Associated Baptist Press - Baptist church sticking by pastor facing sex charges

Baptist church sticking by pastor facing sex charges

By Bob Allen

Thursday, May 07, 2009

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (ABP) -- A small Southern Baptist church near St. Joseph, Mo., is reportedly standing by its pastor, who is accused of soliciting sex over the Internet with a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl.

Robert Black, 40, of Independence, Mo., waived his right to a preliminary hearing and is scheduled to appear in court May 14 to face charges of first-degree attempted statutory rape and attempted enticement of a child under 15.

Police arrested Black April 8, after he allegedly arranged by e-mail to meet for sex with a minor "girl" -- who was actually an Internet crimes detective -- at a car wash in Liberty, Mo. According to media reports, police found more than 130 online "friends," many of them teenagers, on a Facebook account registered to "Jon Still."

Investigators believe the name is an alias that Black used to entice teenagers. They have asked parents in the region to report if they believe their children may have communicated with him using that name.

Black is pastor of New Home Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Mo., a small congregation that is affiliated with the Missouri Baptist and Southern Baptist conventions. He claims he is innocent.

Clyde Elder, director of missions for St. Joseph Baptist Association, said May 6 the church is standing in support of its preacher, and by mutual agreement with church leaders Black has taken a leave of absence with pay. Elder said the church is using supply preachers during Black's absence.

"We need to keep Pastor Black and the New Home Baptist Church in our prayers," Elder said.

New Home Baptist Church has removed information about Black from its website on a staff page that formerly featured a family photo of a smiling Black surrounded by his wife and three young children.

Black has been pastor of the church, with a history dating back to 1887, since 2008. Elder said Black has been part of the New Home congregation for about four years, first as a deacon and worship leader. He took over as pastor after the death of a longtime predecessor who led the church for a total of nearly 35 years.

Southern Baptist churches are autonomous and make their own decisions, including about whom to call as pastor, but the Southern Baptist Convention urges congregations to perform background checks before hiring prospective ministers.

According to a Kansas City television station, Black cleared a mandatory background check before coaching a team of girls in the Fort Osage Youth Basketball League.

New Home Baptist Church is the third Southern Baptist congregation to feature recently in news reports involving allegations of sexual abuse.

Police in Benton, Ark., re-arrested David Pierce, 56, former minister of music at the city's First Baptist Church, May 6 on additional charges of sexual indecency with a child. Originally arrested April 24 on one count of the charge, Pierce now faces 54 counts of the crime involving four alleged victims.

Police say current charges relate to incidents alleged in the last three years. They said all the victims alleging abuse are still teenagers who are or were involved in the church's youth choir program, named Pure Energy, that Pierce directed.

According to the Benton Courier, Sheriff Bruce Pennington said in a news conference he expects additional charges to be filed against Pierce, saying allegations of abuse are believed to date back about 15 years.

After learning of allegations against him, First Baptist Church fired Pierce, who had been on the church staff for 29 years. With 2,500 members, the church is prominent in the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

In suburban Memphis, Steven Haney, 48, former pastor of Walnut Grove Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., received probation after pleading guilty April 29 to rape and sexual battery by an authority figure.

One of Haney's alleged victims claimed that his former pastor molested him for more than five years, beginning when he was 15. He said Haney lured the youth into a long-term sexual relationship by convincing him it was God's will and a test of his faith.

Prosecutors agreed to a guilty plea to spare witnesses the stress of testifying in court. Haney still faces federal charges of child pornography that carry a 10-year prison sentence.

-30-

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

Previous ABP articles:

Former Southern Baptist pastor pleads guilty to sexual abuse (4/30)

Prominent Ark. music minister arrested for indecency with a minor (4/27)

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Baptists Sticking By Pastor
written by victoriag, May 07, 2009

And here I thought Roman Catholics were the only people blind enough to choose their clergy over their children.

Loyalty is a wonderful thing, however, in a case of child sexual abuse, it is best to keep an open mind until all the facts are in; and especially in this (Alleged) case of the sexual victimization of a 13 year old child. I ask the good people of this Church to ask themselves if the reason they are not keeping an open mind is because they KNOW this man could not have done such a thing; or do they simply NOT want to believe this piece of bad news because it might be true.

When I was a little girl, I was brutally sexually violated by a Roman Catholic Priest; and, of course, it was all kept very quiet (because in those days it had to be kept quiet); but everyone who knew about it, stuck by the Catholic Priest who sexually butchered because he was a highly educated, middle aged priest, while I was just a little girl. I even endured a series of beatings from people who tried to get me to recant what had happened to me. I would not recant because THAT would have been a lie; because what I had tried to tell them WAS the truth. AS it turns out, it was not only TRUE, it was ASTOUNDIND! We now know that this Pedophile Priest sexually violated over 200 Little Girls in his 50 Plus years as a priest. (The youngest was a 4 year old preschooler.)

But what I am begging the Good People of this Baptist Church to do is to treat the (Alleged) Victim with as much sympathy and concern as you are treating the (Alleged) Perpetrator. You certainly don't want your children to be afraid to come to you if someone is
doing them harm, do you? No child should be afraid to come to their parents or authority figures about anything.

You only have to ask many of the 5,000 Plus Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults who were sexually victimized by Roman Catholic Priests, Brothers, Deacons, Nuns, Church Workers and (yes) even Bishops. Not all, but many of the parents of these victims chose the Catholic Church over their children; and now many of those people have lost the love of their children because they betrayed their own flesh and blood. And some of those victims have even lost their belief in a Loving and Merciful GOD. Don't let these things happen to your children. Please, Think About It.

