Smoke, Mirrors and Empty Promises: The SBC’s Revamped Abuse Hotline
October 4, 2025
The Southern Baptist Convention wants you to believe it cares about survivors. They hold press conferences, publish glossy press releases, and now—announce “enhanced helplines.”
https://sbcabuseprevention.com/sbc-abuse-prevention-response-department-launches-new-helpline/
But when you look behind the curtain, what you find is not support. It’s not healing. It’s not safety. It’s PR.
A Fund With No Funding
I reached out to the so-called “Survivor Care Fund” this week. After waiting, after hoping, I was told plainly:
“The Survivor Care Fund is not funded. The fund does not have the means to pay for anyone’s counseling.”
Let that sink in. The SBC tells survivors to report abuse, promotes hotlines, and dangles the illusion of resources—yet when you actually call, there’s nothing there. No counseling. No real support. Only an apology for the “miscommunication.”
Promises vs. Reality
On the SBC’s own website, survivors are told to “report abuse here” with the assurance that they’ll be connected to care and resources. The language is polished and reassuring:
SBC promise: “Survivors will be notified of the available options for care and will be put in touch with an advocate.”
So I tried. I asked for help.
Reality: Two paid counseling sessions. Two sessions to address decades of trauma. Two sessions in exchange for my silence, my suffering, my survival.
And then—silence.
When I pressed for more, I learned the truth: the so-called Survivor Care Fund isn’t underfunded. It isn’t waiting for donations. It is not funded at all.
Spin Without Substance
Just days before, Baptist publications were running headlines:
“SBC Partners With Abuse Prevention Experts to Launch Enhanced Helpline.”
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Sounds like progress. But what it really means is another layer of spin. A gospel-wrapped hotline that funnels survivors back into the very system that harmed them—without money, without resources, without accountability.
Enhanced helplines. Expanded partnerships. All dressed up in church language. And yet survivors are still met with an empty chair where support should be.
Survivors Deserve More
I was trafficked under the banner of church and state. I know what it feels like when appearances matter more than protection, when institutions keep the grass cut and wear a cross so no one dares look deeper.
The SBC is doing the same thing right now—cutting the grass, painting the fence, and smiling for the cameras while survivors are still crying out for help that never comes.
The Call to Action
Survivors don’t need another hotline. We need:
Independent funding—money survivors can actually access for therapy, relocation, and legal help.
Transparency—not “helplines” run by the same institutions that buried abuse for decades.
Accountability—real consequences for leaders who hide behind PR while survivors are left holding the weight of their trauma.
Until then, every announcement, every partnership, every “enhanced helpline” is just another headline designed to protect the SBC’s image, not survivors.
My Ask
If you’ve reached out to the SBC helpline, I want to hear your story too. Survivors are the only ones holding the receipts. And the more of us who speak, the harder it becomes for them to hide behind smoke, mirrors, and empty promises.