Youth pastor Curtis Burkhardt charged

Baptist youth pastor Curtis Burkhardt, a man with a history of exposing himself to childre, was charged with indecent exposure. He allegedly showed his willy to young girl on a camping trip.

Curtis Burkhardt, 43, of Grand Blanc is alleged to have taken a group of neighborhood kids to the Clearwater Campground in August and exposed himself to an 11-year-old girl while holding his own 5-year-old daughter on his lap, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

Burkhardt is a volunteer youth pastor at First Baptist Church of Grand Blanc. Except – well… his church disowned him.

“We were sad to hear of the charges against Mr. Burkhardt, but must let the matter work its way through the criminal justice system to a just conclusion,” said Darrell Foltz, pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Blanc.

“Mr. Burkhardt is a member of the church, but he is not now, nor has he ever been, on staff at First Baptist Church. As a member, Mr. Burkhardt has been involved in many aspects of the church, as are numerous members.”

Did you see the clever weasel wording there? The, “nor has he ever been, on staff at First Baptist Church.“ I’m sure it’s a preemptive strike in what is sure to be a vicious legal battle. The First Baptist Church of Grand Blanc does not want to pay for the crimes of their “volunteer youth pastor.” The bad new is, if it walk like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. If the church had him participating in the youth program in any way and did not do the prerequisite background checks (which would have caught his previous arrests), the church is culpable for any abuse that took place at their church.  The church might as well get out its checkbook now, somebody is sure to sue.

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