Why Do Churches Protect Predators? (The Pastor Knew.)

[00:00:00]This is Pauliey's Island Community Church. And on the surface, it looks like a very typical white evangelical suburban church. They have their service. They have their worship service, the pastors on the front page.

[00:00:10]They have the typical you're new here, you know, uh, imagery. You can click and plan a visit. However, this church is harboring [music] a deep, dark secret that the pastor knew about and did not tell the congregants until now. And there's a video going around that is going to make you really angry. And I'm going to walk with you through the entire thing and help you understand how what's happening at this church is way more common than you think and ties directly into the ideology of Christian nationalism. I'm Tim Whitaker.

[00:00:44]Welcome to Tim Whitaker Speaks. Let's get into it.

[00:00:48][music] All right, friends. So, so this is the pastor, okay? Don Williams. This church is not a mega church. This is like an average size evangelical church that is bigger than many, but not megaurch status. Okay? In fact, if you go to their uh where is it? Maybe who we are.

[00:01:08]There you go. There's a picture. Okay.

[00:01:10]It's a pretty typical size church. Well, this church had a registered sex offender on staff and failed to disclose it to the parents.

[00:01:23]And this person was around school age children at the church's private school and it finally all came out recently and the pastor addressed the congregation in this video and I'm tell very often I do in the- moment responses. I watched a video for the first time with you. I've watched this video twice in its entirety because I still cannot believe how bad this actually is. Now, I'm going to warn you, the audio is not the clearest. It gets pretty heated. You're going to hear parents yelling at some points. I turned YouTube's subtitles on to help you, but you're going to want to pay attention and listen very closely to this. So, this is the pastor addressing the congregation about the reality that they have a registered sex offender, not only on staff, but around children. and teachers at the private school of this church and parents did not know about it. Let's hear how the accountability takes place. And I'm going to kind of walk you through it. We'll pause as we go through, of course, like always, and I'll tie it back into the bigger ethos of white Christian nationalism and how hierarchies produce these kinds of results. Oh, by the way, really quick, if you enjoy videos or my commentary on videos like this, please make sure to like and subscribe. I'm trying to get to 100,000 subscribers by end of the year and you can help me do that. It means so much to me. I love making YouTube content. I love doing this work and you make it possible. So, thank you so much.

[00:02:53]All right, here's the beginning. Here we go.

[00:02:58]Um, but here yet here we are in a place where we cannot change the past, but we can tell the truth about it. We can learn from it and we can make necessary changes as we move forward. So, I know that this is going to sound a bit hollow to some of you at this point, but the safety and well-being of every child entrusted to our church and school are deeply important to me. They're important to Jenny. They're important to our staff, to our school leadership, and to our elder leaders.

[00:03:29]>> Okay, really quick, couple things here.

[00:03:30]Uh, number one, you can already hear some murmuring in the crowd. The the parents are not happy. Rightfully so, by the way. Um, also I think and I don't have any proof of this. This sounds like an AI written script so far. This pastor is reading from a script to address the the church and it sounds very AI written.

[00:03:50]>> Jesus's love for children was unmistakable.

[00:03:53]Jesus welcomed them. Jesus valued them and warned again in the strongest possible terms against causing them any kind of problem. We want that same commitment to shape every decision that we make. So nothing tonight is intended to minimize your concern or ask you simply just to trust us. Trust is earned, especially in moments like this.

[00:04:17]Our goal tonight, straightforward, explain how we got here, tell you what we know, to be honest about what we don't know, and to explain what actions have are totes are being made.

[00:04:31]and also ask something of everyone that that is here. Um, there's been an enormous amount of information circulating over the past few days. Some of it has been accurate, some of it has been incomplete, some is just simply not true. And so tonight, I want to separate verified facts from rumors and speculation.

[00:04:55]If there are questions we cannot answer because we simply do not yet know the answer, I will tell you that. If we have learned something new, I'm going to tell you that. If additional facts come to light, we will communicate those as facts as it is appropriate and responsible for us to do. By the way, I'm telling you, this is arguably the most unhinged response to hiring a registered sex offender that I've ever seen. It starts out pretty typical. It quickly devolves.

[00:05:30]>> Commitment tonight is to honesty, not to speculation.

[00:05:34]So, how did we get here?

[00:05:36]>> Okay, here we go.

