Is It 'Anti-Christian Extremism' To Note How Often Conservative Christian Leaders Abuse Kids?

According to Trump's Nazis, we sure enough bet it is!

AT LAST, THE UPDATE WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. Or at least I have. The project went on a sort of hiatus when I was out of the country for a couple weeks in September, and I’ve been chasing my tail ever since trying to catch up.

Because, you see, as we’ve been discussing all year, conservative Christian leaders are such prolific groomers and abusers of kids, the news is so full of these stories, they are published in such a rapid-fire manner, that if you let it go ANY MORE THAN A MONTH, then it will take you hours and hours and hours and days and weeks to compile an update. The last one of these came out on August 2. As of that day, I had tracked 138 separate stories in 2025 alone involving Christian pastors/youth group leaders/priests/Christian school teachers, etc. who had been accused/caught/arrested for/convicted of abusing kids in some way. Now it is October 31. That list has grown to … 188!

That’s right, this update has 50 new stories in it, just from the past almost three months.

Now, if you are tracking drag queens or trans people or just LGBTQ+ people abusing children, you can take sabbaticals to Europe as often as you fuckin’ want, because those stories just don’t happen much, despite the lies vile MAGA Christians tell.

So without further ado, we are back on track, and here is your latest update.

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AND I AM HOLDING THE TRUTH STICK.

The authoritarian shitbag in the Oval Office and his team of vicious, beclowned (mostly) white fascists are currently declaring war on all decent human beings who live in the United States of America. They’re invading cities, siccing the feds on them and trying to turn the military against innocent people (including where I live in Memphis, Tennessee). They’re brutalizing immigrants, whether they are here legally or not.

Godless Sodomites In Memphis! (It Ain't Who You Think)

Oh, and they’re declaring everything they don’t like to be terrorism. People protesting authoritarianism, fascism, and Nazi fuckery? Terrorism. People standing up for the rule of law, or demanding that Trump and his band of fuckwit criminals be held accountable for their actions? Terrorism. Standing up for our immigrant friends and neighbors and trying to protect them from Trump’s Gestapo? You get the idea.

There’s so much going on, you might have missed the news about Trump’s new National Security Directive, known as “NSPM-7” — full name: “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence” — in which the regime seeks to turn the recent Terrible Event — you know which one, we don’t say his name anymore — into its personal Reichstag Fire moment, ordering his administration to turn all the country’s counterterrorism apparatus against anyone to the left of Stephen Miller. It is absolute bullshit, obviously, just as bullshit as Trump declaring “Antifa” to be a terrorist group, when it neither commits terrorism nor exists as an organized group.

But hey, I get why they want to make it illegal to be antifa-scist. It’s extremely on the nose, but I get it.

The NSPM-7 turns the Constitution upside down and explains:

There are common recurrent motivations and indicia uniting this pattern of violent and terroristic activities under the umbrella of self-described “anti-fascism.” These movements portray foundational American principles (e.g., support for law enforcement and border control) as “fascist” to justify and encourage acts of violent revolution. This “anti-fascist” lie has become the organizing rallying cry used by domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties.

Got it, if you hate fascists and you don’t think masked thugs in uniforms should be able to brutalize and disappear innocent people, then you are against “democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties.”

How many times did Stephen Miller jerk off to his favorite Goebbels speeches while they were drafting this thing?

Independent reporter Ken Klippenstein quotes the main points of the NSPM-7, the things it claims are precursors to the imaginary “wave” of “Antifa” violence they all have agreed to pull out of their buttholes and wave around and pretend is a real thing.

• anti-Americanism,

• anti-capitalism,

• anti-Christianity,

• support for the overthrow of the United States Government,

• extremism on migration,

• extremism on race,

• extremism on gender

• hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family,

• hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and

• hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.

Holy fuckin’ Handmaid’s Tale, look at all that poor-me victimization of white supremacist fascist Nazi Christianity, or as they like to call it, “traditional values.”

Because trust me, when they say “anti-Christianity,” they are not talking about defending the nice Episcopal church across from the White House where the rector gently encouraged Trump and J.D. Vance to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.

