A youth pastors fixation on sexual purity

Brent Girouex was a youth pastor at Victory Fellowship Church in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He’s accused of molesting several young boys over yhe span of a couple of years. He’s been charged with 60 counts of suspicion of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. Girouex was fixated on his boy’s “sexual purity.”

Girouex allegedly said as a youth pastor he felt it was his duty “to help (the teen) with homosexual urges by praying while he had sexual contact with him.”

It gets better.

“When they would ejaculate, they would be getting rid of the evil thoughts in their mind,” he allegedly told detectives.

Nobody at Victory Fellowship Church had a clue what was going on. At least they did a background check. The church gets a pass. But they step up with a statement:

Statement Concerning Abuse Case
Most of you are probably aware of the sad news concerning Brent Girouex who had been a trusted volunteer, Youth Pastor, and Elder at Victory Fellowship Church for over six years. This is a very difficult situation, and we are doing our best to do the right thing for each person involved.

Once the allegations were made known to us, it was with a heavy heart for the victims that we immediately demanded that Brent turn himself into the proper authorities.

To our knowledge, none of the crimes that were committed occurred at Victory Fellowship or during any church-related events. Regardless, our hearts still go out to the victims and to Brent’s family. We have secured and are providing a licensed counselor for these victims and have encouraged them all to undergo any necessary counseling.

Thank you to everyone who has expressed their kindness and prayers for the victims as well as your generosity toward the family. We will continue to pray for the healing and restoration of each victim.

We are cooperating fully with the police in this case and recommend that any person having any information about this case should contact the Council Bluffs Police Department.

Thank you for your sensitivity and prayer for the victims.

LONNIE AND ELDER BOARD

They are not talking about me in paragraph one. I assume they mean this article. It’s hard not to sensationalize 60 counts against 8 boys. That puts Girouex among the worst of the worst pedopastors if convicted. I think some sensationalism is justified.

I have a problem with the statement. The church says:

Once the allegations were made known to us, it was with a heavy heart for the victims that we immediately demanded that Brent turn himself into the proper authorities.

Although the result was an arrest, the correct way to handle this would have been to call the police and turn him in. The church gave Girouex a chance to flee, or worse, hurt a witness. They should not have taken the risk.

Update 11/26/11 - Girouex was convicted of one count of third degree sexual abuse. He entered a Alford plea on two counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. 

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