Federal lawsuit faults American Southern Baptist Convention for covering up sexual abuse committed by pervert and paedophile pastors 

By Edward Era Barbacena 

The senior pastor of a prominent Mid-South mega-church has been named in a federal lawsuit.

Pastor Steve Gaines of Bellevue Baptist Church was included in the federal lawsuit that was filed against the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention that stated that they have covered up instances of sexual abuse by church members and employees as a strategy of denying the rights of sexual abuse survivors.

According to the lawsuit, it said that the investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express News in 2019 uncovered a widespread of sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention.

The lawsuit also mentioned that the investigation showed "At least 35 church pastors, employees and volunteers who exhibited predatory behavior were still able to find jobs at churches during the past two decades. In some cases, church leaders apparently failed to alert law enforcement about complaints or warn other congregations about allegations of misconduct."

The lawsuit said that the investigation included 200-criminal cases and 700 victims over a 20-year-period.

Court records showed that the lawsuit faults Bellevue Pastor and then Southern Baptist Convention for immediately failing to fire a sex offender in 2006 from Bellevue Baptist Church.

The lawsuit also said that Gaines admitted to waiting six months to fire a pastor who had confessed to molestation at Bellevue Baptist Church.