You are probably well aware by now that the SBC has been embroiled in a scandal for the last three years involving alleged and systemic abuse cover-ups by the denomination and its leaders. In 2021, one of the leaders of the movement to push for an investigation into the alleged cover-ups—which turned up absolutely nothing, by the way—was a Tallahassee pastor named Dean Inserra.

Following his advocacy for alleged abuse victims by the SBC over the last several years, Inserra has now been chosen to not only to preach the convention sermon at the 2024 annual meeting of the SBC, but also intends to nominate Georgia pastor Brad Whitt for SBC Pastors Conference President for the 2025 meeting.

But who exactly is Dean Inserra? Is he the man who should be piggybacking his leadership in the SBC on his advocacy credentials for alleged sex abuse victims? Inserra is long-time friends with another pastor named Adam Page. Page and Inserra, it seems, have quite differing views on many issues in the SBC. Page does not seem to be on board with the SBC’s whole “sex abuse cover-up” scandal, while Inserra has been neck-deep in it. Nonetheless, they have remained friends.

In this audio clip from March of 2022, just after Inserra and many of his cohorts took over the Executive Committee and claimed they cared about survivors, one of the alleged sex abuse “survivors” confronted Inserra about his relationship with Adam Page. Inserra tells the survivor that he has met Adam Page “zero times” in his life. Here’s the audio:

Alleged victim: Adam Page, He’s a pastor down in Florida.

Inserra: I didn’t know that. I’ve met Adam zero times in my life.

Alleged victim: Okay.

Inserra: And I don’t even know he even did that, came after you. How do you know? Yeah. He texted me actually in the middle of the session randomly. Gave me a hard time about my post I did about having two black leaders. Yeah, he said that it shouldn’t matter. It should be the most qualified person. Because this is circular, stupid art.

Alleged victim: Yeah, so I think we’re in the same mood.

Inserra: I’m just saying, I am not friends with him…

So why would Inserra lie to her about his friendship with Page? It is safe to say that Page was suspicious of the allegations being made by many of the abuse victims and their advocates at the time.

This isn’t about the survivors, the cover-up, the now-proven-to-be-a-witchhunt “sex abuse cover-up” scandal, or even Adam Page. In fact, Page has been a stand-up man during all of this. And unfortunately, he has taken the brunt of the lies his friend has told about him. But this is really about the integrity of Southern Baptist Convention leadership. Why lie just to advance a narrative and push an agenda? If Southern Baptists care about the truth, they need to understand they won’t get it from Dean Inserra.