GOD Bless You All.

...
written by Slick, May 08, 2009

The church is doing the right thing. The pastor hasn't confessed and it doesn't sound like the police have a slam dunk case. The pastor is also doing the right thing by stepping out of the pulpit temporarily. I hope he's innocent and proven to be so. Can't understand why the obviously misguided person who posted above--victoriag--said there was a victim here. read the article---there was NO 13 year-old girl. Being blinded to the facts by a past experience certainly isn't keeping an open mind. Actually, victoria's experience is only aledged by her. where's the proof the priest did anything wrong?

...
written by sister survivor, May 08, 2009

Slick,
Where's YOUR proof the priest did not violate vulnerable people who looked to him for spiritual guidance...including victoriag????
The Baptist minister may have set up a meeting with a cop POSING as a 13 year old but he thought he was getting himself a 13 year old that day...not a cop... he had been chatting with her on FB....being the predator that he is.

V,I know you shared your heart.Thank you.
Victims of clergy abuse are never violated just by the predator. The good people in the pews and those reading newspaper articles about it are quick to point their fingers and make demands of those who have already been harmed.
Slick...google and you will see how common this practice is in the Baptist churches.
If this minister was found drinking beer...they would throw him away....but clergy sexual abuse is the norm...especially within the SBC.

...
written by Jesdisciple, May 10, 2009

survivor, I think Slick pointed out that no actual 13-year-old is involved because Victoria said the church should be reaching out to her. And he's also right that the case doesn't sound airtight, from this distance. Other than those two points, I'm with Victoria.

...
written by Slick, May 11, 2009

Again we have hysteria over an allegation that has not been proven. There have been enough false accusations of sexual misbehavior because of retribution or just downright malice that anyone ought to really keep an open mind. How would either of our closed-minded posters who aledge abuse like it if someone accused them of sexual misconduct? Claiming sexual abuse happened doesn't prove it.

And, look, I'm not defending the pastor that was accused. I simply opine that it needs to be proven if he's going to be convicted, expelled from the pulpit or anything else. If he's proven guilty or admits guilt, let the law take it's course. How many blacks in this country were executed because a white jury had their collective minds made up before the trial? How many people have had to be release from prison after DNA or other evidence proved they were not guilty?

It is sad that in this country Christian charity doesn't extend to both an accuser and the accused until the accused is PROVEN guilty. No matter how circumspectly one walks, a false accusation is all it takes to convict that person in the eyes of many.

I wonder if those who think this pastor is guilty ever read or understood the story of Joseph and the false accusation of Potipher's wife?

It's in Genesis.

These articles are ridiculous
written by Concerned, May 11, 2009

I am sick of these articles about pastors of SBC churches who have committed acts of abuse. While it is certainly a tragedy that ministers would commit such acts, their association with the Southern Baptist Convention is irrelevant. Southern Baptist churches are autonomous, and the actions of an individual Southern Baptist pastor do not reflect on the convention. ABP is simply using these tragedies to take cheap shots at the SBC.

I can think of one incident in my hometown of Jacksonville, FL. where a minister from a CBF church committed a crime against a church member. ABP knows about this incident, and yet chose not to run a story about it. ABP is nothing more than a left-wing Baptist propaganda machine.

Jacksonville Incident
written by Slick, May 11, 2009

Agree with you that it isn't an SBC or CBF or RC and aything else issue but may I ask if the crime of which you speak was actually charged and tried in court and the accused found guilty?

Slick
written by Concerned, May 11, 2009

The man has been charged with a crime and is awaiting trial. I intentionally left out the details, so as to spare the church and the family of the victim/accused any pain. If you will leave me your email address, I can give you the details that you need. Trust me, the people at ABP know about this incident. If the man had been an SBC minister, I believe that ABP would have reported the story ASAP.

In addition...
written by Concerned, May 11, 2009

Slick, I would also point out the fact that the man in the above article has not been convicted of a crime. My point is not to argue the guilt of the accused, but to point out the hypocrisy of ABP. They are all-too-willing to publish negative articles about the SBC, but remain silent when the story is a detriment to CBF.

...
written by Slick, May 12, 2009

I agree with Concerned that slanted, uneven reporting is abhorrent...witness the three commercial television broadcasting networks, the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. Granted that it can be hard for a reported to always be objective, but editors and other in the chain of review should require more even reporting. Often we think a news report is biased when it doesn't report it the way we want to hear/read it. Baptist Press, the voice of the SBC, is far more slanted toward spouting the fundamentalists’ rhetoric of current convention bullies. I never thought of ABP as being slanted but maybe it is. I do agree that they publish more than the ultra-conservative babbling of the SBC. I think we both agree that we prefer objective, honest, and complete coverage of Baptist news. I do agree that if the case in Jacksonville is official--as in formal charges filed, it should be reported here.

Could you please enlighten us, "Concerned?"
written by Robert Marus, May 18, 2009

Concerned:

Actually, we are unfamiliar with the case to which you are alluding. In addition, we DO report on credible abuse allegations in churches supportive of CBF as well as other Baptist groups outside the SBC. Here's a link to one recent example of an abuse allegation made against a church staffer who has also been a rather prominent CBF supporter:

http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3198&Itemid=121

You may perceive a tilt toward covering more abuse allegations in SBC-related churches than any other kind; perhaps that is because of the SBC's sheer numerical dominance over CBF or any other Baptist group in the United States.

Thanks, and please do let us know if there is any Baptist church with an abuse allegation we should be covering,

Robert Marus
ABP Managing Editor

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