's what — why [she] stalked me," Hunt said.

The lawsuit names as defendants the SBC, the SBC Executive Committee and Guidepost Solutions, which investigated the allegations against Hunt and published their findings in an independent report funded by the convention in May 2022.

The Guidepost Solutions report found that the denomination's leadership mishandled sexual abuse allegations, mistreated victims and advocates, engaged in an abusive pattern of intimidation and repeatedly resisted reforms aimed at making associated churches safer largely to avoid legal liability.

While the SBC has asked the court to make a summary judgment on Hunt's lawsuit to avoid a trial, a trial date has been scheduled for Nov. 12.

The SBC Executive Committee announced after a regular meeting this week that it will sell the SBC's headquarters in downtown Nashville, partly due to their mounting legal expenses stemming from the Guidepost investigation and its fallout. 

Liam Adams, a reporter with The Tennessean who covered the meeting, noted in a statement on X that the SBC Executive Committee member Adam Wyatt said about 95% of the $3.1 million the denomination has allocated for "indemnification" to cover Guidepost's legal bills is connected to Hunt's lawsuit.

Griffin Gulledge, the pastor of Madison Baptist Church in Madison, Georgia, argued in support of not settling Hunt's lawsuit in a series of tweets even though "going to trial will be more expensive."

"We should take Johnny Hunt to trial if he insists, pay what it costs to defeat him there (because the truth is on our side), show our ongoing commitment to stand up to abuse, and not give an inch to someone who will run around vilifying reform and claiming victory if we settle," Gulledge argued.

"Settling is easy. Winning is harder and more expensive. Not as expensive as the damage we do to our own integrity if we start paying off compromised or abusive pastors just because they're litigious and hate accountability," he added.

"These are hard questions and I'm praying for all those involved. But I am reminded that we repeatedly said years ago that this could be part of the cost of reform. The messengers said that was a cost they were willing to bear. Integrity and justice are worth it."