Darrell Gilyard to Be Released Wednesday - A Sad Story of the Failure of Church Leaders to Warn Unsuspecting Church Members of a Deviant "Man of God"

I noticed earlier this month that Tiffany Croft posted on her blog the soon release of Darrell Gilyard, former pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. The Florida Department of Corrections website lists Gilyard's current release date as "12/28/11".

Gilyard plead guilty in 2009 of molesting a 15-year old girl whose parents brought her to him for pastoral counseling, and he plead guilty of sending a lewd text message to another teenager. He was sentenced to three years of prison, and for life will be registered as a sexual predator.

Sad thing is, there was ample warning of Gilyard's predatory sexual appetite long before this molestation in Jacksonville occurred, but church leaders failed to take appropriate actions to warn unsuspecting church members who would never imagined that their "man of God" was a man who used his position as pastor over and over to have sex with women in his churches for years.

This entire saga of Darrell Gilyard, dating back to the 1980's, is a case study on how blogs are necessary to alert people of what is going on in churches, even how blogs can be used to bring justice to men like Darrell Gilyard. And now we will hopefully see blogs keep alerting people to the dangers of Gilyard once he is out of prison.

The Gilyard saga is also a clear example of how church leaders, even denominational leaders and seminary leaders cannot be trusted to do the right thing when allegations arise against "men of God" pastors.

Consider the following recap of events about Darrell Gilyard:

- Gilyard came to the Southern Baptist scene way back in the 1980s at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville. Gilyard was mentored by Jerry Vines and Gilyard preached multiple times at FBC Jax, telling his phony story of growing up homeless and living under a bridge. It was all a made-up story, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle back in 1991. Yes, a new preacher brought into the limelight at FBC Jax by Jerry Vines with a phony story about his past - sound familiar?

- Gilyard had a history of sexual misconduct (to put it mildly) in Texas in the 1980s and 1990s. Gilyard attended Criswell College where Paige Patterson was president at the time, and multiple women reported Gilyard's abuse to Paige Patterson with little effect until Gilyard himself admitted to Patterson that he committed adultery. Gilyard even tried to seduce a young member from First Baptist Church of Jacksonville in 1991 during a youth revival tour.

- Paige Patterson knew that Gilyard had confessed to having sexual relations with multiple women who had come to Gilyard for counseling. At my blog here I posted a 1991 article from the Austin American Statesman newspaper that told the entire saga. Probably one of the best articles on Gilyard's past and his relationships with Patterson and Vines is here.

- Perhaps Gilyard's first signs of being a sexual predator were the accusations made against him at Concord Missionary Baptist Church in south Dallas where Gilyard was an associate pastor during his time at Criswell College. Read this Dallas Morning News article about these allegations, and how Paige Patterson did not believe the accusations made against Gilyard by 25 women - some of which were allegations of rape and sexual assault. Tiffany Croft has an article on this where she posted the story of a student who was at Criswell at the time.

- After Gilyard left Concord he became pastor at Victory Baptist Church in Texas. After Gilyard resigned in disgrace from Victory Baptist Church in 1991 over his sexual relations with women in the church, unbelievably, Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church - located about a mile from FBC Jacksonville - hired Gilyard to be their pastor in 1993! Members had no idea their new pastor was a sexual deviant who used his position as pastor and counselor to have sex with women. Did Paige Patterson and Jerry Vines do anything to alert the church members of Gilyard's past, or was it all just "under the blood"? We don't know, they won't say - but it seems to me that prominent men like Vines and Patterson had it within their power to speak publicly of the prior misconduct of Gilyard in Texas.

- There was one bright spot in the Gilyard saga: a local Jacksonville pastor by the name of George Harvey, Jr. DID try to alert Shiloh deacons and members of Gilyard's past. All it got him was the deacons calling him nuts, and a meeting with the State Attorney's office and two Shiloh deacons to get him to stop his efforts. So no one can say that Shiloh's leadership was not alerted about Gilyard's past - but they chose to look the other way because Gilyard was such a talented orator and he could bring members and money to the church. Apparently no safeguards were put in place to prevent Gilyard's access to women in the church.

- As reported by the Times Union, Shiloh Baptist settled a lawsuit in 1996 over allegations of sexual misconduct, and then in 2004 they settled yet another lawsuit over allegations of rape during a counseling session. Still, it seems as though church members were not warned of Gilyard's sexual deviancy.

- Gilyard grew Shiloh Baptist. They built a new worship center. He was bringing in the bacon for sure at Shiloh. I was always amazed to see Gilyard on local TV during his Shiloh years, as I had heard of some of the allegations against Gilyard in Texas. I assumed that people in Jax knew, and that certainly his church members must have known. He was one talented preacher, as we were members at FBC Jax in the late 1980s when he emerged on the scene. His preaching style nearly matched Jerry Vines', in fact Gilyard himself and Vines had joked that Gilyard was the "black version of Jerry Vines."

- Jerry Vines retired from FBC Jax in February 2006, and it didn't take long for Vines to visit Shiloh and preach in Gilyard's pulpit despite his knowledge of Gilyard's past. Apparently Vines bought Gilyard's story that he had been healed of his sexual problems.

- Then, in December 2007 the latest allegations that sent Gilyard to prison surfaced. Tiffany Croft, who was the teenager at FBC Jax who Gilyard tried to seduce in 1991, started her blog focusing on Gilyard to help and encourage Gilyard's victims to come forward. Her blog was a source of tips for the State Attorney's office during their investigation, and they very much appreciated her blog.

- I blogged about the Gilyard story in December 2007 right after the initial allegations surfaced, posting several old news articles from the early 1990's asking the question "You're Telling Me Nobody Knew?". I was honestly surprised that people in Jacksonville did not know of Gilyard's past, not even the reporters who first reported the allegations. Times Union reporter Jim Schoettler emailed me at the Watchdog account about the source of these articles that I posted.

- Strangely enough there is even an element of this story crossing over into the FBC Jax Watchdog controversy of the past few years. In early April 2009 I discovered that FBC Jax deacon and discipline committee member, and Jacksonville Sheriff's Office detective Robert Hinson pulled subpoenas on my blog, Tiffany's blog, and the Bellevue Baptist blog during his "investigation" to find my identity. Hinson's testimony was that he pulled the subpoena on my blog and two that were hyperlinked on my site - of which there were 20 or so - quite interesting that the three blogs of many that he subpoenaed were three that were critical of prominent Baptist pastors. Hinson subpoenaed Tiffany's information from Google, but in his deposition he said he realized he made a mistake in subpoenaing her blog after he realized after-the-fact that Tiffany was the daughter of a long-time member at FBC Jax. But he said the subpoena was already sent, and that he destroyed all of her information received from Google upon receipt.

So now Gilyard will be getting out of jail. He will be a registered sex offender for life, and will be on three years of sex offender probation. He will not be allowed to live within 1000 feet or work at a school, or any other location that children regularly gather. He will not be able to have unsupervised contact with any children, and will be subject to electronic monitoring.

Let's hope that finally the legal system will have done what Baptist leaders could not or would not do: keep Darrell Gilyard away from women and children. Let's hope that this blog, Tiffany Croft's blog, and other blogs, along with the Florida Sex Offender database will warn people of the dangers of Darrell Gilyard. It would not be surprising to see him in a pulpit preaching very soon.

And let's hope the next time that a Darrell Gilyard or Bob Gray surfaces in Jacksonville, blogs will be used to spread the word even when the church leaders try to cover it up.

Vines and Lifeway's B&H Publishing Group Have Some Explaining to Do on Vines' Gilyard Chapter

As I promised last week, this is the follow up post on Jerry Vines' newly released autobiography "My Life and Ministry", in particular the section in which Jerry Vines addresses the Darrell Gilyard saga.

Let me say up front that I DID try to reach out to Jerry Vines to get his side and get some of my questions answered. I do not have his phone number but I did send an email at the Contact page of his website, asking for him to call me about the Darrell Gilyard section of his book. I left my phone and email, but as of the date of this blog post, I have heard nothing from Jerry Vines.

Jerry Vines and his publisher, B&H Publishing Group - a division of the SBC's LifeWay Christian Resources - have some serious explaining to do on why Vines' book is not truthful on a pivotal aspect of Vines involvement in the Darrell Gilyard saga: the attempted attack by Gilyard on one of Vines' own teenage church members back in 1991.

