BishopAccountability.org

Parents: Church didn't reveal youth ministry volunteer's history of sexual assault

By Joe Henke
11 Alive
November 14, 2016

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/parents-at-georgia-churc-raise-questions-after-a-youth-ministry-volunteer-is-convicted-of-sex-crimes/351890093

Mark Allen Greer

[with video]

ACWORTH, GA. - Members of an Acworth church congregation said their church didn't tell them one of their youth ministry volunteers had a history of sexual assault.

Two parents said their learned of Mark Greer's criminal history for themselves after he was charged last year with crimes against their teenage girls and also a third victim.

Greer began volunteering at Harvest Baptist Church several years ago, according to the church's incoming pastor. 

During his volunteer work, court records show Greer was charged last year with sexual battery and sexual molestation against three girls, all under the age of 16. He was arrested in Cherokee County in July of 2015.

An affidavit for arrest details the victims interaction with Greer. Each victim claimed to have a separate interactions with Greer.

In late October, Greer pleaded guilty to the sexual battery against children counts in a plea deal. He avoided time in prison and is on probation, but is now listed on GBI's Sex Offender Registry. 

Parents of the victims tell 11Alive that as Greer's case worked its way through the court system, they discovered a previous conviction out of Putnam County in Tennessee. That conviction was also for sexual battery and Greer was sentenced in 1999.

"There is no transparency," the father of two victims said. "There are people in the church that don't have any idea what happened. Nothing. They don't know what Mark Greer had done, what Mark Greer did, why we left and why others left. They just refuse to tell people." 

The parents of two victims said they have stopped attending Harvest Baptist after more than 13 years and don't plan to return. 

Harvest Baptist's current pastor Dan Reed is in the process of retiring. Mark Carr recently moved to Acworth and will be serving as the church's new pastor. Carr told 11Alive by phone Monday that Greer no longer holds any role with Harvest. 

Carr added that he recently held a meeting with church members where he discussed Greer's recent guilty plea and answered questions from congregation members. 

11Alive made numerous attempts to reach Reed for comment on the church's knowledge of Greer's criminal record but those calls and emails haven't been returned.




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