WICHITA (KS)
KWCH-TV, CBS-12 [Wichita KS]
August 7, 2025
By Dylan Domangue
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – FactFinder has continued to investigate sexual abuse allegations against Bodie Weiss, a former student ministries director at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Wichita.
Weiss died in 2020.
Last summer, allegations were brought to Eastminster’s Board of Elders accusing Weiss of sexually abusing boys in his youth group during the 1990’s and 2000’s.
In 2024, the church hired Fact Finding Ministry, a third-party investigative group, who determined there to be 23 victims of sexual abuse.
Robert Golden says he is one of those victims and called 12 News investigators to share his story about Weiss and how he tried warning Eastminster about his actions.
Golden says his sexual interaction with Weiss occurred over 40 years ago when they were teenagers attending the same church in Pennsylvania, a decade before Weiss was hired at Eastminster.
Golden told 12 News that Weiss was 18-years-old at the time and attending college, but would come back to the church to help preach and give bus rides to those attending. Golden says he was around 16-years-old at the time.
According to Golden, Weiss would often invite young boys from the church over to his house.
One night in 1980 while Golden was sleeping over at Weiss’ house, Golden says Weiss inappropriately touched him while they were laying in the same bed.
“That one time is when he tried fondling me while I was sleeping,” said Golden.
Golden says he was too young to understand what had happened, but quickly learned that about a dozen other boys had similar stories.
“I never thought about him always wanting to hug and always wanting to spend time alone,” said Golden.
During that time in 1980, Golden says he and several boys shared their concerns about Weiss with the pastor at the church.
“He would talk to each one of us one-by-one, so he pretty much said nothing to see here and that was that,” said Golden.
For 25 years following that, Golden only told a few friends about the interaction he had with Weiss.
However, that was until 2005, when while driving with his best friend, Weiss’ name came up. They searched for Weiss and found that he had been hired by Eastminster Church in Wichita and had been working as the senior high school ministries director for 16 years.
Golden told 12 News he was not surprised to learn that Weiss was still working for a church.
“Even though when I was a kid I didn’t know any better, as an adult I know how these guys operate,” said Golden. “That’s a perfect place for these guys to do what they do.”
Golden felt that he needed to share his story with Eastminster and called the pastor at that time.
Golden says the pastor told him over the phone that they would look into his allegation but that they “haven’t heard anything like that.”
However in 2005, some officials at Eastminster did in fact know about one other sexual harassment allegation made against Weiss five years earlier while he worked at the church.
In a letter sent to its congregation, staff at Eastminster admit that the first allegation against Weiss came in 2000, but it was determined to be “not credible.”
The letter also confirms Golden’s story that two men from Pennsylvania reported Weiss’ inappropriate behavior. While Eastminster did open an investigation, the allegations “could not be substantiated” and Weiss continued to work at the church in his position with students until 2006. Weiss resigned to accept another position at a different church in Kansas.
“He found a way to pull the wool over everybody’s eyes,” said Golden.https://3fb9e2134a331433e12f776f3b140d25.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-45/html/container.html
While Eastminster acknowledged “systemic failure” in their responsibility to protect minors against Weiss, Golden says he tried to warn the church while Weiss was still employed.
“I know how it’s affected me,” said Golden. “For at least 23 people, how has it affected them? For the church to say my bad and just move on does not seem right to me, especially when I tried or several people tried to give them a heads up.”
In a direct response to FactFinder’s questions about Golden’s allegation, Eastminster says when Golden called, he spoke with the interim pastor who began working at the church in 2004.
At the time of the call, the interim pastor was unaware of the allegation made five years earlier in 2000 against Weiss and had forwarded Golden’s message to a “limited group of personnel at Eastminster.”
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