Friday night ABC’s 20/20 ran a piece entitled "Preacher Predators," a six month investigation into child molesters employed by churches. The video docmentary pointed out the increasing numbers of cases where protestant ministers have abused their positions and authority to molest children and teens, and illustrated the ease with which predators move from church to church, even within denominations. The Southern Baptists were prominently featured, as some of the convicted molesters discovered on the program were employed at SBC churches and two sex offenders were reportedly even currently enrolled at a leading, highly respected seminary. Particularly disturbing is the revelation that some pastors still listed on the SBC website as being available for hire are convicted sex offenders. Even more disturbing was the insight from a convicted pastor-molester, discussing how he gained the trust of those he abused and how he hid it for so long.
We’ve heard enough outside of 20/20 to know this problem is much larger than most want to admit in American churches, baptist and non-baptist alike. It’s past time for churches and denominations to stop protecting these predators and start to move them out. Anyone with even one conviction or proven instance of child molestation in their background has no business being in ministry. Period.
Before you hire someone on to staff in your church or ministry, in addition to the usual common sense hiring practices (which some of these churches in this story apparently did not have), do the following:
1) Before you interview them, Google them. Google their names combined with churches they have been at previously. See what comes up. Remember that not everything on the internet is true, and and there are a lot of people in the U.S. with the same name…even unusual names…so don’t take what you find as gospel, particularly if it is on a gossip or agenda-driven website, but what you find does give you something to inquire about during the interview as well as some avenues to research further. If a person is to be "above reproach" as the Bible says, then online reputations are a valid avenue to consider. And, for the record, the cost to do this is zero plus a couple of hours of your time.
2) Once you’re past the interview and you think you might want to hire this person, hire out a professional conduct a background check. They’ll need to check multiple counties and states, since there is no single national database that records everything, and someone who moves around a lot could cover their tracks here. Nonetheless, even though you may well miss something, even a 50% weed-out rate is worth the investment. This background check may not be cheap, but then again, how cheap is it when your church is handed a lawsuit? How much are your church’s children worth?
3) Talk to the former churches this person served in, and if possible, trusted members of the former church. Staff people may fear a lawsuit and be reluctant to talk on the record, but members may be more forthcoming. At the same time, beware of members as well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to join a church most places and there are more than a few instances of false allegations floating around out there. As easy as it seems to be for weirdos to get a job in a church these days, it’s even easier for a weirdo of a different stripe to join a church, start a blog, and publish bizarre accusations without accountability. Don’t let them destroy a godly minister’s good reputation.
4) Look them up on MySpace. If they have an account, is it private? That’s a red flag for an adult. Look at their profiles, if they are public: are they appropriate? Does it look like the site of an adult? Or does the profile contain suggestive photos, double entendres, and have all of the appearance of a teenager or child’s site rather than that of an adult? No, they don’t have to display Bible verses, cheesy precious moments angels or stream Sandy Patti MIDI music from the eighties, but neither should they look like the site of every other teenager out there striving to be cool.
There is simply no excuse not to have a zero tolerance with this behavior. None. Many of these cases on 20/20 could have been avoided had the hiring process included these seemingly obvious steps.
One more thing: consider going through the same exercises on behalf of those already employed at your church, even for key unpaid volunteers, particularly those who work with youth or kids. And pay attention: beware of adults who work with kids or teens and whose primary friends are teenagers rather than adults his own age, who play the "I’m a big kid like you, just grownup" routine. Does he have roommates his age? Buddies his age? Girlfriends his age? Or is he essentially a teenager on the inside and an adult on the outside, with no life outside of the teens in your church? Not all of of these types of people are molesters…some are just strange… but many are. Regardless, your teens and children need healthy, adult role models leading them, not grownups who still want to be teen-cool and who cannot relate to anyone over the age of 18. Kids sometimes have a sixth sense on this, so if they think someone in youth leadership gives them "the creeps" they may be on to something you need to look into.
Some might say we are being unduly harsh and mean, throwing these molesters under the bus. Why single out this sin? Most of us are guilty of idolatry, an equally grievous sin. In fact, all of us sin, you might say, and all need God’s grace. True. But forgiveness of a sin does not require reinstatement of all privileges. It is one thing for a minister to struggle with serious sin. We all do. Maybe it’s self-righteousness, maybe it’s pride, maybe it’s sex outside of marriage, and maybe it’s severe perversion such as this.
It is one thing for a minister to fall into moral failure. As with David in the Old Testament, we believe one can fall into consensual, moral sin for a season, repent, and be restored to ministry within parameters of accountability after an extended period of deliverance from the sin in question. Admittedly, this is debated among good people; good biblical cases can be drawn on both sides of the issue, and there are surely many situations where restoring this person to ministry would not be wise or biblical. But while we debate that, hopefully we can agree that one who is discovered to have been living a philandering, non-repentent double-life for most of his adult life while also serving as a speaker and minister to young people, as has been the case in the news for at least one somewhat notable personality in recent months, has forfeited the right to serve in any kind of teaching or shepherding ministry at any point in the future. And surely we should be able to agree that one who preys on the helpless children and immature teenagers has no role in ministry whatsoever. So the choice really isn’t whether to throw them under the bus or not. The choice is this: do we throw the molester under the bus, or do we throw our children and teens under the bus? Because if we keep hiding these creeps, defending them, or ignoring them, that’s what we’re doing. And there is way too much of that going on in both small town churches and big deal mega churches.
One final thought: No doubt someone is reading these words who is employed by a church who has molested or is struggling with the potential of doing so. If that is you, we implore you to resign your position and get help. Just as one who struggles with alcohol ought not visit bars, and one who struggles with adultery ought not ride in cars alone with members of the opposite sex, those who struggle with this compulsion ought never be around children or minors. Get help before you ruin the lives and destroy the souls of those precious children and teenagers under your guidance.
