Southern Baptist Convention, Frank Page, Sexual Misconduct
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Today, Frank S. Page, President of the SBC Executive Committee, announced his retirement on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/frankpagesbc/status/978624415452880896
https://twitter.com/frankpagesbc/status/978624415452880896
Many people thanked him for his good service to the Lord, along with ordinary sentiments, but he left out something that was kind of important – that he was retiring due to a “morally inappropriate relationship.”
Florida pastor Stephen Rummage, chairman of the Executive Committee released a statement which included the following:
“Last evening, the officers of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee met via phone conference with Dr. Frank Page during which he announced his plans for retirement. Today, I spoke with Dr. Page and learned that his retirement announcement was precipitated by a morally inappropriate relationship in the recent past.” Baptist Press
This afternoon (March 27, 2018), Dr. Page released his own statement, this time, adding the moral failure part that was left out earlier on Twitter:
“It is with deep regret that I tender my resignation from the SBC Executive Committee and announce my retirement from active ministry, effective immediately. As a result of a personal failing, I have embarrassed my family, my Lord, myself, and the Kingdom. Out of a desire to protect my family and those I have hurt, I initially announced my retirement earlier today without a complete explanation. However, after further wrestling with my personal indiscretion, it became apparent to me that this situation must be acknowledged in a more forthright manner. It is my most earnest desire in the days to come to rebuild the fabric of trust with my wife and daughters, those who know me best and love me most.”
As expected, the FrankPage.org website was taken down quickly, but upon searching the site via Google cache and Wayback Machine, I noticed his speaking schedule. In the summer months of 2018, he’s booked up nearly every weekend. That’s a lot of time away from home.
Moral failure by a prominent Christian is not good. It is a shameful witness to the world and causes harm to many. It is too bad that he could not heed the strong words he spoke on the day of his inauguration, February 21, 2011, in Nashville:
“I believe God demands a commitment from us. We are to serve him with passion,” Page said. “We are to give him first-rate loyalty for a first-rate cause. I believe God’s calling for Southern Baptists is to be closer than we’ve ever been before, to be purer than we’ve ever been before, to be more passionate than we ever have been before about sharing the good news with a lost and dying world.” Baptist Courier
In Stephen Rummage’s statement regarding Page’s retirement, he encouraged people to pray:
“I call upon all Southern Baptists to pray for everyone involved in a situation like this, and especially for Dr. and Mrs. Page. Please pray for the Southern Baptist Convention and all that is entrusted to the Executive Committee.
While it is important to pray for the Page family and the people in the Southern Baptist Convention, I notice that the person (I will assume it is a woman) with whom he had an immoral relationship seems to get lost in the shuffle. She is lost behind generic words like, “everyone involved” in the “pray for everyone involved” part of Rummage’s statement. In Frank Page’s statement, the woman is lost behind the generic words, ‘those I have hurt.” It’s almost as if she doesn’t exist. Isn’t that odd?
As I have covered several stories and dealt behind the scenes with many women who have been spiritually and sexually harmed by Christian leaders, I am struck by what women might feel as they read the words that apply to them: “those I have hurt” and “everyone involved.” Do they realize that she, too, has a family? Do they realize that most likely the leader has used his position of power and influence to gain his own sexual pleasure? Do they realize that it’s very likely that the woman involved was in a position of vulnerability, perhaps originally reaching out for help? This is the story that I typically hear when speaking with women who have been harmed by the sexual misconduct of pastors or Christian leaders.
I don’t want the woman involved in Frank Page’s immorality crisis to be lost in the shuffle. I would like to ask that we collectively pray for this woman and her family – that she will have good support around her, safe people to talk to, and that she can begin her journey of healing.
NEW INFO March 28, 2018:
SSB blog reader Dave AA found part of Frank Page’s original statement. I was able to find a cached version of it at Baptist Press, but the new version does not include it. Removing this part of Page’s original statement removes the fact that he intentionally misled people with his original statement:
“Many months ago, my daughters shared their deep desire for Dayle and me to retire and move closer to them in South Carolina so that we might spend more time with them and their families – especially our grandchildren. After much prayer and conversation, we have chosen to make this decision . . . “
And:
“You have been dear friends to me these last eight years,” Page wrote to EC members. “You have served tirelessly beside me – advising, encouraging, challenging, and honoring my position as President and CEO of the Executive Committee. Most of all, you have been prayer supporters in every way. I will never take that for granted. I thank God for what we have been able to accomplish in this time together. Pray for Dayle, my family, and me as we make this important transition.” BRnow.org
In the second statement in which Page confessed to a vague sin of sexual nature, “after further wrestling with my personal indiscretion,” it makes one wonder if he was wrestling because someone was going to expose him, or was he personally convicted? Time will tell.
