By Bob Allen A Mississippi judge on Wednesday refused to reduce a 10-year prison sentence he handed down to a former Southern Baptist traveling evangelist and popular youth speaker convicted of video voyeurism in 2012. “I think basically I got…
SNAP leader terms $12.5 million abuse award against Florida Baptist Convention historic
By Bob Allen The head of a group that fought for changes in the Catholic Church in light of the pedophile priest scandal termed a $12.5 million judgment against the Florida Baptist Convention historic. David Clohessy, director of the Survivors…
Lawyer: Abuse verdict possible game-changer
By Bob Allen The attorney for a man awarded $12.5 million by a Florida jury for childhood sexual abuse suffered at the hands of a Baptist minister says the verdict could be a game-changer for how Southern Baptists handle credible…
Florida Baptists to appeal abuse award
By Bob Allen The Florida Baptist Convention plans to appeal a jury’s decision to award $12.5 million in damages in a lawsuit claiming Baptist officials didn’t check far enough into the background of a church planter convicted in 2007 of…
SNAP urges Baptists to speak out on abuse
By Bob Allen A victim support group held signs outside a Houston megachurch Jan. 9 calling for greater transparency about the reporting of child sex abuse in Southern Baptist churches. Representatives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests…
Texas minister helps bring abuser in Kenya to justice
By Ken Camp When Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, commissioned Chris Pillsbury to serve in Kenya a year and a half ago, he expected to help women market fair-trade handcrafts, work with a humanitarian medical program and maybe start a…
Abuse trial delayed for accused pastor
By Bob Allen The trial of a Missouri Baptist pastor charged with sexual child abuse scheduled earlier this month has been postponed. Moniteau County Circuit Judge Kenneth Hayden granted a continuance Dec. 2 in the case against Travis Smith, pastor…
Trial gets underway for accused pastor
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist pastor charged with sex crimes stands trial this week in a county court in California, Mo. Travis Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church of Stover, Mo., faces felony charges of sodomy and statutory rape…
Mahaney, Mohler share speaker platform
By Bob Allen An embattled preacher at the center of what has been called the biggest evangelical sexual-abuse scandal to date heaped praise on a Southern Baptist leader criticized for sticking by him at a weekend conference attended by both…
Calvinist preacher dropped from program
By Bob Allen A controversial evangelical preacher, named in a highly publicized lawsuit alleging participation in what has been described as the biggest evangelical sexual-abuse scandal to date, is no longer listed as a speaker for an upcoming collegiate conference…
Youth worker accused of molesting girl
By Bob Allen Members of a Florida Southern Baptist church expressed shock and dismay at Wednesday’s arrest of a lifelong church member and trusted volunteer with youth and the choir on charges of sexual battery against a child. William Allen…
Pastor resigns amid abuse allegations
By Bob Allen An independent Baptist pastor has resigned his church in Georgia after allegations of sexual abuse 18 years ago in Michigan resurfaced on the Internet. Leaders at King’s Way Baptist Church in Douglasville, Ga., confirmed in a letter…