The prominent Boston minister who blessed Gov. Charlie Baker after he was elected to the Corner Office was caught soliciting a prostitute during an undercover police sting that also reeled in nine other would-be johns, authorities said.
A. Livingston Foxworth, the senior pastor at the Grace Church of All Nations in Dorchester, was arraigned yesterday in Boston Municipal Court on a single charge of paying for sexual conduct. He was released without bail after a brief appearance.
Foxworth gave newly elected Baker and his wife, Lauren, a blessing in November 2014 during a Grace Church of All Nations service.
“Gov. Baker is saddened by this news and is confident the courts will examine the facts and reach an appropriate decision,” said Lizzy Guyton, a spokesman for Baker.
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The pastor and his attorney, Hassan Williams, declined to comment yesterday.
Foxworth and nine other men were busted in the Tuesday afternoon sting, according to authorities. Detectives from the Boston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit conducted an “undercover online investigation into illegal sexual services being offered for a fee,” according to an incident report.
Detectives posing as a female on the infamous online classified ad website Backpage.com were contacted by Foxworth and the other men, according to authorities. Foxworth agreed to pay $150 for sex and went to an address on Pine Street for an illicit rendezvous, according to police.
Once he arrived, detectives called the number Foxworth provided and it started to ring, a police report states. He was placed under arrest, and his cellphone was placed into evidence, according to authorities.
“Human trafficking exists because sex buyers make it profitable,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement. “Part of our strategy is making clear that there are social, financial, and legal consequences for that behavior in Boston and Suffolk County.”
Williams tried to convince BMC Judge Thomas Horgan to drop the charges and give Foxworth a civil infraction but Suffolk prosecutor Jessica Meyer pushed back.
“This is a matter that your honor has arraigned for almost 10 other defendants today and no action was taken with them regarding a civil infraction,” Meyer said.
Horgan agreed with Meyer, and Foxworth is now slated to return to court July 26.
Archbishop Foxworth is married to Karen L. Foxworth and he is the father of six children Elizabeth, Kevin, Anthony, Ricky, Brandice and Jeremy, and the grandfather of six children.
He received his Biblical and Pastoral training through Moody Bible Institute, and has been pasturing Grace Church of All Nations for 35 years. He was consecrated to the Bishopric at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul in Boston, Massachusetts in May, 2007.
Currently, Archbishop Foxworth serves a congregation of over twelve hundred members and is training pastors within the Pentecostal Episcopal Church (PEC) reformation to establish multicultural congregations throughout the United States and internationally. He is also working with uni-cultural ministries ie: Haitian, African and Latino to establish a Multicultural Christian Fellowship. This vision is in its infancy, pastor stands on the Word of God and believes that ALL things are possible and ‘we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.’
This is the one hundred and fifty-third installment in The Sounds of Fundamentalism series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a video clip that shows the crazy, cantankerous, or contradictory side of Evangelical Christianity, please send me an email with the name or link to the video. Please do not leave suggestions in the comment section. Let’s have some fun!
Today’s Sound of Fundamentalism is a video clip of Michigan congressman Tim Walberg telling a group of people that there is no need for us to be concerned about climate change. Walberg ignorantly stated:
I believe there’s climate change. I believe there’s been climate change since the beginning of time. I think there are cycles. Do I think that man has some impact? Yeah, of course. Can man change the entire universe? No. Why do I believe that? As a Christian, I believe that there is a creator, God, who’s much bigger than us. And I’m confident that, if there’s a real problem, he can take care of it.
Walberg, a former Fundamentalist pastor, was educated at three Evangelical Christian institutions: Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton University and Taylor University.
Steve Jesmer, pastor of Dialogue Christian Church in Manchester, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty today to sexually assaulting a teenage girl who attended his church.
Laura Montenegro, a reporter for NH1 News writes:
A 37-year-old former pastor at Dialogue Christian Church on Pine Street will spend at least five years in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl last summer in his parish office.
