20 years ago, I wrote SBC leaders to warn them about abuse. They are still not listening.

(RNS) — Think back 20 years ago to August 2006.

George W. Bush was president, iPhones didn’t exist yet and Twitter was just a month old.

That was when I wrote  a letter to then-Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page, describing how the Southern Baptist pastor who sexually abused me as a kid — repeatedly and severely — had been allowed to continue in ministry even though other church leaders knew at the time, even though his name was on a secret list of “known offenders ” kept by the Baptist General Convention of Texas and even though I had notified 18 Southern Baptist leaders in four states about my corroborated report.

David Clohessy — the guy who has seen it all in the clergy abuse arena — dropped me a line the other day, pointing out that this month was the 20-year anniversary of that letter. And it gave me pause to reflect.

Together with David and other leaders from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), I pleaded in that  2006 letter  for the SBC president to take action.

The need was obvious, as we told Page.

“When 18 church and denominational leaders can be informed of a substantiated report involving a minister’s sexual abuse of a…