Legal Proceedings Loom for Former Southern Baptist Leader Johnny Hunt
In an ongoing legal saga, the trial date has been set for Johnny Hunt, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), who has filed a lawsuit citing defamation and privacy violations. This development arises as Hunt remains entangled in legal disputes with the SBC and associated parties.
U.S. District Judge William Campbell from the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, has scheduled the jury trial for June 17. According to Baptist Press, the SBC’s official news outlet, this trial was initially slated for the previous month but was postponed after discussions on October 31. The trial is now expected to commence post-May 2025.
A court directive instructs, “[L]ead counsel for Plaintiff and Defendant Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention shall have a face-to-face meeting to see if they can reach an agreement about reopening discovery for the limited purpose of deposing Kevin Ezell, Jeremy Morton, and Ed Litton.” The document also specifies, “Any future discovery disputes must involve lead counsel meeting in person, face-to-face before bringing the dispute to the Court. If any such disputes are brought to the Court, the parties must certify that lead counsel met in person and made a good faith effort to resolve the dispute.”
In May 2022, Guidepost Solutions released a report following an independent investigation into claims that SBC leaders suppressed whistleblowers and shielded churches with credible abuse allegations. This report implicated Hunt, alleging he assaulted a younger pastor’s wife in 2010.
Following these revelations, First Baptist Church Woodstock in Georgia suspended Hunt from his position as pastor emeritus in June 2022. Hunt later returned to ministry in January 2023 at Hiland Park Baptist Church in Panama City, Florida.
Hunt initiated a lawsuit in March 2023 against the denomination, the SBC Executive Committee, and Guidepost, accusing them of defamation and privacy breaches. Hunt described the 2010 event as a “brief, inappropriate, extramarital encounter with a married woman” marked by “kissing and some awkward fondling,” insisting that it “should not have been published at all.”
The legal complaint argued, “This was a private failing by Pastor Johnny and the woman involved, and the story should have ended there. But it didn’t. By focusing on the allegation against Pastor Johnny — an allegation by an adult woman that involved noncriminal conduct — and by then taking aggressive action against Pastor Johnny, the Defendants sought to create the appearance that the SBC has learned from its previous mistakes and is now working to protect victims of sex crimes.”
Despite previous reports, SBC President Clint Pressley clarified in September that no settlement had been reached in this matter, as per his statement.
This article was originally written by www.christianpost.com