They’re talking about the last four (or five or six) things on the list. Basically anything that threatens the supremacy of conservative white Christian men, who hate everyone who isn’t like them. Immigrants, people with darker skin than theirs, women, people who don’t fit neatly into gender constructs, trans folks, gay folks, lesbian folks, AND SO FORTH.

Opposition to having the boots of these vile motherfuckers on our necks — and indeed to the systems that put them in those positions of power, including conservative white Christianity in general — is labeled as a “terrorism indicator,” something that suggests that people who hold those views might do something violent someday. (This is as they are of course furiously deleting every piece of evidence the government has that the great majority of political violence in the US is committed by right-wingers.)

Ken writes:

[W]ith Donald Trump’s directive retooling the counter-terror apparatus to go after Americans at home, this means monitoring political activity, or speech, as an investigative method to discover “radicalism.” (Contrary to other national security documents all during the post-Watergate era, NSPM-7 doesn’t even mention the First Amendment or the fundamental right of Americans to organize and protest.)

The focus on speech is evident throughout NSPM-7. The directive says that political violence is the result of “organized campaigns” that often begin (with the left) dehumanizing targets in “anonymous chat foras, in-person meetings, social media, and even educational institutions.” […]

I don’t want to sound hyperbolic but the plain truth is that NSPM-7 is a declaration of war on anyone who does not support the Trump administration and its agenda. Yes, it repeats the word “violent” over and over to purport only to go after citizens who are moved to take up arms, but it also directs monitoring and intelligence collection to map and target the new “evildoers,” to borrow a Bush label he took from the Bible just days after 9/11.

Welcome to American Christian fascism.

Anyway, I write about all this to set up this question:

Is it “anti-Christian extremism” or “hostility to traditional American values” (or any of those other bullet points up there) to tell the truth about who is really sexually abusing children in this country, and how more often than not it’s conservative Christian religious leaders? (Or law enforcement. That’s another one of the most over-represented categories of abusers. Gee, wonder what the common thread is there.)

No, really. I know the GOP is now pretty much known worldwide as the greatest pedophile-protecting organization on the globe, a designation it’s done the legwork to earn, but everybody who hasn’t lost their fucking mind knows the truth. (Epstein, Epstein, Epstein.)

Is it “antifa” to tell the truth about this? (Epstein, Epstein, Epstein.)

Just curious. (Epstein.)

HERE’S YOUR FUCKING UPDATE.

If you are not a new reader, you know how this works. If not, click here. But the short version is that I’m keeping a running list of each story I find that involves what I described at the top: a Christian leader of any kind in a place of spiritual authority who’s been caught, accused, sued or convicted of abusing and/or exploiting kids. I don’t encourage you to read the entire list at this point — it’s getting long — but rather to use it as the resource it is. (Also, trigger warning for all the obvious reasons.)

Different people who do this tracking work are interested in specific aspects of it. Me, I’m particularly interested in tracking exactly which corners of Christendom these people are most likely to come out of, and translating for a wider audience what some of these discrete denominations and movements within the Christian church represent, what they believe, why they are the way they are. I also like to make note when it’s pertinent which famous Republicans come out of these movements.

Like, for instance, this summer I did a mid-year tracking update, where I found that an inordinate number of the stories came out of Southern Baptist congregations. You know, the same kinds of Southern Baptist congregations that produced that vile, sanctimonious fucking creep Speaker Mike Johnson.

I think that’s important context for understanding the world we’re navigating right now.

If MAGA Is So Upset About Epstein, They Should Hear About Baptists!

By the way, I want to flag two things before the update begins:

Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser Robert Morris — who looks like every white-haired creepy pervert conservative Christian pastor who ever lived — has now pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old girl, but will only spend six months in prison, because reasons. (How many friends like this does Trump have, dead or alive? Jesus!) Morris’s story has already featured prominently in this series, and he’s already on the list, so he doesn’t get a new entry on the list.

Former Trump Spiritual Adviser Indicted For WHAT????

Secondly, oh. my. God. Are you familiar with the story about how Mike Johnson and his teenage son either currently or in the past have been No Nut November accountabil-i-buddies, except for it’s not just November? They use/used this creepy Christian software called Covenant Eyes, which tracks and alerts your accountability partner if you get on the internet and look at porn, which suggests you might be doing the old ungodly rub-and-tug.