At a plea and sentencing hearing at Hillsborough County Superior Court North on Wednesday morning County Attorney Michael Valentine described the facts of the case to the judge.
He said the 13-year-old girl, identified as A.I., told police Steve Jesmer picked her up to take her to a church youth group meeting on Wednesday, June 8, 2016. Jesmer brought her to the church but instead of meeting with the youth group, he brought her to his church office.
A.I. said he began to hug her and put his hands around her waist. Jesmer then began touching her breasts and pulled her shirt down. A.I. said when she looked down, she saw Jesmer had pulled out his penis and began pushing himself against her and put her hand on his penis. He then laid her down on the couch in the office where he removed her pants and underwear. She told police at that time Jesmer, “pushed himself inside me.” According to A.I., Jesmer then told her she was beautiful and said he wanted to put his penis in her mouth and ejaculate. A.I. protested but Jesmer told her she could not get pregnant if he ejaculated in her mouth and that she should finish what she started. She again protested, so Jesmer had A.I. massage his penis with her hand until he ejaculated. A.I. told police Jesmer then dropped her off at her house.
Under the plea deal, Jesmer pleaded guilty to two felony charges of felonious sexual assault against a minor, one charge for vaginal penetration the other for oral penetration, each sentence carrying a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 15 years. The second sentence is suspended upon good behavior. He also pleaded guilty to felony witness tampering, for telling A.I. not to say anything because Jesmer told A.I. he could lose his wife and family. The witness tampering sentence is also suspended pending good behavior. Jesmer also pleaded guilty to four counts of misdemeanor sexual assault against a minor. Those crimes include pushing his body against A.I., putting her hand on his penis, pressing his penis against his body and ejaculating on her. For those crimes, Jesmer will serve 12 months to run concurrent with his 5-15 year sentence.
Both A.I. and her mother spoke in court during victim impact statements. A.I.’s mother, reading from a prepared statement, said her daughter is not the girl she used to be, that A.I. is now depressed, and doesn’t eat or sleep. But, despite all this, A.I.’s mother said she is not angry with Jesmer and she forgives him. Adding that it does not excuse what happened.
A.I. also read a victim impact statement, directed at Jesmer.
“I told you everything about me. I trusted you and looked up to you as a father,” she said through tears. “I bet that made it easier for you to take advantage of me.”
A.I. said school has been more difficult since the sexual assault. She said a list was exposed at her school and she was rated as the “most vulnerable” and “easiest to get laid.” She said she’s missed 50 days of school this year due to anxiety attacks.
A.I. admitted that for months after the attack she would take half hour long showers saying, “I scrubbed myself until I bled.”
A.I. said in the months and weeks leading up to the assault, Jesmer and his family supported her. She said she was going through a rough time, and he was there for her when she wanted to commit suicide. During that time, he came to visit her or drive her to the church every day. A.I. said she was making great progress until the sexual assault and she hit “the lowest point I could reach.”
“I can admit that I’m broken,” A.I. said through sobs.
Despite all this, A.I. said she forgives Jesmer.
“You made a mistake just like every other human,” she said. “I don’t want to hold any resentment toward you because that’s not what God wants.”
Jesmer reacted by putting his head down and he appeared to be crying.
“I pray for you and your family’s healing daily,” A.I. said, recognizing that it has affected her and his family.
Jesmer then had an opportunity to address his victim and her family as well as the judge. Jesmer said he destroyed several people’s lives and made a terrible decision.
“I’m very sorry. I thank you for your forgiveness. I don’t deserve it,” Jesmer said to A.I. and her mom. “I failed you. I failed my city and my church.”
About 15 people sat behind Jesmer supporting him in court, and were visibly upset before, during and after the sentencing.
Superior Court Judge John Kissinger praised A.I. saying she showed incredible strength, courage and bravery. Speaking directly to her he reminded her, “There is nothing you did that remotely contributed to or caused this.”
