The Baptists have been busy . . .
After a short stint in a non denominational church when I became a Christian in my late teens, I began regularly attending a Baptist church. And since I was in the military and moved around a bit, I attended several Baptist churches as my assignment location changed. From about 1978 to about 1988 I attended four different Baptist churches - two Independent (fundamental) Baptist and two Southern Baptist - so - I am a tad familiar with their beliefs and core doctrines. There are other Baptist "off-shoots" that I am less familiar with though, but this post isn't really about doctrines or beliefs, or at least I don't think it is :(
Why do people go to Baptist churches? I guess the very same reason(s) that people attend Methodist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Catholic, Seventh Day Adventist, LDS, and Jehovah's Witness (etc, etc) churches - they were either brought up in such a church or were "led to the Lord" in such a church or got disillusioned with their previous church and moved to just such a church. I am sure there are other reasons, but these are some that just come to mind.
Anyway - yes - the Baptists have been busy. Besides services on Sunday morning / evening and Wednesday evening, I am sure they have many Baptist missionaries around the world, prison ministries, their annual summer Vacation Bible School for the kids, revivals, special speakers several times a year, outings for the youth, food and clothing drives for the less fortunate, men's weekly prayer breakfast, choir practice, etc - it's hard to imagine that the leadership of the Baptist church has time for anything else, but they do. Many Baptist church leaders can always find time for one more ministerial activity:
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Jun. 2019 - A Quincy pastor was arrested Friday after being charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior on a minor.
Arthur Ivey, 59, is being held at Gadsden County jail with no bond. Ivey is a preacher at Friendship Primitive Baptist Church.
On Jan. 3, according to court documents, three children went to a child welfare facility and said they were touched by Ivey inappropriately.
At least one of the children said the assaults had gone on for nearly two years, court documents say.
Arthur Ivey, 59, is being held at Gadsden County jail with no bond. Ivey is a preacher at Friendship Primitive Baptist Church.
On Jan. 3, according to court documents, three children went to a child welfare facility and said they were touched by Ivey inappropriately.
At least one of the children said the assaults had gone on for nearly two years, court documents say.
Sep. 2019 - A longtime metro Atlanta pastor was being held without bond late Tuesday following his arrest for alleged child molestation, according to police.
Benjamin “Gus” Harter, 80, had served as pastor of Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church in Sandy Springs since 2014, according to the church’s website. But Tuesday afternoon, tape covered Harter’s name on the sign outside the historic church. And Tuesday evening, an associate pastor said Harter was no longer pastor nor a member of the church.
Harter has led two churches and helped build dozens of others here and in the Philippines, where he and his wife built an orphanage. The Harters also adopted 19 children from the Asian country, according to his church biography, adding to their already large family.
But on Friday, Harter was arrested at his Cumming-area home on one charge of child molestation, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office said.
Benjamin “Gus” Harter, 80, had served as pastor of Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church in Sandy Springs since 2014, according to the church’s website. But Tuesday afternoon, tape covered Harter’s name on the sign outside the historic church. And Tuesday evening, an associate pastor said Harter was no longer pastor nor a member of the church.
Harter has led two churches and helped build dozens of others here and in the Philippines, where he and his wife built an orphanage. The Harters also adopted 19 children from the Asian country, according to his church biography, adding to their already large family.
But on Friday, Harter was arrested at his Cumming-area home on one charge of child molestation, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office said.
Dec 2019 - 70-year-old David L. Wood was arrested on Monday, December 4, 2019, and charged with three counts of first-degree child molestation, which are Class A felonies in the state of Washington.
Wood is a member of Port Cities Reformed Baptist Church of Lewiston, Idaho. PCRBC is one of only 21 churches now remaining in the corrupt Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America (ARBCA). At its zenith, ARBCA consisted of approximately 80 churches. The Association has been decimated by resignations after it was revealed that leaders in the Association lied and covered-up the crimes of former ARBCA pastor Tom Chantry. Chantry, having been convicted of six felony counts (2 counts of assaulting a child and 4 counts of sexual molestation of a child) is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence.
Wood is a member of Port Cities Reformed Baptist Church of Lewiston, Idaho. PCRBC is one of only 21 churches now remaining in the corrupt Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America (ARBCA). At its zenith, ARBCA consisted of approximately 80 churches. The Association has been decimated by resignations after it was revealed that leaders in the Association lied and covered-up the crimes of former ARBCA pastor Tom Chantry. Chantry, having been convicted of six felony counts (2 counts of assaulting a child and 4 counts of sexual molestation of a child) is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence.
