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	Abusers Found on Southern Baptist Convention Web Site By Lindsay Melvin Memphis Commercial Appeal June 29, 2008 http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/jun/29/abusers-found-on-baptist-site/ Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have condemned sexual predators and are urging churches to flush out molesters using federal background checks. But a simple search on the convention's Web site shows they have yet to purge their own house of predators. SBC's MinisterSearch, a Web database for finding clergy members, contains the names of pastors both indicted and convicted of sexual abuse. Among them is a former Cordova pastor charged in October with rape and sexual battery. "It's a double standard," said David Brown, an abuse victim and coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in Memphis. Brown is also a Southern Baptist. "They made the statement at the convention that they weren't going to let these pedophiles in, and they're still up on the Web site," he said. Roger Oldham, vice president for convention relations, says the minister search, which has more than 10,000 names, is simply a directory and not an endorsement. "All the information we have comes from the churches," he said. Churches submit the information and the convention updates the database every other year, Oldham said. Listed on the site is Steven Haney, the former pastor of Walnut Grove Baptist Church, now Gracepoint Baptist. Haney is accused of having a long-term sexual affair with a teenage boy in his Cordova congregation. He has since resigned his position, but the directory shows him on staff. Haney's case is still pending, along with that of Tim Byars, who also turns up on the site. A former youth minister at Springhill Baptist Church in Dyersburg, he was charged with raping a 14-year-old girl during a field trip nearly two years ago. Byars is also charged in another case for sexual battery in Davidson County. "These men have forfeited their right to be a minister," Brown said. SNAP received about 40 reports last year of sexual abuse by Southern Baptist ministers. Brown says keeping predators and alleged predators on the convention's Web site gives the impression these are safe ministers. "We've got to do more to protect our children," he said. Although the problem hasn't been as far-reaching as the sexual abuse scandal that shook up the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention has seen a rise in high-profile allegations against clergy in recent years. The allegations have been numerous enough to prompt the executive committee to begin studying how to address them. The convention voted last year to look into creating a database that would list clergy who have been accused or convicted. At the annual meeting this month, the committee reported they would not create a database to identify predators. Unlike Catholic churches, SBC churches are autonomous. When sexual abuse surfaces, it's up to individual churches to take action. "The convention does not ordain or defrock ministers," Oldham said. On the convention's Web site, there are links to the National Database of Sex Offenders and other abuse-prevention sites. The recent attention the minister search site has gotten will likely lead to upcoming discussions on how to operate and update the search, Oldham said. "Historically it was a directory, like a telephone directory," he said. "It had little notoriety until recently." Contact Lindsay Melvin at 529-2445.
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