Here is the excerpt from Vines' book (with my emphases) that I'm going to address:

"There were rumors [about Gilyard]. Accusations of moral improprieties began to surface. All of them were denied by Darrell. Dr. Patterson checked them out as best he could. There were inconsistencies and contradictions in the stories. Some were made by church members who had moral failings themselves. One accuser was a member of the KKK. As it turns out, all the rumors were true. A young person in our FBC, Jacksonville church met with me about a matter of impropriety as well. I didn't understand it to go beyond some flirtation. They were both single at the time. Perhaps I misunderstood."

That "young person" Vines refers to is Tiffany Thigpen Croft, a high school senior who Gilyard attacked in 1991 while Gilyard was the traveling evangelist for the high school choir and orchestra of Vines' church during the spring of 1991.

Did you get that? Darrell Gilyard was supposed to be the "man of God" to give spiritual teachings to Tiffany and her fellow high school students, but instead Gilyard used the privilege - after grooming Tiffany for a period of time prior to that - to attempt a sexual attack on Tiffany. Thankfully Tiffany escaped, and she was able to report the attack to her parents.

And Tiffany reported it to her pastor, Jerry Vines.

Now let's go back and look at the last sentence again:

"...A young person in our FBC Jacksonville church met with me about a matter of impropriety as well. I didn't understand it to go beyond some flirtation. They were both single at the time. Perhaps I misunderstood."

There is almost nothing in that sentence that is true. To characterize Gilyard's attack on Tiffany as a "flirtation" is an insult to Tiffany and her parents, and every other young woman who has been victimized by an abusive pastor - especially the multitudes that were victimized by Gilyard. When most people use the word "flirtation" or "flirt", it is in the context of a female "flirting" with a man - this seems as a direct attempt to imply that Tiffany's own actions invited or in some measure caused Gilyard's attack.

Vines says "Perhaps I misunderstood". How could he have misunderstood, past tense? Tiffany was brave enough to report the details of the attack to her parents and to Vines immediately after it occurred. And according to this 1991 Dallas Morning News article, Paige Patterson and presumably Vines, knew of multiple allegations of Gilyard's sexual improprieties with young women all the way back to 1987! Let that sink in!!  The obvious question Vines should have answered in his bio: why on earth was Gilyard given the opportunity to be around his high schoolers in 1991 when Vines and Patterson knew of allegations against Gilyard all the way in 1987? To say "perhaps I misunderstood" and that he thought Gilyard's attack on Tiffany was a "flirtation" defies common sense and is just not believable.

Also in the excerpt above, Vines claims "...they [Tiffany and Gilyard] were both single at the time.". A very clever way to characterize the situation to make it appear as though Tiffany and Gilyard were very close in age, or peers, or mutually consenting young adults.That could not be further from the truth. Of course Tiffany was single - as are 99.99% of HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS, Jerry!!! But Gilyard absolutely was NOT single at the time. He was married with at least one child. Why didn't Vines write something like, "...the young person was only a high school senior, and Darrell was a married 29-year old very influential pastor?"  Not that it matters if Gilyard was married - an attack on a teenager is an attack on a teenager - but why would Vines and his editor at B&H get this fact wrong in his book and leave out the important fact of Tiffany being a teenage high school student, and Gilyard a predatory preacher with prior allegations, preying on a very young woman who looked up to Gilyard? Are we to believe Vines and B&H Publishing were so careless that they didn't fact check this? And even more disturbing: why did Vines not call Tiffany or her parents BEFORE publishing? How about the courtesy of a phone call to Tiffany to let her know what's coming out, and to make sure Vines has his facts straight?  Where was the B&H editor? Or perhaps this was Vines' attempt to minimize the validity of Tiffany's claim and the seriousness of the incident now 23 years later?

Perhaps the explanation for Vines' misrepresentation of Tiffany's encounter with Gilyard in 1991 is so Vines can partially deflect the criticism he has taken since Gilyard's arrest in 2008, for choosing to go and preach at Gilyard's church twice after he retired in 2006. I and others have been very critical of Vines for not using his influence and raising the warning flag here in Jacksonville when Gilyard came to pastor Shiloh Baptist in 1993, and I have been critical of Vines' decision to preach at Gilyard's church knowing Gilyard had attacked one of his own teenage church members. I've often wondered if Vines' preaching at Gilyard's church in 2006-2007 affirmed Gilyard, giving him a renewed sense of power, and thus more opportunity to attack young people at Shiloh. But I guess that doesn't matter, because as Vines says "There were 35 professions of faith the first time..." he preached at Gilyard's church.

One of the questions I have: did Vines have a legal, or at least a moral duty to report this incident to the authorities? That is an answer I would have liked to ask Vines if he had called me. As Tiffany will explain in her own words very soon, Gilyard began the "grooming" process of Tiffany when she was 17. What obligation did Vines have as a minister to report this attack? Did Vines report this attack to Homer Lindsay? Did Homer Lindsay know of the prior allegations of Gilyards abuse? I think not.  Those who knew Homer would agree that Homer would never allow Gilyard within 10 miles of high schoolers with multiple allegations of sexual abuse. But maybe Vines will tell us himself.

So while Vines writes his book to make himself and Paige Patterson look like heroes who did everything in their power to stop Gilyard - the truth is the real hero in this ugly saga was Tiffany Croft. Paige Patterson was for SURE not a hero. As I said above, Patterson knew of multiple allegations of Gilyard's sexual improprieties in Dallas dating all the way back to 1987. It is safe to assume Vines knew of these as well - being a close friend of Patterson and the one who recommended Gilyard to attend Patterson's Criswell College - yet Vines now claims in 1991 he thought Gilyard's attack on Tiffany was a "flirtation".

No, the hero was Tiffany, not Jerry Vines or Paige Patterson. Let me explain why Tiffany was the hero.

What was not put in Vines' chapter on Gilyard is that "young person" - Tiffany Croft herself - played an important role in 2008 in putting Gilyard behind bars. Seventeen years after Gilyard's attack, when Gilyard was charged with sex crimes against minors at Shiloh Baptist Church, Tiffany started a blog "Let's Stop Darrell Gilyard Together", to encourage Gilyard's victims to come forward to testify and help put Gilyard in jail. Gilyard was a powerful man in Jacksonville. He was a member of the Mayor's anti-crime task force. Many of his church members were people of influence and were thought to be exerting pressure on victims' families to not follow through with talking to the police.  But Tiffany told her story to, and worked with the Jacksonville Sherriff's Office and the State Attorney's Office to gather information that could be used to help prosecute Gilyard. Gilyard was successfully prosecuted and spent several years in jail for having sex with minors in his church.

At the time Tiffany was writing her blog back in 2008, many people accused Tiffany of attacking God's man, of stirring up trouble and "dissension" with her blog. There were many very hateful comments directed to her on her blog by local church members meant to shame and intimidate her into silence. Then, imagine Tiffany's shock to find out that Detective Robert A. Hinson of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office - one of Vines' long-time church members - requested a subpoena from the State Attorney's office to force Google to give him information about Tiffany's blog, at the same time Hinson was "investigating" my blog to uncover my identity. Tiffany ignored all the pressure and criticism and did what she knew to be right, as I wrote about here.

So the part of the story where Tiffany used her blog to put Gilyard away didn't make it in Vines' book. But Vines did have something to say in his autobiography about blogs in general:

"I don't care for blogs too much. A lot of negative blogging brings an ugliness to the Christian community. I suppose it is like every other form of communication; you can use it for positive or negative purposes. I just see it abused so often, I guess."

Well, maybe so. But at least one blog - Tiffany's blog - was used for a positive purpose: helping send Darrell Gilyard to jail. Too bad blogs weren't around in the late 1980s when Gilyard started his abuses, as word would have reached Tiffany in 1991, and the parents of the minors Gilyard abused in 2007, and Gilyard's dastardly deeds could have been prevented. Blogs and free-flowing information via social media can do what cowardly "men of God" too often refuse to do: protect people from predatory pastors.

Did I just say that? You better believe I did.

And this blog is being used for a "positive purpose" today, Jerry: to set the record straight on Gilyard.

I'm assuming Vines, even more so now, still does not care for blogs too much.

And when Tiffany tells her entire story in her own words - which is coming soon - I imagine Vines will like blogs even less than he does now.

