The SBC will sell its Nashville headquarters to defray abuse-related legal costs
The headquarters of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
An investigation into how leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have dealt with sexual abuse by clergy has cost more than $12 million over the past three years, causing the nation’s largest Protestant denomination to put its Nashville, Tennessee, headquarters up for sale, the SBC’s executive committee announced on Tuesday.
The expenditures, which include $3 million spent fending off a lawsuit filed by a former SBC president, have led the committee to spend down its reserves in what its auditors have called an unsustainable manner. The group, which met in Nashville this week, also approved a loan to cover budget shortfalls.
The executive committee’s fiscal woes come as the denomination is struggling to implement reforms ordered by the SBC’s governing body two years ago, designed to help churches better prevent and respond to abuse.
