Abuse: SBC P/6

                                                            Read Part One HERE

Here is my fifth post on abuse in Southern Baptist churches in the US. In this post as well as in the next post I want to focus on Paige Patterson, a very influential man in the Southern Baptist world.

The ex-president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Forth Worth, Paige Patterson, has formally denied allegations in a federal lawsuit filed by a former student who says Patterson and others threatened and intimidated her when she reported being raped on campus in 2015.

Among other things, the former student, identified only as Jane Roe, alleges that during meetings Patterson violated her privacy and failed to ensure her safety by disclosing information about her complaint directly to her attacker. She also claims in her lawsuit that Patterson intimidated and humiliated her by asking for intimate details about the alleged rapes. Patterson also allegedly told Roe that the rape was a "good thing" because "the right man would not care if she was a virgin or not," and disclosed the abuses to seminary faculty without her consent, according to the suit.

In his formal answer, Patterson categorically denied the allegations, and claimed he lacked "knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth or falsity of these allegations."

Patterson is nationally known as a Southern Baptist leader and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. But he was removed as the school president by the seminary's board of trustees in 2018 after the trustees found problems with his handling of complaints made by several women, including Roe's.

 

Read Part Seven HERE

Abuse: SBC P/5

                                                            Read Part One HERE

Here is my fourth post on abuse in Southern Baptist churches in the US and beyond.


George Thomas Wade Jr. had been spreading the gospel as a missionary on African training farms and in bush villages for six years when His Southern Baptist supervisors learned a horrifying secret: The supposedly devout man of God was molesting his own daughter.

A supervisor met once privately with the girl, who was attending boarding school in Johannesburg, and later consulted leaders based 7,500 miles away at Richmond, Va., headquarters of what is now called the International Mission Board.

Wade promised to stop, the supervisor said. His daughter said she was told to forgive Wade and was sworn to secrecy. No one told Wade's wife, also a missionary, what he had done, courts records show.

His daughter was never again asked about the abuse, which continued, even after she attempted suicide at 15.
"I felt stupid for having told anything to anybody," she later testified. "The concern was for my father..... It didn't matter what happened to me."

 

Read Part Six HERE

Abuse: SBC P/4

                                                            Read Part One Here

Here is my third post on abuse in Southern Baptist churches in the US.

Doug Meyers was suspected of preying on children at a church in Alabama - but he went to work at Southern Baptist churches in Florida before police arrested him.

Timothy Reddin was convicted of possessing child pornography, yet he was able to serve as pastor of a Baptist church in Arkansas.

Charles Adcock faced 29 counts of sexually assaulting a 14 year-old girl in Alabama. Then he volunteered as a worship pastor at a Baptist church in Texas.

The sordid background of these Southern Baptist ministers did not stop them from finding new jobs at churches and working in positions of trust. They are among at least 35 Southern Baptist pastors, youth ministers and volunteers who were convicted of sex crimes or accused of sexual misconduct but still were allowed to work at churches during the past two decades, an investigation by the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle reveals.

 

Read Part Five HERE

Abuse: SBC P/3

                                                            Read Part One HERE

Here is my second post on abuse in one of the Southern Baptist Churches in the US.

Chad Foster, a former firefighter from Missouri, arrived in Texas soon after his divorce and with his 30th birthday fast approaching. He described himself as a fairly new Christian with a history of hard drinking.
He was hired and later ordained as a youth pastor by Houston's Second Baptist Church, one of the largest Southern Baptist congregations in the country.
"When I took the job," Foster later said, "I didn't know anything about it." Foster preached abstinence and urged teens to sign contracts to save themselves for marriage. But he soon targeted underage girls at the church's Cypress campus for intimate text messages and physical contact. His brief career as a youth pastor ended with guilty pleas to three counts of sexual assault of a child and two of online solicitation of a minor.
A 16-year-old girl with whom he illegally had sex testified at his sentencing. "I thought I really loved him," she said. "He's not the person I knew. I feel like he's a sick person. I think he's going to do it again if he's on probation. I have no doubt in my mind that he will."
There are many others like Foster. Scores of Southern Baptist youth pastors across the country, many with little oversight or formal training, used their church positions to groom and sexually abuse children in their flocks, an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News reveals.

 

Read Part Four HERE

Abuse: SBC P/2

                                                            
                                                             Read Part One Here

 Here is my first post of a story on abuse in one of the Southern Baptist Churches in the US.

Pastor Ruben Garcia was arrested nearly two years ago in Hays County, prosecuted on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl and prohibited by a judge from being alone with children.
But the preacher kept his job at the Southern Baptist Church.
Garcia, 60, sang hymns and taught kids about the Lord at Betania Baptist Church in Austin, a church so small that her Sunday services feel more like a family gathering.

In February 2016, a teenage girl told police in the Austin suburb of Buda, where Garcia lives that he sexually assaulted her multiple times in the summers of 2013 and 2014, records show. Police arrested Garcia in June 2017 and he was later released on bond.
Then Garcia continued serving as co-pastor of his church, where few members of the congregation questioned the appropriateness of their spiritual leader remaining in his post with sexual-assault charges pending against him.
Their support continued in 2018 after Garcia pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and avoided prison - but he was prohibited from being around children as part of the terms of his sentence.....

I will share a second story on abuse in one of the Southern Baptist Churches in the US in my next post.

 

Read Part Three HERE

 

Abuse: SBC P/1

Today, I will begin a series of posts addressing the abuse that has been taken place in Southern Baptist Churches (SBC) in the US and will give you examples of such abuse in churches.

Before giving you these examples, I will quote from a book "Let Her Be" by Charles O. Knowles in which he writes the following:

"In 2000 the SBC added the following to the Baptist Faith and Message: "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

He writes as well:

"In 1998 the SBC added a section of the family to its confession of faith that included the statement: "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."

I will share a story on abuse that has taken place in my next post.

 

Read Part Two HERE

 

Further to my previous post in which I shared about abused women in Iran who have turned to Christ, I would like to share a story of one these women. Her name is Nargess.

Nargess is a driving instructor. While teaching the women to drive, she also teaches them about Jesus. Many have come to faith through her evangelism. Moreover, she recently had opportunity to take two driving students with her for further bible training outside of Iran. They have now all returned to Iran where they continue to witness.

Please remember Nargess in your prayers.

Please pray as well for Jo who is facing a challenging court date on 10 September.

Furthermore, Sue has asked for prayer for wisdom and strength in her job as teacher and assistant head of a primary school. She would very much like opportunities to share the gospel with colleagues.

Blessings,
Loes