Suit Alleges Negligence at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tennessee, Led to Teen’s Abuse

A lawsuit against Bellevue Baptist Church, a prominent Southern Baptist congregation in Cordova, Tennessee, alleges that the church’s negligence contributed to the sexual abuse of a teenage volunteer. The church’s senior pastor, Steve Gaines, who was president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2016 to 2018, told the congregation at the start of a Sunday worship service on July 12 that a complaint had been filed against the church. Bellevue has been prominent in the denomination for decades. Adrian Rogers, Gaines’s predecessor at the church, was also an SBC president and led the congregation for 33 years before his death in 2005.

The 24-page complaint was filed in April by the teenager’s parents, who are suing on the teen’s behalf under a pseudonym. It alleges that the church’s “malicious, reckless, and willful and wanton” conduct endangered the teen and led to her abuse by James A. Hook, a part-time staff member. According to the complaint, Hook had an extramarital affair with the teen’s mother long before the abuse, and he later suggested that the couples seek counseling from a church pastor. Bellevue confirmed that counseling occurred.

The complaint says the family joined Bellevue in 2017, believing the size of the congregation would help them avoid Hook. The teen’s father reportedly told a children’s pastor that he did not want Hook around his children and was assured Hook would not be. The complaint also states that the parents had asked that Hook not be allowed near the child. In its legal response, filed in state circuit court in June, Bellevue “specifically and categorically” denied those assertions. The church also denied that Hook had unrestricted access to volunteers, denied knowledge of him leaving church grounds with the teen, and denied awareness of conduct that the parents say showed “red flags.” It “vehemently” denied the allegation that Hook kissed and had other physical contact with the teen on campus before returning her to the Wednesday night program.

The complaint alleges that from 2018 to 2019, when the teen was 15, Hook encouraged her to serve as a volunteer while he worked part time as a paid volunteer coordinator. After she left that position, it says, he persuaded her to leave home for late-night meetings in a park, “where he continued to assault her.” Lawyer Gary K. Smith, one of three attorneys representing the family, said the allegations are that Hook groomed the child at the church and that the abuse occurred both on and off campus. Smith said the church “had been specifically warned about him” and that the parents had asked that he be kept away from their daughter. “They still did not prevent his efforts,” Smith said.

A statement the church gave Religion News Service on Tuesday described a separate matter. It said a former part-time employee was arrested in May 2019 after police found him in a car with a minor off campus, and that he had resigned from Bellevue in March 2019, two months before the arrest and the discovery of what the church called an illegal relationship. The statement said he pleaded guilty to criminal conduct in February 2020. Hook, 44, is serving a six-month sentence in a Shelby County prison for sexual battery by an authority figure, to be followed by 4½ years of probation. The church’s statement and the complaint’s allegations concern the same period, and the complaint’s claims about Bellevue’s responsibility have not been decided in court.

The lawsuit arrives during a period when the Southern Baptist Convention was developing a broader response to sexual abuse in its ranks. An investigation by Texas newspapers found that more than 260 current and former Southern Baptist volunteers and ministers had been convicted or had taken plea bargains in sexual abuse cases involving more than 700 victims over the previous two decades. At its June 2019 annual meeting, the denomination unveiled a “Caring Well” initiative to encourage training and awareness aimed at preventing abuse and supporting survivors. Susan Codone, a Mercer University professor who wrote in the “Caring Well” report that she was abused as a teenager by her Southern Baptist ministers, said the complaint against Bellevue grieved her. “Churches should be viewed as safe places,” she said, “and the suit alleges the Cordova church was not safe” (Proverbs 31:8-9).

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