I have been unable to find Frank Page’s full initial statement anywhere. If anyone can find it, please let me know. ~ja
Spiritual Sounding Board 
“I would like to ask that we collectively pray for this woman and her family – that she will have good support around her, safe people to talk to, and that she can begin her journey of healing.”
Amen. I’ll be praying for her.
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Thanks Julie Anne!
You are indefatigable in relaying the news about church leaders whose corruption has been exposed.
And you are a stalwart supporter and defender of the victims of corrupt church leaders.
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Another one bites the dust!
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I do get concerned when we make out the “other party” to often be weak or victimized. That does happen, but I also know of situations where the other party was just as eager to form a twosome as the initiator, or was the initiator. Just my thoughts.
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Here’s how I look at it, Linn. In a relationship, if there is a person in a position of power, the onus is on them to be responsible. So, in other words, even if a woman initiated a sexual relationship, it is up to the one in the position of power to make safeguards and boundaries to ensure that nothing happens. The one in power always has a choice. The one not in power does not.
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I agree, and this is also true for inappropriate teacher or counselor relationships. I also think the church shoots itself in the foot when it trains women to always perceive themselves as subservient and weak, not being able to say “no” to a man. I had a friend many years ago who got involved with a youth pastor. It started with back rubs. She never thought there might be a problem with it, and he just led her on.
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Unspecified “moral failure” usually means “got caught with a live boy or dead woman”.
And as for the boilerplate statement released — once more, The Spin Is In!
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Why assume an “inappropriate relationship” was with a woman? Could be a man. Maybe not even human– maybe he succumbed to an inappropriate with offering plates. In fact, I guarantee he did. As soon as he began whatever inappropriate it was — and we shouldn’t necessarily buy the story that there was just one– he might as well have traveled around to hundreds of churches, stuck his physical hands in, and pulled out wads of cash. And this could be ongoing. Will he still get his retirement? A cushy severance package? It’s highly unlikely they’ll say. For laughs, everyone should check out what Dave Miller at SBC voices has to say. After calling it a tragic tragedy, he shut down comments, lest they could become a tool for those who want to make some kind of point. As far as Miller is concerned, the poor fellow might have suffered an inappropriate relationship with a locomotive and been squashed like a bug.
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Here’s part of the original retirement announcement:
“Many months ago, my daughters shared their deep desire for Dayle and me to retire and move closer to them in South Carolina so that we might spend more time with them and their families – especially our grandchildren. After much prayer and conversation, we have chosen to make this decision.”
He clearly did not expect whoever spilled the beans to spill them.
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Dave – that is very interesting. When I had searched yesterday, I did not find the original statement. Now that you posted the exact wording, I was able to find a cached version at the Baptist Press. I find it interesting that they removed that part of the original statement. Now it looks like they hid it intentionally.
I will edit the post and add the quote. Thanks again!
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…..and then in 2-3 months, his repentance is complete, allowing him to jump back in to the circus of ministers. They protect each other, lest they themselves get found out and need false protection.
The parallel is the victim who is marginalized through the resignation process. (She) is left to pick up the pieces, process through the trauma, heal on many levels. Her resources are few, support system small…..
That mighty word “retirement” serves as an illusionist tool. Keep em looking in one direction while lies and deceit fester in the other.
Such liars!
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Linn, I sometimes feel the same way, although I understand Julie Anne’s point about power differentials as well.
The problem I see is that usually the other party is the one who takes the brunt of the blame and that is why she (or he) gets left out. They get run out of town/church. They get painted as a seductress. They get the shame, while the man in charge gets the love.
That is a huge issue.
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And Linn, when stuff like that happens and gets found out, the guy usually runs around talking about how she was the one at fault, when he worked very hard to seduce her. They never admit their culpability. Maybe if one did, I might believe their apologies at some point.