Isn’t that a totally normal thing for fathers and sons to do? Don’t you want to get an alert if your dad is suspected of jacking off?

Anyway, the son of the founder of Covenant Eyes has been caught in a child sex sting, because it’s always the people you most expect, or sometimes it’s their adult children!

That guy will get his own place on the list, which begins … NOW.

For the August 2 update (126 to 138) click here:

An Overwhelmingly Republican Christian Problem

And for the first 125, click here. (Yes I know I said I’m going to streamline it onto one page/searchable database. It hasn’t happened yet. I need more help with this project, DONATION LINK HERE.)

List starts immediately below.

If MAGA Is So Upset About Epstein, They Should Hear About Baptists!

139. Vatican City. Rev. Carlo Albert Capella, 58, is working in the Secretariat of State in the Holy See again, after serving three years in the Vatican’s little jail for possessing a whole lot of child pornography. Pope Francis was the one who approved his return to work. Pope Leo could tell him to fuck off.

140. Catawba, Virginia. Jacob Ryan Barnett, 34, AKA “Pastor Jake,” arrested for allegedly pretending he was a teenage boy and convincing a young teen girl to trade lewd pictures with him. He was the Associate Pastor of Students & Mobilization at the Catawba Valley Baptist Church. (The original news article had his bio on the church website, but that’s been deleted.) Before that he was the children’s minister at a different Baptist church. FaithStreet says it’s Southern Baptist, but it’s not in the SBC directory, so I’m guessing it’s currently unaffiliated.

141. Western North Carolina. Rev. Kyle Lynn Sigmon was arrested in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. He’s a United Methodist pastor, but apparently not currently serving a church. The last place he worked was the Faithbridge United Methodist Church in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

142. Baltimore, Maryland. Thomas Pinkerton, 52, charged with 24 counts relating to sexually assaulting six young boys as young as 13 between 2006 and 2010. WBAL reports that one of the victims said that “when he kissed him, Pinkerton said that it was a ‘heavenly kiss’ and that’s how Jesus would greet his disciples.” Uh huh. He used to be a youth pastor at the Central Christian Church, and more recently had been living in Georgia, where there is reportedly another victim. If Central Christian is affiliated with a denomination it’s incredibly hard to tell, so we’re just going to call it one of those BS conservative non-denominational evangelical churches and move on.

143. Harris County, Texas. Kevin Hartgrove, 45, arrested related to possession of “hundreds” of CSAM images. (That’s the technical term if you weren’t aware, and most aren’t, which is why I tend to veer toward the more colloquial description.) He was a church youth ministry volunteer, because of course he was. For whatever reason, the authorities aren’t identifying the church, but say they don’t have evidence his alleged crimes affected anyone there.

144. Denver, Colorado/Jersey City, New Jersey. Robert Anthony “Tony” Langston, 60, arrested for sexually assaulting two kids back in the late 1990s and thereabouts. Surprise, he was serving as a youth pastor. Langston was most recently the pastor of Tapestry Church in Jersey City, but these events allegedly happened when he was working at the Landmark Tabernacle-Denver. A close friend of one of the victims “told NJ Advance Media the victim was ‘very scared’ to report the abuse because ‘the church is very anti-homosexuality.’” How very on brand. Also on brand is that this fucker was charged with child sexual abuse in 2005 in Texas, but it got dismissed. Because none of these sons of bitches is ever “redeemed,” you fucking loser conservative Christians. Dude and his wife “evangelized” across the USA, so God knows how many victims he really has. Tapestry Church apparently has become a “division” (whatever that means) of something called “Freedom Church,” and describes itself as non-denominational and multicultural. So, you know, conservative evangelical shit. Meanwhile Landmark Tabernacle in Denver is some Pentecostal shit.

145. Smethport, Pennsylvania. Daniel Merrick sentenced to four to eight years on mega child porn possession. JoeMyGod notes that Merrick had a televangelist show on the NOW Christian network, which also has a show by Donald Trump’s favorite charlatan televangelist Paula White. No church is listed in any of the reports, which is perhaps related to the fact that the McKean County DA puts “pastor” in quotes and seems to suggest this is how Merrick refers to himself these days. However, more digging turns up reports that suggest that when he was arrested in 2023, he was the pastor of a Messianic Jewish congregation called Congregation Yahshua Messiah Gathering UCCMA. It should go without saying that Messianic “Judaism” is not real Judaism.

