A former longtime Southern Baptist preacher whose ministry stalled 18 years ago when he went to prison for possessing child pornography is back in jail, this time for allegedly trying to meet a 14-year-old boy for sex.
Timothy Reddin, in police mugshot
Timothy Lee Reddin, 67, was arrested Aug. 3 on a federal warrant for attempted coercion and enticement of a minor. According to arrest documents, Reddin messaged an undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent posing online as an underage male to arrange a meeting for sex.
According to a church website and local media, Reddin is part-time pastor of Turner Street Baptist Church in Springdale, Arkansas, a congregation affiliated with the Baptist Missionary Association of America, a network of about 1,200 conservative Baptist churches based in Conway, Arkansas.
It is unclear how long Reddin has been preaching at Turner Street, but an index of sermons on his pastor blog includes message dates as far back as 2012.
In the past Reddin served Southern Baptist churches in Arkansas and Texas for three decades before pleading guilty in 2000 to possessing at least 10 illegal images, including one depiction of a child under 12.
Two years earlier he reportedly resigned as director of missions for Central Baptist Association in Benton, Arkansas, after two people found child pornography on a computer he used and confronted him over it.
Reddin went to prison for 27 months, after admitting to the sentencing judge that he had a weakness for child pornography but insisting would never actually molest a child. He blamed his porn addiction on sexual abuse he said he suffered at age 10 at the hands of an older boy.
Reddin’s new arrest comes amid a time of reckoning for the Southern Baptist Convention involving the apparent ease with which sexual predators are able to manipulate the denomination’s free-wheeling system of local-church autonomy and voluntary association to gain access to potential victims.
Character witnesses including a fellow pastor argued for leniency, saying they believed Reddin felt remorse and was sincere about wanting to reform.
Reddin’s new arrest comes amid a time of reckoning for the Southern Baptist Convention involving the apparent ease with which sexual predators are able to manipulate the denomination’s free-wheeling system of local-church autonomy and voluntary association to gain access to potential victims.
The SBC International Mission Board is preparing for an outside independent review of its internal handling in 2007 of a missionary credibly accused of sexual abuse who afterward continued to serve in Southern Baptist churches and a denominational office until shortly before his arrest on criminal charges in July.
SBC President J.D. Greear recently announced that he will form a presidential study group on issues related to sexual abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence in partnership with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a convention agency led by Russell Moore.
The ERLC is also considering a request from this summer’s SBC annual meeting for additional resources to help protect Southern Baptist churches from sexual predators. A decade ago the SBC Executive Committee recommended against establishment of a pedophilia database, claiming that because of the principle of local autonomy the convention cannot compel churches to report any information and that data submitted voluntarily would likely be incomplete.
Reddin, as he appears on his pastor blog at Turner Street Baptist Church.
According to his pastor blog, Reddin is a 1989 graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and has pursued doctoral study at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri.
His previous churches include Central Baptist Church in Conway, Arkansas; Elmcrest Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas; and Pines Baptist Church in Quitman, Arkansas. At the time of his 2000 conviction, Reddin had recently served 16 years as pastor of Barcelona Road Baptist Church in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.
Reddin also identified himself as a part-time instructor in American history and government at Ecclesia College, a private Christian school in Springdale, Arkansas, recently linked to a public corruption kickback scheme that landed three former state legislators and the former college president in prison.
Ecclesia’s board of regents includes the controversial evangelical historian David Barton, singer Pat Boone and author Eric Metaxas, along with H.D. McCarty, who formerly served 39 years as senior pastor of University Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Reddin is also listed as chaplain and a governing council member by the Singing Men of Arkansas. A member of the choir told Fort Smith TV station KFSM channel 5 that the singing men knew about Reddin’s past conviction, because he talked about it during prison ministries.
Ecclesia College said in a statement to local media that the school’s normal practice is to run background checks on all potential employees and volunteers, but officials did not discover Reddin’s record until media contacted them about his latest arrest.
“We are taking appropriate action to determine the facts,” said the statement to KHBS/KHOG, channels 40 and 29 in Fort Smith-Fayetteville. “In the meantime, he is not scheduled to teach going forward.”
Previous stories:
Advocates seek transparent probe into alleged abuse failures by SBC
IMB president announces independent investigation into agency’s handling of alleged abuse
Abuse arrest turns #MeToo spotlight on SBC International Mission Board
Southern Baptists grapple with #MeToo complicity
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Our ‘sin of the bystander’ enables sexual abuse. We must change