(RNS) — A federal judge ruled against former Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt on Monday (March 31), rejecting his claims of defamation against Guidepost Solutions and nearly all the former megachurch pastor’s claims against the Southern Baptist Convention and its Executive Committee.
Judge William Campbell of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued an order granting summary judgment in the case, with a memorandum detailing the judge’s decision forthcoming.
Pastor Johnny Hunt preaches at Hiland Park Baptist Church on Jan. 15, 2023, in Panama City, Florida. (Video screen grab)
“We are grateful for this decision and the forward progress in our legal process,” Jeff Iorg, SBC Executive Committee president, told RNS in a statement.
Hunt had sued Guidepost, an investigative firm, and SBC leaders for defamation and other damages after Guidepost published allegations of sexual assault against Hunt in a May 2022 report on an investigation into how SBC leaders had dealt with sexual abuse.
At issue was a 2010 incident in which Hunt allegedly kissed and fondled another pastor’s wife. Hunt, who had kept the incident secret for years, at first denied it occurred and then claimed it was consensual.
In their court filings, Hunt’s lawyers claimed Guidepost had ruined his reputation and claimed the pastor’s sins were no one else’s business. Hunt, the former pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia, and a former vice president of the SBC’s North American Mission Board, claimed Guidepost and the SBC had cost him millions, and he sought more than $75 million in damages.
All counts of defamation, emotional distress, and the public disclosure of embarrassing private facts were dismissed against the SBC and the Executive Committee. However, one claim alleging that a tweet about Hunt from Texas Baptist pastor Bart Barber, who was SBC president from 2022 to 2024, was defamatory has not been dismissed.
Hunt served from 2008 to 2010 as SBC president and remained a popular speaker before the Guidepost report. Court-ordered mediation on the case failed last fall. A trial had been scheduled this summer.
The Executive Committee has spent more than $3.1 million in legal fees related to the Hunt lawsuit and a second lawsuit related to the Guidepost report.
Last month, the SBC’s Executive Committee decided to ask the denomination for an additional $3 million for the upcoming year to cover its legal bills, including those for the Hunt suit.