Kissinger also spoke to Jesmer, saying although he has supported the resolution, he has some serious reservations about the light sentence, saying Jesmer was in an authoritative position as a pastor and should have been a support system.
“The reality is, I would not have accepted this but for the support of the victim’s family because I think prisons exist for a reason,” Kissinger said. “The reason is to isolate those who are the most dangerous. And anyone who would act as a predator with a child is someone who needs to be removed and isolated from society.”
Nicolas Vasquez, assistant pastor of Asamblea Apostolica Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty today to molesting three girls and was sentenced to twenty-four years in prison.
A former assistant pastor pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to molesting three young girls.
A judge sentenced Nicolas Vasquez to 24 years in prison.
Vasquez was arrested in February 2016 when the three victims came forward and a concerned family member went to police.
Detectives said the victims knew Vasquez as either an acquaintance or through his former east Charlotte church, Asamblea Apostolica Church.
Investigators also revealed the victims were between the ages of 9 and 12 at the time of the assaults, which took place for a few years.
Prosecutor Leslie Stephens told the judge that two of the victims were family members and the third was a girl he knew at the church.
All three were younger than 12 years old, and Vasquez had bribed the girls to keep them from telling on him, Stephens said.
“Your honor, this plea encompasses three different victims,” said prosecutor Leslie Stephens. “He said that he bought all three victims food and clothes so that they wouldn’t tell anyone.”
Police said they searched Vasquez’s home and found pictures and videos showing assaults, and when they confronted him with that evidence, he confessed.
“In these pictures, you can see all three of these girls in these pictures performing various sex acts on him,” Stephens said.
Last July, Christopher Trent, youth pastor at Bellingham Baptist Church, an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation in Bellingham, Washington, was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a church teenager.
The Bellingham Herald reports:
A former youth pastor at Bellingham Baptist Church has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a teenage girl over the course of two years.
Christopher L. Trent, 37, a pastor at the Orleans Street church for the past three years, rubbed his face with his hands and wiped away tears with the collar of a green inmate uniform, as a deputy prosecutor read from a Bellingham detective’s report in court Tuesday afternoon, July 19.
The alleged victim reported she was under the age of 14 when the relationship turned inappropriate.
About two years ago, Trent started driving the girl home from church, said Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Quinn. Sometimes he showed her physical affection by giving a “side hug,” she reported, and over time they started hugging chest to chest. Eventually he told her he wanted to kiss her, that he was falling in love with her, and that he wanted to marry her when she turned 18, according to her report to police.
He texted inappropriate photos over phone apps, and she sent him photos of herself, too, according to the charges. He gave her a purity ring and told her he did not want to ruin her for marriage. Over the next two years, however, she estimated they engaged in sex acts more than 100 times — so often, she lost count. She reported she was sexually abused at the church at 2501 Orleans St., at a satellite church in Ferndale, at the girl’s home, and at the defendant’s home, according to her report.
He told her not to tell anyone, because he would lose his job and family, Quinn said. Police logs show someone reported the relationship on the night of July 11.
Trent, a married father of seven children, was educated at Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City, said Deputy Public Defender Jane Boman. He moved here three years ago, and he is no longer employed, she added.
Trent has no prior felony record.
Police booked him into jail Monday on four counts of child rape in the second degree. At his first appearance in court Tuesday, Superior Court Commissioner Martha Gross set bail at $100,000. If he posts bond, he can’t have contact with girls under 18, she ruled.
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Recently, Trent pleaded guilty to “four counts of third-degree child rape.”
KGMI reports:
A former youth pastor at Bellingham Baptist Church is going to prison for raping a teenager.
Christopher Trent plead guilty to four counts of third-degree child rape.
He was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
The girl says she was 13 when Trent started sexually abusing her.
