UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press
By Bob Allen
A support group for survivors of clergy sexual abuse is asking the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee to hire an independent consultant to investigate two churches’ handling of confessions by a former staff member subsequently convicted of molesting several boys decades earlier.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a non-profit organization claiming to be the largest, oldest and most active self-help group for clergy sex abuse victims, sent a letter June 5 to Executive Committee President Frank Page recommending Boz Tchividjian’s organization GRACE for an independent review of circumstances involving John Langworthy, longtime associate pastor of music and ministries at Morrison Heights Baptist Church in Clinton, Miss.
Langworthy resigned from the church in 2011 and confessed to the congregation of “sexual indiscretions with younger males” that took place prior to his coming to Morrison Heights Baptist Church 22 years earlier.
In 1989, according to a former co-worker, Langworthy was fired by Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas after confessing to inappropriate behavior with boys but not reported to police as required by Texas law.
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