Court-ordered mediation between a former Southern Baptist Convention president and lawyers for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination failed last week — meaning the dispute between the two parties is likely headed to a trial in November.
Hunt, a former Georgia megachurch pastor and denominational official who served as SBC president from 2008 to 2010, sued the denomination in 2023, alleging defamation. Hunt was named in the Guidepost report on abuse in the SBC — for allegedly sexually assaulting another pastor’s wife. He initially denied the incident and has since said it was consensual.
Lawyers for Hunt have claimed the former SBC president’s misconduct was a private matter and the SBC ruined his reputation by making it public.
On Thursday, the two sides met for a court-ordered mediation, which ended in an impasse, according to a report filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Tennessee.
The lawsuit has cost the SBC’s Executive Committee about $3 million in legal fees so far. Those legal fees, along with about $9 million in fees related to the Guidepost report, led the Executive Committee to put its Nashville, Tennessee, office building on the market.
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Last week, current SBC President Clint Pressley tweeted that no settlement had been reached. The possibility of a settlement was raised during a recent Executive Committee meeting.
“Despite what you may be hearing, there is no settlement with Dr Johnny Hunt,” Pressley tweeted on Thursday, the same day as the mediation.
The trial for the lawsuit is set to begin Nov. 12 in Nashville. Hunt’s lawyer recently petitioned the court to block the SBC from calling several witnesses, including Kevin Ezell, the president of the denomination’s North American Mission Board, at the trial.
After stepping down as pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia, Hunt served as a vice president at NAMB before resigning following the release of the Guidepost report in 2022.
Bob Smietana is a national reporter for Religion News Service.
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5 Responses
You would think Ronny Hunt doesn’t want this to go to trial, but then again what reputation does he have to preserve? Then again, he does know where a lot of SBC bodies are buried. Get out your popcorn, this could be quite the show!
I honestly want to come watch this trial. I wonder if Johnny Hunt’s lawyers will let it be open to the public.
We sure love our literal interpretation until there’s $
The fact that Hunt’s attorneys are trying to block witnesses really does speak volumes. There should be nothing to fear from the truth, and if there is, it disproves the false statements / negligence requirements of a defamation claim. Let’s hope their petition is rejected by the court.
Even if it was consensual, he admitted that he made that behavior choice. He chose to damage his reputation. That’s not the SBCs fault. This sounds like an expensive show where the biggest loss will be felt in the SBC congregations.