John Rice [a Fundamentalist Evangelist, editor of the Sword of the Lord, and author of such titles as The Home and Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives, and Women Preachers] wrote this about this topic. “A man is like God in a sense that a woman is not like God…God is always in the Bible, called He, never Her. He is called Father, not Mother, Christ is called the man Christ Jesus, not the woman…I do not mean that Christ is not the Saviour every woman needs, not that He does not know her every longing, feel her every sorrow, meet her every need. But God would not have had the Bible so full of it if He did not want us to notice that Christ was a Man, not a woman, and that man is therefore made in the image of God in a sense that cannot be true of women. So, in the home, man is deputy of God, and should lead the home for God.”
I love the fact that Christ was a man since men are our protectors. They are bigger and stronger. They are not led by their emotions and feelings as easily. They are more steady. I am happy that I am not the protector and provider of my family. Men have a much bigger responsibility than women have been given and a man’s nature is created for this and woman’s is not. Most men wouldn’t want to worship a female god. They want a strong and masculine God like the One we have been blessed with. He is perfect in every way!
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The only reason women have so much “power” today is because men have given it to them. They could have never gotten it if men didn’t allow it because men are mightier in strength than women. God originally created man to have power and dominion over the earth. He never has given this responsibility to women. He made men the Kings, Prophets, Priests, Disciples, Apostles, and Elders for a good reason and His purpose. This is His plan.
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Most women today would despise this teaching. It doesn’t bother me in the least because I love being a woman and I love God’s ways. God created men to be the leaders and women the followers, just our body makeup proves this point. We are the weaker and softer sex so we should be the more gentler one. Women are the more lovely of the sexes, especially when we wear some make up, fix our hair, and wear prettier and more colorful clothing. Men are highly attracted to women. Godly, good women bring a lot of beauty to this earth. We make our homes places of loveliness. We bear and raise godly offspring. As we do all of this, we bring honor and dignity to our husbands and to the Lord.
— Lori Alexander, The Transformed Wife, Woman is the Glory of Man, May 26, 2017
Ruven Meulenberg, a youth mentor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California — part of Rick Warren’s megachurch empire — was arrested today and ” booked on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts on a child.”
A youth mentor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest has been accused of acting inappropriately with two teenage boys while he volunteered there, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said Friday.
Ruven Meulenberg, 32, was arrested Thursday and booked on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts on a child and is being held on $100,000 bail, authorities said. Jail records show he is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in a Santa Ana courtroom.
Detectives were alerted to the situation after a 14-year-old boy told his parents that Meulenberg had molested him, Lt. Lane Lageret said. The parents told the church’s youth pastor, who called the Sheriff’s Department, Lagaret said.
Another 14-year-old boy turned up during the detectives’ investigation, Lagaret said.
Meulenberg is a Lake Forest resident who had been volunteering at the church for six years, and during that time, he developed relationships with the two boys, Lagaret said. Some of the conduct allegedly took place on church property, officials said.
Today, Kevin Boyd Sr., pastor of The Church at New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana, entered a no contest plea to reduced charges of ” obscenity and second-degree battery.” Boyd received no jail time and does not have to register as a sex offender.
Ken Daley, a reporter for the Times-Picayune, writes:
A New Orleans East pastor whose first trial on child molestation charges ended with a hung jury in 2015 closed his case Thursday (May 25) with a plea agreement that allowed him to avoid jail time.
Kevin Boyd Sr., the 47-year-old “presiding bishop” of The Church At New Orleans, had faced 5 to 10 years in prison had he been convicted as originally charged with molestation of a juvenile. A jury of three men and three women deadlocked on the charge after four hours of deliberations on Nov. 17, 2015.
Boyd was awaiting a new trial on two molestation counts, but through his defense attorneys Kerry Cuccia and Kimya Holmes accepted a plea agreement offered by District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office. Boyd entered a no contest plea, referencing Alford v. North Carolina, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and asserts innocence. Boyd entered the plea to the reduced charges of obscenity and second-degree battery.
“Mr. Boyd steadfastly maintains his innocence,” Cuccia said.