Ken Amaro and First Coast News Soft-Peddles the Gilyard Pedophile Preacher Story, Putting Women and Children in Our Community at Risk

"Shame on Ken Amaro. He is a journalist. He should report crimes of pastors in a completely accurate manner. For not being completely truthful about the two charges against Gilyard (failing to mention one of them was molestation), First Coast News should issue a correction and an apology to the victims of Darrell Gilyard for Amaro's mis-characterization of Gilyard's crimes." FBC Jax Watchdog

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One of the reasons I and others blog in the Christian community is that pastors and churches do a very poor job of policing themselves. Pastors do a VERY bad job of reporting the bad behavior of their cohorts - and are willing to "let God handle" an abusive pastor rather than using their influence to warn people about a misbehaving pastor.

Thus, blogs like this one serve a valuable service - we help to inform Christians of misbehaving and abusive pastors and churches. We shine a light that no one else dares to shine to inform and protect.

One thing I don't ever expect: is local news media to actually help protect and promote misbehaving pastors by telling half-truths.

So you can imagine my disappointment last night when I saw a very slanted and biased short TV story by Ken "I'm on Your Side" Amaro on First Coast News, Jacksonville's NBC/ABC local news station, on the plight of Darrell Gilyard. I've hyperlinked it at the bottom of this article so you can see what slanted journalism looks like. Tiffany Thigpen - one of Darrell Gilyard's victims who Gilyard attacked back in 1991- has already put up a scathing blog post on Amaro's "puff piece" on Gilyard. Go read Tiffany's excellent analysis here. Tiffany knows what she's talking about.

Here are the "puff points" on Amaro's story that only tell the half-truth about Gilyard, and in my view will serve to garner sympathy for Gilyard and help him build more followers, and more potential victims:

- Gilyard Did Not "Fall from Grace":  Gilyard did not just "fall from grace" as Amaro's title suggests. Gilyard was a serial abuser over decades. He abused women and children, Ken. And his "fall" was not at Shiloh, Ken. It started in the 1980s when he abused women at Victory Baptist in Richardson, Texas. Before that he abused women at Concorde Missionary Baptist Church in Texas.  Read of Gilyard's Texas abuses in the 1980s and 1990s here in this Dallas Morning News article. He physically attacked Tiffany Thigpen in 1991 here in Jacksonville. There was no "fall" - he actually BEGAN his ministry by lying to Jerry Vines and Homer Lindsay, claiming he grew up homeless under a bridge. That was a documented lie confirmed by Gilyard's relatives, that you can read about here. He lied to start his ministry, he then abused women in Texas and Florida, vowing to change but did not. Amaro left that out of his story. Why?

- Amaro lied about Gilyard's charges, left off the ages of his victims, didn't mention "Molestation": Here is what Amaro says in his piece:

"Gilyard plead guilty to two charges of lewd and lascivious conduct and was designated a sex offender". Ken Amaro

That is false and deceiving. Ken Amaro apparently decided to mis-characterize the charges. One charge WAS "lewd and lascivious conduct, victim under 16 years old".

But the 2nd charge was more serious: it was "lewd and lascivious molestation, victim 12-15 years."

Here are the charges from the FDLE website profile for Gilyard:

Why did Amaro not say that his two counts of lascivious behavior were of underage girls? Why did not Amaro admit that one of Gilyard's charges was MOLESTATION of a girl 12-15. I didn't hear the word "molestation" by Amaro. Why? Gilyard is a MOLESTER of young girls, Ken Amaro. He is known nationwide as the "Pedophile Preacher", as HL network reported just a week ago.

Shame on Ken Amaro. He is a journalist. He should report crimes of pastors in a completely accurate manner. For not being completely truthful about the two charges against Gilyard (failing to mention one of them was molestation), First Coast News should issue a correction and an apology to the victims of Darrell Gilyard for Amaro's mis-characterization of Gilyard's crimes.

- Amaro Characterizes Social Media and Community Protests Against Gilyard as "Ugly". An "ugly" protest is one that might be unfair, or "over the top", or maybe violent. That is not true, Ken. The intense social media and community outcry against Gilyard - a convicted child molester - being allowed to pastor again in our community was appropriate. Not ugly. Your mischaracterization of Gilyard's plight in this story is what is ugly. This slanted piece of journalism will put more women and children at risk in our community.

- Gilyard Wanted Vines to Not Mention His Past in Vines' Autobiography: Poor Darrell. Jerry Vines mentioned his decades of abuse in churches in Texas and Florida in his autobiography. What is Ken Amaro trying to accomplish that is newsworthy in this? That the convicted child molester doesn't want Jerry Vines to mention his abuse in his book? The reason Gilyard is in Vines' autobiography is that Vines was the guy who put Gilyard on the map back in the 1980s. It is a HUGE stain in Vines' legacy, and worthy of mention in his autobiography. Sorry, Darrell, but the problem is not one pastor mentioning you in his book, the problem is the thousands of pastors in this city that have remained silent and not called you out.

- Gilyard claims that social media criticism is "outdated and untrue": Why is Ken Amaro allowing Gilyard to lie to our community? What social media criticism is "outdated"? Is this Dallas Morning News article "social media"? Is it "outdated"? Does he mean the hundreds of women he abused in Texas back in the 1980s and 1990s - it was so long ago that we shouldn't consider it today? Or maybe the attack on Tiffany Thigpen here in Jacksonville in 1991 is so long ago, that it is "outdated"? Ken Amaro, you and First Coast News owe the victims of Darrell Gilyard an apology.

- Gilyard claims he is a "leper of society. and has paid his debt to society": OK, he is a leper in that he has been branded as a "molester", and rightfully so. But the only debt that Gilyard paid for was his molestation of a 12-15 year old, and his lewd and lascivious conduct on a 16 year old. He has NOT paid a debt for his abuse of women in Texas and Florida and the lives he has destroyed. He has paid for TWO of the hundreds of women he has harmed.

And finally, Amaro quotes Gilyard:

"Of course I believe I've changed. But time will tell everyone that I have changed". Darrel Gilyard

The flaw in this logic, Ken Amaro, is that time has told us that Gilyard will NOT change. He started abusing women in the 1980s. He continued in the 1990s. He finally was arrested for his abuse when it was with girls in the 2000's.

Three decades of abuse, this tells us it is very likely that he will not change. Dr. Judy Ho said so in her commentary on the Gilyard case two weeks ago on the HLN network. These urges Gilyard has don't just go away.

And your puff piece, Ken Amaro, makes more abuse at the hands of Gilyard even more likely, as you soft-peddled his abuses.

Sad thing is, where are the pastors? Why are not the pastors in this city speaking up against the travesty of a convicted child molester pastoring a Baptist church, and a judge giving Gilyard access again to children?

Where is the outrage? Apparently not at First Coast News, nor in the pulpits of Jacksonville.

Thanks, Ken, but you were definitely "not on our side" on this one.

Where's the Outrage in Jacksonville? Judge Modifies Pedophile Preacher Darrell Gilyard's Probation - Allows Him to "Minister" to Children Again

Where are all the religious "men of God" in Jacksonville when we need them to speak out?

A judge here in my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, has agreed to modify the terms of Darrell Gilyard's probation to once again allow him access to children, to "minister to children" - so long as the children are in the presence of another adult. Read Bob Allen's coverage of the story here.

Gilyard is the "pedophile preacher" who plead guilty in 2009 to lewd and lascivious acts, including molestation of a 12-15 year old, with two girls in his church at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church. He spent three years in jail, and when he got out of the slammer, he was hired by Christ Missionary Baptist Tabernacle as their preacher man. But the kiddos weren't allowed in his presence because he is a sexual predator. The man is a registered sex offender in our state. Click here to see his registration with the FDLE.

But now a judge has agreed to allow him access to kids once again. And apparently the State Attorney's office - that would be Angela Corey's office - didn't object to the modification. This is absolutely insane, because the adults who will be supervising Gilyard's access to potential child victims, are adults who themselves don't have enough sense to not subject THEMSELVES to Gilyard's manipulation - manipulation and abuse of adult women that that he has admitted to in other churches in Texas.

Where is the outrage? Where are the pastors protesting this or even just speaking out against Gilyard having access to children? Pastors love to use their pulpits to rail against all sorts of social issues - the social issues that are red meat to their conservative congregations  - but why the silence about one of their own who still wants access to young girls to "minister" to them? We know - it is the same reason that very few pastors dare to speak out against Ergun Caner. Let's see, who is the man who promoted both Caner and Gilyard by giving both men access to his pulpit? Yes, Jerry Vines. That might be why there is so much silence, especially amongst the Baptists. Jerry might lose his stained glass window at SWBTS if pastors talk too much about Gilyard.

