The former seminary administrator indicted last week on charges of obstruction of justice in a sexual abuse case has been placed on administrative leave by his church. Matt Queen also last week pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., released a statement May 19: “Dr. Queen has committed to resolve this matter responsibly, and we support his full cooperation with the authorities. To this end, Dr. Queen is on administrative leave from his pastoral responsibilities. He will step away to devote his attention to his family and to assist authorities in their inquiry.”
The statement added: “The actions alleged in the indictment oppose the moral values of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church, and we condemn all forms of sexual abuse.”
Matthew Queen
Queen was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York as the result of an FBI investigation into mishandled sexual abuse cases within the Southern Baptist Convention. The indictment accuses him, while serving as interim provost at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, of lying about knowledge of an abuse case and falsifying records showing seminary administrators knew about the alleged abuse.
On May 22, Queen issued a statement through his attorney: “I fully cooperated with this investigation and have pleaded not guilty to the charge against me. As a Christian, a seminary professor, and now a pastor, my integrity is everything to me and I will cling to that integrity and seek to be vindicated by God and man. Until that day, I do not intend to comment or discuss this matter further. I covet your prayers for me and my family. Thank you.”
The indictment says in January 2023, an unnamed seminary employee “created a document describing the sexual abuse allegation” from November 2022 “and the failure of the seminary to take action regarding the allegation at that time.”
On Jan. 26, 2023, the complaint alleges, that employee met with Queen, serving as interim provost. “During that meeting, and in Queen’s presence,” another unnamed employee “directed” the first employee “to destroy the document,” the charges state.
Four months later, when the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI interviewed Queen in Fort Worth about the Jan. 26, 2023, meeting, “Queen falsely stated that he had not heard Employee 2 direct Employee 1 to destroy the document,” the indictment says.
Further, the complaint alleges, Queen later produced falsified notes about these events in response to a grand jury subpoena. The complaint also alleges further lies to federal investigators. Then on June 21, 2023, Queen “testified under oath that he had in fact heard Employee 2 direct Employee 1 to make the document ‘go away.’”
In his statement, Queen acknowledged he had been interviewed about his recollection of “a conversation of interest to investigators” at which he was present.
His attorney said the meeting had been scheduled to discuss a matter separate from the document about the allegation.
“Dr. Queen has never seen the contents of the document and became aware of the general nature of the contents of the letter, i.e., about the rape accusation, at a later time,” according to attorney Sam A Schmidt.
“The notes prepared by Dr. Queen cited in the accusation were true to his best recollection and did not contain false information,” Schmidt said. “Dr. Queen testified truthfully before the grand jury.”
The events in question at Southwestern happened after David Dockery had been named interim president, following the forced resignation of former President Adam Greenway. Accusations of mishandling sexual abuse cases are not new at the Texas school; Greenway’s predecessor, Paige Patterson, was fired in large part over how he mishandled a student complaint about alleged sexual assault. That is likely why the FBI was on campus as part of its investigation into the SBC.
Queen, 49, is a North Carolina native. He previously served as associate pastor at Friendly Avenue Baptist Church before moving to teach evangelism at Southwestern. He returned there as pastor in February of this year. The SBC-affiliated church has about 600 members.
He earned both the master of divinity degree and Ph.D. in applied theology degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He began teaching at Southwestern in August 2010 and also served as an evangelism consultant for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
Related article:
Former Southwestern administrator indicted for falsifying sexual abuse records