Guidepost Solutions was the firm the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) put in charge of investigating sexual abuse allegations within the denomination. Shortly after the report came out last year, so did Guidepost. In celebration of "LGBTQI+ Pride Month" last June, the firm tweeted out that it was "proud to be an ally to our LGBTQ+ community."
That tweet, accompanied by a picture of a rainbow flag, raised the ire of many Southern Baptists – including former SBC presidential candidate and pastor Tom Ascol. Appearing Wednesday morning on American Family Radio, Ascol said the revelation last summer about Guidepost Solutions should have been a red flag to SBC leadership.
"When it was revealed that Guidepost Solutions was proudly affirming LGBTQ+, Southern Baptists cried out and said, 'We're not going to do this," Ascol recalled during his interview with host Jenna Ellis.
Indeed, as reported by AFN at that time, several Southern Baptist pastors were publicly critical of the SBC's decision to hire the firm for that role – and pay nearly $2 million for the work. But while the SBC's Sexual Abuse Task Force admitted the pro-LGBT tweet came as a surprise, it also argued Guidepost Solutions "was the only [company] that fit the criteria" for the investigation.
On Tuesday – the day before Ascol's interview – the SBC announced it was hiring Guidepost Solutions again, this time to administrate a sex abuse database that is meant to track credible allegations of abuse. Ascol could not contain his disgust.
"Here we are now, seven months later, and we're being told 'Oh no, we're going to employ them again to implement sex abuse reform,'" exclaimed Ascol. "It's the height of hypocrisy and stupidity and immorality to ask those who affirm sexual perversion [and] delusion to oversee any kind of concern about dealing with sexual predatory behavior."
Last May, Guidepost promised to no longer advertise its support for homosexuality – and announced recently it established a "faith-based division" to manage the SBC project and has assigned "people of faith in Christ" to work on the project. But Ascol contends nothing about the company has really changed.