[00:05:36]>> How did all this begin? In 2020, there's a guy by the name of Warren Perry who first came to our church. And it was at the invitation of a friend who knew that Mr. Perry had been arrested. That friend was Mr. Perry's financial advisor and Mr. Perry was his client. I was asked if Mr. Perry could uh come to our Sunday morning service and I told him, "Yeah, you come, but you got to stay with me.

[00:06:01]Never go near a children's facility or children's area in our church." and they went everywhere together all on campus.

[00:06:07]If you do that, you'll be fine.

[00:06:09]>> Okay, pause. So, we already we know that this pastor knew that this man was was a child predator. Did not disclose that to anyone in 2020 or at least to people uh you know to like uh his congregation and let him attend service which someone chaper wrote. Now, I have issues with that. I'll explain why, but I do briefly want to talk about what this man was convicted of because that's important because he will not say that. I had to look it up. So, um, Warren Perry, I had the actual offense description. I pulled it from, uh, from the government website. He was convicted of thirdderee, I believe it is. Uh, let's see. It is uh thirdderee sexual exploitation of a minor which means it's an individual who commits the offense of thirdderee sexual exploitation of a minor if knowing the character or content of the material he possesses material that contains a visual representation of a child or minor engaging in activity or B in a prosecution pursuant to this section the trier of fact may infer that a participant in in that activity depicted as a minor through its title text visual representation or otherwise is a minor.

[00:07:23]So essentially this guy had child abuse material, okay? Or was viewing it or was potentially making it. We don't know all the details, but this is a man who had child abuse material on or was at least engaging in that kind of behavior. So keep that in mind. Okay, this pastor who is supposed to be a shepherd of his flock is letting a man attend without disclosing it uh attending a church where children are present. And I there probably someone out there is going to say, "Well, the humanity of the person, aren't all people redeemable?" I will get into that. But all I want to say is that actions have consequences and there are places for people like that to find rehabilitation not in the presence of children. Churches do not owe people who do this kind of thing. One of the worst things you can do as a human being is is exploit children or participate in the exploitation of children, especially sexually.

[00:08:18]Churches do not owe those kinds of people a sense of belonging at the expense of the children around them.

[00:08:26]Heart stop. And this pastor should have known better. So already we're off to a very negative start.

[00:08:31]>> Mr. Perry then began attending adult Bible study and became friends with our staff maintenance man at the time. And our maintenance man was so much more than a maintenance man. He was a devout follower of Christ and he began to mentor Mr. Perry. Okay.

[00:08:47]>> In 2021, Mr. period professed faith in Christ and demonstrated what appeared to be genuine spiritual growth, including repentance, including owning all that he had done, not only to me, but to others as well.

[00:09:01]>> This is a good example of cheap grace.

[00:09:04]This this happens very often in these kinds of spaces. Well, he repented, therefore there's no long-term consequences. Therefore, he must be safe. Therefore, he's a changed man. We can trust him. He can be around people that he has exploited in the past. This is how abusers and why abusers find a home in places like this because if they just say the right words, they're in.

[00:09:29]They're in. All of a sudden, the past is completely behind them in the sense of there is no ripple effect anymore. And again, we're not talking about someone who robbed the 7-Eleven or stole a candy bar. This is someone who exploited children for sexual gratification. One of the one of the most um you know abhorrent things that you can do. And because he professed faith, this pastor thinks well as long as me and a few people on staff know everything is fine. It gets worse.

[00:10:01]>> During this time, again, this is before probation that he began to work with our staff member and help around the campus.

[00:10:08]always, always, always supervised by our staff members.

[00:10:14]>> Now, because we believe the gospel changes lives, we believe redemption was possible.

[00:10:21]>> At the same time, redemption never removes accountability, >> responsibility, and consequences of past actions.

[00:10:30]>> In 2023, when Mr. Perry was put under probation, uh, Mr. period wanted to stay involved with working with our facilities. We put stringent safeguards and accountability measures in place.

[00:10:42]The county was aware that he was volunteering on our campus >> which includes a school and we're given a list of our restrictions as well. Mr. Perry was never to be alone with a child.

[00:10:55]>> Now look, I I need to say something here. I'm not aware of any probation that would allow a registered offender I'm I'm I'm censoring myself because of YouTube. Okay, but you know what I'm saying. A registered offender to be around children in any capacity, especially at a place of worship. I'm just shocked that this pastor is saying, "We told the township this and they were aware of it." Did his parole officer know this? Now, someone in the crowd just yelled that he actually was alone with children. So this guy saying Warren Perry was never supposed to be alone with children, but he in fact actually was.

[00:11:29]>> If a child greeted him, he could respond politely so as not to be rude to the child, so as not to initiate or engage in extended conversations.

[00:11:39]>> He was always to remain with the eyesight of a coworker who knew his history and understood the restrictions placed upon him. That's why he told >> over the years with those safeguards in place we believe based on Mr. Perry's repeated assurances that he was complying with the requirements not this probation >> probation of you are one question.

[00:12:01]>> So his so so this pastor believed the words of a man a registered offender that his parole officer knew about this and everything was fine. You didn't do any due diligence dude.

[00:12:13]This is the shepherd of a flock putting children in direct harm's way knowing that not telling parents or as we're going to find out the teachers who were at this school as Perry was walking around doing maintenance stuff.

[00:12:32]It's unreal. You wonder how people vote for a predator. Look how this guy excuses it. Well, we didn't know. Well, he he he said he was sorry. He professed faith in Christ. We trusted his words.

[00:12:48]Let's keep going >> above all others. And here's the question. Was my child harmed?

[00:12:54]>> At this point, we have absolutely no evidence that any child at P or PA was abused or harmed by Mr. Parent. None. If evidence suggesting otherwise were to come forward, immediately cooperate fully with the proper authorities and communicate responsibly with the affected families. That does not diminish the seriousness of what has occurred. It simply answers as honestly as we can tonight the question many parents are asking.

[00:13:25]>> By the way, this is very sterile. This is a very This is a very sterile address. In fact, there's a different video. It's a little clip from this uh from this talk. And when the parents get even more angry later on, as you're going to see, one of them yells, "We're supposed to be a family. This isn't how you talk to family." And that's exactly it, right? How many of us were told, "You're family. We're doing life together." But when it comes down to it, when it comes to things like this, all of a sudden, it's very proper. It's a written statement. It's very formal. Oh, I I don't really, you know, you're just the congregation. I'm the shepherd here.

[00:13:58]I'm the pastor. I have to read this.

[00:14:01]Yes, we allowed a predator around your child, but let me explain why. That's not relational at all. That is corporate protection. This church is in protection mode at this point. And again, this happens much more often than you think.

[00:14:16]>> What do you do about Mr. Perry around here?

[00:14:18]>> Mr. Perry's conviction was known to me, to several leaders within our church, to our church staff, and to the leadership of PA. parents.

[00:14:28]>> One of the most important and understandable questions.

[00:14:32]>> Why about the teachers? Why do the teachers >> or the parents?

[00:14:35]>> And that deserves a direct answer.

[00:14:37]>> Thank you.

[00:14:38]>> As Christians, here are two things that we believe to be true at the same time.

[00:14:42]>> They're upset.

[00:14:43]>> We believe that children must be protected.

[00:14:47]>> We also believe that every person, even someone who has committed a serious crime, is made in the image of God and should be treated with dignity.

[00:14:57]Thank you. The person who said, "Not at the expense of my kids," is spot on.

[00:15:03]This idea that churches have to rehab every person that walks through their doors is so dangerous. Okay, there are, look, guys, there are professionals, there are places that specifically work to rehabilitate men who do these kinds of unspeakable things. And they do it with psychology. They do it in ways that don't put children in danger. If if if a if a if I was the pastor of a church and a man walked into my building and I found out that he was a registered offender, I would say, "Hey, you're a human being. We respect that. You cannot be here. You your actions have permanent consequences for us." And the consequence is that you cannot be part of our congregation. You have to go somewhere else. Find a church that is predominantly or entirely made up of of older adults. find a place, an AA group, some kind of group like that to find community. You cannot do it here.

[00:15:56]Doesn't mean that we think that you're dirt. Doesn't mean that we don't think you're made in the image of God. There are just consequences for the actions that you have committed and been convicted of. And we're not going to put our children in harm's way for your comfort. Guys, this is not complicated stuff. But grace has been weaponized in the evangelical church to protect people who abuse like this at the expense of innocent people like children.

[00:16:22]It's just that simple. And you're watching the the logic of it in real time. And you're watching what happens when parents find out it was their kids.

[00:16:34]This church is in South Carolina. I don't want to be generic, but statistically most people in this church are MAGA voters. Most people in this church probably defend Trump at some point. The man who was BFF with the pedophile. The man who who has done unspeakable things to women. That doesn't matter. But when it's their kids, they're upset. By the way, rightfully so. Rightfully so. But when it's out there, when it's a when it's a politician that they vote for, they can excuse it usually. Again, I don't know every single person's voting record, but statistically that's what the numbers would tell you. And now they're getting a taste of that kind of unaccountability directly that affects their families and they are rightfully outraged by this.

[00:17:14]This pastor is sinking quickly >> for Mr. Perry is not on anyone's parameters here tonight.

[00:17:23]>> Your concern is understandably for your children.

[00:17:26]>> They are so mad.

[00:17:27]>> Our challenge as leaders was trying to uphold both of these convictions faithfully. One of the questions we are now asking ourselves is whether we struck that balance wisely.

[00:17:39]>> Imagine saying guys this is a written statement. They chose their words carefully. Imagine saying we are now asking ourselves if we struck the balance of of these two things wisely. There's no asking. You didn't. Like the answer is no. No you did not.

[00:17:58]So far we're what about a quarter of the way through? Not one apology. No sorry yet. No sorry. Just we are asking ourselves if this was the right move.

[00:18:06]No, it wasn't. It's obvious it wasn't.

[00:18:08]It's clear as day it wasn't.

[00:18:13]Wild. And I'm telling you, there's a plot twist coming up towards the end.

[00:18:18]Your jaw is going to drop. I Me and my wife Sarah watched this and when she heard the plot twist, she literally gasped out loud. So hang in there. But this gets way worse. Way freaking worse.

[00:18:28]At the time, leadership had to decide how broadly this sensitive information should be proactively shared. Once the information moved beyond the limited circle of those responsible for oversight and accountability, we believe it would become difficult to determine where that circle should end.

[00:18:47]>> Do we tell every teacher?

[00:18:49]>> Do we tell every school volunteer? Do we tell all the parents? Do we tell >> Yes. Yes. You look, I'm I'm sorry, you dumbass. Yes. Yes. You tell the parents, "Hey, FYI, the person that's around your children is a registered offender.

[00:19:09]Proceed how you want. We've made a choice that we deem him worthy of being around your children even because he's chaperoned, but you as a parent need to make that choice for yourself." That's the bare bones minimum.

[00:19:21]Should we tell every parent? Obviously.

[00:19:24]Obviously. Without question. Without question.

[00:19:30]Really?

[00:19:32]I mean, chat, if you're watching this, leave a comment. Like, >> yes. Obviously, I can't believe this guy's asking this question.

[00:19:42]>> Teacher, you tell your family.

[00:19:47]>> YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS.

[00:19:49]>> YES, YOU ARE.

[00:19:51]>> They need to go to JAIL WITH HIM. YOU MOVE.

[00:19:56]>> [applause] >> I LOVE HEARING ANGRY PARENTS.

[00:19:59]>> Our kids are NOT IN A LOTTERY SYSTEM.

[00:20:03]>> We made the decision that those directly responsible for Mr. Perry's oversight accountability needed to live his sister. We also believe that the child protection practices already required of a teacher and staff would provide significant protection regardless of whatever.

[00:20:21]>> That is insane. That is insane because if this guy is part of the maintenance team and he's around making relationships with teachers and they don't know, they're going to trust him implicitly. Oh, it's just Mr. Perry.

[00:20:32]He's been here for 5 years. He's he's a redemption story. He got saved in our church. Now look at him, you know, on staff or volunteering. At some point, he was on staff at some in some level, but maybe at this point in the story, he was volunteering. Yeah.

[00:20:46]You think that? Like what?

[00:20:50]Come on.

[00:20:51]>> [sighs] >> Let's keep going.

[00:20:53]>> Including maintaining appropriate >> were those practices here when he's next to a child in a bathing suit >> standing next to a child in a bathing suit >> that could come.

[00:21:07]>> So, so he's not even addressing their claims. They're saying, "Hey, this guy was alone with kids in bathing suits.

[00:21:13]This guy's a robot." Suddenly, the pastor, the shepherd, has gone into full PR mode, and it's just like a chatbot reading off a script, ignoring the genuine concerns that they're bringing up.

[00:21:28]>> Reasoning behind that decision, >> it was not because he believed the teachers were unimportant. It was not because he wanted to place the burden of discovering this information on parents or staff. And it was not because we were unconcerned about the safety of children. At the same time, I understand why teachers and parents now feel those directly caring for their children should have been to the forum.