Boyd received a suspended five-year sentence on the battery count, a suspended three-year sentence on the obscenity count and five years of active, supervised probation.
Ad hoc Criminal District Judge Donald Johnson of Baton Rouge, sitting in for Judge Camille Buras, said the plea agreement also does not require Boyd to register as a sex offender.
One of the two men who accused Boyd of sexually assaulting them while they were members of his flock expressed disappointment with the plea agreement.
“I didn’t come this far to give him a slap on the wrist,” said the man, a Mississippi resident who testified against Boyd at his 2015 trial. “It’s a shame, your honor. I’m not going to sit up here and lie to you and say it don’t hurt.”
Authorities accused Boyd of sexually assaulting that member of his flock over a span of at least five years, starting in 1999 with the boy was about 12. A second accuser later emerged as well, but he was not in court Thursday and issued a brief statement professing to forgive his church leader.
The victim who was present told the judge of “being raped from the age 12 to age 23 by the hand of Kevin Boyd Sr.,” and said his life had been irreversibly affected. He said he lost his marriage of seven years, several friends and his spiritual community over the accusation against Boyd and the years of courtroom drama that followed. The pastor first was charged by the DA’s office in August 2012.
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“I’ve been called a liar for years,” the man said. “I’ve been told I’m being used by the devil by church members and preachers. The plea deal here is not enough for me. Every sin has its reward, that’s what we are taught as Christians. He committed not just a sin, but he committed a crime. But with no jail time? Kevin Boyd needs to sit down and feel the pain, the struggle, the hurt and the shame I’ve had to feel.
“But he’s able to go live his life and everybody still praises him. He preaches it, but he don’t live it. … Kevin Boyd doesn’t deserve today to go home and feel like he won.”
Wednesday,Cameron Banks, pastor of The Abundant Faith Lighthouse of Jesus Christ in Conway, South Carolina, was arrested and charged with burning down his church.
The leader of a Conway church was arrested Wednesday for intentionally burning down his church.
Cameron Julius Xavier Banks, 32, of Georgetown, is charged with obstructing justice, second degree arson, burning personal property to defraud insurer and making a false insurance claim to obtain benefits for fire or explosion loss.
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The fire was determined to have been intentionally set, by means of an open flame and combustible material.
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Banks was the pastor of the church, but there had only been one church service held at the location in approximately 2 years.
Banks said that the church was being renovated and that he purchased the building from The Refuge at First Pentecostal Holiness Church for $328,400.
The pastor of The Refuge acted as the “bank” on the mortgage, according to the affidavit.
Banks was notified on May 25, 2016 that the lender was going to start foreclosure proceedings after Banks defaulted on his loan.
In early July 2016, Banks purchased an insurance policy for the church for $1.6 million.
On July 14, a church member reported to Conway police that an “unknown person” was supposedly sleeping in the church. The incident report states the report was made for insurance purposes, in the event of a fire.
On July 25, one day after the fire, a Conway police officer tried to reach Banks to get a statement about the fire and who had access to the church. Banks would not return any of the phone calls. Lionel Lofton, Banks’ attorney, later told the officer that Banks would not be meeting with police.
On Jan. 12, 2017, Lofton contacted the officer and said he had very important information regarding the fire. According to a report done by the attorney’s investigator, a woman claimed there were text messages between a dentist and an unknown person that showed the dentist offered to pay $10,000 to the unknown person to burn down the church.
When the officer investigated the claims and got a warrant for the dentist’s phone, there were no calls or text messages between him and the unknown person.
According to the affidavit, there were dozens of calls between the woman making the claims and Banks on two different cell phones.
Police say the entire claim was fabricated in an effort to cast the blame for the fire onto the dentist.
On March 1, 2017, police searched Banks’ home and cars. Computers, cell phones and several hundred documents were seized, including a “rough draft” of the investigative report provided to his attorney.
