NASHVILLE (TN)
Tennessean [Nashville TN]
March 5, 2025
By Liam Adams
- Following third-party report on clergy sexual abuse in Southern Baptist Convention, feds launch investigation into Nashville-based denomination and leads to charges over incident at Texas seminary.
- Former pastor and seminary faculty Matt Queen pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators in October. Judge sentences Queen TK.
- Outcome of federal investigation so far has fallen short of abuse survivors and allies’ hopes for denomination-wide accountability.
A former Southern Baptist pastor and seminary professor won’t serve jail time after lying to federal investigators in the first and potentially only felony conviction to emerge from an abuse-related investigation into the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
The Department of Justice began investigating the Southern Baptist Convention in late 2022 following a third-party report on clergy sexual abuse, leading to scrutiny into a January 2023 incident at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas where administrators reportedly mishandled an abuse report. Matthew Queen, a former professor and administrator at the school, faced charges in May for his involvement and pleaded guilty in October.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sentenced Queen to six months of house arrest, one year of probation, and a $2,000 fine, concluding the case out of federal court in the Southern District of New York. The terms of the sentence were available in court records.
In the weeks prior to Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Queen’s attorney, Sam Schmidt, asked Kaplan for a year of probation and a $2,000 fine versus prosecutors’ request for probation and house arrest. The charges carried a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison.
“The defendant insists that his conduct had no ill effect but that too is untrue,” prosecutors said in a Feb. 26 letter to Kaplan. “The defendant’s repeated lies dragged out the Government’s investigation and distracted resources better spent elsewhere.”
That question about where the DOJ has focused its investigation into the Nashville-based SBC and its affiliated agencies hasn’t yielded a satisfactory answer so far for abuse survivors and allies who hoped for denomination-wide accountability. There are no public indications federal authorities are pursuing additional charges against Southern Baptist leaders, including another former Southwestern administrator named Heath Woolman for his involvement in the same incident that led to Queen’s conviction.
Woolman reportedly instructed Southwestern seminary dean Terri Stovall in a January 2023 meeting to destroy a document detailing a report Stovall received months prior that contained abuse allegations against a student. Queen, a witness to Woolman’s directive to Stovall in what federal prosecutors later described as a conspiracy to cover-up abuse, initially lied to FBI agents about what he heard Woolman say and fabricated contemporaneous notes to support the false narrative.
Queen’s original indictment redacted many key details about these events, including the identities of Woolman and Stovall, but subsequent reporting by The Tennessean led to additional Southwestern seminary public disclosures. Also, The Tennessean reported on how top seminary leadership was slow to discipline Queen, Woolman, and former seminary police chief Kevin Collins after learning those three reportedly mishandled this abuse case and tried to cover-up that alleged wrongdoing.
“With the criminal justice process now complete regarding the charges against Matt Queen, we are hopeful that the investigation will soon reach its conclusion, allowing all parties to move forward. Our prayers for Matt Queen and his family as well as all others involved in this process continue,” Southwestern said in a statement Wednesday. “Southwestern Seminary remains steadfast in its commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of all members of our community, taking every possible measure to prevent sexual abuse and harassment.”
Queen transitioned from Southwestern, where he long was a well-known professor of evangelism, to become lead pastor at Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Woolman went onto become pastor of Fruit Cove Baptist Church in St. Johns, Florida. After Queen pleaded guilty in October, he resigned from Friendly Avenue church in November. Woolman continues to pastor Fruit Cove Baptist.
“He (Queen) has suffered substantially,” Schmidt, Queen’s attorney, said in a Feb. 19 letter to Kaplan, which was accompanied by 59 other character references for Queen.
On Wednesday after the sentencing, Schmidt said in statement his client “is thankful that he will not serve time in prison and will seek to use his time under home confinement to help others.” Specific terms of the probation include requirements for Queen to participate in a mental health treatment program and to receive approval to open a new lines of credit if he is noncompliant with a court-ordered payment schedule.
“Queen’s offense had nothing to do with interfering with the sex abuse allegations,” Schmidt said in his statement Wednesday. “Queen has been always be supportive of victims of abuse and urged victims to report the abuse to authorities. Nevertheless, Dr. Queen did lie to the authorities.”Most recent SBC abuse-related news: How new administrative leadership for SBC abuse response is setting goals, rethinking past
Fallout, or lack thereof, at Queen and Woolman’s churches
Both Queen and Woolman’s congregations publicly backed their pastors in the immediate aftermath of the public scandal about the former seminary administrators.
Queen went on paid leave following his indictment, but a pastor at the church prayed in a May service for the “Friendly (Avenue Baptist) family as we walk through it alongside with him (Queen) in full support,” according to a video recording from the service. Around the same time, Woolman’s church approved bylaw revisions that raised the bar for the church to fire its lead pastor.
The new Fruit Cove bylaws require a far more exhaustive process, including a 30-day study period to evaluate the lead pastor’s wrongdoing, 75% of deacons to vote to recommend the pastor’s ouster to members, and a full congregation vote to approve the ouster, according to an analysis of the church’s current bylaws versus its 2023 version. The new bylaws also added a clause that if the pastor resigns, “no further action regarding removal will be required unless the situation involves a confirmed allegation of: a moral failure; an act which amounts to a violation of law.”
An SBC oversight group reviews reports against churches for not upholding the convention’s standards on abuse, though that group has long faced challenges in evaluating abuse-related complaints. An ongoing civil case in East Tennessee is expected to make that even harder.
Both Friendly Avenue and Fruit Cove churches remain in good standing with the national convention. After Queen pleaded guilty in October, the board at Friendly Avenue church took up a measure likely to oust its pastor. But Queen resigned before the board voted on the motion. Later, some of Queen’s former congregants submitted character references to Kaplan to accompany Schmidt’s recent letter to the judge requesting leniency in the sentencing.
Fruit Cove has continued growing with Woolman at the helm and is planning to expand by opening a new campus, according to the church’s website.
News on legal troubles facing the Southern Baptist Convention and its agencies:
SBC can’t use religious doctrine as defense in defamation lawsuit, TN appeals court rules
Southern Baptist pastor pleads guilty to felony in federal inquiry into seminary for abuse
Why SBC is likely headed to trial, public clash with an ex-president accused of abuse
Former SBC seminary president settles defamation case for $0.Southern Baptist Convention settles in abuse case against Paul Pressler, case dismissed
High-profile SBC lawsuit ends in win for former leader, loss for abuse reform proponents
This story was updated to include an additional statement.