The Path Forward – Repentance & Accountability
Mark Dooley serves as the Associate Executive-Director for the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware. In that role, he leads the work of their Missional Impact Team overseeing the work of Evangelism, Disability Ministry, Disaster Relief, Compassion Ministries, and Sexual Abuse Prevention. He serves on the BCM/D’s Care Team, which seeks to assist and resource churches in protecting children and vulnerable adults. He is married to his wife, Karen, of 39 years, and together they have 4 adult children, 6 grand-children, and grand-child number 7 on the way this fall. He’s a graduate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and enjoys gardening and a round of golf in his spare time.
Forty-one years ago I began my first ministry as a youth pastor. The pastor called me into his office on my first day on the job to share with me that one of the church’s leading youth was pregnant. Her father was a deacon and the Sunday School Director. It was a difficult situation, for sure.
I subsequently watched unfold before me a beautiful example of repentance and accountability. The young couple acknowledged their sin, asked forgiveness, and received it from the congregation. The church body supported them and loved them through the process of bringing a beautiful baby boy into the world. Eventually, the couple married shortly after the baby was born and they had graduated from high school.
I’ll never forget the impression it made upon me when, a few years later, the young lady asked me if she could speak to the youth group. I allowed her to do so, and she shared with them that she knew they were looking at her and thinking everything was fine; that it all worked out for her and her husband with no consequences. Then she told them that she loved her son dearly, but what they didn’t know was that every day she looked at him, she was reminded that she had sinned before God – and that was a heavy cost to bear. There were, indeed, consequences.
Sexual sin comes in many forms. But whatever form it takes, the only remedy is repentance and accountability. The couple mentioned above expressed true and genuine repentance. And they willingly accepted the accountability that was asked of them. Even though the scars of their sin remained, the fruit of their repentance was a sweet-smelling aroma both to God and to the church family.
Fast forward about 20 years. A church I know planted another church. However, it was discovered the church planter had begun a sexual relationship with teens in the church plant. This was in a day before best practices for handling such a situation were well known. Even then, however, it was apparent this wasn’t something for church leadership to adjudicate. The authorities became involved and handled the situation according to the law. But the scars were deep. They were not only personal but corporate as well. For years, the shame of that incident was felt, and still is to a degree this day many years later. And, no doubt, the victims continue to feel the impact of that situation even today.
Fast forward almost 20 more years. A pastor in a church posted some pornographic pictures online. When approached, he steadfastly denied any issues, but willingly gave up his phone to be examined. It only took 2 or 3 minutes to discover numerous inappropriate pictures. He had no choice but to confess to his sexual sin. But there was no repentance. And the church wasn’t willing to face accountability for the sinful actions of their shepherd. There was no choice but to disassociate from them.
Things don’t have to proceed this way. Sexual sin may be denied, downplayed, even discarded under a cloak of lies and cover up, but the day will come when all will be revealed at the judgment seat. Waiting until that day will bring eternal disaster. Jesus said, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, ESV). Repentance and accountability are the only path forward for our Southern Baptist churches and individuals who have been impacted by any manner of sexual sin. May God enable all of us to walk the path of repentance and accountability.
“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,
but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”Proverbs 28:13 (ESV)
Please visit the Ministry Tool Box to access free resources from the SBC Executive Committee on preventing and responding to abuse. Please also visit our Abuse Reporting page for assistance reporting abuse to the appropriate authorities and to the Credentials Committee.
- Advising on Whether to Limit Liability or Care for Victims
While abuse of a child by an adult is terrible, it’s usually straightforward to evaluate what is happening. But what about sexual misconduct between children? Is it always abuse? No. Is it always illegal? No. And what should we do about it? The impact on children’s lives is not measured by whether the actions are abuse or a crime—so we must take it seriously.[1] As we evaluate how to respond, it may help to use as an example several common situations. We’ll take the perspective of behavior that is discovered by a church or ministry, but parents will also have to evaluate situations they uncover. - ‘Don’t Leave Here and Do Nothing’: SBC Panel Calls Churches to Act on Child Exploitation
State and federal officials, survivors, and ministry leaders gathered at the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting to move Southern Baptist churches from awareness to action on child abuse, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking. She was going to church the entire time it was happening. That was the disclosure Olivia Littleton, senior director of Survivor Services for One More Child, made to a room full of Southern Baptist pastors and ministry leaders at the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting. A survivor of sexual exploitation herself, Littleton made the point with quiet precision: the children the Church is trying to protect may already be sitting in its pews. - ‘When the Cute Factor Fades’: SBC Confronts a Gap in Disability Ministry That Leaves Vulnerable Adults at Risk
It starts, Shawn Thornton said, with what a father once described to him as the “cute factor.” When a child with disabilities is 5, 7 or 8 years old, people in the church light up around them. They talk to them. They engage. There is something about a small child with a disability that draws the Church toward them. But as that child grows, the hormones kick in and the body changes, and the behavioral complexity of adolescence sets in. The cute factor, Thornton said, was gone. And with it, too often, goes the ministry. “The church just misses that opportunity to pick up right there and provide a supportive, healthy community,” said Thornton, president and CEO of Joni and Friends, who opened the Stand Up Lunch in prayer at the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting.