Southern Baptist church Selects Confessed Sex Offender as Trustee

Warren Community Church of Somerville, Tennessee announced in their March newsletter that Paul Williams has been selected as a Trustee.

Williams was the associate pastor at the center of the clergy child molestation controversy at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN back in 2006-2007.  See the timeline w/ links of that controversy here.

Bellevue’s investigation found: “”Paul Williams engaged in egregious, perverse, sexual activity with his adolescent son over a period of 12 to 18 months.”

Williams was finally fired on January 22, 2007.  The controversy was chronicled in many newspapers across the nation and covered by all the major religion news outlets.

Now, just four years later, Williams is serving again in a church leadership role – this time as Trustee at a church less than 30 miles away from Bellevue.  The church newsletter announcement even emphasizes Williams long “ministry” with children including his work with kids in Albania.

Warren Community Church is led by senior pastor Dr. Kenneth Culver.  Culver is a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Luther Rice Theological Semianry.  He has pastored several Southern Baptist churches since the late 1970s in Tennessee.

In 2002, Culver and his wife planted Warren Community Church (apparently named after Rick Warren).  Warren Community Church describes itself as a “Purpose Driven Church.”  Warren Community Church is listed as a member of the Fayette Baptist Association.

For more, see “The Malignancy of Baptist Oblivion to Clergy Sex Abuse” by Christa Brown of Stop Baptist Predators.  Be sure to read the comments.