Arlington, Texas (ABP)—With increasing national attention on Baptist churches’ problems with clergy sex abuse, two pastor/bloggers have said they intend to push for more comprehensive ways to address the issue in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson and Texas pastor Benjamin Cole said they plan to present a motion and a resolution regarding clergy sexual abuse at the SBC annual meeting June 12-13 in San Antonio, Texas. The two have gained widespread attention in the past year for their blog-driven efforts to address a variety of denominational issues.

Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., said he will offer a motion calling for a study on the possibility of developing a database of Southern Baptist ministers convicted of sexual harassment and abuse. The motion will ask the SBC Executive Committee to report results from the study at the 2008 annual meeting in Indianapolis.

Cole, pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, will introduce a resolution titled “On Clergy Sexual Abuse.”

“Southern Baptists have not fully explored every option to protect our churches and our children from the threat of potential victimization and abuse at the hands of predatory clergy,” the resolution says. It also calls upon Southern Baptist churches to “pursue every possible avenue in determining the moral character and ethical conduct of ministry candidates.”

Cole’s proposal also urges convention agencies, institutions and commissions to “take bold steps to educate Southern Baptists concerning the indications associated with and the reporting of child victimization.”

A segment on the April 13 edition of the ABC News program “20/20” focused on clergy sex abuse in the SBC and other denominations.

SBC President Frank Page appeared on the “20/20” segment. He wrote an open letter to Southern Baptists addressing the issue of clergy sexual abuse, which he said is not “systemic or large-scale” in the denomination.

In the April 2 letter, Page said even one instance of sexual abuse is too much and urged local churches to take action against predators. He also called on churches to require background checks on national and state levels and to conduct “thorough reference checks” when hiring ministers and other church staff members.

“The local church is where accountability must be enforced,” he said. “I call upon every local church to develop written policy guidelines for the care of children and youth. I call upon every church to have a system or policy in place to deal with any accusations made. …. Simply put, there is no place in the church for persons who would take advantage of these relationships.”

Page has said the autonomy of the local church is a biblical mandate, so local churches must take it upon themselves to avoid, uncover and prosecute predators.