There were also notebooks where Banks had “written several dozen questions that would possible be asked by law enforcement during the course of an arson investigation.”
The woman admitted to police that she gave them false information regarding the text messages because she was in love with Banks.
Banks was arrested on May 24.
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Banks is also known as Reggie Staggers, according to an affidavit with Banks’ arrest warrants.
A Georgetown pastor accused of burning down a Conway church last summer is now facing federal health care fraud charges.
According to a press release from U.S. Attorney Beth Drake, Cameron Banks, 32, was charged in a seven-count federal indictment connected to an alleged scheme to submit fraudulent loan applications for dental services.
The maximum penalty the suspect could receive for each count is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Heritage Academy, an Evangelical institution located in Hagerstown, Maryland finds itself the center of attention due to its punishment of a high school senior who had sex outside of marriage and got pregnant. CJ Lovelace, a writer for The Herald-Mail, reports:
As children played outside just before noon Tuesday, two police vehicles were parked in front of Heritage Academy.
Inside, officers took reports from school officials about harassing emails and phone calls coming in to the small Christian school west of Hagerstown.
“Some of them are calling me names, but when somebody is in a leadership position like I am in, it’s going to happen,” Heritage Principal Dave Hobbs said. “The other issue that we’re having is we’re getting a lot of encouragement. We’ve gotten lots of emails, thanking us for taking a stand in regards to what is right and what is wrong.”
The independent, nondenominational school has been the target of criticism since news broke that one of its students, 18-year-old Maddi Runkles, had been barred from “walking” in her upcoming graduation because she is pregnant.
But, according to Hobbs, the punishment had little to do with Runkles’ pregnancy and everything to do with her conduct that violated school code.
“Certainly, we are a pro-life institution, and certainly we are pleased that Maddi has chosen to keep her baby,” Hobbs told Herald-Mail Media. “Her choice broke that standard of abstinence. It is a clear standard in the Bible. It is a clear standard in our handbook.”
Hobbs first learned of Runkles’ pregnancy in early February when her father, the former president of the school’s board of directors, Scott Runkles, came to him with the news.
An emergency meeting followed and administrators began formulating disciplinary action, which was finalized Feb. 20 in a binding decision after appeals made by the Runkles family, Hobbs said.
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“We have to look at every individual situation on a case-by-case basis,” Hobbs said.
When the pregnancy first came to light, Runkles, a 4.0 student who will still receive her diploma, was suspended from school for a couple days and removed from her position on the student council while the board decided what to do.
Since then, she’s been permitted to continue attending classes and school functions at the institution of about 175 students — including 15 in this year’s senior class.
Scott Runkles, who resigned from his position on the school’s board in a result of the punishment, has said that he agrees his daughter deserved to be disciplined, but not by banning her from graduation.
“Maddi is a great kid,” her father said Monday. “She just happened to have a lapse in judgment.”
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Heritage Academy has removed everything from their website (typical of Fundamentalist schools and churches who find themselves in the public spotlight) except for a statement by Principal Dave Hobbs. Hobbs wrote:
Dearest Heritage Family:
As I begin, please understand that my wife and I have fallen in love with the people of Heritage Academy. Therefore, it is for Heritage’s protection that I write this.
The main reason I have been silent to this point is because in disciplinary situations, each Heritage family deserves confidentiality. The conduct of your children is not everyone’s business. This perspective would have been the best way to deal with Maddi Runkles’ disciplinary situation. However, her family has chosen to make her behavior a public matter. Before sending this letter, I contacted Scott Runkles who gave me permission to discuss this publicly. In my thinking, these were the two to protect: first Maddi, then Heritage, in that order. Unfortunately, both are now being hurt by those who do not know or understand the situation. For this sole reason, I am now willing to comment publicly.
