Free Republic

The pastor of Sierra Heights Baptist Church was arrested on felony child molestation charges, according to police. Jail records showed John Bonine, 43, was arrested Monday and was still being held in Fresno County Jail Wednesday night as the congregation met to organize a leadership team to deal with the issue. The charges involve two children, both female, who were allegedly molested over several years. Mansel Trimble, youth pastor at Sierra Heights, met with church members Wednesday to discuss what he called a "difficult and painful" episode for the church and for Bonine's family. "We are looking for any way...

JACKSONVILLE - After 14 years of leading a Jacksonville church, the Rev. Darrell Gilyard had put behind a messy chapter in his life when reports of affairs with church members forced his resignation from a Dallas, Texas-area church. But during the weekend, allegations of sexual misconduct again put a cloud over Gilyard's ministry. Gilyard, 45, took a voluntary paid leave of absence from Shiloh Baptist Church after a mother's report to the sheriff's office that she found obscene text messages on her daughter's cell phone from a phone owned by the preacher. Gilyard, who lives in a gated community and...

Monrovia - An evangelical pastor described the atrocities he and his men committed during the Liberian civil war, including magical rituals that involved slaughtering children and eating their hearts. Joshua Milton Blahyi spared no details on Tuesday as he told Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of his years with one of the most feared militias of the war. Dressed in an immaculate suit, Blahyi, 37, said it was for the TRC to decide whether he should be given an amnesty or prosecuted. "I am willing to go to court if necessary," he said. "And I will repeat just what...

Union Parish Sheriff’s deputies arrested Kenneth Duchesne, the pastor at Beulah Baptist Church Tuesday afternoon, and charged him with two counts of aggravated incest. Duchesne, 35, was arrested at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the parking lot of Wal-Mart after the Sheriff’s Office received a complaint on Monday. Dusty Burroughs, a deacon at the church, said the congregation was shocked by the arrest. “It’s hurt the church pretty good,’’ Burroughs said. “We’re trying to deal with it and move on.’’ Duchesne had been the preacher at Beulah Baptist, located north of Farmerville between Farmerville and Spearsville, for less than...

BLOOMINGTON -- A former minister and substitute teacher accused of sexually abusing teenage boys won’t go to trial in December because of a defense move to try to get concurrent sentences if he is convicted in state and federal courts. Defense attorney Steve Skelton asked that the state trial of James Love be delayed because of federal child pornography charges pending in Peoria. He said his client has a better chance of receiving a concurrent sentence if he pleads or is found guilty on the local charges after the federal trial, rather than before. The state charges say he sedated...

NORTH ANSON -- The Carrabec High School administrator accused of unlawful sexual contact with a minor has stepped down as minister of an evangelical church. Frank "Skip" Gleason, assistant principal and athletic director at Carrabec, resigned Sunday as pastor of Maranatha Assembly on Church Street after accusations against him became public. Meanwhile, supporters of Gleason rallied around him, saying they doubt that the charges are true, but that the publicity has already done irreparable harm to a good man. The alleged abuse of a 15-year-old Carrabec High School student occurred off school grounds, the arresting officer said Monday. Sheriff's Detective...

The Rev. Robert Gray, the former Trinity Baptist Church pastor awaiting trial on child molestation charges, died Saturday, according to his attorney. He was 81. Gray had been hospitalized since mid-October and suffered from a variety of health problems. An exact cause of death was not available Saturday. Attorney David Barksdale, who represented Gray, released a statement saying Gray's family prays that everyone involved in the court cases can find peace and that the family would not comment further on Gray's passing. This month, a judge ruled Gray was too ill to stand trial Tuesday on six counts of capital...

DECATUR, Ga. - The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her. Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test. In truth, this is not the first -- or even the second -- sex scandal to engulf Paulk and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be...

Bea Wilkins thought one thing when we reported that Steven Haney was under arrest on serious sex charges."I thought, thank God," says Wilkins.Wilkins was once an active member of Walnut Grove Baptist Church.  But she says she lost faith in its longtime pastor, Steven Haney, when accusations involving another teenager first surfaced in the mid 90's."I never thought a family would let anything like that come out if it weren't true," says Wilkins.Despite an investigation, the preacher was never charged.  So, Wilkins and nearly 30 other families left the church.But she never forgot."I prayed that God would do something to...