Kudos to Tim Pullium and News4Jax.com in covering this story. I don't see anywhere else in our local media where this probation modification was covered.

Gilyard has a history of abusing church members - children AND adults - as Bob Allen reminds in his coverage - dating all the way back to the 1980s. Read my summary from December 2011. Gilyard was even accused of rape of a church member in Texas. To now give Gilyard access to kids, supervised by adults who themselves don't have the sense themselves not to subject their minds to the manipulation of Gilyard - is to make them sitting ducks for more abuse by this master manipulator named Darrell Gilyard. It is just a matter of time, it will happen again.

Here is perhaps the saddest part of the Tim Pulliam piece. A woman who  who was interviewed by Tim Pulliam, when asked about Gilyard being allowed access to children, a woman doesn't have a problem with Gilyard having access to her kids:

"I'm a mom, but first I'm a child of God. And I feel like he will change. And I feel like ultimately he has to deal with God for that."

Yeah. Being a faithful child of God comes before motherly duties. Let go and let God. Let go and let Gilyard. Gilyard's followers are willing to sacrifice the safety of their kids and let a sexual predator have access to their ears and minds. That is all a predator needs. Access. And now Gilyard has the open door he needs.

Oh, there was one pastor who did speak up on this issue. Pastor Fred Wallace said:

"Moses, he was a murderer. And yet when he got out, God called him, and told him 'I want you now go and tell the Pharaoh to let my people go.'"

Yes, Darrell Gilyard, he's so much like the prophet Moses.

God called Moses to lead the people out of Egypt.

And God apparently is "calling" Gilyard to minister to little boys and girls once again.

And the hundreds and thousands of "Men of God" in Jacksonville remain silent as Gilyard gets access to more and more potential victims.

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More reading on Darrell Gilyard is available below. Watchdog has been covering the Gilyard saga since December 2007, so read these articles for more than what you just read about in the media reports:

Gilyard Stays on Paid Leave - Dec 2007

Gilyard's Past - You're Telling Me Nobody Knew??

Gilyard's Text Messages and Sexual Encounters

One Bright Spot in the Gilyard Story

Gilyard's Ugly Past

Preaching Pedophile is Back in the Pulpit

Jax Baptist Association Issues Gilyard Statement

One Bright Spot in the Gilyard Story

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UPDATE: For one of the most complete articles thus far on Gilyard's pre-Jacksonville sexual issues, visit this site.

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The Darrell Gilyard story is likely going to get very ugly. There are allegations of sexually explicit text messages sent to at least one teenager. There may be a list of "sexual encounters" between Gilyard and a member of the church. There will be questions asked like "why was the congregation not warned of Gilyard's ugly past?" and "who knew but kept it quiet"?

But in all this ugliness, there is already one bright spot. His name is Pastor George Harvey, Jr.

First however, a recap:

I have already on this blog shown the news articles from July 1991 stating that, according to Paige Patterson, currently the President of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Darrell Gilyard admitted to having sexual relations with women who came to him for pastoral counseling at Victory Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas. Click here to read the news articles from 1991 explaining how Gilyard not only was a confessed-adulterer in Texas, but that he repeatedly lied about his upbringing and how he "lived under a bridge" during his teen years.

At the time of the allegations in Texas, Paige Patterson was the president of Criswell College in Dallas, and Patterson was advising Gilyard after the allegations of sexual improprieties at several of Gilyard's churches became public.

Said Patterson at the time: "Darrell needs counseling to try to gain restoration with God and his family. I think it is inappropriate for a person who has had this type of thing happen to him to be in the pastorate." (poor choice of words..."had this type of thing happen to him"...as though poor Darrell was the victim of some women in the church).

The question has to be asked: How in the world did Darrell Gilyard gain a position as pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church after these allegations - after he had, according to Patterson, ADMITTED to having sexual relations with women he was counseling? Perhaps when Patterson comes to Jacksonville in February for the FBC Jacksonville Pastor's Conference the press will talk to Patterson to see what steps he took to warn the Shiloh congregation about Gilyard's adulterous past - and if in Patterson's opinion Gilyard ever got the "counseling" needed. EthicsDaily.com has written an article that chronicles Gilyard's early days and how Vines and Patterson assisted the young Gilyard.

Now for the one bright spot in this so-far sordid tale.

According to local pastor George Harvey, Jr. of the Mt. Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1993 Pastor Harvey DID try to tell Darrell Gilyard he was unfit for the position of pastor. Harvey reports that his attempts to confront Gilyard and warn the church were met with a grievance filed by the several deacons against Harvey.

Here is Pastor Harvey's post on this blog dated 12/25:

"In April, 1993, I prayerfully confronted Gilyard at Shiloh and told him that he was Biblically disqualified from pastoring due to his divorce in Texas and because of all of the improprieties with women out there -- in that short meeting, he literally ran through the auditorium to get away from the rebukes. I followed with a letter outlining the reasons for disqualification. Within a week, two of his Deacons met with me -- Deacon Herman Sykes told me that I was nuts and Deacon Copeland said, "We don't care what he's done, as long as he wins souls". Both Deacons subsequently filed a complaint against me with the State Attorney's office because of my tenacious rebuke of Gilyard's evils. "

Wow - how refreshing it is to actually hear of a pastor who is not afraid to call out a pastor who has done something wrong and may present a danger to God's people! What an absolute contrast Pastor Harvey is to Tom Messer, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church - Messer admitted recently that he knew Bob Gray lied to his congregation in the early 1990's about the molestation charges - HOW MANY VICTIMS COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED FROM THE MONSTER BOB GRAY IF TOM MESSER WOULD HAVE HAD THE BACKBONE THAT PASTOR HARVEY HAD AND CALLED BOB GRAY OUT? We have seen so many stories of late where church leaders are covering for each other's failings while putting their congregations at risk: one need look no further than Tom Messer and Bob Gray, and Steve Gaines and Paul Williams (here and here) at Bellevue Baptist for examples of this.

Pastor Harvey continues:

"The Lord Jesus gave me victory at the SA (state attorney) mediation. The mediator asked the Deacons whether they had reviewed the documentation I had relative to Gilyard's Texas improprieties; they said "no". The mediator then gave both deacons copies and insisted that they take it home for review. Before concluding the meeting, the mediator only asked that I stop preaching about Gilyard's evils on WCGL radio -- the director of that station had censured me earlier for the Gilyard rebukes the same month. "

Pastor Harvey - you DID your responsibility as a pastor to protect the people of God, even at great personal risk and in the face of willful ignorance on the part of those deacons. You can have a clear conscience that you did your best to prevent further harm being done by Gilyard.

Unfortunately there are probably some that can't have that same clear conscience; men who KNEW of Gilyard's past but failed to warn unsuspecting women at Shiloh Baptist. We hope these men too will be held accountable if any of these most recent allegations turn out to be true about Gilyard.

Dr. Drew on HLN Does Segment on Darrell Gilyard - Watchdog Compares Dr. Judy Ho's and Dr. Jerry Vines' Analysis on Gilyard

Last night on the HLN Network show "Dr. Drew on Call", Dr. Drew did a segment on his show entitled "Pedophile Preacher", focusing on Darrell Gilyard and his new preaching gig here in Jacksonville at Christ Tabernacle Baptist Church. As I first blogged about here, Darrell Gilyard has been preaching here in Jacksonville since last year, even though he is a registered sex offender, and has been involved in sex scandals at multiple churches since the 1980s, including allegations of rape. The panelists did mention a judge's recent ruling in Jacksonville that allows Gilyard to once again "minister" to children as long as an adult is in his presence while he "ministers".

Yes, unbelievably, Gilyard can now "minister" to children, so long as another adult is present. Keep in mind, most of Gilyard's sexual offenses since the 1980s have been under the guise of "counseling" sessions. He now is one step closer to abusing women and children again. I would not be surprised if he's already started again.

Here is my article from May where I asked "Where's the Outrage?" Why are pastors in this town not expressing outrage over Gilyard once again having access to children?

It is so refreshing to watch these panelists on a national TV program express outrage publicly, on TV about Gilyard.

Yet where in Jacksonville, are any - just give me ONE SINGLE PASTOR - who has dared to stand publicly and call out Gilyard - by name - and his new church for putting women and children in our city on the Westside at great risk? Where are they? Not even ONE?