146. Norlina, North Carolina. Shelton Kelsey Burkart, age 30, arrested on child porn possession felony counts. He was a pastor at Zion Global Methodist Church, a church whose status is hard to suss out. It appears the church used to be affiliated with the United Methodists, but the UMC lists it as closed. But the church does appear to still exist. So … who the fuck knows?

147. Tulsa, Oklahoma. Austin Sewell, a former intern at the Life.Church megachurch — which is apparently the third largest megachurch in the US — arrested for (surprise!) child porn possession. Life.Church (yes the period is supposed to be there) is one of those sprawling evangelical fuckers with 40 campuses and also a massive online following. Sewell’s internship was at the Midtown Tulsa campus. Life.Church is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church denomination, which is, (surprise!) conservative. There’s a lot more, it’s gross, you don’t want to read it.

148. Middletown, Indiana. Bryan Crabtree, age 36. Sentenced to three years on Sexual Contact with a Minor and Child Solicitation charges. He was a youth pastor and a coach! He was affiliated with the Sulphur Springs Christian Church, which seems pretty nondenominational and full of Indiana white people.

149. Embarrass, Minnesota. (It’s called what?) Ryan Ross Denzer-Johnson, age 43, charged with sexually assaulting a child under 14. He was a math teacher at a couple of schools, but no longer. And of course he had worked in youth ministry. News reports don’t say what kind of church or where.

150. Irvine, California. Michael Robert Maxwell, 42. Arrested for sexually assaulting a child “multiple times over 10 years,” per the Irvine PD. They say he was a “prominent staff member” of the Redeemer Church of Orange County in Newport Beach. Redeemer is part of the PCA, which as we have discussed previously is the largest and most prominent of the Handmaid’s Tale conservative Presbyterian denominations. (Also the one in which this author grew up.) Also note that when you see “Redeemer” in a church name, you are most likely dealing with a specific network of PCA churches that like to set themselves up in COOL! city locations with COOL! pastors and leaders, they act like they have a “heart for the city,” they try to downplay their fascist right-wing beliefs, but they are wolves in sheeps’ clothing who despise LGBTQ+ and women just as much as any other less COOL! fundamentalist Christian church out in East Buttfuck. Your city probably has a “Redeemer” or “Redeemer Pres.” ACTIVITY: Look it up so you can warn people about it!

151. Fairfax County, Virginia. David Mark Sabin, 38, arrested in a To Catch A Predator-style thing, trying to hook up with somebody he thought was 14. Surprise, Sabin used to teach at a Christian school, specifically Oak Hill Christian School in McNair, which is a member of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools. This is a whole movement of allegedly intellectual conservative Christians who value classical things in education. Very traditional, they seek to “restore an era of great Christian learning and teaching,” per the school’s website. Yeah, they’re wankers. Hey, you know who founded the ACCS? Hahahahahahahahahaha you’re gonna die laughing, it was DOUG WILSON, Pervert Pete Hegseth’s pervert religious guru!

152. Las Vegas, Nevada. Neal Creecy was the founder and senior pastor of Redemption Church, but he isn’t anymore, because he quit after he got caught trying to lure a child so he could sexually abuse them. Creepy I mean Creecy found his attempted victim on the gay hookup app Sniffies. He went to Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee, and was also co-founder and vice president of Global Church Planting Partners, a mission organization that is not denominationally affiliated. The church says it affirms the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, and appears to be affiliated with the Southern Nevada Baptist Association, whatever TF that is.

153. Clintonville, Wisconsin. Andrew Showers, 37, a priest from Madison, arrested for trying to meet somebody he thought was a 14-year-old girl in Clintonville. He brought Viagra with him. Catholic, obviously.

154. Kernersville, North Carolina. Brett Martin Kitko, 50. Arrested and charged with raping a child. He was the senior pastor of the Phoenix Church at Century Park in Kernersville, which Google’s little doohickey says is “permanently closed,” but here’s the website right here, which still lists old Brett and his funny goodtime church guy bio. The church was/is non-denominational evangelical blah blah blah.