And everyone else is happy to blame the ‘other woman’ because they like to believe they weren’t deceived by their pastor.
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Yes, Lea – they embrace the perpetrator and ignore the victim. Look at the recent cases of Andy Savage and Bill Hybels. They both got standing ovations, for crying out loud.
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I was in one church where we had a special meeting to announce that an elder had been caught in adultery. It was handled seriously, and I remember them being very clear in saying that the elder was suffering consequences for his sin, and as much as he was loved and admired, the sin had serious consequences. This was then followed by a reminder that his wife and adult children (all active in the church), needed all the love and support we could give them. This is the only time I have ever heard this kind of a talk from the pulpit in this kind of situation.
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Amy Smith @watchkeep sent me a link to a previous conversation she had with Frank Page regarding sex abuse. In this article (and his letter), you can see that there is little action from Page on dealing with sexual predators. http://watchkeep.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-response-from-southern-baptist.html
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Linn, it’s good to focus on the wife and children. I appreciate that. But isn’t it interesting that the other person in the “adulterous” relationship is not even addressed? And usually in these situations, the pastor is in a position of power. Whenever there is clergy sexual misconduct, there is not only a power differential, there is the spiritual component which gets even more confusing and harmful.
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In this case, the person was not a part of the church. She had been offered counseling outside of our church if she wanted it. Since she was unknown to most of the church members, it was felt best to offer her some anonymity. I do think that, in our eagerness to “know all”, it is important to protect people’s privacy when they request it. Forced privacy (i.e. shut up so we can take care of our elder/pastor/teacher/whoever) should never be done, but sometimes people aren’t ready to be public. I was in a work setting years ago where something really bad happened, and the victim just wanted to leave and get her settlement. When you’re the victim, I think we need to respect what they decide to do in their situation. The important piece is that it is their decision and that they are not being forced or coerced into silence.
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Will pray for the other person, and that people at the SBC learn how to be forthright about their failures.
And, quite frankly, maybe it’ll turn out that we need to examine closely our culture of celebrity speakers in fundagelicalism. Maybe weekend after weekend at fancy hotels and surrounded by adoring fans (“groupies”?) might not be the healthiest thing for a man. For my part, I know that even if I withstood sexual temptations that might come my way (were I an itinerant celebrity/fundagelical rock star), my doctor would have something to say about me eating out at fancy restaurants when he looked at my lipid and glucose profile!
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Oh, yes, I’m all for anonymity. I hope I didn’t lead you to believe otherwise. What I would hope in the situation with Frank Page, is to see something like:
I definitely think the person who does not have power should get as much protection and support as possible.
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Your last paragraph is exactly how our leadership expressed it. This was a “first time” for them, and they handled it as well as they could.
As a teacher, I’ve been in schools where child sex abuse gets reported. It makes me sicker when I hear the details, but sickest when, after it hits the papers-everyone wants to know everything. Modern communications are great for awareness, but they are also great for the bottom feeders.
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Honestly, it often feels like a dodge to me. ‘Don’t be mean to Pastor A, think of his wife and kids‘. So often it gets thrown back at people as way to get them to shut up.
Of course, I think if I were a wife in such a situation, I would be on an extended vacation anyways and not want people thinking of me, or want to talk to anyone but close friends and a lawyer.
I do agree this is often a desire for anonymity, which is understandable, but the way gossip rolls if the person is in church everybody probably knows anyways. But they could refer to the other person without being specific as well.
I would say this is the way too many people think about it, and it’s backwards. These men enter these positions, and order their lives in such a way, as to prey on others sexually. Don’t flip the order of things.
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Julie Anne, you wrote:
“So, in other words, even if a woman initiated a sexual relationship, it is up to the one in the position of power to make safeguards and boundaries to ensure that nothing happens. The one in power always has a choice.”
I 100% agree with this statement. But I am having trouble following your last sentence. What did you mean by “the one not in power does not” have a choice? Thanks.
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Hi Rich, thanks for your comment. I didn’t word that too well. What I meant was that the one who is not in the position of power does not always have a choice because they are in a position of weakness where they are more vulnerable and at risk for harm. The emotional and manipulative ploys that some people in power use is sometimes too strong for a survivor to resist.