They won't. I guess these Jacksonville pastors are cowards.

One of the panelists on Dr. Drew's show was psychologist Dr. Judy Ho, who said the following:

"This is the thing about pedophilia. The urges don't usually change. These people don't change their sexual orientation and attraction to children. What treatment is focused on is trying to reduce their actions on these urges and to try to protect our children. So putting these kids in front of him all day long is like him in a candy store. Even if he went to the best treatment available, the treatments do not work on the urges, they work on conditioning techniques, like getting him to be more adverse to actually acting on it because he has to think about the consequences."

How refreshing to hear a psychologist with a Ph.D. with degrees from Cal-Berkely and a professor at Pepperdine, commenting on national TV about Gilyard and how dangerous he is. Gilyard STILL has these urges. He didn't repent and have them removed. God hasn't healed Gilyard. He has the urges still. Dr. Ho didn't temper her remarks about Gilyard being a "man of God", or how talented a speaker he is, or as Vines says in his autobio:

"He obviously was such a gifted speaker. On an occasion I asked him if he ever considered he might be called to preach....Homer and I were so thrilled....His remarkable abilities quickly manifested themselves."

Isn't that wonderful? Jerry and Homer were so thrilled Darrell was called to preach. Darrell had remarkable abilities. He was "called" by God himself to preach. Too bad Jerry and Homer were so thrilled that they didn't bother to check Gilyard's phony-baloney story of growing up homeless under a bridge. They could have talked to his mom or other relatives. I guess he was just so darned GIFTED - he HAD to be a true man of God, right?

And I'm going to contrast Dr. Ho's summary of Darrell Gilyard above and the danger he presents, with Vines' last statement in his autobiography about Gilyard. Vines is trying to explain how a gifted speaker could have been such an awful person.

"The soul and spirit are so close together only the Word of God can distinguish between the two. (Heb 4;12). Talents emanating from a man's soulish nature can easily be mistaken for spiritual power. I leave the whole matter to the Lord. He will make it clear to us one day."

The more I've thought about the Vines' section on Gilyard over the past few weeks, the more I've seen that this statement really says it all. It explains Vines' and other pastors' actions that allowed Gilyard to move from church to church.

That is religious gobbledy-gook that has no basis in reality. What does it mean the "soul and spirit" are so close together that only the Word of God can distinguish them? Do what? Vines couldn't distinguish what Gilyard was? Vines and Patterson had eye witness reports - multiple upon multiple reports all the way back on the 1980s- that Gilyard was a sexual deviant who used his power as a "man of God" to have sex and possibly even rape women. Yet Vines still brought Gilyard in to Jacksonville as an evangelist and to even have access to his high school students. Then Gilyard attacked Tiffany during one of his evangelistic visits to Jacksonville.

And is that really true what Vines say, that "talents" can easily be mistaken for spiritual power? Is he that gullible? That is more nonsense! Maybe that is true for Jerry Vines, the so-called "prince of preachers" that he thinks someone with speaking talent in a pulpit has spiritual power. But those of us who have our feet on the ground and don't have our heads in the clouds know that wonderful flowery speakers in the pulpit can be the most manipulative people on earth.

And Vines' last statement on Gilyard in his book: "I leave the whole matter to the Lord. He will make it clear to us one day."

No Jerry, the matter is not left to the Lord. It is left now to men like you and other pastors to stand up and call out this dangerous man and do everything in your power to warn people. It is left up to the law enforcement to monitor this monster and to throw him back in jail if he steps out of line. The Lord has left it up to deacons and church leaders to keep this creep as far away from their church and their women and children as possible, not INVITE him in. The Lord was looking for someone in 1991 like yourself, Jerry, to stop Gilyard. You and Patterson could have done much more to stop him - or at least not let him have access to your own high schoolers.

And maybe the Lord was looking for someone to speak the truth about what happened to Tiffany in 1991 in his autobiography - not to publish falsehoods. I can guarantee you one thing, Jerry - the Lord didn't find you, but in Tiffany he DOES have someone who will speak the truth.

And we don't need the Lord to make it clear to us one day, Jerry. We already know: there are monsters like Gilyard who use their status as a "man of God" to prey and devour people.

And another thing very clear to us about Gilyard: there are men who will not have the courage to stand up and put a stop to it.

Gilyard's Past: You're Telling Me Nobody Knew????

I find it very strange that people are shocked to hear about these allegations against Darrell Gilyard, pastor of the Shilo Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida.

I have no idea whether the current allegations of him sending sexually explicit text messages are true or not, but its just absolutely amazing to me that people in Jacksonville are shocked! But given the adultery allegations against him with women in his former Texas church that were well-reported in the 1990's, the new allegations don't surprise this writer one bit!!!

Long-time church members at FBC Jacksonville remember this very gifted preacher preaching here in Jacksonville in the 1980's. He claimed to have been born and raised on the streets in poverty, a homeless young person - FBC Jax members will remember his story of "living under a bridge" as a young person. But this turned out to be a lie, as Barbara Davis of Palatka, Florida testified that she raised Darrell from age 5 to 19 and that his story of living homeless under a bridge were made up. Then in 1991 the adultery allegations arose and he resigned as pastor of the Victory Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas.

Here is a newspaper article from the "Austin American Statesman" dated July 13, 1991:

RICHARDSON - A minister who resigned after admitting several adulterous relationships should stay out of the pulpit until he proves he's ready to practice what he preaches, a Southern Baptist leader said Friday.

Darrell Gilyard's once-rising star within Southern Baptist circles came crashing down this week, leaving yet another evangelist whose message was tainted by adultery.

Gilyard, a frequent guest on Jerry Falwell's weekly evangelical television program, has been described by several prominent ministers as one of the nation's most gifted religious orators.
But the 29-year-old preacher's future darkened when he announced his resignation during a midweek meeting at the Victory Baptist Church, one of the few integrated congregations within the mostly white Southern Baptist Convention.

"I offer you my resignation immediately without option," said Gilyard. "The only reason I stand before you now is because my love for this book supersedes my will."

Gilyard did not return messages left at his home Friday by The Associated Press.

Although Gilyard did not mention his reasons for leaving his church, a longtime supporter and friend, Dr. Paige Patterson, said Friday that Gilyard admitted having several adulterous affairs with women he was counseling.

Falwell said in statement released Friday that he has not spoken with Gilyard since his resignation.

"I am always deeply saddened to hear such allegations against any servant of God whether true or false," Falwell said. "The whole cause of Christ is always injured.

"Rev. Gilyard is the most gifted young preacher I know today and God has greatly used his message throughout this country."

Southern Baptist Convention officials said Gilyard was pressured to resign because of mounting complaints that he had behaved inappropriately toward women in both his own church and at least three other congregations.

Patterson, president of Criswell College and Gilyard's former teacher, said the complaints prompted an investigation.

"He has resigned from Victory Baptist Church, but I have been told by some that he may be having second thoughts about that," Patterson said. "Apparently some members of the church may want him to stay on."

But Patterson said it would be best for Gilyard, who is black, and the church if Gilyard does not return.

"Darrell needs counseling to try to gain restoration with God and his family," Patterson said. "I think it is inappropriate for a person who has had this type of thing happen to him to be in the pastorate.

When allegations of sexual misconduct cropped up against Gilyard four years ago, Patterson said he counseled the young minister, who is married. Patterson said he advised Gilyard to avoid meeting alone with women and to avoid lengthy personal counseling sessions that might breed gossip.

Here is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle dated July 29, 1991 about the fabrication of his "living on the streets":

A preacher who gained national prominence when the Rev. Jerry Falwell broadcast his "miracle story" of rising from homelessness in his teens actually had a comfortable upbringing, a newspaper said yesterday.

Darrell Gilyard has claimed he slept under a bridge from age 13 on. But the Dallas Morning News quoted a Florida woman who reared him as contradicting that story.

Gilyard, 29, denounced the newspaper article in a sermon yesterday.

Gilyard became one of the nation's most sought-after black Baptist evangelists after frequent appearances on Falwell's nationally televised "Old-Time Gospel Hour" but has fallen from favor recently.

Under pressure from Baptist leaders, he resigned from his Victory Baptist Church here on July 10. There were allegations that he had affairs with female members of the congregation.
He christened Grace Community Church less than two weeks later. Last week, he asked members of his new church to forgive him for the alleged affairs.

