By Jim on
Fundamentalism & Evangelicalism
Crime
Mandatory Reporting
Sexual Abuse

The pastor of a fundamentalist Baptist church with two members already facing sex abuse charges was arrested Tuesday on charges that he failed to make a required child abuse report. Robert A. Ross, the pastor of Open Door Baptist Church in Mesquite, is in the Mesquite jail. Bond has been set at $2,500. Ross learned about that church member Steven Winn was sexually assaulting a 15-year-old on Feb. 1 and failed to immediately report it to police, according to a release from the Mesquite Police Department. Open Door Baptist Church in Mesquite has had four members accused of sexual abuse in its 50-year history. Members and ex-members say a strict culture that reveres church authorities as nearly unquestionable has led to an environment conducive to ongoing abuse.

Discussion

Wed, 04/04/18

He deserves to go to jail.

Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.

Thu, 04/05/18

He is a Hyles Anderson alum, taught at the college, and I think he was on staff at FBC Hammond also.

Thu, 04/05/18

….I was in school with these guys. They were trained by the very best cover-up artists around. They do what they saw done and were trained to do.
He should go to jail. Sadly.

Thu, 04/05/18

Looks like they’ve got a culture where pretty much everyone in leadership needs to step down for a time, since they’ve created a culture of refusing to honor Romans 13. Quite frankly, since my church has a lot of associations with BJU and ABWE, I wouldn’t be surprised if people at my church had similar tendencies. Thankfully the mood I’m seeing as I write a children’s policy to codify what the youth pastor is doing seems good.

Side note; if you don’t have a good children’s safety policy at your church or ministry, get one and use it. I can share my draft if you want to borrow it, and I highly recommend Boz Tchividjian’s (and Shira Berkowitz’s) book on child protection.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.