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“The emotional and manipulative ploys that some people in power use is sometimes too strong for a survivor to resist.”
Something that seems to be a huge problem in the world is that many don’t recognize power differentials and the responsibility that goes along with having authority. So, teachers, pastors, doctors, cops, mentors, have a responsibility to be the grown up, to understand that those who are recognizing your authority are now vulnerable and under your care. A relationship under those conditions is not a relationship between equals, it is a convoluted sexual exploitation. A responsible doctor for example, would end his doctor-patient relationship, before dating his patient. A married pastor or a religious leader, has 3 times the responsibility to uphold his values, because he has now betrayed his wife, betrayed the other woman, and betrayed the faith by displaying hypocrisy.
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It annoys me, and I’ve seen it many times, that those in leadership get their sins hidden and ignored simply by stepping down from their office, where the same churches will chase lay members from church to church making sure everyone knows what they did. I completely believe that stepping down from office is an important part of the process of restoration, but that is not the end of the process. That process involves church discipline and public acknowledgment.
In fact, I got into an argument with a church committee when they said, “we rebuked an elder”. I said, what about 1 Tim. 5:20: “But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.” They were not at all interested in following scripture in that regard.
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Great point, Mark. Look at Tullian Tchividjian. He did a radio interview yesterday. He’s preaching on Easter Sunday.
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I suspect he wanted to get ahead of things before it leaked out, and was “asked” to retire and/or resign. On a side note, he was a big Trump supporter and one can how this guy’s behavior, his support for Trump, and Trumps’ behavior will invariably be linked.
On another note, God used various pagan countries to chastise Israel, because they would not repent. I suspect God is using the secular world, social media, etc. to clean up the church in America, because we refuse to do so (1 Peter 4:17, Isaiah 10).
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The SBC leaders continue to “lead” by lying or sugarcoating the “truth”. Group think is certainly alive and well in the SBC. They condemn others for the very same thing they call “Moral failure or failures.” and expect to be prayed for. I will call them what they are a bunch of hypocrites.
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Julie Anne, thanks much. That was a very helpful explanation and I totally agree. I appreciate the articles/blogs/comments re: the power differential. So important to understand and practice rightly. Above all, Jesus’ honor is at stake.
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JA: With his very busy speaking schedule this coming summer-it sure seems to be me that he just planned on retiring and continuing to preach. Something must have happened that caused him to volunteer this moral failure.
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mot – you are tracking with me!
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He did not plan to retire immediately. I could find just this one more line in several sources– ‘He did not set a retirement date but stated to EC members, “Know that I am willing to assist in any way to make this transition efficient and smooth.”’
So once the transition had been completed efficiently and smoothly, they’d move to SC to be closer to family and cash retirement checks.
No mention at all of leaving active ministry in general.
His latest statement about having wanted to protect his family and those (plural) he has hurt, followed by “further wrestling with my personal indiscretion” is 100% pure, grade A equine exhaust.
In just a few hour period, someone (a second hurt party perhaps?) got wind of the original steer manure and squawked to Mr Rummage, who called Mr Page to confirm it. Anything else is mathematically impossible. I would not be at all surprised if there are emails from a canoodled husband, as with Mr Zacharias and Dr Campbell.
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I agree with you Dave. Someone spilled the beans somewhere.
I find it strange that I cannot find the whole original statement anywhere – just parts of it. I wonder what’s up with that?
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‘I wonder what’s up with that?’
Before news of the indiscretion hit, they said: “Additional reporting on Page’s retirement announcement will be carried by Baptist Press throughout the day.”
It hit so quickly, they never got around to that, so the excerpts they first listed will be all she wrote. It’s unlikely the whole letter he wrote to the committee will ever see the light of day.
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Ja: The powers to be in the SBC were going to cover this up IMO.
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Ja: I am not a betting man, but it does not surprise me at all that Dave Miller at SBC Voices views this as a tragedy for Frank Page and the SBC. The FUNDAMENTALIST like him would have gloated over a ‘liberal” former SBC President admitting he had a moral failure. IMO the SBC leaders have no and I mean no moral authority.
