GATLINBURG (TN)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
June 25, 2024
By Liz Lykins
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Tennessee Pastor Jeff LaBorg will be headlining a conference this fall with disgraced pastor and former Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Johnny Hunt.
Hunt was accused of sexually assaulting the wife of a former SBC pastor in a 2022 blockbuster report, detailing sexual abuse and cover-up within the SBC. The report by Guidepost Solutions found the allegations by the pastor’s wife “credible.”
Hunt maintains that the “encounter,” though inappropriate, was consensual, The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported.
Hunt will be one of the three main speakers at the 28th Annual Fall Jubilee Conference in Gatlinburg, Tennessee this September, according to the conference’s website.
Huckabee, the 44th Governor of Arkansas and a former minister, will also be speaking at the event alongside Hunt. Huckabee is now known for his TV show “Huckabee” and as a guest speaker on Fox News and Newsmax.
Jeff LaBorg is the lead pastor at Fairview Knox Church in Corryton, Tennessee. He has preached at more than 500 events, conferences, colleges, churches and crusades, according to his website.
TRR reached out to Huckabee and LaBorg for comment, through email and phone, but did not hear back prior to publication.
Jubilee Conference Has Legal Leadership Ties to Hunt
Jubilee Conference is to be a “time of singing, laughing and preaching” to encourage and change “countless lives,” according to the conference’s website. In spring 2024, the conference also featured Hunt, speaking alongside Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at the 14,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas, and a Fox News Contributor.
The conference is put on by It’s a New Day Ministries, Inc., according to the conference’s website.
It’s a New Day Ministries is currently led by Hunt’s son-in-law, John Carswell, according to the organization’s 2024 annual business registration in Georgia. A 2022 990 form identifies Hunt as chairman of the ministry’s board. Additionally, the organization’s Articles of Incorporation list Hunt as one of the original directors of the ministry.
TRR reached out to Jubilee Conference for comment on Hunt’s involvement with the organization but did not hear back prior to publication.
Hunt is connected to a network of nonprofits like It’s a New Day Ministries, which continue to give him a platform, TRR previously reported.
Hunt is tied to at least 10 nonprofit and for-profit businesses as attested by tax records, event publicity, and other legal filings, according to Baptist News Global. All organizations are also intertwined with Hunt’s family.
Hunt’s History of Controversy
Hunt previously served as the Senior Pastor at the megachurch First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia, for more than 30 years and was a former president of the SBC.
In the last few years, Hunt has made numerous headlines over his alleged assault.
Just days before the release of the Guidepost report, Hunt resigned from his role as president of the SBC’s North American Mission Board. Shortly after, First Baptist Church in Woodstock removed Hunt as its pastor emeritus.
Less than a year after the sexual assault allegations were made public, Hunt was declared fit for ministry by a group of pastors.
Shortly after this, Bart Barber, then-SBC president, announced in a statement that he would “permanently ‘defrock’” Hunt if he had the “authority to do so.” Barber also called Hunt’s return “a repugnant act” in a social media post.
In March 2023, Hunt sued the SBC, alleging he had been defamed by the allegations against him. In the complaint, Hunt said he “had a brief, inappropriate, extramarital encounter with a married woman” in 2010, but claims the incident was consensual and should not have been made public.
The complaint contends the SBC and Guidepost Solutions defamed and libeled Hunt, invaded his privacy, and intentionally caused him emotional harm.
Despite the allegations against Hunt, he has continued to speak publicly at churches and conferences.
In 2023, Hunt delivered the sermon at Hiland Park Baptist Church, a SBC megachurch in Panama City, Florida. The church’s senior pastor, Steven Kyle was among those who previously had declared Hunt fit for ministry.
Before Hunt preached at the church, Kyle hailed him as, “one of the greatest pulpiteers in our generation.”
Hunt has also spoken at the 2024 Johnny Hunt Men’s Conference and will speak again at the 2025 event in Hiram, Georgia.