Willy Rice says longtime church deacon committed sexual sin that could be seen as ‘abusive.’
Report: Alleged ‘abusive’ deacon groomed girl before the student turned 18.
Late Friday news dump is Washington tactic for burying bad news.
The race for President of the Southern Baptist Convention was rocked by a Friday afternoon news dump by the SBC Insider candidate Willy Rice. The video dropped as a message to Calvary Baptist Church of Tampa, Florida, and revealed that one of the church’s deacons many years ago committed a sexual sin. A sin Rice defined as something possibly abusive. Rice said the sin was not a crime.
“Last week a pastor in another state contacted me with information about one of our deacons involving a sinful act that took place many years ago in his past before he was at Calvary,” Rice said. “It is important in a situation like this that we handle things decisively and transparently, so that you know exactly how we have responded. It is also very possible that in light of our involvement in SBC life that this information could be made more public in the near future, and we wanted you to be prepared for that.”
Let me parse this for you: We got caught not Caring Well and multiple people were working on this story.
In fact, someone probably called for comment since Rice telegraphs “could be made more public in the near future.” This seems a more plausible reason for disclosure than a pastoral call from out of state–though, no doubt that happened.
The video is an attempt to get in front of the story that was coming.
Back to Rice.
“Many years ago, a member of our deacon body committed a sexual sin that could also be described as abusive,” Willy Rice said. “I want to be careful here…it did not involve criminal charges and has never been identified by law as a sexual offender. Nevertheless, it was a terrible sin and it devastated people’s lives.”
The specifics of the sin? Well, reportedly, this is the story. A Tampa area teacher admitted to sex with an 18-year-old student.
Oh, and reportedly, the 27-year-old “deeply religious” teacher began chasing the girl before her 18th birthday.
According to one report, “But the mother described Ford as an older man who began pursuing her daughter before the girl’s 18th birthday.”
According to the mom, the teacher called the girl “night after night.”
And the mom went further revealing just what the relationship took from the young woman.
According to the news report the mom said, “What a way to lose your virginity.”
And it looks like Rice and the church knew all about this story when they made the person a deacon. Rice said the man’s testimony shows that after the event he repented and had a conversion experience validated by baptism and fruits of the Spirit. Years later, the man started attending Calvary.
“He did not hide his story,” Rice said. “It was a part of his testimony, and it was a story of God’s amazing grace. Because of our brother’s past, we did not allow him to serve in our ministry to children or students, but he did become involved in other areas of our church life.”
In other words, the church leadership knew.
And unless Rice was confronted by some “out-of-state preacher” and the possibility that this would soon be disclosed in the press, this video would not have been made.
So, in desperation Rice and his campaign team released this video.
Late Friday news dumps are how scandal-plagued Washington politicians attempt to bury a news story in the weekend news cycle.
It rarely works.
Especially when the story involves a Leftist political point—such as sex abuse in the church.
And what looks like grooming.
Caring Well? Not so much.