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Tag: Unlawful Weapon

Black Collar Crime: Southern Baptist Pastor Andrew Erickson Arrested for DUI and Carrying Unlawful Weapon

drew erickson

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Andrew Erickson, pastor of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, stands accused of driving while under the influence of alcohol with a child in the car and carrying an unlawful weapon. Erickson later resigned from his position at Travis Avenue Baptist.

Baptist News Global reports:

Drew Erickson, lead teaching pastor at Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, resigned suddenly March 5 after he was arrested in Tarrant County two days before on suspicion of carrying an unlawful weapon and driving while intoxicated with a child under age 15 in the car.

“Over the last 12 months and more recently, it has become clear that there are things I need to work on personally, and I believe causes me to need a season of rest from the responsibilities of ministry,” he wrote in a brief resignation letter.

That letter was distributed to church members with an unsigned introduction that said: “It is with great sadness that we inform you that our lead teaching pastor, Drew Erickson, has resigned, effective immediately. We assure you that Drew was not fired and that no improprieties have occurred at TABC. We love him, as you do, and we will miss him terribly.”

….

Erickson’s official bio on the church website said he has been an adjunct preaching professor at Southwestern “throughout his ministry,” but a seminary spokesman said Erickson had taught an English class at Southwestern’s undergraduate college as an assistant in 2013 but there was no other record of him being an adjunct preaching professor.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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