Hunt lawsuit parties to meet again in May 2025
By BP Staff
NASHVILLE (BP) – A trial that was supposed to begin next week has been delayed indefinitely. The lawsuit, Johnny M. Hunt v. Southern Baptist Convention, et. al., has been ongoing since March 2023, when former SBC president Johnny Hunt sued the SBC, the SBC Executive Committee and Guidepost Solutions for defamation, claiming that Guidepost, et. al., used Hunt as a “scapegoat” in an investigation of alleged mishandling of sexual abuse claims by the SBC EC.
Parties failed to reach a settlement in September, and the case had been scheduled to go to trial Nov. 12.
But in a court-sponsored teleconference last Thursday (Oct. 31), the parties agreed to meet “after the beginning of May 2025” to “confer about trial dates.” At issue is a disagreement over whether to reopen discovery in the case.
The 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 resigned from his position as senior vice president of evangelism at the North American Mission Board, a position he’d held since 2018, days before the Guidepost report became public.
The lawsuit has been a major contributor to the dire financial situation of the SBC EC, which has spent more than $3 million defending itself as well as Guidepost. The contract governing Guidepost’s initial investigation stipulates that Guidepost would have indemnity in any lawsuit resulting from the investigation, and the EC would foot its legal bills.
Sills trial scheduled for early 2026
By BP Staff
NASHVILLE (BP) – Former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Sills’ defamation lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention, et. al., will go before a jury Feb. 10, 2026, in Nashville.
An order from Chief U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell Jr. announced that counsel for all parties will meet on Feb. 2, 2026, for a pretrial conference to discuss the case’s undisputed facts, expert witnesses, proposed testimony, jury instruction and other issues.
Campbell is the same judge presiding over another major lawsuit currently facing the SBC, filed by former SBC president Johnny Hunt.
Sills filed suit in November 2022, alleging “defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and wantonness concerning untrue claims of sexual abuse.”
Sills carried on a long-term sexual relationship with a former student, Jennifer Lyell. Lyell alleges the relationship was abusive; Sills claims it was consensual. Sills was named in a May 2022 report from Guidepost Solutions based on its investigation of alleged mishandling of sexual abuse claims by the SBC Executive Committee.
Guidepost is also named as a defendant in the suit, as are Lyell, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, SBTS President Albert Mohler, former SBC presidents Ed Litton and Bart Barber and former SBC EC representatives Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade.