155. Midland, Michigan. James Randolph, 59, has been convicted of sexually abusing a little girl when she was a child under 13. He was the head of youth ministries “for decades” at the Living Word Church. Oh, but they already knew about him, because in 1985 he raped a 15-year-old girl with developmental disabilities and pleaded guilty to it. But he just got to keep being the youth minister. Apparently this case is part of a bigger investigation into sex crimes at Living Word. WSGW in Saginaw reports: “In 2023, Brandon Saylor, a former church volunteer and son of associate pastor Randy Saylor, was sentenced to 5 – 15 years in prison for sexually abusing children under 13 and is required to register as a lifetime sex offender. Randy Saylor, 71, a former associate pastor, is also facing multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct involving minors, with a trial set to begin in September.” Should we count this as three separate entries? The website says Living Word is “non-denominational and spirit-filled,” but it sounds like it’s filled with something else. Also describes itself as a “Book of Acts” church and part of the Word of Faith charismatic movement.

156. Washington, Utah. Oh look, a Mormon. Joseph Brent Walker, who wrote for Deseret News and had a syndicated column called ValueSpeak about, obviously, “traditional values,” well gosh and golly, Elder Cunningham, he got arrested for trying to meet up with and fuck a 14-year-old girl child. (He is 70.) Turns out it was a detective. Anyway, he also used to be a Mormon bishop.

157. Houston, Texas. A judge had to smack down the Assemblies of God denomination for its failures to cooperate in an investigation into a man named Daniel Savala, now 67, who was heavily involved with Chi Alpha, the college ministry for the pentecostal denomination. They said he was the “holiest man alive.” They sent so many kids to him, even after he had been found guilty of sexually abusing kids. “In signed statements, lawsuits and criminal filings, at least 10 men and boys have accused Savala of sexually abusing them, many at his Houston home and in his backyard sauna. An NBC News investigation revealed last month that senior Assemblies of God officials were warned repeatedly about the danger Savala posed but failed to cut off his influence, allowing more teens and young men to be abused.” You may read much more at that link and also here. And then there’s this story about the Assemblies of God protecting predators overall.

158. Binghamton, New York. Ronald Wenzinger, 70. Arrested in one of those online child sex stings for attempted rape. He was a reverend at the Harpursville United Methodist Church. One of the rare appearances of a mainline non-conservative denomination on this list. There are child-abusing creeps everywhere. It’s just that there are certain places — conservative Christian churches, Republican party gatherings — that are MUCH MORE LIKELY to be full of child-abusing creeps.

159. Gainesville, Florida. Assemblies of God pastor Mark Vega is not the perp in this case, he was just charged with covering up child sexual abuse at his church, Ignite Life Ministries. “The criminal filing follows years of sex abuse and cover-up allegations at a school and youth camp run by Ignite Life Center, which is affiliated with the Assemblies of God, the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination.” NBC News notes that in 2023, three “youth leaders” had been charged with sexually abusing kids, and one of them is Mark Vega’s son. Vega reportedly started finding out about all this in 2019. Fun fact, Mark Vega was also the chaplain for the New York Yankees. Much more at the link about this, and about all the Assemblies of God’s issues with covering up child rape.

160. New York, Mexico, California … Naasón Joaquín García, 56, indicted on racketeering and child sex trafficking charges, including creating child sex abuse material. Joaquín García is already in prison in Chino, California, already doing time on related state charges there including child rape. He’s the head of a Mexico-based, extreme conservative evangelical megachurch called La Luz del Mundo, or The Light of the World. His followers consider him an “apostle,” and according to the indictment he taught that doubting him was considered a damnable sin. Convenient. Even more here.

161. Frisco, Texas. John McKinzie, the lead pastor of the Hope Fellowship nondenominational network of evangelical bullshit megachurch congregations, has resigned. Why? “Sexual sin and moral failure.” The church swears whatever it was, it was consensual. But we’re including it because earlier this year, the Frisco West campus of the same fucking church fired its student pastor Jerry Nickerson, because THAT guy had confessed to “inappropriate contact with a minor” (better known as sexual abuse of a minor) when he worked at ANOTHER church. McKinzie had to explain all this to parishioners, and now look at him.