[00:21:51]>> Teachers may reasonably feel that they were expected to help maintain safeguard without being given information they believe would have helped them to do so more effectively.

[00:22:01]>> I hear you.

[00:22:01]>> Obviously, >> looking back, we are asking whether we drew the line in the right place.

[00:22:08]>> Asking the qu You're still ask no accountability.

[00:22:12]No accountability, no sorry, no nothing.

[00:22:16]We're asking ourselves if we Dude, if I was a Dude, if I was a parent, I'd be on that stage. I would not just be sitting down or or or or you know, in the audience. I would be livid that this man that I saw as a man of God who I've tithed money to the church to support his family held this kind of secret from me and my kids for six years.

[00:22:39]our policies and supervision practices, but also our standards for communication and disclosure. Where changes are needed, we will make them. Leadership in any organization frequently has to determine what sensitive information should remain within a limited circle and what should be communicated more broadly. In this situation, we made that judgment one way. We're now evaluating that decision honestly and carefully.

[00:23:09]It's such >> No, you don't. You're reading from a script. YOU'RE NOT SORRY. Speak to us as parents.

[00:23:15]>> That woman is my anger translator.

[00:23:17]Exactly. You're reading from a script.

[00:23:18]This is corporate speak. Talk to us as freaking parents.

[00:23:23]He's a robot. All of a sudden, Mr. Relational suddenly a robot.

[00:23:29]>> Mr. Perry has been removed from our campus.

[00:23:38]On Tuesday, I accompanied Mr. Perry to a meeting with Mr. Probation Officer of George because I wanted to ensure that everything regarding his probation was in order. Question.

[00:23:49]>> You didn't DO IT. A TEACHER FOUND OUT.

[00:23:53]>> OKAY. SO, SEE, he's making it seem like he did this on his own accord. She's saying a teacher found out and called.

[00:23:59]See guys, this is so typical of like of of of like this this this p this evangelical pastor vibe like minimize minimize minimize and then people tell you the truth like that. No, no, no. You didn't initiate. This wasn't on you. A teacher called. He left that part out conveniently.

[00:24:20]It gets worse.

[00:24:24]>> Later that day, I spoke directly with his probation officer. She informed me that Mr. Perry has not been complying with this condition of this probation.

[00:24:34]>> She also informed me that when she confronted him about those violations, he acknowledged that he had violated those conditions.

[00:24:42]>> Okay, pause. Yeah, the parents are like, "Shocker alert." So, I actually have uh another article up here. One witness says that Warren Perry was was there all the time. I saw Warren every single day.

[00:24:54]He was there all the time, which makes sense given his proclivities why he's around children all the freaking time.

[00:25:00]Sure. And then I think it is in here.

[00:25:04]Um, where is it? Um, there's an art there's maybe it's not this article. There's there's an article I pulled. Is it this one? Yeah. Yeah. He was charged with violation of his probation after complaint revealed. So, a complaint revealed. Okay. Someone complained. It wasn't the pastor just calling. A complaint revealed, where did I go here? Uh that Spencer was doing volunteer work in close proximity to children at the Paulie Island Community Church. It was a violation of his parole to be around children. And the pastor just took Warren Perry's word for it.

[00:25:45]Never checked in. And then a complaint revealed this. And the pastor is here trying to take credit like he was the good guy in all of us. Well, guys, I called and yeah, he violated his parole.

[00:25:56]Yeah. No, no [ __ ] Sherlock. I could have told you that. I could have told you without without even googling it.

[00:26:03]Hey, should a registered offender on probation be around children in any capacity? Well, he says he's he he says it's fine, so I'll just trust him. What are you doing? What are you doing?

[00:26:16]What are you doing?

[00:26:19]was completely different from what Mr. Perry has repeatedly communicated to us over many months.

[00:26:25]>> So, he's trying to victim now. Now, the pastor's the victim, guys. Hey, he communicated differently. He lied to me.

[00:26:30]I I'm I was duped, too. But you're the one in charge. Pastors like this can't have it both ways. You can't You can't claim to be the shepherd, the leader, the one who sets vision for the church.

[00:26:41]You can't claim to be that person. And then when you fall short, one of my lights is out. Just noticed that. I'll have to fix that. When you fall short, I didn't know. I was lied to as well.

