Prominent Southern Baptist megachurch pastor Steven Smith confessed to his congregation on Sunday that his handling of child sex abuse allegations “should have been better,” but claimed his failure didn’t lead to “further abuse.” Meanwhile, Smith’s executive pastor, Doug Pigg, who worked closely with Smith to respond to the allegations, has announced he’s resigning.

Smith, lead pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church (IBC) in Little Rock, Arkansas, has been under fire for failing to tell his congregation about alleged child sex abuse by former IBC Assistant Director of Children’s Ministry Patrick Stephen Miller. Smith reportedly learned of the allegations against Miller in 2016. But he didn’t tell his congregation about the allegations until 2023, after the media had reported on them.

Similarly, Smith allegedly learned of an inappropriate relationship between a 23-year-old IBC youth volunteer in 2020 but didn’t tell his congregation about it until 2023.  

“My response to handling these situations should have been better,” Smith said from the pulpit on Sunday. “However, thankfully, nothing I did or didn’t do is reasonably criticized as allowing further abuse.” 

Smith, the son of former Southern Baptist Convention President Bailey Smith, admitted to what he called “mistakes in communication” in recent years. “While I never intended to deceive, the failure to communicate at certain points certainly gave the impression to some that we were trying to cover (up) something,” Smith said. “I understand that, and I take responsibility for that sincerely when I was involved.”

Last Thursday, Pigg, who’s 71 and has served as IBC executive pastor since March 2018, announced he’s retiring at the end of the month. 

“After much prayer and seeking God’s direction I sense God leading me to begin my retirement,” wrote Pigg in a resignation letter dated Dec. 4, according to a informe en el Boletín Demócrata de Arkansas. 

Letters confront alleged lying and cover-up by Smith and Pigg

Pigg’s resignation and Smith’s comments come after IBC Deacon David Choate called for Smith’s resignation en un recent letter obtenido por El Informe Roys (TRR).

In his letter, Choate states that he reached out to Pigg after Miller was arrested on child sex abuse charges in December 2018. “Pigg responded that they (Pigg and Smith) knew all about it and that he was busy having dinner with his family,” wrote Choate. 

That letter also claims that Smith told the parents of a student victimized by the IBC youth volunteer not to speak of the youth leader’s inappropriate actions. Choate stated that Smith told the family it was in their “best interest for word of this not to get out and that they should ‘keep a tight circle around’ it.’”   

In another letter recently obtained by TRR, Joseph Gates, an IBC member and attorney representing Miller’s victims, wrote, that “Immanuel has consistently shown a pattern of not Caring Well for her daughters.”

According to Gates, Smith lied when he told his congregation on May 24, 2022, that IBC had protocols in place that have “proven effective in the prevention of abuse.” Gates wrote that IBC only recently adopted abuse prevention protocols, which were scheduled to be implemented in January 2024.

He added that these protocols did not prevent abuse. According to Gates, Miller would groom girls at IBC by isolating them individually in locked and darkened rooms on Immanuel’s campus.

According to the letter, Miller “used his hands to rub on her undeveloped breasts and then used his fingers to digitally penetrate her vagina after Sunday night services.” Gates recounted a similar incident involving the other victim.

The family of the first victim asked Immanuel to inform parents—to be able to ask their own children about potential harm and get help. According to the letter, Smith and Pigg declined to do so and no other victims came forward.

Subsequently, Miller through his lawyer was able to negotiate the charge from Class B Felony Sexual Assault down to a Misdemeanor Harassment charge.

Gates stated: “Harassment is saying mean things on Facebook. Harassment is NOT sticking your fingers inside young girls. Nevertheless, the criminal justice system allowed the plea deal to go through.”

TRR reached out to an IBC spokesperson for comment but did not receive a response. 

Abuse survivor expresses relief

Tiffany Thigpen, an abuse survivor of a former pastor at First Baptist Church (FBC) of Jacksonville, Florida, where Pigg served for 22 years in a similar administrative role, expressed relief over the resignation.

“I am thankful Doug will no longer have a direct authority position to help control narratives in this church setting,” Thigpen told El Informe Roys (TRR). “It never ceases to amaze me how often a pastor is suddenly ‘called by God’ into a change of duty once a scandal has broken out.”

Not only was Pigg involved in IBC’s response to reports of sexual abuse by Miller and the youth volunteer. According to Thigpen, Pigg helped orchestrate FBC Jacksonville’s response to allegations of abuse against Darrell Gilyard, an SBC preacher convicto in 2009 of sexual abuse of minors.

In the 1990s, Gilyard allegedly attempted to rape Thigpen at a church revival meeting held at FBC Jacksonville, as documented in a 2022 Guidepost Solutions informe de investigación into abuse within Southern Baptist churches.

The report documented that 44 women say they were victims of “sexually inappropriate conduct” by Gilyard. FBC Jacksonville was among several SBC churches that did not investigate allegations against Gilyard..

The denomination has issued a formal apology to abuse survivors including Thigpen, and approved a series of reforms to address sexual abuse in churches. Yet, Thigpen says the SBC has failed to discipline offending pastors.

“All who are party to abuse and do not properly deal with it in the SBC should be disfellowshipped until we learn and begin to get this right,” Thigpen told TRR. “. . . Until they repent and take accountability for their errors, they are complicit and by default help the abuser and harm the abused.”

Disillusioned by church response

On Sunday, Smith acknowledged that church members may be experiencing a “moment of disillusionment.” 

“Part of the disillusionment is around this question: ‘Can we trust our pastor because of things that we’ve heard and things that we’ve read?’” Smith said. “And if I had read things that you’ve read and heard them without any response, I would be disillusioned as well. So, I don’t blame anyone who would have questions, because that’s just the nature of this without any response.”

Smith said he would soon release “some type of response” to church members concerning the allegations against him.

“So much of this winds up in the papers anyway, I want to just communicate directly with you instead of you wind(ing) up hearing it from another source,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Miller, now 37, is awaiting a hearing on Feb. 1 about his recent motion to have his criminal record expunged. Gates will reportedly attend with a group of church members advocating for survivors.

This article has been corrected to accurately state the length of Pigg’s tensure at IBC.

Periodista independiente Josh Shepherd escribe sobre fe, cultura y políticas públicas para varios medios outlets. He and his family live in the Washington, D.C. area.