162. Baltimore County, Maryland. Kevin Guy sentenced to seven years for sexually abusing young boys. Young boys where? In the youth group he led as youth group pastor at Metro Maryland Youth for Christ. Sometimes he did it at church, sometimes he did it at Taco Bell nearby. Youth For Christ explains on its website that it’s an organization that “pursue[s] 11-19 year olds who are walking through pivotal, story shaping moments; like navigating a new school, becoming a teen parent, spending time in a juvenile institution or simply enduring the culture of social media.” Yeah we bet. Youth For Christ USA is one of those non-denominational evangelical outfits, and its first full-time staff member back in the day was Billy Graham. Huh.

163. Riverside, California/Bucharest, Romania. Two now-adult Romanian men suing Paul Havsgaard, former pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship Riverside, for sexually abusing them and many other kids at the shelter they ran in Romania. Also named: Greg Laurie, founder and senior pastor of Harvest Riverside, Harvest Crusades leader, and total fucking MAGA creep and Trump Jesus cultist, plus other Harvest leaders, for neglecting to prevent it, despite one million red flags. Harvest Christian fellowship is a bullshit evangelical non-denominational network of churches that holds affiliations with Calvary Chapel and the Southern Baptist Convention, which is quite literally the star of this list. More at the Roys Report.

164. Harris County, Texas. Nathan Wayne Walker, arrested for child porn possession. He was the youth pastor at Crossbridge Christian Church, a nondenominational evangelical house of bullshit.

165. Delray Beach, Florida. Levi Cash, 64, was arrested for allegedly trying to solicit someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy for sex. He was caught in a non-police-sponsored “citizen sting,” which are questionable to say the least, but right-wingers love them, because it satisfies their psychological needs. This may be the first time a Jewish faith leader has appeared on this list. From the report: “Upon doing a check of Cash online, it was learned that Cash claims to be a Kosher Supervisor for the Orthodox Rabbinical Counsel (sic) of Broward and is a professional Development and teacher coach at Catapult Learning,” the report states. “In Cash’s job description, it states that Cash has a strong focus on tutoring K-12 and supporting students with learning disabilities.” He ain’t on that Orthodox Rabbinical Council website right now, that’s for sure. I will note, though, that while this may be the first appearance of a Jewish alleged perp on the list, that it is of course Orthodox. Did we expect it not to be from the conservative (little “c”) side of the religion?

166. Leon County, Florida. Terrance Booker, 40. Accused of molesting multiple teenage boys. He was a “local church youth director” at the Life Changers Church of God in Christ (COGIC) in Tallahassee, and also used to work at an elementary school. COGIC is at the intersection of the Pentecostal/Holiness traditions and historically Black churches in the US.

167. Nampa, Idaho. Matthew Stephen Masiewicz, 53, arrested on all kinds of child porn charges. He was the head pastor at Sovereign Grace Fellowship, which the news describes as a “reformed Evangelical Christian” congregation. Remember what “reformed” means when you see it. Think of leaders like Doug Wilson, and notable adherents like Pete Hegseth and Josh Hawley. (As with “Redeemer,” the clue to this church’s beliefs is in its name “Sovereign Grace,” suggesting beliefs about predestination and lack of free will.) This church is technically non-denominational, and is different from your more traditionally Presbyterian Reformed churches in that it baptizes adults, not babies.

168. Brooksville, Florida. (Lots of Florida in this update, as usual.) Jordan Williams, 28, great big child pornography charges, and also, um, “one count of possessing a child-like sex doll.” So that’s a twist. He worked with the youth at the VineLife Church, reportedly as a volunteer. Part of the evangelical Vineyard movement, which has shown up a couple times on this list.

169. Independence, Missouri. Virgil Marsh, 74, sentenced to 10 years for “child molestation and sodomy” stemming from events a decade ago. One of those aggravating stories where none of the news reports mention what church.