[00:26:54]It's on you. Parents trust you to do the right thing. They trust you to be open and transparent. They trust you to tell the truth, to tell the truth, and you didn't. And he's just downplaying it so much. Look, notice how the connection between in the world of Christian nationalism, it's the same thing. These people claim to stand for God, to be leaders. They never take responsibility for their actions. Trump doesn't take responsibility for his actions. The pastors who do horrible things like Mark Driscoll don't take responsibility for their actions. They blame, blame, blame, blame, blame. And this pastor is doing the same exact thing. I didn't know. I didn't know. He lied to me. We're evaluating it. This was the wisest decision. Are you [ __ ] me? I I'd be throwing stones. I would be livid hearing this dude try to excuse his behavior.

[00:27:49]>> Throughout that time, he consistently assured me that he was in full compliance with his probation requirements and that his probation was this proved he wasn't.

[00:28:02]>> You are guilty. So is Nikki Howard in your whole entire church.

[00:28:08]He's just talking right over him like he's a freaking robot. So disrespectful to these people and these parents.

[00:28:13]>> That changes the understanding of the situation significantly.

[00:28:17]>> There's a decision between making a decision based on information you know to be false and making a decision based on information you reasonably believe to be true.

[00:28:29]>> What we learned this week has fundamentally changed the information on which we are making decisions. Had we known what we learned this week, our decisions would have been different.

[00:28:38]>> By the way, I don't believe that. I'm sorry. I don't believe that they that they just found out now. I don't believe it. I I've been in this work long enough. I've been in the church long enough to know that these people there's always stuff behind the scenes. Often they were made aware earlier. Often. I'm not I'm not saying it's I'm I'm I'm alleging this. I would not be surprised if this pastor knew about this stuff earlier and still let it go.

[00:29:01]>> Let me tell you what.

[00:29:04]There are still questions we cannot honestly answer tonight. We don't know every detail regarding Mr. Perry's alleged probation violation.

[00:29:13]>> We don't know what additional information may emerge through the work of probation officials or law enforcement. We don't know whether other factions like to come to light and are not going to speculate >> because you will cooperate fully with proper authorities and we will communicate additional verified information when it is appropriate and responsible to do so.

[00:29:34]>> Are you going to close the school now?

[00:29:36]>> So moving forward >> effectively immediately Mr. Perry will no longer serve or volunteer in any capacity.

[00:29:47]>> You need TO BE LOCKED UP. You are Additional safeguards regarding all volunteers who perform work on school properties.

[00:29:55]>> Except for individuals who have been specifically approved and cleared, volunteer work on the Pike campus will take place only outside regular school and afterare hours when children are not present.

[00:30:09]>> Any volunteer who has access to PA campus while children are present must first complete a full background check and receive specific authorization.

[00:30:19]Wait, I'm sorry. You weren't back You weren't background checking your volunteers around children.

[00:30:25]That wasn't a mandatory practice there.

[00:30:28]Are you crazy, guys? This is This is 101. This is 101. If you have people as a nonprofit or or as an organization, period, around children, volunteering or not, they need to be background checked at a minimum. At a minimum. Now they're going to institute that. But it doesn't matter because the pastor already knew.

[00:30:48]The pastor could have stopped this. The leadership team could have stopped this.

[00:30:52]School leadership should have told the teachers. None of them did. None of So what good's a background check? What good is a background check if people will not be informed of the results of that background check regarding child exploitation?

[00:31:07]All children's workers of PICC and a PA have always been required to complete a sled background check. In the event of a maintenance emergency during the school day, children will be removed from the classroom or affected area walls being taken care of. Only volunteers who have completed the required screening and the approval process will be permitted to address the maintenance issue while children are present on campus. Notice how it's still on the children. We'll remove the children. We'll move the How about putting the responsibility on the people that you bring into the school?

[00:31:43]Huh?

[00:31:46]How about your responsibility as a leader? I have a book on my shelf that my my previous pastor of my old church gave me called Eater Leaders Eat Last.

[00:31:54]It's a very evangelical coded like book.

[00:31:56]You know, it's very popular in those circles. Dude, the buck stops with you.

[00:31:59]You're the senior pastor. You're the dude. You get to declare when people are heretics, when people should be excommunicated, when people should come under church discipline. You have a lot of power and you knew something about someone that was a major issue and you failed to disclose it to parents and this man was around their children.

[00:32:19]No apology yet, no sorry yet, no accountability yet. Deflect, deflect, deflect.

[00:32:27]>> These are immediate steps. Long-term, we're also conducting broader view uh review of our policies, supervision practices, communication procedures, disclosure standards, and volunteer screening requirements. We'll seek guidance from legal counsel and qualified child safety professionals. We will make any further changes necessary to strengthen the protection of every child in trust control care.