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I’ve seen the game played elsewhere. If there is gloating, it’s being done behind closed doors because it’s important for his opponents to look “above reproach” in all this, because if they lack decorum, they may lose their own ability to rise to power. Politics in the fundamentalist circles are very cryptic. There was once an important “liberal” issue being debated, so the conservatives nominated the chief liberal as the chairperson, for the sole reason that, as the chairperson, he could not speak or vote on the issue. However, what happened was he appointed a committee of liberals to study the issue and report back next year. So, the whole plan sort of backfired.
But, it’s subtly different than our current two-party politics, because part of the game is appearing righteous, and of course, righteous people aren’t going to sling mud, or at least aren’t going to sling mud in the same way. Instead, they will mourn the sin of some other person, or better yet, do all the wheeling and dealing behind closed doors because it might have institutional implications if people realized what their ordained leadership were capable of.
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Thank you Julie Anne and all of you at SSB for your voice for those that are forgotten and marginalized many times. Prayers for all involved. It looks like there is a “cleaning house” of sorts going on.
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FYI
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https://baptistnews.com/article/southern-baptist-leader-steps-down-over-moral-indiscretion/
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So Dave ‘grieves over what he did’ while having no idea what that is? How can you even began to formulate an opinion if you legitimately don’t know how bad it is?
To me, the more secretive, the worse it probably is. But you know it’s bad if he’s stepping down, right?
We will see.
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Good questions, Lea. We are still debating by email. He still thinks I’m wrong. Oh well.
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i rather regret bringing Mr Miller into this. I have a higher bar in general than Julie Anne for calling someone a victim or abused– especially when we’ve not heard any details. So I might agree with Dave on his “victim” comment- except– Mr Page himself referred to those (plural) he harmed in addition to his family. So he harmed at least 2 non-family-members (victims?) by his own admission.
That said, I stand by my initial thoughts and add to it that I’ve yet to see Dave ask for prayers for those people– whoever they may be.
A good comment was made there on a later post wondering about the lack of statements by most denominational leaders — except Dr Patterson (the male one).
Finally, I think Mark has an excellent point about political and theological opponents not wanting to gloat in public.
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Ja: Dave Miller is a mean one as you found out. He always holds himself out as the righteous one IMO. He also does not like views that differ with his.
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I agree with Lea. How can Dave “grieve over what he [Frank] did” and yet claim “we know NOTHING of the details of his moral failing”?
One or both of these statements must be false – options:
Dave is “grieving” in some generic way the “moral failings”, meaning that he really has no clue what’s going on, yet wants to convey some sort of closeness to Frank (mentor and encourager), so chooses to misrepresent his knowledge of “what he did”.
“we” could mean “you”. He is insinuating that “he” (we = you + me) doesn’t know details, but he could be evasively using we in some sort of general sense meaning the general public rather than himself specifically.
“Grieving” was chosen to make it seem more personal and difficult than might otherwise be expected. I supposed someone could “grieve” in some general sense whatever unknown indiscretion led to the resignation of yet another church leader, but that is certainly not how most people interpret it.
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Well, mot, he just met me. 🤪😂
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Dave either knows and thinks we don’t know, or he isn’t as close to Page as he thought.
You know, I used to buy all these stories of people who were falsely accused of stuff…now (although I’m sure it happens occasionally) I think most of it is just people listening to their buddies denials and buying them fully. What you realize is that people often don’t know their ‘friends’ as well as they thought.
And even when they aren’t really denying anything, they still tell you ‘you don’t know’. Its fascinating to watch.
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At least Miller mentioned it.. SBC Today — nothing… Mohler, Gaines, Moore, Ezell, Akin, Mahaney, Chandler, Furtick, Noble, Young, Warren on and on — all silent so far as I can tell.
Ed Stetzer made a statement.
And the only extensive statement remains that of Patterson. And it is horrible.
He starts by talking about a scoundrel who stole almost a million from the SBC in 1928, “and, doubtless, lost people who could not get the message of Christ certainly trooped into hell.”
Almost convinces one to become a Calvinist.
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I threw Noble in for fun. Even though he got fired for inappropriate relationships with Johnny Walker and Jack Daniels, he probably still has his official SBC credentials.
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I found this article to be interesting as it hints to a possible gender speculation.
Julie Anne note: please be advised, there is crude language in this article. It also discusses really bad history of the SBC.
https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/03/30/25976088/southern-baptist-leader-frank-page-resigned-this-week
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As you may remember, Matt Chandler tried this little trick on Twitter after Karen Hinckley’s story broke. Didn’t work out so well for him.