170. Conroe, Texas. Jon Paul Sheptock, 49, an East Texas worship leader with no arms (you read that correctly), arrested on all kinds of child pornography charges. He was a leader at the First Montgomery Baptist Church in Montgomery, a Southern Baptist congregation. Sheptock may not have arms, but he LOVES Donald Trump. He sang at a Trump rally in 2022, and he’s been involved in worship music for decades. His Facebook profile pic used to be of him and Donald Trump. Guess he’s probably not too broken up about all the news of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

171. Hayes, Virginia. Zachary Thomas Ramaglino, arrested on 20 child porn charges. He used to work with the young adult student ministry at the Union Baptist Church. Now get this, but at the same church, a 76-year-old man, a former deacon, was arrested for filming thousands of men in men’s restrooms in Colonial Williamsburg over the course of three decades or so. He doesn’t get his own entry on this list, because this list is about the gabillions of conservative Christians who specifically accuse children. If we opened it up to sex crimes in general? Fuck, I’d have to hire a team of researchers. (Probably need to now. Upgrade those subscriptions to paid to help!) Anyway, Union Baptist is a Southern Baptist congregation.

172. Elkins, West Virginia. Kevin Curtis Jones, 33, charged with trying to solicit a minor. Jones was the pastor of the Summit Church, and that’s reportedly where he found his victim. Nondenominational evangelical house of bullshit. Here is Kevin Curtis Jones wearing a Ch*rlie K*rk t-shirt while preaching.

173. Birmingham, Alabama. Taylor Michael Ward, 34, arrested on all kinds of child porn possession. He was a computer technology director at the Briarwood Christian School, which is affiliated with the Briarwood Presbyterian Church, which is one of the biggest and richest and most influential Handmaid’s Tale Presbyterian churches in the entire PCA. (I have never attended Briarwood, but as a former congregant and employee of another big and rich and influential PCA church, I know more than several who have, people who grew up there, even people who were on staff there.) They say he wasn’t a member of the church, and of course has been terminated from the school.

174. MIKE JOHNSON’S FAVORITE NO-PORNING SOFTWARE COVENANT EYES STORY! Where every month is No-Nut-November! OK, so Ron DeHaas founded Covenant Eyes, the software where Christian men like Mike Johnson and his son can monitor each other’s masturbation/porn-viewing habits for the glory of God. (And in order to inflict control and shame upon innocent Christian youths, though I imagine DeHaas wouldn’t speak so accurately about it.) DeHaas’s stepson Thomas Wideman, 38, was arrested in August in Grand Rapids, Michigan, trying to meet somebody he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex. Cops also found he had child porn on his phone. Because it’s always the people you most expect. DeHaas is an elder at the Community Church in Owosso, Michigan, which is a congregation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, another one of the Handmaid’s Tale Presbyterian offshoots.

175. Roseville, Minnesota. Drew Brooks, 67, arrested on child porn possession charges. Brooks used to lead a “faith-based” addiction org in the Twin Cities area called Faith Partners.

176. New Orleans, Louisiana. Mark Ford, 65, arrested for serial child rape, of a disabled child. Former Catholic priest.

177. Greenville County, South Carolina. Daniel Kellan Mayfield sentenced for “thousands” of child porn images. “He hid cameras and cell phones in church bathrooms and showers to record and take pictures of the victims, many of whom were minors under 12 years old.” You know, because he was a youth pastor at the Gowensville Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation.

178. Phoenix, Arizona. Casey Goslin, 46, arrested on charges related to trying to produce child pornography/CSAM, as well as possession. He was in youth ministry at the Grand Canyon Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Another rare instance where they’re affiliated with a non-conservative church.

179. Houston, Texas. Robert Carter sentenced to 40 years for child rape. It was a family member. It started when she was seven. He fathered a child through the abuse when she was 14. He was the pastor at the Greater Bible Way Church in Sunnyside, Texas, which is very hard to pin down on the internet now.

180. Santa Ana, California. Carlos Ramirez Valdez, 61, sentenced to 45 to life for assaulting three young girls ages four to 10. He was the pastor of the Iglesia De Dios Ebenezer Church from 2012 to 2019, and that’s when the crimes happened. Then he went and pastored another church. Not entirely clear what kind of church we’re dealing with, but it’s probably safe to say it’s Spanish-speaking and evangelical.