[00:32:56]We understand that policies alone do not restore trust. Trust will have to be rebuilt through transparency.

[00:33:02]>> You are not transparent. You're reaching the hand.

[00:33:06]>> You still let a pedophile around your kids.

[00:33:09]>> Thank you. You still let a pedophile around our kids knowingly >> and lied to the parents.

[00:33:15]>> Let me ask you if you >> Thank you.

[00:33:18]>> As if I have the right to ask you to do anything.

[00:33:20]>> You don't.

[00:33:21]>> I ask you two things. First, if you have information that you believe would be helpful to us [laughter] more, >> please do not assume someone else has already reported it.

[00:33:40]>> If you have a job, great question. The parents are saying you're lying to us.

[00:33:45]We have informed you. Phone calls were made and we weren't heard. Remember guys, this dude's not not this guy's not a famous pastor. This is just some no-name dude. If social media wasn't what it was, this guy wouldn't it would never be brought to the public's attention that a church like this is doing this.

[00:34:03]Imagine how much of this kind of stuff happens that we don't even know about.

[00:34:12]>> There's still a plot twist coming to answer those questions for you.

[00:34:17]2020 that my child was.

[00:34:25]>> Okay, plot twist is here. A woman comes in and there's another video of this. A woman comes in while he's talking and says, "I reported him in 2020. My child was molested."

[00:34:40]And the congregation gasps. That's an a huge accusation to claim that your child was assaulted somewhere at this church or by someone at the church or you know presumably Warren Perry is who she's talking about.

[00:34:55]What's the pastor's response?

[00:35:00]>> You go away.

[00:35:02][laughter] There's nothing like this ever.

[00:35:17]It's hard to hear. It's chaos for a reason, right? This lady is is making a huge statement saying this happened.

[00:35:23]This pastor is not even acknowledging her. He's still reading off the freaking script.

[00:35:31]>> I understand that. I want you to hear that this is the end of the conversation.

[00:35:37]>> However, after consulting He needs to rot.

[00:35:42]>> It needs to be burned.

[00:35:46]>> So he said, "We're not holding a question and answer session tonight."

[00:35:50]He's hiding behind legal ease. After that woman made that accusation.

[00:36:00]>> Do you have anything to say to this lady whose child was molested here? Do >> you have anything to say to this lady whose child was molested here? Keeps going. I I I I've watched a lot of videos. You watch them with me. I This is one of the most shocking ones I've seen. A pastor just completely ignoring this woman who's crying whose child was molested in this church at some point according to her.

[00:36:26]Not even in acknowledgment.

[00:36:31]personally with anyone who would like to talk as you would like to schedule an appointment with you. If you would like to sit down with me, ask questions, share concerns, or simply talk what look you through what you're feeling, I would genuinely welcome that opportunity.

[00:36:52]I want anyone feeling like you can also schedule by email. Imagine saying, "I don't want anyone feeling like they're ignored." As you ignore a woman who says, "My child was assaulted here." Or the other parents who are concerned that of a sex offender was around their kids.

[00:37:10]How much more toned up do you have to be?

[00:37:13]>> Shouldn't have been a long time.

[00:37:15]>> So before we finish tonight, I want to leave you.

[00:37:21]>> I can only imagine that this has been one of the hardest weeks of your life as it has been for our church.

[00:37:29]Some of your friends tonight feeling fear. Some of you are carrying disappointment and anger. Others trying to decide what you can ever trust again.

[00:37:36]I understand those feelings. I >> can you not acknowledge this lady who just came out with allegations against your charge and your asks for >> trust is rebuilt. Consistently tell the truth, take responsibility, make the changes and faithfully follow through.

[00:37:55]That is our commitment to you. As we continue learning the facts, if we discover there are additional changes that need to be made, we will make them.

[00:38:04]If we learn there should be something done differently, we will acknowledge.

[00:38:08]We are committed to protecting children and leading with integrity.

[00:38:15]>> So tonight, thank you for loving your children.

[00:38:21]Back rolls again.

[00:38:37]God bless you.