Falwell's show in January spotlighted Gilyard's more distant past -- including his claims of teenage homelessness -- in a segment called "The Darrell Gilyard Miracle Story."

But Barbara Davis, 65, of Palatka, Fla., who said she reared Gilyard from age 5 to 19, said he fabricated stories about his childhood.

"It was embarrassing," Davis told the newspaper. "People were calling me from all over and knew how I'd raised him."

Let's see what these new allegations are all about. Either way, its probably time that people in Jacksonville who are following this man know the truth about his past.

Shocker: Mac Brunson to Preach at Gilyard's Former Church, Shiloh Baptist in Jacksonville

Mac Brunson announced Sunday night that he will be preaching a revival service at Shiloh Baptist Metropolitan Church this coming Wednesday.

This is quite unfortunate. It is really beyond comprehension that Brunson is going to make the same mistake that Jerry Vines did in 2006.

You see, Shiloh is the church that hired Darrell Gilyard back in 1993 despite his known sexual predation in churches in Texas and Oklahoma. According to the Times Union, Shiloh has settled multiple lawsuits with victims of Gilyard on several occasions yet still allowed him to remain as pastor. One such lawsuit against Gilyard and Shiloh alleged Gilyard convinced a widow in 2004 to have sex with him during a counseling session to hasten her healing after her husband's death. The suit also alleged that the church was negligent in the hiring, supervising, and retaining of Gilyard as the pastor.

I know what some of Brunson's defenders will say: this is a new day, a new pastor at Shiloh, and we should not try to hang the sins of Gilyard on the new pastor and the church.

Let's be real. Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church had a corrupt system - and could possibly still have a corrupt system - that allowed them to hire a known sexual deviant without warning the people of the church or taking adequate measures to protect women in the church from Gilyard. Their broken church structure allowed Gilyard's perversion to thrive and grow to the point that he sexually abused at least one teenage girl in his church.

Shiloh Baptist, as far as I know, has never publicly apologized to our city for allowing Gilyard free reign to abuse women when they should have never hired a man with his history of sexual abuse allegations in the first place. As far as I know Shiloh has never demonstrated to the city of Jacksonville that they have instituted changes to increase pastoral accountability and oversight that would prevent a recurrence.

So what does it say to Christian women in general in Jacksonville, and Gilyard's victims in particular, that Brunson - who does represent FBC Jax whether he wants to admit it or not - is going to preach at a church with such a terrible track record of protecting women and children from a predator?

I'll tell you what else stinks about Brunson showing up there...it was his church's own employee, deacon, and discipline committee member, Robert Hinson, who used his investigatory power as a JSO detective to pull a subpoena on Tiffany Croft's blog in 2008. Tiffany Croft is a former FBC Jax member who started a blog back in 2008 to help expose Gilyard. Tiffany's blog and her efforts actually aided the state attorney's office in gathering evidence from victims and helped to build the case against Gilyard. What did Tiffany get for her bravery? She had her personal information subpoenaed by Mac's own employee and churchman. Click here to view the subpoena, the one for Tiffany's blog is on the third page of the hyperlinked document.

The detective under oath said that he issued the subpoena on Tiffany's blog by accident when he was investigating my blog. I don't believe that one bit. What seasoned sheriff's detective issues subpoenas to be signed by the state attorney by mistake on a website that CLEARLY was no threat, whose author was not anonymous in any way, and who simply was critical of a high-profile baptist pastor? If it had become known that the JSO was investigating Tiffany's blog, that could have actually hampered the state attorney's investigation by scaring people away from reporting what they knew about Gilyard. After all, the subpoena demanded from Google all of Tiffany's personal information, and it asked for "...all general login and/or posting dates and times and all IP addresses and all related screen names." Yep, the blog helping to put Gilyard in jail, was being investigated by a detective employed by Brunson's church, and who was sitting on the FBC Jax "discipline committee" at the time he pulled the subpoenas. You can't make this stuff up.

Has Brunson done his due diligence on Shiloh before deciding to preach there? Has he confirmed that Shiloh has cleaned house of leaders who were aware of the Gilyard history in Texas but still turned a blind eye? Are there still men in positions of leadership at Shiloh that had knowledge of Gilyard's sexual predation and thus bear some responsibility in the abuse that occurred at the hands of their pastor? I have reason to believe there still is at least one man in a position of leadership at Shiloh that knew of Gilyard's past but did not warn the congregation.

FBC Jax has already had one pastor go to Shiloh to preach and regret it. Jerry Vines preached at Shiloh in 2006 when Gilyard was still pastor, shortly after Vines' retirement. Vines knew all about Gilyard's sexual perversions in Texas, and Vines even knew that Gilyard tried to seduce one of the young women at FBC Jax during a high school revival tour in the late 1980s. Yet Vines agreed to forgive Gilyard for his "out of state troubles" and later expressed regret that he went to Shiloh to preach in 2006.

So why is Mac going to Shiloh? Does he not have better judgement than this? Aren't there better choices of churches in this city that he could visit? Don't the FBC Jax trustees and deacons see a problem with this? Maybe not, after all FBC Jax hired Ergun Caner last summer to lead their summer youth camps.

So just a quick note to Jerry Vines: Mac Brunson loves to drop your name and tell his church how often you send him loving and encouraging text messages.

Therefore, Jerry, you might want to fire off the following text message to Mac, lickity-split:

"Mac, don't preach at Shiloh. Been there, done that. Not a good idea right now. Love ya bro. Jerry."

Trustees of FBC Jax, please nip this in the bud. Your pastor has no business going to Shiloh Baptist Church. Let him earn his weekly preaching honorarium at some other more respectable church in our city.

Paige Patterson: "Those With Whom Darrel (Gilyard) Sinned are Not Innocent Either"

Over the past two days, Vimeo videos have surfaced of the July 10th, 1991 Victory Baptist Church (TX) congregational meeting led by Paige Patterson, in which Darrell Gilyard resigned after having admitting to Patterson privately that he had committed various sexual sins.

There is plenty in these two videos that will sicken the viewer, when they are watched in the context of all we know about Gilyard and Patterson - the years leading up to this meeting, and the two decades after the meeting.

But the one part that I want to highlight is the following Patterson statement after Gilyard finishes and leaves the room:

"So there is a certain degree to which a man who stands behind this sacred desk is held to a higher standard, that's true. But it is also equally true, precious people, that a sin is a sin no matter who commits it. Nobody committed any of these sins in innocency. Brother Darrell was not innocent, those with whom he sinned are not innocent either."

Instead of Patterson scolding Gilyard for failing to apologize to the women and their families that he had abused, Patterson decided to further harm these women by imposing upon them a verdict of "guilty", that their guilt matches that of their abuser Gilyard. Only trouble is that Gilyard was a predator and these women were his victims. According to the Dallas Morning News, one of the women claimed Gilyard raped her. Others described how Gilyard would pursue them, begging one of them to meet him at a hotel. No need to shame these women, but in so doing I believe Patterson showed where his heart was: harboring resentment for these women who he believed caused his blessed son to fall to temptation.

I'm hoping that a video of the remaining portion of the meeting will also be posted, as the second one cuts off right after the above statement by Patterson.

We all know now, that Gilyard was a fraud, a charlatan. But trust me, Patterson had plenty of knowledge of Gilyard's actions well before this night that should have told him Gilyard was an outright fraud and any attempt to concoct a plan and timetable of restoration would be short-circuited by Gilyard, which is exactly what happened. But Gilyard was just too darned talented of a speaker - he could draw a crowd, and make people laugh and cry and get out their wallets. So he had to be salvaged.

And who is the hostage-looking figure who escorted Gilyard to the platform and stood to his right? My best guess is that it is Danny Aiken.

Here are links to the videos:

Video #1 (Patterson's Opening Statement)

Video #2 (Gilyard's Statement, Patterson's follow-up)

Click here to peruse prior FBC Jax Watchdog blog articles related to Gilyard.

Unbelievable! Gilyard's Church is Now Asking Court to Allow Minors in the Church When Gilyard Preaches!

This is totally unbelievable. I can't believe this is happening in our city of Jacksonville, Florida.

As Jeff Brumley reported this afternoon, the church that hired Darrell Gilyard, the man convicted of sex crimes against young girls, is seeking to have our court system allow minors in the church sanctuary when Gilyard preaches.