181. Rochester, Washington. Kevin Mills, a Canadian former pastor and gospel singer, sentenced to prison on charges related to sexually assaulting a child. He used to be associate pastor at the Prairie Community Church in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, which his family founded, but he made this confession to a pastor at Rochester Life Assembly of God in Rochester, Washington, who didn’t feel the need to report it, apparently. Mills had been based there more recently. Anyway, sounds like some more Assembly of God and/or pentecostal shit.

182. Long Beach, California. Jeffrey Williams Zabel, arrested for looking at tons of child porn/CSAM for the last decade. He was the worship pastor at the Arbor Road Church (ARC) and also taught music at the church affiliated Lakewood Christian Schools (LCS). Arbor Road appears to be a nondenominational evangelical house of bullshit, but was founded originally as a Baptist church.

183. Fairfield, Illinois. Chet Snyder, charged with several sexual assault crimes, including one of an underage boy. Snyder is/was a pastor at the Journey Church and a community college volleyball coach. Some kind of nondenominational evangelical house of bullshit if its Facebook page is any indication.

184. Lubbock, Texas. Jeremy Scott Maxfield, charged with sexually assaulting more than one child over the course of years. He was a youth pastor in Amherst, Texas, and a teacher at Lubbock High School. Sounds like people in the area pretty much knew dude was a creeper. What church he served at is unclear from reports.

185. Dyer, Indiana. Oh look, here comes REFORMED again! The top fundraiser for the Mid-America REFORMED Seminary in Dyer, Indiana — which prepares little REFORMED theology students to be pastors at Handmaid’s Tale Presbyterian and REFORMED churches, has been charged for child porn distribution crimes. Michael Deckinga, 41, was the vice president for advancement at the seminary. The Roys Report says Deckinga has also been affiliated with the Lynwood United Reformed Church in Lynwood, Illinois, which is part of the United Reformed Churches in North America.

186. Thompsontown, Pennsylvania. Daniel “Danny” Reed, 51. Charged with possession and creation of CSAM, which he made with hidden cameras in a girls’ bathroom. He was the youth director at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ministries Juniata County, and apparently has been working in youth ministry since the early 1990s. He was additionally accused of grooming and having a sexual relationship with a teen when she was between 14 and 17. Not sure what kinds of affiliations the CPYM has, but it’s definitely some conservative Christian bullshit.

187. The Mormon church is facing a lawsuit for failing to report the sexual abuse of a five-year-old child. All the details on that are at the Preacher Boys Podcast, who I must reach out to one of these days and talk to them about the great work they’re doing.

188. Geneva, Illinois. A man is suing the Chapelstreet Church — evangelical, megachurch, multi-campus deal which used to be called First Baptist Church of Geneva — for ignoring the fact that an employee had a history of abusing children, which subsequently led to that employee abusing kids at the church. Read all about that one at the Roys Report, because I am tired of typing.

Whew.

And y’all, I am not even done. But that’s where I’m calling it for this month, and I’ll catch up on more in the November update in a few weeks.

I didn’t give this guy his own place on the list because it’s the son of a megachurch pastor who’s affiliated with batshit anti-LGBTQ+ Indiana Lt. Gov. and fellow megachurch pastor Micah Beckwith — the list is mostly reserved for spiritual leaders themselves who abuse kids — but here’s a headline for you: Son Of MAGA Megachurch Pastor Arrested On Child Porn Charges, Father Works With Anti-LGBTQ Indiana Lt Gov.

(Yes, I know I gave the SON of the Covenant Eyes founder a spot. Hey, at least I’m inconsistent! Also, that hypocrisy was just too fucking delicious.)

Plus:

Update on #16, Ryan McElrath sentenced to 24 years for child rape and other crimes.

Update on #22, Mike Bickle. Here’s a headline for you: ‘Deep Delusion’ and ‘Blasphemy’: Survivors of Mike Bickle’s Alleged Sexual Abuse Condemn His Sister’s Attempt to Discredit Them

Update on #51, Anthony Dusso only got probation for his child porn possession after pleading guilty.

Update on #84, Shaun Hertlein has pleaded guilty on his child porn charges, sentenced to two years in prison.

Update on #111, Albert Wharton, age 88, has been sentenced to eight years for his child sex crimes. So I guess that’s “life.”

Fuck.

Back to our normally scheduled programming next week!

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