Pastor Travis Smith's Fate Lie in Hands of the Congregation for Past Sex Abuse Charges
The Rev. Travis Smith has made a point to address his congregation about forgiveness stating:
"For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you," he read from the Gospel of Matthew.It's interesting because since Pastor Smith's arrest in October on sexual abuse and statutory rape charges, which follow similar allegations from 2010, forgiveness from his congregation has become critical to his survival as its pastor.
Well, at this time there is a group of about 100 souls -- "not a bishop, nor a disciplinary committee nor national church leaders" -- who will decide Smith's future in the Southern Baptist Convention.
Unlike members of many denominations -- such as Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalian and Presbyterians -- thankfully Southern Baptists don't conform to a centralized, hierarchical structure.
The Religious News Service reported, instead, authority resides at the local church level. And that's true even amid allegations of clergy misconduct.
So while Catholic bishops have the authority to remove abusive clergy throughout their dioceses, interesting enough, among Southern Baptists, that task falls to individual congregations.
"When a church rallies around its pastor, there's disbelief that someone they trust could do something like this," said Diana Garland, dean of the school of social work at Baylor University, which was founded by Baptists. "It often feels so much safer to blame the victims for causing his downfall, rather than accept that the power of a religious leader has been abused."But what happens when those circling the wagons around their pastor are also those who have to make the ultimate decision about his fate -- his career, his paycheck, his reputation?
The most recent accusations against Smith, 42, by two different women, stem from alleged incidents in 1998, 1999 and 2005, when the women were minors. Those allegations led to what the Missouri Highway Patrol called a "lengthy investigation." Prosecutors charged Smith with six felonies, including sexual abuse, second-degree statutory rape and forcible rape.In more detail, the crimes went like this:
In 2010, according to news reports and law enforcement officials, Smith was arrested after a 14-year-old girl, a friend of his daughter, accused him of molesting her during a fishing trip. Another girl then came forward and said Smith began having sex with her, in 2005, when she was 15. Both girls were members of his congregation.Source
Last year, Smith was acquitted in one case and the other was dropped. A year later, he was arrested on the current charges, which involve different girls.
