An Indiana youth pastor named William Lee Porter was arrested for the sexual assault a teen girl from his youth group. Porter was the youth pastor at Elmwood Church of Christ when the assaults allegedly took place.
The victims tells a horrible story:
…the victim said that on an occasion in July 2009, Porter shoved her onto a couch and performed oral sex on her against her will.
Porter’s former church has a statement on it’s website. I’ve reprinted it here to recognize the Elmwood Church of Christ’s good behavior. It is rare for a church to acknowledge an incident let alone make a public statement about it.
We are saddened by the charges facing Lee Porter, who served the Elmwood church of Christ as youth minister for almost 12 years.
Lee submitted his resignation the day after his initial arrest in November of last year. We accepted this resignation with regret, recognizing Lee’s need to work through his personal challenges and his desire to prevent the consequences of his problems from affecting the youth at Elmwood.
In the week following the initial arrest, we met with the parents of youth group members to discuss the situation. In addition, professional counseling was made available to the parties involved, and church members were informed of Lee’s resignation by announcement and by letter.
Two of our members are serving as interim youth leaders while a search committee is being formed for a new youth minister. Youth activities such as Bible classes, Winterfest in Gatlinburg, Leadership Training for Christ, involvement with Cincinnati Urban Ministry, and summer church camp will continue. One positive outcome of this situation is that new people have been able to use their gifts in serving our young people.
We are confident that God can bring good even out of awful circumstances.
We continue to pray for the Porter family and everyone involved in this case.
The Shepherds of the Elmwood church of Christ
July 1, 2010
July 5, 2010 – corrected. Porter is alleged to have molested one girl, not two. Also, added a picture of Porter.
