Jennifer Lyell, a former executive at a Southern Baptist publishing house who became an early whistle-blower against sexual abuse in her denomination, died on Saturday in Nashville.
Her death took place as thousands of Southern Baptists began arriving in Dallas for their denomination’s annual meeting this week. The urgency to confront sexual abuse in the denomination has waned since Ms. Lyell spoke out in 2019 about what she described as ongoing abuse by a professor at a Southern Baptist seminary.
Ms. Lyell died at 47 after a series of “massive strokes,” according to Rachael Denhollander, an activist and lawyer who has represented Ms. Lyell and was a close friend. Ms. Denhollander and other friends said Ms. Lyell’s health had declined precipitously since she publicly reported her alleged abuse, making her the subject of intense criticism within the denomination.
Ms. Lyell’s activism ignited an agonized reckoning over sexual abuse among the Southern Baptists, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, that eventually led to a damning investigation and multiple lawsuits. But it came at a high personal price, with critics accusing Ms. Lyell of exaggerating her claims and the seminary professor she accused of abuse filing a defamation lawsuit against her.
“It takes years and years to recover from trauma, and no one should be in the position of having to explain it to the whole public while they’re still trying to do that,” she told Religion News Service in 2021.
Ms. Lyell was a vice president at the Southern Baptist Convention’s publishing arm, Lifeway Christian Resources, when she disclosed to her superior in 2018 that a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary had first “sexually acted” against her in 2004 on a mission trip, when she was a student. She also shared her account with R. Albert Mohler Jr., the seminary’s president. The professor she accused, David Sills, resigned within days.
Mr. Sills has admitted to having an affair with Ms. Lyell but denies the accusations of abuse.
Ms. Lyell shared her story more widely in 2019, when she learned that Mr. Sills had returned to Christian ministry. Fearing that he would have the opportunity to abuse other women, she issued a statement about what she described as abuse that went on for more than a decade, as Mr. Sills encouraged her to become close with his family.
“Jennifer went public to protect other women,” said Beth Moore, a popular evangelical Bible teacher who has spoken out frequently about sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist denomination, which she left in 2021. Ms. Moore first met Ms. Lyell through Ms. Lyell’s work in publishing, and later became a friend. She described Ms. Lyell as generous, funny and a “brilliant mind.”
When the Baptist Press, a Southern Baptist publication, reported on Ms. Lyell’s disclosure, the article described it not as abuse but as “a morally inappropriate relationship,” depicting Ms. Lyell as a willing participant in adultery. That article was later retracted, and Southern Baptist leaders reached a settlement with Ms. Lyell and apologized to her publicly.
But the damage to her reputation was done. After the settlement, one headline on a conservative website announced she got a payout “For Having 12 Year-Long Affair with Married Man.” Mr. Sills also sued the denomination, Ms. Lyell and others for defamation in a case that is set to go to trial next year. In a motion filed last month, Ms. Lyell again described forceful sexual abuse, sometimes occurring “while his family was upstairs waiting for dinner.”
On Monday, the Baptist committee that apologized to Ms. Lyell met in Dallas. Ms. Lyell’s name was not mentioned from the dais. The centerpiece of the denomination’s proposed reforms, an online database of credibly accused abusers, has been shelved indefinitely. The task force charged with carrying out the changes has been disbanded, and denominational leaders rejected a proposal to fund a related nonprofit.
“I am just really dumbfounded not only by her tragic and unnecessary death but the fact that it’s occurring in this particular context of another annual meeting, and an annual meeting where abuse reform is dead in the water,” said Karen Swallow Prior, a scholar and writer.
Mrs. Prior and Ms. Lyell worked together in 2018, when they helped spearhead an open letter criticizing Paige Patterson, a former president of the denomination. Mr. Patterson’s past remarks, which appeared to minimize the seriousness of domestic abuse, were circulating online, and Ms. Lyell and several other prominent women in the denomination drafted and published the letter, saying they were “shocked” and “grieved.”
“These comments are damaging, sinful, and necessitate a decisive response,” the women wrote.
More than 3,000 people signed the letter within days, and Mr. Patterson announced his departure weeks later.
Ms. Lyell’s death comes at a very different moment for the denomination. Mr. Patterson is attending the convention in Dallas this week. And “abuse reform is dead,” Ms. Denhollander said on Monday. Ms. Lyell’s legacy, she said, is one of “incredible courage that flies in the face of so much of what we see in the convention.”
Ruth Graham is a national reporter, based in Dallas, covering religion, faith and values for The Times.
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