Seven months after hiring Loritts as executive pastor, the Summit Church has commissioned an independent review of how he handled voyeurism incidents at his former church.
The Summit Church has retained the services of an outside firm to perform an independent review of specific actions taken by Pastor Bryan Loritts in his handling of 2010 sexual misconduct allegations against his then-brother-in-law at a Memphis church Loritts pastored.
A statement released by the church acknowledged that an investigation conducted by the church prior to Loritts being hired as Summit’s executive pastor of teaching and development “should have followed better-advised protocols.”
The statement also said The Summit Church committed “to work with the (Southern Baptist Convention) Church Cares team to establish a protocol that will be helpful to other churches in similar circumstances.”
SBC President J. D. Greear is senior pastor at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, which hired Loritts in June 2020 after completing an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations at Fellowship Memphis Church.
At that time, Summit elders cleared Loritts of any wrongdoing in the case against his then-brother-in-law Rick Trotter. But in a statement on its website Wednesday, the church announced that it has hired Guidepost Solutions LLC to conduct a new investigation.
“The Summit Church did their own investigation into this matter before Bryan was hired in June, 2020, and the Elders were convinced that Bryan had not attempted in any way to cover up the incidents of abuse, to protect the abusers, or discourage victims from seeking justice for their abuses,” the statement reads.
“After talking with the Caring Well team and desiring to do everything possible to foster a culture in churches that are safe from abuse and safe for survivors, the Summit decided it would be helpful to ...
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