[00:38:48]Yeah, you saw that. The guy calls him a POS. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:38:57]This is not a one-off. There is something baked into the evangelical church structure that that builds this kind of output, this kind of fruit. We have story after story of men abusing um or being accused of abusing and it being covered up by other pastors. John MacArthur, a very famous evangelical pastor who I'm going to say thankfully passed away I think last year. Um he protected there's credible accusations with evidence by the way the detailed reporting that he covered for two men in his staff at different times in their church's history who molested their own children. In one case, they shamed the wife and excommunicated her publicly, Eileen Gray, because she left her abusive husband, who then was found out to be molesting their children. He's now serving prison time, by the way. This happens in charismatic spaces. You can uh look at the at a lot of those stories. This happens in independent fundamentalist Baptist spaces. This happens in reform spaces. It happens in the evangelical bubble all the time.

[00:40:02]And you people always ask like Tim, how do people vote for Trump? How do they allow, you know, how do they say that that that they're voting for biblical values when you have like these predators in these spaces who go completely unchecked? Remember Matt Gates? Remember when he was a thing?

[00:40:17]There are so many examples of this, right? Because this is the theology.

[00:40:22]This theology protects these kinds of people under grace and repentance and redemption. And it prioritizes their safety at the expense of other people's well-being in including children.

[00:40:34]Including children. For them, the big issue is not that this look the pastor obviously thought that for six years no one needed to know that Warren Perry was a registered offender, thirdderee aggravated assault of a minor or something like that, whatever the conviction was. But I guarantee you if someone was in that church and was gay, you'd know about it. guaranteed. I bet if someone was liberal in that church, they wouldn't be there super long. But Perry was allowed there because he said the right things. Hey, I'm redeemed. I'm forgiven. I'm a good Christian now.

[00:41:08]Don't believe my probation officer.

[00:41:10]Believe me. Okay. Okay. Sounds great.

[00:41:12]You want to hang around kids? As long as as long as you're supervised, even though he really wasn't, as the parents said at times, it is part it is not an aberration. It is baked into the system and it happens all over the place. It happens in little churches. It happens in big churches. I mean the Southern Baptist Convention, the biggest conglomerate of evangelical churches in the US had a huge reckoning where it was discovered they were burying 10 years of abuse that was leaders knew about but didn't disclose publicly or to to church leaders or to congregants of church leaders. This is not a one-off. I had to share this with you. I had to. And I did it because I need you to know there is a theme here.

[00:41:59]This church is not is not public. I hope that they are now. People should know this pastor's name. And this pastor responds this way after letting a registered offender be around people's kids. Parents are reasonably furious.

[00:42:13]They want answers. He reads from a script and walks behind a curtain.

[00:42:19]after a woman in the audience says, "My child was assaulted here." Doesn't even acknowledge her. That's not what family does. I thought, you know, you belong.

[00:42:31]We're family. We're doing life together.

[00:42:33]Not when it comes to this kind of stuff.

[00:42:35]Not when accountability reckons. These pastors all the time are unaccountable because they're taught, they believe that they are God's chosen to lead God's people into some kind of promised land.

[00:42:47]Therefore, whatever decisions they make must be inherently wise. They must be good. And here's the result. When it comes time to it, when their feet needs to be held to the fire, it wasn't me. I was lied to. We will evaluate. This was a wise. How about just own this? We messed up big time. Oh my god. What were we thinking?

[00:43:09]We lied about things. We withheld sensitive, important information that you should know as parents. I need to step down. I have forfeited my ability to lead by making such an unwise decision at least for a short for some kind of amount of time. Why not work with the congregation? What do you think we do next? That's because these spaces are not de democratic. They are hierarchical. He's at the top. Him and the leadership team are in charge.

[00:43:33]Ultimately, what they say goes. These people ultimately have no say. They have no say. Ultimately, there's no democratic process. It is my way or the highway.

[00:43:45]You can see the connection to the world of Christian nationalism. It's their way or the highway. They're in charge or no one's in charge. That's how it works.

[00:43:54]So, I wanted to share this with you, kind of get this out, you know, let you know what I was thinking about it. I am clocking this. I'm hoping to amplify it.

[00:44:00]I'm hoping to it gets more traction. The full video has not gotten many views.

[00:44:03]Hopefully, this video and others gets it more traction. People need to know what's happening in this church and how it is not it is not a bug. It is oftenimes a feature of evangelicalism.

[00:44:14]Hey friends, again, thanks so much for being here. Please make sure to like and subscribe. If you want to support the work that I'm doing, there's a link in the description below. Your support means so much. Super chats are welcomed.

[00:44:23]I appreciate all of you. Talk to you'all next time.