Baptist youth pastor Jeffrey Strait connected to the First Baptist Church is Fairview Heights in Illinois was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing young boys. The victims were teenagers between 13 and 17 years of age.
The police acted to separate the acts from the church.
In a release Shiloh Police say, “We are confident that none of these acts were committed at the First Baptist Church and that no other personnel at the church knew that the offenses were being committed.”
Source: Youth minister accused of sexually abusing teens in Fairview Heights
Strait did not commit a crime at the church. The church denies that Strait had an official role with the church. So what was his role? Why was he linked to the church and in what capacity?
"He has no title and was not in any official capacity," First Baptist Church Senior Pastor Jim Kerr said in an emailed statement. He declined to be interviewed or answer questions.
Read the comment thread on this article for a fast of some Christian love.
Just to clarify, the church DID know what was going on because I told the pastor and youth pastor in 2009. Neither the pastor nor youth pastor believed me at the time. Also, some of Jeff's first victims were victimized during a missions trip with the church. So maybe nothing happened in the church building but things definitely happened during church outings.
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