In my role as executive director, I have the honor of working with some of the finest leaders that I’ve ever known. Allow me to invite you on a journey with me as I lift up one of those leaders: my friend, Kris Buckman.
In 2020, after June Holland, a long-time and beloved children‘s missionary, retired, God brought Kris to step into that role. Kris graciously seized hold of that baton from June and took off. Little did I know God was going to use Kris in an additional very special, and visible way. She was going to be the BCM/D champion to help educate, equip, and encourage our churches to better protect children, youth and vulnerable adults from abuse.
God is using Kris Buckman as a champion to help educate, equip, and encourage our churches to better protect children, youth and vulnerable adults from abuse.
In addition to serving on the BCM/D sexual abuse task force, Kris freely gave her time to serve on the National Abuse Reform and Implementation Task Force. Because of Kris, we have the “five essentials”—Train, Screen, Protect, Report, and Care—which have been shared nationally among Southern Baptists and have become a national standard. The new “Essentials” sexual abuse curriculum is based on those five essentials.
Let me say, Kris is a force. She is a force for good.
Every once in a while, you meet someone who profoundly impacts you— who causes you to think differently and to more fully embrace what God has for you. For me, Kris is one of those people. She views the protection of the vulnerable from the most serious perspective. She takes the biblical mandate seriously and gives herself away time and time again to help churches in this vital area. We are better because God brought her to us. Our churches are better, and the national SBC is better. My friend Keith Myer, who chairs the BCM/D Sexual Abuse Task Force, has stated that Kris is a gem. I wholeheartedly agree!
The Bible says in Psalm 82:3 – 4 (ESV), “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” Kris fights for this regularly. She lives out this biblical mandate.
On a very personal level, it’s people like Kris who remind me there are those who care about individuals, like my son Jimmy, who are extremely vulnerable. There are believers who will fight to protect them. Many in your churches will fight for them.
At the BCM/D, messengers approved a constitutional amendment developed by our task force, requiring churches affiliated with us to have policies and procedures to protect the vulnerable. If your church needs help, please reach out. We will help you. Kris will help you!
Please let me say this, not only as the BCM/D executive director but as a father of a young man with significant disabilities and significant vulnerabilities: One of the ways that my church loves my son and my family well is by having policies and procedures in place to protect him. Another is by having men who have befriended Jimmy, and they follow those policies and procedures. They love. They serve. They care. They respect. They protect.
I have observed Kris over and over again strongly advocating and seeking protection for individuals and families affected by disabilities.
Kris, thank you for allowing God to use you in this very special way. So many are thankful for you, and others may never have to experience the pain of abuse because God used you to educate, equip, and encourage. I know the BCM/D will continue to grow stronger in this area through your faithfulness.
If you need assistance regarding sexual abuse prevention in your church, please email [email protected].