Thank God the judge has denied the request for now - but his final decision is based on a psychological evaluation that he has not yet received. So it is possible that Gilyard will once again get access to the minds and hearts of potential victims within the walls of the church just like he did over and over again at multiple churches in Florida and Texas.

Does the court realize how these sexual predator/preachers gain the trust of their victims and their parents? Gilyard's victims over the years were women and girls that he spiritually abused FIRST through his church contact with them from the pulpit, using his pastoral authority to ultimately abuse them sexually.

Spiritual abusers take the authority given to them as gospel ministers that is to be used to help people grow closer to God, and they pervert that authority into power used to lord over people, to coerce, manipulate, and swindle them in order to punish, or to convince them to do what the spiritual abuser wants them to do under the auspices of it being "God's will".

This is how sexual deviants like Gilyard operate in churches. Gilyard needs access to the hearts and minds of young women, wives, and little girls to gain their trust and establish his "spiritual authority" over them as the "man of God". Then, it is only a matter of time until Gilyard will misuse this authority, gain the trust of the most gullible, and then ultimately use his power to get women to do the sexual favors that he desires.

We see the same pattern all over modern Christianity. We see it in the Roman Catholic Church. We saw it over at Trinity Baptist Church where Bob Gray gained the trust of parents and little boys and girls so he could do his deeds.

The problem we usually have to deal with is finding the predators, and then getting the predators' church authority to take action. At Trinity, it was covered up and the abuse went on and on.

But in this case we KNOW Gilyard is a predator. We KNOW of his repeated sexual misconduct here in Jax and in Texas and Oklahoma.

And now Gilyard and his church wants the court to sanction a new beginning of abuse of boys and girls and women in our city.

Shame on Christ Tabernacle Baptist Church and Darrell Gilyard.

Judge Kevin Blazs, please do the right thing and refuse their motion to grant Gilyard access to the hearts and minds of minors. And judge, please don't just rely on the testimony of a psychological evaluation - rely on Gilyard's track record of decades of spiritual and sexual abuse in churches to guide you in your decision.

And thank you, Jeff Brumley and the Times Union, for staying on top of this story.

A Repost of a Tribute to Tiffany Thigpen

Tiffany Thigpen certainly has been making a difference in SBC circles the past few years as the SBC leadership has been exposed for covering up abuse. I want to remind people who visit this blog and that are active on Twitter in this fight, that Tiffany was fighting the fight of holding pastors accountable who abuse people way, way before anyone else was with the exception of perhaps Christa Brown. 

Tiffany took the arrows and scorn - and threats - from so many people in Jacksonville in 2007 when she dared to stand up for the victims of Darrell Gilyard. And what did she get for her efforts? A subpoena allowing her personal information to be released to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) detective who worked for FBC Jacksonville, and who also conveniently was on the Discipline Committe of FBC Jacksonville who didn't like this blog or Tiffany's blog. This subpoena started a five-year long legal battle between myself and FBC Jax and the city of Jacksonville, the JSO, and the State Attorney's Office, ending in two successful lawsuits settled out of court. 

I thought I'd repost here on the front page my tribute from 15 years ago expressing my gratitude to Tiffany Thigpen for her efforts in putting behind bars Darrel Gilyard, one of the biggest frauds to hit the SBC circuit, a man who has abused countless women in churches from here to Texas and who knows where else.  

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It is absolutely amazing what Tiffany Thigpen Croft, a local Christian wife and mother, armed with only a blog and the power of free speech and her faith in God, has been able to accomplish. Tiffany has done what most baptist pastors in this city were too cowardly to do. And she didn't have a budget, a PR firm, or any position of power in the city of Jacksonville.

Tiffany reported on her blog this weekend that Darrell Gilyard, former pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, has agreed to a plea bargain in his case involving lews and lascivious conduct against a 14-year old. This is very good news - according to Tiffany, Gilyard has admitted guilt, and will serve 3 years in a state prison, and will carry the "sexual predator" label for the rest of his life. This plea bargain will save the horrific ordeal of a public trial and his victims having to testify.

Tiffany had her faith and a deep conviction that a person standing for truth and justice COULD make a difference. She started a blog to call out an abusive pastor in this city, and demanded justice - and she encouraged victims to come out. She used her blog as a vehicle for victims to share their stories. Information provided to Tiffany via her blog was shared with the State Attorney's office, and this aided their investigation.

Tiffany started her blog about the Gilyard case back in December 2007 when this news about Gilyard's abuse at Shiloh first broke. Tiffany was brave enough to come forward and share her testimony of how Gilyard tried to seduce her as an 18-year old back in the early 1990's when she was at First Baptist Jacksonville. She shared how Gilyard operated, what his sickening tactics were - and no doubt this caused other victims to recognize they weren't alone, and needn't be ashamed to come forward, that this guy was a monster who had preyed on many others.

Wade Burleson has written an excellent article on his blog about Tiffany, "Walking Where SBC Leaders Fail to Tread". It is true that many SBC leaders back in the 1990's who supported Gilyard and helped him to his meteoric rise - they absolutely failed to keep this man out of any positions of power - and their silence since Gilyard's arrest has been deafening. Thank the Lord that Tiffany wasn't trying to avoid controversy or wasn't afraid of being labeled as a troublemaker - she spoke the truth, and called for others to stand with her, and she took the arrows that came her way. Tiffany didn't complain about the attacks against her from people supporting Gilyard, she maintained a spirit of love, always expressing a desire for healing for Gilyard's victims and for repentence and justice in Gilyard's life.

And most importantly, Tiffany didn't cave into those cowardly voices that told her that her blog was harming the cause of Christ, that it was beauty-shop gossip and should be shut down. No way - Tiffany stood strong, knew that truth was on her side, and she KNEW that God was pleased with what she was doing. You see, for far too long, people inside baptist churches have been afraid to call public attention to abusers, especially pastors. They have used the illogical excuse that to do so would harm Christianity - that people would be turned away from Christ if light were shone on the abuses of pastors, that things should be kept quiet. They've even used lame excuses like the pastor is God's man, and "touch not thine annointed", or "just let God handle it."

The realilty was back in December 2007, God WAS handling this matter, and to help Him accomplish His will, God was looking for someone in Jacksonville. Not someone to hush it up, but to rise up and call for justice. God was looking for someone to shine the light on Gilyard to help bring about justice and healing. To call for others to demand justice. To encourage others who had been abused by Gilyard to come forward.

And He found Tiffany.

And Tiffany said "Yes, Lord".

Thank you, Tiffany.

"Preaching Pedophile": Darrell Gilyard is Back in Pulpit - His Church Agrees to Ban Minors from Worship So Adults Can Hear the Sex Offender Preach!

“It was refreshing and invigorating." Darrell Gilyard describing how it felt to preach again after being released from jail as a registered sex offender.

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Unbelievably, Darrell Gilyard is back preaching at a Baptist church in Jacksonville. Read Jeff Brumley's article here at the Times Union website.

Mark it down, Gilyard, the slick preacher who for years and years was able to fool churches into hiring him as a "man of God", allowing him to seduce the women of his churches into having sex with him, is going to have another shot at another church and more women.

As hard as it is to believe, another church has fallen for the Gilyard charisma. This time it is Christ Tabernacle Baptist Church on the north side of Jacksonville. Of course to keep Gilyard from violating the conditions of his parole the church has barred minors from attending the church services, and Gilyard can't do any marriage counseling; at least not that Gilyard's parole officer will know.

Not a bad choice of churches for a man who likes to seduce young women. Christ Tabernacle Baptist Church is nestled in between two public schools with plenty of young girls: the Stanton College Preparatory School about 1/4 mile to the west, and the Andrew Robinson Elementary School 1/4 mile to the east.

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Parents who have kids at these schools, hide your children. Husbands, hide your wives, Darrell Gilyard is in your neighborhood. He carries a bible, speaks of Jesus and love, but at virtually every every church he has been at he has seduced women into having sex with the "man of God".

How can a convicted, registered sex offender be hired to preach at a location in close proximity to an elementary and high school? Is not the state of Florida going to protect boys and girls from this predator?

If you are shocked that Gilyard's parole officer has approved this work arrangement for Gilyard, contact the Florida Department of Corrections parole office here. Parents who have kids at Stanton Prep and at Andrew Robinson Elementary, contact Duval County Public Schools here.

What is going on in Christianity? Eddie Long, just a year after he settles a case with the men who accused him of grooming them for homosexual sex, was ordained recently as a "king" in his church and is paraded around the congregation lifted up on a throne.

