In January 2025, a pastor at a North Texas church was arrested on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a young child.
The charges relate to allegations that the pastor sexually abused a child younger than 14 years old more than once during a 30-day period. This arrest marks the second instance of a North Texas pastor facing abuse allegations within the same month.
Earlier in January, a pastor at a church in Frisco was fired after admitting to inappropriate contact with a minor when he was a volunteer youth leader at a previous church. His admission came after he was unexpectedly confronted about the past incidents, which occurred ten years ago. No criminal charges have been filed against him, but the church leadership emphasized their commitment to supporting and advocating for victims of abuse.
Commentary
Two allegations of child sexual abuse against two different pastors in one state in the same vicinity illustrates the risk presented to religious and other organizations that work with children, especially when allegations are made against spiritual leadership.
According to the above source, one of the organizations stated they were "committed to supporting and advocating for the victims of abuse". That is a worthy statement; however, it is also important to prevent child sex crimes and that means creating and maintaining a child safe environment. The foundation for every child safe environment is training of adults to identify and report their reasonable suspicions of a child sex crime.
As a registered organization of mycommunityworkplace, your organization has access to child safe environment training at no cost with unlimited users. For more information on how to access this valuable, but free resource, please select the Contact Us link.
