Current SBC President Bart Barber told a gathering recently that he asked the current task force, which he appointed, not to work with Guidepost because of the controversy. It has not yet been determined whether the SBC’s new task force will take over the Executive Committee’s investigation headed by Guidepost Solutions, or will set up a separate review, potentially with another company. ‘Client Protection’ We recognise the importance of the role of leaders and managers in supporting and enabling staff and projects effectively to meet their goals. That’s why we’ve put in place standards and expectations of leaders and managers at Guideposts in our Leadership and Management Framework. A secular company, Guidepost has become a go-to firm for some evangelical groups dealing with the issue of sexual abuse, including Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and the SBC’s Executive Committee. Several state SBC conventions also hired the firm to work on their abuse reforms. Guideposts Trust is a charity that runs community and building based services in three counties. It has around 100 staff and looks after over 1000 people with additional needs. It runs programmes based in buildings (our own and others) and in the community. We want to provide safe services and ensure we are meeting legislative requirements – keeping our staff and clients safe.

Since then, our church has implemented training on how to identify and report any suspected case of abuse. This training is required annually for all staff and leaders at our church and is made available for all members.Bellevue is committed to supporting survivors, working to prevent abuse, and making our church a safe place for all people to experience salvation and Christian growth. Superintendent Throne’s ‘assumption’ that these processes were being completed, as required by the District’s policy, is a far cry from ensuring that the District’s operations comply with Board policies, which was his duty as the head of the District."

Guidepost investigators also found that Throne did not ensure building-level administrators knew about the threat assessment policies or forms and “assumed” administrators were following policies, which Guidepost said was “not good enough.” Throne told Guidepost investigators he did not recall any specific discussions with assistant superintendents about the threat assessment policies. Experience of working with and a positive attitude towards people with learning disabilities is essential.

Michael Kofman, Katya Migacheva, Brian Nichiporuk, Andrew Radin, Olesya Tkacheva, and Jenny Oberholtzer, Lessons from Russia's Operations in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2017. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1498.html. Provide initial and interim face to face provision of the service to clients as the service develops.