Let me clarify some facts. Maddi is being disciplined, not because she’s pregnant, but because she was immoral. The Student Pledge which every student from 5th grade through 12th grade signs states that this application of Philippians 4:8 “extends to my actions, such as protecting my body by abstaining from sexual immorality and from the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs”. Heritage is also pleased that she has chosen to not abort her son. However, her immorality is the original choice she made that began this situation. Secondly, she will receive her diploma that she has earned.
Much has been said about grace. I believe that there are two kinds of grace: saving grace and living grace. One is concerning spiritual birth “once and for all” (Hebrews 9:12, 10:10) which demanded no effort on my part, because my Savior Jesus, finished this on His cross and from His empty tomb. The other kind of grace is spiritual growth that does demand my effort (2 Peter 3:18). It also includes discipline (Hebrews 12:5-11). A wise man told me that discipline is not the absence of love, but the application of love. We love Maddi Runkles. The best way to love her right now is to hold her accountable for her immorality that began this situation.
As I conclude, I have two concerns. First, I am concerned that my Heritage family feels that the Board and I are harsh, cruel, hard-hearted men. Nothing can be further from the truth. We have spent countless hours in prayer and discussion. The Board has listened to three appeals from the Runkles family and compromised all three times. Secondly, I am concerned about our graduation ceremony on the evening of June 2nd . That night, I want God to be glorified in a dignified manner. Please enable us to do this.
With deepest sincerity,
David R. Hobbs, Administrator
You can view a Wayback Machine cached version of Heritage’s website here. You can view the school’s 2016-17 student handbook here.
When stories such as this one make the national news, non-Evangelicals are often outraged over such Puritanical, backward thinking and behavior, thinking that schools such as Heritage Academy are few and far between. However, there are scores of Heritage Academies scattered across the United States, each with harsh rules and discipline meant to keep students from drinking, cussing, smoking, fornicating, and listening to rock music. These schools not only regulate what students can and can’t due while at school, they also regulate what they can and can’t do at home and with their friends. One Fundamentalist school I am very familiar with expelled several high school students because they were caught drinking alcohol at a private party. These types of schools tend to legislate behavior both on and off campus, and that is certainly the case with Maddi Runkles.
There’s no greater sin for a Christian school girl to commit than to get pregnant. Boys can whore around and schools are none the wiser. But, when a girl has unprotected sex (and my money is on the school’s sex education class being abstinence only) and finds herself pregnant, well her S-I-N is exposed for all to see. This, of course, is a public embarrassment for Evangelical schools, leading to jokes and gossip about their morality codes and the inability of students to keep them.
Heritage Academy, choosing to not do as Jesus did with the adulterous woman in John 8:1-11, decided to publicly punish and humiliate Maddi Runkles. Perhaps someone needs to do as Jesus did in John 8 and do some writing in the sand detailing the sins of Principal Hobbs, the school board, teachers, and everyone else associated with the school. Believe me, everyone has behaviors they wouldn’t want anyone to know about it. In Runkles’ case, her “sin” grew inside of her, exposing for all to see her “immoral” behavior. I am sure more than a few other high school students at Heritage were glad that their secret sexual “sins” were not exposed. Does anyone doubt for a moment that there are other fornicating students — doing what is healthy and normal for sexually aware teenagers and young adults to do?
Maddi Runkles is eighteen years old. She is most certainly old enough to decide whether to have sexual intercourse. That she had unprotected sex is unfortunate, but there is nothing in this story that merits anything more from the school than, Maddi, what can we do to help?
Other Heritage students and parents are paying attention to how Principal Hobbs and the school board dealt with Runkles’ pregnancy. Perhaps in the future, an unintended consequence of the school’s actions in this case might lead another pregnant girl to get an abortion instead of making known her pregnancy. School officials said they prayed long and hard over this matter, but since there is no God to hear their prayers, what we are left with is the moral beliefs of the nine men (no women) who decided Maddi Runkles’ fate. I wonder if all of these men were virgins when they walked the aisle on their wedding day. If not, and I highly doubt all of them were, perhaps they should heed Jesus’ words — he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone.