Rev. Randolph "Randy" Brown, 64, and Joyce Richmond, 21, were taken into custody on Tuesday and hit with multiple felony charges in relation to the alleged exploitation of multiple underage teenagers who ran away from home back in 2018, police investigators have confirmed.
Prosecutors allege that Brown paid or agreed to pay two teenage victims, who were aged 16 or under at the time, to engage in sexual activities.
He was charged with two counts of compelling prostitution, while Richmond was charged with two counts of human trafficking and three counts of compelling prostitution.
Online, Brown remains listed as a pastor of the Inner-City Missionary Baptist Church, located on East 55th Street in Cleveland.
Jun. 2021 - A North Carolina pastor has resigned after appearing before a judge Thursday.
Trent Holbert, 41, former pastor of The Ridge Church, was arrested last month and has been charged with one count of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of statutory sex offense, the Biblical Recorder reported.
Both The Ridge Church and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina have released statements condemning Holbert’s alleged actions.
Trent Holbert, 41, former pastor of The Ridge Church, was arrested last month and has been charged with one count of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of statutory sex offense, the Biblical Recorder reported.
Both The Ridge Church and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina have released statements condemning Holbert’s alleged actions.
Jun. 2021 - A Baptist pastor from Forsyth County who previously got out on bail for child pornography charges was arrested again on additional charges.
First Baptist Church in Stanleyville announced on April 30 that T. Elliott Welch, 34, quit his job as the lead pastor after he was initially arrested by the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office on accusations of child pornography and exploitation.
Welch was arrested and charged with 10 counts of second-degree exploitation of a minor and two counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
Jul. 2021 - A Southern Baptist youth minister who also served as a National Guard chaplain was arrested last weekend on charges of soliciting a minor, according to the Tennessee Department of Investigation.
Matthew Brewer of Centerville, Tennessee, was one of 18 men arrested during a sting operation in Spring Hill, Tennessee, south of Nashville. All had allegedly responded to advertisements placed by undercover police, designed to identify “those seeking commercial sex acts with minors.”
Brewer is a youth minister at Fairfield Baptist Church in Centerville, Tennessee.
Jul. 2021 - Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons says the Pensacola church children's director who has already been arrested multiple times may have more victims.
37-year-old David Nims was arrested late Friday for a third time after investigators say he secretly recorded people in public restrooms at a church in Escambia County.
Simmons says deputies recently discovered that eight additional victims were secretly recorded. This follows Nims' initial arrest back in June regarding a secret camera hidden in a church's men's bathroom.
According to Nims' most recent arrest report, investigators reviewed over 180 videos that showed multiple people using the restroom.
Sheriff Simmons told Channel 3 that there is a chance they could find more victims as they continue their investigation.
According to Sherriff Simmons, the videos were taken in three locations: Calvary Baptist Church (where Nims volunteered as a children's director), his home and his wife's work.
Reports indicate he was recording men, women and children.
"Every time we arrested him and we seize more storage devices and more computer equipment then we end up finding more," Simmons said. "Unfortunately we end up finding more evidence of video voyeurism."
Aug. 2021 - The former pastor of a Southern Baptist church in north Harris County has been sentenced following his conviction in a child molestation case.
Stephen Bratton, 46, was convicted after he admitted to molesting a teen starting from when she was 13 and continued to do so for about five years, authorities said.
According to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Bratton pleaded guilty to the charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14 and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Bratton stepped down from the Grace Family Baptist Church in Cypress Station in May 2019 after he confessed to other pastors that he had inappropriately touched the girl, which “escalated to sexual intercourse multiple times a day or several times a week,” according to court records.
Sept. 2021 - Arrest warrants for Ransom Wade McLamb, Jr. and his ex-wife, Wendi Wishnefsky McLamb, were issued Wednesday. Wendi was served the same day the warrant was issued and made her first appearance in Brunswick County Court on Thursday. Wade was served in New Hanover County on Thursday and released on a $100,000 unsecured bond.
Wade worked as the pastor of Sabbath Home Baptist Church in Supply. According to search warrants, the embezzlement occurred over a period of years from 2014-2020. Church members filed a formal complaint with the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office on March 8, 2021. The following day, detectives met with several congregation members to get more information about the suspected embezzlement.
