Family recounts interactions with South Side pastor charged with assault, by Matt Mccall, Chicago Tribune (February 22, 2016)

For more than a decade the modest Gresham neighborhood church was the center of the family's life.

The mother was a church council member, praise leader and Sunday school teacher. Her daughter was in the youth ministry.

They said they felt the Rev. George Waddles Sr., the charismatic pastor and leader of Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church, was a true man of God. Three to four days a week, the family served the church in some way.

That ended in 2014 after the then 15-year-old daughter alleged Waddles had abused her during a counseling session in his office, according to court records.

Waddles was charged in September with aggravated criminal sexual abuse after turning himself in to police, a Class 2 felony that carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison. He later pleaded not guilty. Under Waddles' bond conditions, he is allowed to preach at the church but is barred from contact with minors when adults are not present.

The victim's family is concerned that Waddles is still at the church and a group that advocates for sexual assault victims is asking that he step down from his leadership position while the case is pending.

The family said they have been shunned by parishioners and receive intimidating phone calls at least once a week. Waddles still preaches at the 100- to 200-member church at 1460 W. 78th St., and a little more than a month after the charges were filed, church members threw an anniversary celebration in Waddles' honor.

"Overall, you don't need to be a Christian to understand right from wrong," the girl said. The Tribune is not naming her or her parents because she is the alleged victim of a sexual assault. "That's why I feel they are doing something wrong. When you're so wrapped up in it, it's hard to see the truth. They see him as God. They don't do what God says. They do what he says."

Hunched over in a chair, she stared at the door in the corner of a closet-size room at a Chicago public library recently, an earbud nestled in her left ear. Her father, who was at work, monitored the conversation on a phone placed on the table in front of her. It crackled when he could no longer contain his frustration.

"There was no sensitivity and care for my daughter at all," he said. "You can imagine her, a 17-year-old girl, with the weight of this on her. As a father, it adds fuel to the fire."

Her mother, who sat beside her daughter, said the teen has been shamed by the congregation when it should have applauded her.

Marc Pearlman, a veteran clergy sex abuse attorney providing legal counsel to the family, said the girl has been treated as a perpetrator for tarnishing the pastor's reputation, rather than as a potential victim of abuse.

"Tell me any other responsible organization that, when authorities would have enough evidence to charge one of their employees with this crime, that would continue to allow them to work at their place of business," Pearlman said. "Forget a parish. What about a 7-Eleven?"

Church leaders asked a Tribune reporter to leave a recent Sunday service. Waddles' lawyer, Marc Salone, has declined to comment and asked the reporter to stop calling the church office.

A Facebook video of the pastor preaching at a Jan. 31 Sunday service was liked more than 60 times. The church website prominently displays the pastor, and the church calendar has him preaching every Sunday this year.

A church program handed out one week before the Nov. 8 anniversary celebration asked parishioners for a $100 donation "as a gift of love for this anniversary."

"We pray that you will be present and invite others to share in the celebration of honoring our pastor who always seeks the best from our Zion Hill family," the program read. "… We look forward to a glorious day of honoring our pastor and praising God for His bountiful blessings."

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests want the pastor removed "for the safety of other kids." But unlike the hierarchal Catholic church, Baptist churches typically are independent and only parishioners or a church council can remove their pastor.

An official with the National Baptist Convention said Baptist policy states that each church is autonomous and not subject to management from a national or regional organization.

When Barbara Blaine, president and founder of SNAP, attempted to hand out leaflets at the church on the day of the anniversary service, security guards blocked her from talking to parishioners entering the church.

"We shouldn't take a risk with any children ever," Blaine said earlier this month. "So at the bare minimum he should step down while the case is pending."

Waddles' next court hearing is scheduled for March 2. The family of the alleged victim declined to discuss details of specific incidents the teen alleges occurred, but Assistant State's Attorney Tara Pease-Harkin described the girl's account at a September hearing.

According to Pease-Harkin, Waddles began counseling the girl in 2011 when she was 13. A year later, he began to tell the girl that he dreamed about her and thought about her when she wasn't around, Pease-Harkin said. When he asked her to lift up her shirt, she refused. On five to 10 later occasions, Waddles tried to hug and kiss her neck inside his church office, Pease-Harkin said.

Between May and June 2014, Waddles asked the then 15-year-old girl to sit on his lap, kissed her neck and placed one hand inside her pants and underwear, Pease-Harkin said.

She told her mother a month later, court records said.

The mother and daughter then confronted Waddles in a meeting at the church. He confessed and apologized, Pease-Harkin said at the hearing.

The girl and her mother later met with Waddles and his wife and recorded a second admission, Pease-Harkin said. Waddles asked them not to contact police, she said. Those recordings are in police possession, according to court records.

Waddles' former attorney, Lewis Myers Jr., said in September that a Department of Children & Family Services investigation did not sustain the girl's claims and that she and her mother continued to attend church and counseling after the alleged incident. "These charges should never have been filed," Myers said outside the courtroom.

A DCFS spokeswoman confirmed that the investigation "did not indicate any alleged abuse."

Pease-Harkin said in the September court proceeding that Waddles had been investigated in the 1990s on allegations he had sexually abused a young girl in his office, but that no criminal charges were filed against him.

Waddles arrived at the Gresham church in 1983 after serving two years at Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Springfield, according to the Rev. Samuel W. Hale, who took over the Springfield church after Waddles left.

In the greater Baptist community, Waddles is known for his energetic preaching style and passion for Christian education. Waddles was president of the education arm of the National Baptist Convention and regularly spoke at conferences that drew 30,000 people until he resigned in August. He has also resigned as president of the Baptist General State Convention of Illinois, according to the organization. Representatives of the WHW Ministries, an evangelical group that hosts a biblical conference for clergy that he co-founded, could not be reached for comment.

The family said while they do not attend a church now, their faith is still strong.

"You would think that a situation like this would make you want to walk away from God," the mother said. "But the relationship is much stronger. Despite the circumstances, we believe God is a god of justice."