Pastor resigns amid abuse allegations

GEORGIA
Associated Baptist Press

After a Southern Baptist leader said there is no place in the church for whistleblowers, an independent Baptist pastor in Georgia resigned his pulpit after 18-year-old abuse allegations in another state surfaced on the Internet.

By Bob Allen

An independent Baptist pastor has resigned his church in Georgia after allegations of sexual abuse 18 years ago in Michigan resurfaced on the Internet.

Leaders at King’s Way Baptist Church in Douglasville, Ga., confirmed in a letter dated Oct. 18 that Bill Wininger has resigned after more than 15 years as pastor. Another letter dated Oct. 27 acknowledged that church leaders were aware of allegations and charges surfacing recently on the Internet.

Wininger’s troubles started when a woman who is now 25 years old alleged serial abuse that began when she was 3 at North Sharon Baptist Church in Grass Lake, Mich. A Facebook group titled Justice for the Victims of Bill Wininger went online Oct. 23 and in the first week grew to 466 members.

“The beauty of the technological age we are in today is that perps cannot hide any longer,” Julie Silvestrone, an Iowa resident who studied at Hyles-Anderson College, posted Oct. 25. “We are forming an army that will not be silenced and powerful in-roads are being made behind the scenes.”

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