“Church members report in August 2020, the pastor, Ransom Wade McLamb, Jr. abruptly resigned without reason. When Ransom resigned, Chris Cocker (Ransom’s son-in-law) was named interim pastor. In 2014, Wendi Wishnefsky McLamb assumed the secretary and treasurer responsibilities of Sabbath Home Baptist Church until she left the church in November 2020. When Wendi left the church, church members were left with little documentation showing where church funds were spent throughout the years,” the search warrant application reads.
“When church members logged onto the church computer, they discovered all but three (3) files were deleted, a recovery program was purchased and installed in attempt to recover church files by church members. Church members began reviewing files and obtaining financial records from their banking institution (Branch Banking and Trust ‘BB&T’). Church members discovered Wendi had closed the three BB&T accounts without authorization and opened one (1) account at First Bank of Shallotte,” the application continues.
In reviewing the records, detectives say that church members learned the McLambs “reimbursed themselves for expenses without documentation or authorization.” Over the years, those reimbursements totaled more than $136,000.
“The McLambs paid personal bills with church funds (home schooling, traveling, insurance and credit cards)... without the church members knowledge,” the application continues. It also notes that Ransom McLamb was believed to have had a procedure completed in 2018 at New Hanover Regional Medical Center (NHRMC) using church funds.
Detectives requested financial records linked to the McLambs from NHRMC, Captial One Bank, Local Government Federal Credit Union, GuideStone Financial Resources, Truist, Verizon, First Bank, Delta Dental of NC, Allstate Insurance Company, Amazon, Apple, State Employees Credit Union, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and M2 Credit Care.
Oct. 2021 - A Rochester church pastor arrested at his home in Dawson on Friday is accused of sexually grooming a Macon County minor.
The Rev. Joseph M. Krol, 36, has been suspended from his duties at First Baptist Church in Rochester.
Krol was arrested by Macon County sheriff's deputies without incident Friday afternoon. Dawson is in Sangamon County.
Krol was still in custody Wednesday at the Macon County Jail in Decatur on a $75,000 bond.
Krol allegedly sent sexual messages and images to a 15-year-old girl in Oreana, which is 10 miles northeast of Decatur.
Oct. 2021 - David Jones, 57, was arrested last Wednesday. Jones reportedly has eight drunken driving offenses in the past. Authorities suggest this was his ninth.
Deputies said they got a call about Jones, a pastor at the Hilton Oaks Baptist Church in the city of Ferndale, doing something suspicious on Oct. 6 at a convenience store, according to WDIV. Authorities arrived, but Jones allegedly did not cooperate. He allegedly drove his car across a busy street and rammed it into a business. From there, he’s accused of ramming the deputies’ vehicle.
“He struck their building, turned his vehicle towards deputies, accelerated, smashing our patrol car,” he said. “Luckily our deputies were not injured.”
Jones allegedly refused to get out out of his car, and authorities had to smash his windows.
The pastor is currently locked up on charges including two counts of attempted homicide, a count of fleeing and eluding, and operating while intoxicated (third offense). He is held on a $1 million bond.
Jan. 2022 - Aaron Shipman, head pastor at Bible Baptist Church in Odessa has been arrested and charged with sexual assault.
According to an arrest affidavit, on January 17, an 18-year-old woman told investigators with the Odessa Police Department that she had been sexually abused and assaulted several times over the last two years. An exam revealed the victim had sustained sexual trauma.
In a statement church leaders said Shipman has been fired from his job as pastor and is banned indefinitely from church property.
Shipman has since bonded out of the Ector County Detention Center on a $60,000 bond.
Jan. 2022 - Collin County sheriff’s deputies arrested a youth minister at First Baptist Church of Wylie for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
Timothy Wells turned himself in Friday and was booked into the Collin County jail on a charge of indecency with a child by sexual conduct, which is a second-degree felony. His bond was set at $25,000.
In December, a 15-year-old girl told a staff member at the church that Wells had touched her inappropriately while they were together away from the church.
Wells was hired by First Baptist Church of Wylie in 2019 and served as a junior high minister. He has since been fired.
Feb. 2022 - A Southwest Virginia pastor has been charged with 30 counts of sexual assaults against juveniles that date back to 1995.
A news release from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office detailed that Terry Frank Compton, 62, of Glade Spring, faces 30 felony counts — all that involve children. Compton was arrested after “multiple victims” came forward, according to the sheriff’s office.
The release says that Compton, originally from Maryland, is the “current pastor at Faith Independent Missionary Baptist Church of Damascus, Virginia.”
According to an arrest affidavit, on January 17, an 18-year-old woman told investigators with the Odessa Police Department that she had been sexually abused and assaulted several times over the last two years. An exam revealed the victim had sustained sexual trauma.
