Southern Baptist Sex Offenders List Includes Area Youth Minister
Talk about bombshells. This is a big one.
The Southern Baptists released a secret list of sex abusers that contains over 600 entries. The entries on the list are from 2007 through 2022.
This list is absolutely staggering, especially since it's only those people who have been convicted or confessed to abuse and not just those accused of sex crimes. This list is said to not be exhaustive and was mainly compiled to keep these people from bouncing from church to church.
A quick search of "Lubbock" brought up the following information:
Trevor Jacob Fortner, 25, youth minister, Fifth Street Baptist Church, Levelland, TX and worked in publications and graphics at First Baptist Church Lubbock, TX, pleaded guilty in Lubbock to attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. Sentenced to 48 months in prison and will serve 3 years’ probation after release from prison
I have two thoughts on this list. The first is that this many cases shows that you really should look very closely at your church family and not just assume the best. Secondly, the Southern Baptists are at least trying to get a handle on the situation before more cases arise.
Once again, if you happen to be reading this and you'd like to check another area, you can access the list here. These are, again, the guilty. There's no shame in looking out for you and yours.