An investigation of the church’s handling of allegations is moving forward. Women have been telling their stories for years

This story has been updated.

[Photo above: Hannah-Kate Williams (L) and her sister, Maddie Rose Douglas (R), pose in Lexington, Ky., in June. (Silas Walker)]

Tens of thousands gathered in June at the Music City Center in Nashville for the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual conference. For the many women who have been speaking out about sexual assault within the nation’s largest evangelical denomination, the conference marked a long-awaited change of course: The Southern Baptist Convention nearly unanimously approved a third-party audit of sexual abuse allegations within its more than 47,000 churches. It also authorized an investigation into a suspected widespread coverup by the Executive Committee.

This week, Southern Baptist executives reaffirmed the probe into the church’s handling of sex abuse allegations. But a top denominational committee voted against full…