In a statement church leaders said Shipman has been fired from his job as pastor and is banned indefinitely from church property.
Shipman has since bonded out of the Ector County Detention Center on a $60,000 bond.
Timothy Wells turned himself in Friday and was booked into the Collin County jail on a charge of indecency with a child by sexual conduct, which is a second-degree felony. His bond was set at $25,000.
In December, a 15-year-old girl told a staff member at the church that Wells had touched her inappropriately while they were together away from the church.
Wells was hired by First Baptist Church of Wylie in 2019 and served as a junior high minister. He has since been fired.
Feb. 2022 - A Southwest Virginia pastor has been charged with 30 counts of sexual assaults against juveniles that date back to 1995.
A news release from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office detailed that Terry Frank Compton, 62, of Glade Spring, faces 30 felony counts — all that involve children. Compton was arrested after “multiple victims” came forward, according to the sheriff’s office.
The release says that Compton, originally from Maryland, is the “current pastor at Faith Independent Missionary Baptist Church of Damascus, Virginia.”
Mar. 2022 - Baptist Pastor Arrested After Search Warrant Alleges He Possessed Numerous Images of Child Pornography’ Following Nearly Six-Year Investigation.
Stephen Bates, 46, stands accused of one count of possession of child sexual abuse images, according to court records obtained by Law&Crime. Law enforcement say additional charges are likely.
“During a search of his person, he had some thumb drives or flash drives on him, which we were able to analyze on scene and they contained child pornography,” Trefry told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.
According to a press release, the investigation into the defendant began over five years ago in August 2016 after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent the NPD a tip that child pornography had been accessed by an electronic device using an IP address associated with the Bible Baptist Church in Nashua, NH.–the same place where Bates worked.
Mar. 2022 - Rodney Colston, 64, was arrested March 21 on one count of child molestation, online jail records show. Colston was formerly the pastor of Temple Baptist Church of West Cobb and worked for the Cobb County School District primarily as a bus driver for more than 10 years, according to public records.
The investigation into Colston began in February when another bus driver reported that Colston had said something related to molesting two girls, according to an arrest warrant obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Investigators identified those two victims, who are now adults, along with a third victim who is still a minor.
Mar. 2022 - A former Southern Baptist church volunteer is in jail on accusations he exploited a child in his care and used the child to make sexually explicit videos, reports indicate.
Police arrested Austin Wray Perkins, 25, on multiple charges stemming from a child porn investigation, according to news reports. Perkins had been a youth ministry volunteer at Grace Fellowship Baptist Church in Cave Spring, Georgia, which was reportedly blindsided by the allegations.
Perkins is being held without bond on one charge of aggravated child molestation and two charges of sexual exploitation of children, according to Floyd County Jail inmate records. All are felony charges.
Authorities also say they rescued a juvenile whom Perkins was allegedly exploiting.
“The child had no family or support and had been taken in by (Perkins) for care,” Floyd County Police Sgt. Chris Fincher said at a press conference, according to the Rome News-Tribune. “The juvenile who was rescued by police was living with (Perkins) who was coaching the child about how to act in videos and also engaging in acts of child molestation.”
Police arrested Austin Wray Perkins, 25, on multiple charges stemming from a child porn investigation, according to news reports. Perkins had been a youth ministry volunteer at Grace Fellowship Baptist Church in Cave Spring, Georgia, which was reportedly blindsided by the allegations.
Perkins is being held without bond on one charge of aggravated child molestation and two charges of sexual exploitation of children, according to Floyd County Jail inmate records. All are felony charges.
Authorities also say they rescued a juvenile whom Perkins was allegedly exploiting.
“The child had no family or support and had been taken in by (Perkins) for care,” Floyd County Police Sgt. Chris Fincher said at a press conference, according to the Rome News-Tribune. “The juvenile who was rescued by police was living with (Perkins) who was coaching the child about how to act in videos and also engaging in acts of child molestation.”
Apr. 2022 - Conner “Jesse” Penny, a 32-year-old resident of Mesquite, had sexual contact with a female under the age of 17 years of age on multiple occasions between 2015 and 2018, the police department said in a press release. Penny was arrested on April 5 for the offense of continuous sexual abuse of a child. Since his arrest, additional victims have made outcries of abuse by Penny occurring between 2013 and 2021 with arrest warrants also obtained.
