I remember getting rides to church as a child. The neighborhood church dad would give us kids a lift to church in his van, or the church bus would pick us up. Either way an adult had unsupervised access to children between pickup and delivery. In retrospect, it seems like a bad idea. I would never repeat the same mistake with my own kids. There are Christians like Timothy Derwood Williams who are too eager to give your kids a ride to church. Don’t do it, your kids will never be the same.
Williams drove his own van and would pick up children and take them to and from church, according to the Gadsden Times report. The 12-year-old is said to have been abused while the van was on Williams' property and authorities told the Gadsden Times that they believe there may be other victims.
Was Williams an agent of the church? Did he have a background check? Why was he allowed to be with children in an unsupervised capacity? Why did his church allow this activity or endorse it through inactivity? If they knew about it, they had a duty of care which compelled them to assure the kids’ safety. There are so many question to ask – and so many questions for parents to ask if they even think about letting their kids ride off to church with somebody else. So, whose at fault here? Williams is if he actually did anything, so are the churches that were involved since they should be on the lookout for this type of behavior. Let’s not forget the parents, they let their kid go off with an adult without adequate supervision. How dumb is that?
We know Williams did this on his own, which should have been a red flag to all parties.
Williams was not part of a church-sponsored van ministry, but transported the children on his own, Entrekin said.