Will anybody involved in promoting Gilyard in the past come out and speak against this atrocity of Gilyard preaching again, and taking a job at a church so close to two public schools?

Jerry Vines, Paige Patterson, will you finally speak up and speak out publicly against this charleton going back to preaching?

Soaring High: One Person Can Make a Difference

It is absolutely amazing what Tiffany Thigpen Croft, a local Christian wife and mother, armed with only a blog and the power of free speech and her faith in God, has been able to accomplish. Tiffany has done what most baptist pastors in this city were too cowardly to do. And she didn't have a budget, a PR firm, or any position of power in the city of Jacksonville.

Tiffany reported on her blog this weekend that Darrell Gilyard, former pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, has agreed to a plea bargain in his case involving lews and lascivious conduct against a 14-year old. This is very good news - according to Tiffany, Gilyard has admitted guilt, and will serve 3 years in a state prison, and will carry the "sexual predator" label for the rest of his life. This plea bargain will save the horrific ordeal of a public trial and his victims having to testify.

Tiffany had her faith and a deep conviction that a person standing for truth and justice COULD make a difference. She started a blog to call out an abusive pastor in this city, and demanded justice - and she encouraged victims to come out. She used her blog as a vehicle for victims to share their stories. Information provided to Tiffany via her blog was shared with the State Attorney's office, and this aided their investigation.

Tiffany started her blog about the Gilyard case back in December 2007 when this news about Gilyard's abuse at Shiloh first broke. Tiffany was brave enough to come forward and share her testimony of how Gilyard tried to seduce her as an 18-year old back in the early 1990's when she was at First Baptist Jacksonville. She shared how Gilyard operated, what his sickening tactics were - and no doubt this caused other victims to recognize they weren't alone, and needn't be ashamed to come forward, that this guy was a monster who had preyed on many others.

Wade Burleson has written an excellent article on his blog about Tiffany, "Walking Where SBC Leaders Fail to Tread". It is true that many SBC leaders back in the 1990's who supported Gilyard and helped him to his meteoric rise - they absolutely failed to keep this man out of any positions of power - and their silence since Gilyard's arrest has been deafening. Thank the Lord that Tiffany wasn't trying to avoid controversy or wasn't afraid of being labeled as a troublemaker - she spoke the truth, and called for others to stand with her, and she took the arrows that came her way. Tiffany didn't complain about the attacks against her from people supporting Gilyard, she maintained a spirit of love, always expressing a desire for healing for Gilyard's victims and for repentence and justice in Gilyard's life.

And most importantly, Tiffany didn't cave into those cowardly voices that told her that her blog was harming the cause of Christ, that it was beauty-shop gossip and should be shut down. No way - Tiffany stood strong, knew that truth was on her side, and she KNEW that God was pleased with what she was doing. You see, for far too long, people inside baptist churches have been afraid to call public attention to abusers, especially pastors. They have used the illogical excuse that to do so would harm Christianity - that people would be turned away from Christ if light were shone on the abuses of pastors, that things should be kept quiet. They've even used lame excuses like the pastor is God's man, and "touch not thine annointed", or "just let God handle it."

The realilty was back in December 2007, God WAS handling this matter, and to help Him accomplish His will, God was looking for someone in Jacksonville. Not someone to hush it up, but to rise up and call for justice. God was looking for someone to shine the light on Gilyard to help bring about justice and healing. To call for others to demand justice. To encourage others who had been abused by Gilyard to come forward.

And He found Tiffany.

And Tiffany said "Yes, Lord".

Thank you, Tiffany.

Church That Hired Gilyard is Affiliated with the SBC, the Florida Baptist Convention, and the Jax Baptist Assocation - Why Have They Not Acted?

Thanks to Christa Brown's latest post at her blog "Stop Baptist Predators", I have found a completely new wrinkle to the Gilyard story that most people have overlooked, and it absolutely stinks.

It turns out that Darrell Gilyard is BACK in the pulpit of a church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It is true, the church that has hired a pedophile preacher and kicked the kids out of the church to do so, Christ Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, is shown to be affiliated with and listed on the websites of the national, state, and local Southern Baptist organizations.

But none of these organizations to date have taken action against this church, or have sought to have them removed from their respective association - or even made so much as a statement of condemnation.

Here is how Gilyard's church shows up on the websites of the national, state, and local SBC organizations:

The Southern Baptist Convention: if you visit the SBC website church search function, the instructions say "Search for a Southern Baptist Church anywhere in the United States." So one may assume that the database will return only churches that meet the standards of calling itself an SBC church. But if some poor soul enters the zip code "32209" looking for an SBC church in the northside of Jacksonville, guess which church is at the top of the list? Yep, Darrel Gilyard's church. The SBC website even allows you to put in YOUR address, and the site will give you directions on how you can go listen to a convicted pedophile preach the gospel, minus your kids of course. Click here to see for yourself.

The Florida Baptist Convention: click here, and you can see the entry for this church at the Florida Baptist Convention website. If an unsuspecting person on the northside of Jacksonville performs a search for a Southern Baptist Church with zip code "32209", they will get two hits: one of which is Gilyard's church.

The Jacksonville Baptist Association: this is a network of baptist churches, which according to their website, exists to "...stimulate church health, develop leaders, and multiply ministry..." in Jacksonville. On the JBA website, Christ Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church is listed as being a part of their "network". You can even click "Recommend" to sent information about the church to a friend, or click on "Map" and a Google map will show you how to get to the pedophile's church. The JBA is listed on the SBC web site as being a local SBC association for this area.

So the national, state, and local baptist associations of the Southern Baptist Convention are STILL, as of this morning, showing the church who hired a pedophile preacher as being part of their network of churches. Unsuspecting citizens of Jacksonville actually may be directed to Gilyard's site by all three of their respective websites.

You say, "so what"...just a little podunk church, and besides, the SBC is known for "church autonomy" and they don't have the power or authority to take action, right? The SBC or local or state SBC organizations can't take action against a church for pastoral hiring practices, right? At least that is what the SBC wants you to believe, as Roger Oldham was quoted as saying in the Guardian recently.

But let me give you three examples of when the national, and a state, and a local SBC organization HAVE taken action against churches:

Southern Baptist Convention: Broadway Baptist Church in Texas was given the right-boot of fellowship by the SBC for their perceived toleration of gay members.

Georgia Baptist (State) Convention: Georgia Baptists kicked out the First Baptist Church of Decatur and the Druid Hills Baptist Church for hiring female pastors.

Surry Baptist, NC (Local) Association: The local association of SBC'ers in North Carolina gave the right boot of fellowship to Flat Rock Baptist Church because they called a female to be their pastor. How long did it take for the Surry Association to get their pitchforks out? Only two weeks!! Within two weeks they had voted to kick out the church for hiring a female minister.

There you have it, folks. The Southern Baptist Convention views a female standing up and preaching the gospel to sinners as more dangerous than having a known, convicted, long-time serial predator, pedophile who woos women with his smile and charm, in the pulpit.

It has now been a month since Gilyard started preaching at Christ Tabernacle here in Jax, and our national, state, and local associations all are still pointing people at their websites to hear the pedophile preacher.

And isn't this just ironic, really? Gilyard gained a foothold in the SBC by duping Jerry Vines and all of us (myself included!) at FBC Jax back in the late 1980s with his phony-baloney story of growing up homeless living under a bridge. He earned the trust of Southern Baptist giants such as Vines, Patterson, and Falwell with his theatrical preaching. After they promoted this monster to national prominence, he was found to be a serial adulterer, using his position as "man of God" to seduce young women at his churches in Texas and Oklahoma. Minus any blogsites to report his offenses back in the early 1990s, Gilyard came to Jacksonville to pastor Shiloh Baptist where he had more unsuspecting victims.

And now Gilyard has come full circle, back to a church associated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the Florida Baptist Convention, and the Jax Baptist Association. Right back where he got his start under the tutelage of Jerry Vines.

So we can have men who are pedophiles in the pulpit in the SBC. We can have serial liars in the pulpit in the SBC. But let a woman stand in the pulpit, and the national, state, and local SBC'ers will come out in full force to condemn the heretics. How ironic that while the SBC is silent about Gilyard, the New Black Panther Party is protesting outside Gilyard's church.

Only question I have: how long will it take, how big does Gilyard have to grow this church, before Jerry Vines and Mac Brunson will go to preach there?