DALLAS — More than 10,000 church representatives are gathered in Dallas for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, which began Tuesday morning with praise sessions and optimistic reports about growing numbers of baptisms.

But casting a pall over the gathering is the recent death of one of the most high-profile whistleblowers in the Southern Baptists’ scandal of sexual abuse.

Jennifer Lyell, a onetime denominational publishing executive who went public in 2019 with allegations that she had been sexually abused by a seminary professor while a student, died Saturday at 47.

She “suffered catastrophic strokes,” a friend and fellow advocate, Rachael Denhollander, posted Sunday on X.

Friends reported that the backlash Lyell received after going public with her report took a devastating toll on her.

Several abuse survivors and advocates for reform, who previously had a prominent presence in recent SBC meetings, are skipping this year’s gathering, citing lack of progress by the convention.

— The Associated Press