October 1, 2026
NASHVILLE (BP) – A series of filings issued Tuesday, Sept. 29, in a lawsuit brought by David Sills, a former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor, against various Southern Baptist leaders and entities dismissed several of his claims but allowed others against Guidepost Solutions, the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBC Executive Committee, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler to continue.
The possibility of a trial hinges on the outcome of a judicial settlement conference ordered by Chief Judge William L. Campbell Jr. of the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee, based in Nashville. Magistrate Judge Lynda Hill has indicated she is available for the settlement conference. Campbell called for the conference in a 55-page memorandum outlining the rationale for his orders and calling the case “administratively closed.”
Sills was included in a report from Guidepost as well as in a separate list maintained by an EC staff member of those accused in news releases of sexual abuse. His attorneys will join those for the SBC, EC, Guidepost and Mohler to arrange “a mutually convenient time” to gather for the settlement conference.
Separate claims of defamation levied at former Southern Baptist Convention presidents Bart Barber and Ed Litton, former Executive Committee Chairman Rolland Slade and former interim EC President Willie McLaurin were dismissed. All claims brought forward by Mary Sills, a plaintiff alongside her husband, were dismissed.
Other claims dismissed by Campbell were Sills’ claims of “civil conspiracy, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress” and his claims of defamation against Guidepost based on his inclusion in the aforementioned “list” maintained and released by the Executive Committee. His claims against the EC regarding that same list remain.
As for the remaining claims, Campbell said a jury could go either way. It could side with Guidepost, which maintains it was not hired to investigate abuse claims, merely the EC’s handling of them. But it could also find the organization negligent due to repeatedly labeling Sills an “abuser” in its report, despite never having reached out to him for his side of the story.
Campbell also labeled it a “close call” as to whether a jury would agree with the SBC and EC’s position that they depended on the veracity of Guidepost’s report.
It’s an “even closer call,” Campbell said, in Mohler’s case because he had personally confronted Sills in 2018, with the latter admitting to inappropriate behavior and resigning.
“… Sills admitted an inappropriate relationship [to Mohler] and, when given the choice between an investigation or resignation, chose resignation, and then never publicly refuted subsequent statements accusing him of abuse and nonconsensual conduct,” Campbell wrote.
Campbell also presided in the case brought forward by former SBC President Johnny Hunt, which Campbell dismissed entirely.
EC President Jeff Iorg acknowledged the road ahead in the Sills case. “We are grateful for the decisions by the court and will press ahead to resolve the remaining issues,” he said.
Background
Sills initially filed suit in November 2022, claiming “defamation, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and wantonness concerning untrue claims of sexual abuse.” He admits that he had a sexual relationship with Jennifer Lyell but maintains it was consensual.
Lyell was a graduate student at Southern Seminary when the Sills family took her in as a “ministry” in 2004. She and Sills began a yearslong sexual relationship that Lyell claimed began when she was still a student. In 2018, Lyell told her bosses at Lifeway Christian Resources, where she was then a vice president, about the relationship and that she considered it to be sexual abuse due to aspects such as Sills grooming her and making violent threats against her.
A Baptist Press article in March 2019 used the label “morally inappropriate relationship” rather than “sexual abuse.” Baptist Press ultimately took down the article and posted an apology to Lyell, which Sills said would nevertheless lead those in “the SBC or evangelicalism at large” to know he had been accused of abuse.
Lyell died from medical complications after a series of strokes in June 2025.
Guidepost Solutions was retained by the Executive Committee in September 2021 to investigate claims the EC had mishandled abuse allegations. Lyell’s allegations were a major part of Guidepost’s report, released in May 2022.
The EC’s initial contract with Guidepost contained an indemnification clause, which obligated the EC to pay for the organization’s legal defense fees. That indemnification has cost the EC at least $3.6 million in legal fees for Guidepost’s defense, messengers to the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting heard in a report.
The timetable for arranging a judicial settlement conference depends on the calendars of all parties involved. Should Judge Hill, in the mediator role, be unable to bring a resolution, the case will proceed to a jury trial.
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This story appeared in Baptist Press.
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