Judge sets June 17 for civil trial in case of Johnny Hunt vs. the Southern Baptist Convention

The civil jury trial of Johnny Hunt v. the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is set for June 17, Judge William Campbell announced Dec. 3, according to media reports.

The date for the trial was originally Nov. 12 in the United States District Court for the Middle District in Nashville, Tenn., but was delayed when the parties failed to settle in a court-ordered mediation in September.

Hunt, former SBC president and a prominent pastor in the denomination, sued the SBC, the SBC Executive Committee, and Guidepost Solutions in March 2023 for defamation, claiming that Guidepost used Hunt as a “scapegoat” in a sexual abuse investigation conducted by the organization for the Executive Committee.

A May 2022 report from Guidepost’s investigation included allegations from an unidentified woman who claims Hunt sexually abused her in 2010, shortly after his two-year stint as SBC president. Hunt, who had served as senior vice president of evangelism at the North American Mission Board since 2018, resigned days before the Guidepost report became public, the Baptist Press reported.

In September, the Executive Committee announced that it had spent more than $12.1 million on the 2021-2022 Guidepost Solutions investigation and subsequent legal expenses dating back to the 2021 fiscal year. The announcement was met with strong rebuke from at least one SBC reform advocate over the “gross mismanagement” by the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee has announced the liquidation of long-held Southern Baptist assets, such as the SBC building in downtown Nashville to pay for mounting legal expenses. Reportedly, $3 million has been spent defending the Executive Committee and Guidepost against the Hunt lawsuit. The contract with Guidepost during the initial investigation stipulated that Guidepost would have indemnity in any lawsuit resulting from the investigation, with the Executive Committee responsible for its legal bills, according to Baptist Press.

The SBC is supported through the Cooperative Program, which is Southern Baptists’ unified plan of giving through which cooperating Southern Baptist churches give a percentage of their undesignated receipts to their respective state convention and the SBC missions and ministries. The 2023 Cooperative Program budget was $192 million. The SBC reported 46,906 churches, nearly 13 million members, and a weekly attendance of 4 million in 2023.