At the time of his arrest, Penny was employed as the Youth Pastor at the Inspiration Church, formerly known as Mimosa Lane Baptist Church, in Mesquite, according to the department. Penny’s previous employers included the Mesquite Independent School District and the City of Mesquite where he worked as a Teacher’s Aide and a counselor through the Recreational After School Program (RASP).
Penny is currently being held in the Dallas County Jail on a $2.5 million bond for one count each of continuous sexual abuse of a child, aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child.
May 2022 - Authorities in North Carolina have arrested a pastor on several sex crime charges stemming from a joint investigation.
The Pitt County Sheriff’s Office reports their detectives, along with police from the Winterville Police Department, joined forces to investigate suspected child abuse involving 66-year-old John William Lovelace earlier this year.
On Wednesday, the sheriff’s office announced the arrest of Lovelace.
The pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Ayden, North Carolina, was charged by Winterville police with four counts of second-degree forcible sex and three counts of sexual battery.
According to the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office, Lovelace is also facing two counts of statutory sex offense with a child under the age of 15 and indecent liberties with a minor.
The Pitt County Sheriff’s Office reports their detectives, along with police from the Winterville Police Department, joined forces to investigate suspected child abuse involving 66-year-old John William Lovelace earlier this year.
On Wednesday, the sheriff’s office announced the arrest of Lovelace.
The pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Ayden, North Carolina, was charged by Winterville police with four counts of second-degree forcible sex and three counts of sexual battery.
According to the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office, Lovelace is also facing two counts of statutory sex offense with a child under the age of 15 and indecent liberties with a minor.
May 2022 - A far-right website publisher, federally licensed firearms dealer and pastor at Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney was arrested earlier this month for a DUI and carrying a concealed weapon while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Jordan "J.D." Hall, 40, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, Sidney City Court said Monday.
Charging documents state Hall was pulled over May 11 for driving through a "stop bar" on the 100 block of East Holly Street in Sidney and crossing into a bicycle lane around 11 p.m.
The officer noted in the report that Hall's eyes were closing slowly, his speech was slurred and he stumbled at times during the traffic stop. The report states Hall "performed very poorly" during his standardized field sobriety test, but that a preliminary breath test result showed no signs of alcohol.
After he was arrested for DUI, an officer found a Smith and Wesson M2.0 Shield handgun in a waistband holster under his coat, according to charging documents.
Hall's presence in Sidney has grown into a sort of statewide notoriety in recent years. He's toured Montana with sitting legislators and Congressional candidates to rally against what they called the "LGBTQ agenda." He held an anniversary event at the state Capitol on Jan. 6 to show support for those who were arrested for rioting at the U.S. Capitol a year earlier. His bankruptcy filing in February put the brakes on a libel lawsuit filed against him by a transgender lobbyist and advocate. The Daily Montanan was first to report on that case and surrounding events, including that Hall had posted pictures online of a wall space among his hunting trophies marked for the "metaphoric head" of the lobbyist's attorney's head.
In 2017 Hall and another man were "dragged out" of a church after interrupting the service and loudly protesting that a woman was allowed to speak in the church. According to reporting by the Dickinson Press, law enforcement was called to the scene and asked Hall to leave.
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I hope that my Baptist friends know that I know, that the Baptists are not the only denomination affected (infected?) by this plague of criminals "serving" as the leaders of the local Baptist church's. If you want to do your own research, just google something like "Jehovah's Witness minister charged", or "Catholic Priest arrested". Just pick a denomination and your google will be filled with page after page of hit after hit. I have another post like this just on the Church of Christ.
And this is just the church leadership - and - just the church leadership that has been CAUGHT !!! Just imagine how many have gotten away with it.
It will be very difficult to find such crime reports on the casual church member who exercises the same proclivity to sex and other crimes unless you are looking up someone by name, perhaps someone that you personally know.
I am going to guess that this "problem" in the Baptist churches has been going on for centuries, probably for as long as there have been Baptists. There is no way that this is just a modern tactic by "Satan", stepping up his attacks because he knows that these are the "last of the last days" and Jesus is coming back "soon" . . . though I am sure many Baptists believe just that. No, I am entirely confident that if we had google 250, 500, 1,000 years ago, we would find news reports of just such "sinful" activities amongst the Baptist church leadership, just like today.
So, anyway, my Baptist friend, might I suggest that before you invite people to attend your Baptist church, you make darn sure that your Baptist church is a safe place, especially for children . . . but good luck on making darn sure - because - the congregations in all of the above news stories were likely darn sure until they discovered that they were wrong.
bob
r.u.reasonable@gmail.com
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