DALLAS (TX)
Baptist Press
June 19, 2018
By Karen L. Willoughby
The pastor of an Austin, Texas, Southern Baptist church “finds I’m spending more time in preparation than ever before” for his Sunday morning sermons.
Matt Carter, pastor of preaching and vision at Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas, said in a CP Stage panel discussion prior to the SBC annual meeting in Dallas that he weighs his words to make sure they do not send the wrong message to the potential 25 percent of the women in the church who have suffered abuse in their lifetime.
“I’m consistently filtering what I’m saying through the eyes of a woman who has been abused,” said Carter, who took the church’s entire staff through a week-long training earlier this year to be able to say to all women, “You are safe here.”
The 20-minute panel discussion on Sexual Abuse in the Church in the SBC exhibit hall covered a victim’s trauma; the churches’ response; and how to prepare children for potential situations without scaring them.
The SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore, teacher and author Beth Moore and moderators Jonathan Howe and Amy Whitfield filled out the panel.
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