And yet, they never seem to learn…
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*ps – J. Smith is not me. Well, it is me, but I’m saying that I do not use that user ID. 😂
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I’m not trying to be argumentative and maybe I just don’t have all of the information but I didn’t see anything so wrong in what Dave Miller said. Maybe “grieved” is a word usually associated with death but I’ll admit that I’ve felt grieved before when finding out that someone I held in high regard did something I wouldn’t have dreamed they’d do.
The timeline of the announcement of this “retirement” raises a lot of questions and I won’t be surprised if more revelations come that are ugly, but it doesn’t serve victims of spiritual abuse (a category to which I have belonged since I was a child) to lash out before knowing the details, does it?
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00name:Mr. Miller did not feel grieved for the other party involved.
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Oh so true. That this is the case just shows IMO what their real purpose is with “church discipline” which is to bully people into conformance and prevent questioning etc. The motive isn’t to keep the church pure and remove sin etc.
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I don’t think that’s a fair inference to make from what he said but it looks like I’m the only one here who sees it that way. Tough crowd here lol.
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ooname:It certainly is a very fair inference. He is just worried how this affects the SBC IMO. It is very sad.
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Just that “grieved” suggests closeness and knowledge, which he subsequently denies. In this case, we know very little other than “moral failure” and “victims”, so the knee-jerk reaction from someone who grew up in an abusive, political church, is that Mr. Miller is trying to portray himself as someone “in the know” (i.e. someone who matters), yet, when that position was innocently challenged, he had to figure out how to play his cards, and the result is a incomprehensible combination of “in the know” yet “clueless”. Based on the answer, I would go with “clueless”.
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I think I understand what you’re saying, and I myself have an inherent distrust of Christian leaders that colors my reactions. My first inclination is to assume manipulation, whether it’s there or not. It’s hard to take a step back and try to view things objectively before reacting and I wish I were better at it than I am, but it’s worth it.
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ooname: What is worth it? Some of us know very well the way the SBC and its cronies work and they have a very long history of deceit. I will not cut them any slack, they have hurt lots of people and do not take any responsibility for their actions.
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Dave AA, given that Noble and his wife are apparently separated and/or divorcing, and also that the SBC takes a rather dim view of drunkenness, I’d guess his career with SBC churches is over. Also worth noting is that a pastor doesn’t really get “SBC credentials”, but is rather selected by an SBC church. The national organization doesn’t do a whole lot of screening, but rather if a pastor is found to have transgressed certain doctrines, the national organization will investigate and then show the whole church the door.
Obviously that has its pluses and minuses. But that said, I would not be surprised if, like many others, Noble was spotted somewhere else in evangelical circles. I would actually be surprised–and pleased–if he was not.
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One of the big issues with most evangelical denominations is the lack of clergy accountability. The leaders of the denomination leave it to the individual churches to do their own pastoral accountability procedures. If it’s a strong church with strong accountability procedures, it can work well. If it’s a church that is always out to get the pastor, it could be like the small SBC I was in 20 years ago where they had a parade of pastors because the congregation was just about impossible to work with. It it’s a church that doesn’t want to hold anyone accountable it could be like the CBC I was in (Conservative Baptist), where it seemed like everyone in the area knew our pastor had serious, sinful issues with other people’s wives, but it was to be handled by the ‘local” church. Our church leadership couldn’t have handled a church mouse, they were so under the thumb of this guy. I personally think that any denomination should have the ability to pull a pastor’s/church worker’s licensing if they have any problems in the area of sexual or financial sin. it happens to teachers, doctors and lawyers, and would certainly save churches from a host of issues.
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“I would not be surprised if, like many others, Noble was spotted somewhere else in evangelical circles.”
Newspring, which likely the largest SBC church on the planet with Noble at the helm, proclaimed him disqualified. But other than making him mad, it meant little.
He held the first physical services of Second Chance Church on Sunday. 2100 attended. BFF Steven Furtick, pastor of another SBC megachurch, is fully supportive of the comeback. It’ll be interesting to see what other big names he’ll hang out with. Maybe Frank Page- he’s moving to South Carolina and may be looking for a second chance
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