On his first Sunday as a new pastor, Aaron encountered something nearly every pastor is unprepared to evaluate or handle — a repeat child sexual abuse offender attending his new congregation. Fortunately, his wife Amy had spent 20 years as a child welfare social worker. She knew exactly what the threat was.

What followed tested everything they thought they understood about how churches should respond when the danger is undeniable.

In this episode, Aaron and Amy tell the story of what they faced — and why even the clearest evidence isn't always enough to convince others of the threat. Then Victor Vieth, former child abuse prosecutor and director of the Center for Faith and Child Protection at the Zero Abuse Project, brings the perspective most church leaders never hear — from someone who has spent decades at the exact intersection of law, faith, and child protection.

This episode contains the education church leaders need. And for survivors, it names what many churches have refused to see.

This episode was written and edited by Carolyn McCulley. Our executive producer is Rachael Berglund. 

• The Silenced Truth is a project of the Safe to Speak Initiative. 
• Join our Patreon community to advocate for the legal protections that survivors need to safely disclose their experiences. 
• To support the production of this show, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Southern Documentary Fund. 

FOR FURTHER CONTEXT

The Pedophile in the Pulpit (CBN) (John Hinton)

How to Spot a Child Abuser Hiding in Plain Sight with Jimmy Hinton (podcast)

Church hired pastor without checking his criminal record — then said it didn't matter (Burlington Free Press, 2019)

Church defends hiring pastor without background check (Rutland Herald, 2019)

The 2012 Journal of Psychology and Theology article by Victor Vieth

Ministering to Adult Sex Offenders: Ten Lessons from Henry Gerecke by Victor Vieth

Developing Effective Church Policies on Child Maltreatment by Victor Vieth

A Bird in the Air or a Nest in the Hair? by Victor Vieth

Zero Abuse Project trainings

GRACE trainings

The Silenced Truth is a project of the Safe to Speak Initiative and is a production of Citygate Communications. It is fiscally sponsored by the Southern Documentary Fund.

Jennifer Lyell is dead. But the battle over her story is not. 

In this second episode of The Silenced Truth, host Carolyn McCulley traces the devastating arc of Jennifer’s life—from a vulnerable childhood in southern Illinois to rising as one of the highest-ranking female executives in the Southern Baptist Convention—and the price she paid for telling the truth about sexual abuse inside the denomination she once loved. 

This episode examines how disclosing sexual abuse can actually be more harmful than the physical violation itself. Jennifer's story follows the six most explosive years of the reckoning within the Southern Baptist Convention and includes interviews with Rachael Denhollander and Dr. Albert Mohler. 

This episode was written and edited by Carolyn McCulley. Our executive producer is Rachael Berglund. 

• The Silenced Truth is a project of the Safe to Speak Initiative. 
• Join our Patreon community to advocate for the legal protections that survivors need to safely disclose their experiences. 
• To support the production of this show, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Southern Documentary Fund. 

FOR FURTHER CONTEXT

The Wrath of God Poured Out — The Humiliation of the Southern Baptist Convention

Al Mohler says he was wrong about C.J. Mahaney

Statement from R. Albert Mohler Jr. on Sovereign Grace Churches

ERLC panel on sexual abuse at the SBC19 convention in Birmingham

Ex-SBTS prof. accused of 'grooming' former student in decade-long abusive relationship

The web archive of Jennifer Lyell’s public statements website

A statement from Baptist Press

By What Standard trailer

Motion to Investigate the SBC Executive Committee: Full Text

Southern Baptists’ #MeToo Moment

https://x.com/megbasham/status/1998922448184782854

https://heidelblog.net/2020/01/the-smear-was-intentional

Hunt v. Southern Baptist Convention et al summary judgment

Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force Updates

The Silenced Truth is a project of the Safe to Speak Initiative and is a production of Citygate Communications. It is fiscally sponsored by the Southern Documentary Fund.

For decades, Tiffany Thigpen carried the weight of what happened to her as a teenage girl in a Jacksonville church. A charismatic preacher. A trusted pastor. And a pattern of abuse that powerful leaders chose to ignore. 

This podcast episode is hosted by Carolyn McCulley and features an interview with journalist Robert Downen about the historical context of the Southern Baptist Convention. At the end, therapist Deborah Bumbaugh helps listeners understand Tiffany's story through the neurobiology of trauma. 

Our executive producer is Rachael Berglund.

• The Silenced Truth is a project of the Safe to Speak Initiative. 
• Join our Patreon community to advocate for the legal protections that survivors need to safely disclose their experiences. 
• To support the production of this show, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Southern Documentary Fund.

FOR FURTHER CONTEXT

PBS Newshour on the Abuse of Faith series, February 11, 2019

WFAA-TV report on Paige Patterson’s firing from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, May 30, 2018

Paige Patterson recording from the 2000 CBMW/FamilyLife Today conference

Paige Patterson talks about a 16-year-old girl’s figure

Pastor Cited in SBC Report on Abuse Worked at Churches in Oak Cliff, Garland, Richardson, Dallas Morning News, May 23, 2022

Unearthed Tapes, Letters, Show Southern Baptist Leaders’ Support for Pastor Who Face Sex Scandal, by Rob Downen, Houston Chronicle, Aug. 28, 2019

How Women Led to the Dramatic Rise and Fall of Southern Baptist Leader Paige Patterson, by Michelle Boorstein and Sarah Pulliam Bailey, The Washington Post, June 10, 2018

Former Rising Star Preacher Pleads Guilty to Molestation, by Bob Allen, Associated Baptist Press, May 21, 2009

Jacksonville Pastor Begins Prison Sentence, by Paul Pinkham, The Florida Times-Union, June 11, 2009.

Law & Disorder: Former Pastor Admits to Fathering Child, The Florida Times-Union, Dec. 11, 2009

The Silenced Truth is a project of the Safe to Speak Initiative and is a production of Citygate Communications. It is fiscally sponsored by the Southern Documentary Fund.