Come Be Disobedient in Indianapolis!

I need your help to support a key survivor and advocate

Sarah Stankorb
4 min readMay 29, 2024

Every year the Southern Baptist Convention meets for its annual meeting. This year, thousands of messengers will be traveling to Indianapolis to vote on a variety of measures, including the “Law Amendment” which will officially ban women from holding pastoral or other leadership roles within Southern Baptist churches.

Among survivors I’ve spoken to, there’s not a great deal of hope that transformational votes will take place concerning sex abuse protections and reform.

It’s interesting that this year’s meeting is taking place in Indianapolis. There’s a full-circle element here for one woman I have covered a number of times in recent years and featured in Disobedient Women: Christa Brown.

Many consider Christa Brown the “mother of the movement” for reform within SBC churches. She’s been at it for years and years, demanding a database of credibly accused abuser clergy, so that future churches can check the history of future pastors before exposing their congregations to a predator.

In her new book, Baptistland, Brown recalls:

In 2007, after an ABC 20/20 episode on “Preacher-Predators” — one in which I invested heavily with energy, time, angst, and a personal

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Sarah Stankorb

Sarah Stankorb, author of Disobedient Women, has published with The Washington Post, Marie Claire, and many others. @sarahstankorb www.sarahstankorb.com