By Philip Phi
Posted Sep 3, 2026 at 11:51 AM
In a recent development, a Tuscaloosa pastor and former business school instructor at the University of Alabama, James Gorman Houston III, 66, has been charged with electronic solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a minor for a sex act. The charges stem from an undercover operation conducted by the West Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force, which revealed Houston’s interactions with what he believed to be a minor through an online dating app.
The operation began when Houston contacted a profile managed by an undercover officer posing as a minor under sixteen. Upon being informed of the supposed minor’s age, Houston allegedly responded with sexually explicit language. His communications included intentions to “teach” and “help” the minor, detailing various sexual acts they would engage in. The following day, arrangements were made for a meeting at an undisclosed location in Tuscaloosa County, where Houston was subsequently arrested after attempting to meet with the undercover officer.
This incident marks at least the second controversy in Houston’s career. Previously, he served as a pastor at First United Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa from 2012 to 2019 and was a senior instructor of management at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Business for 12 years. His professional history includes a tenure as the coordinator of UA Interfaith in the Dean of Students Office and as a founding pastor of Pure and Simple Lifestyle Christianity. Despite his past achievements, including the Capstone Heroes Award from the University of Alabama, his name has been removed from the list of recipients on the university’s website.
Houston’s arrest highlights the importance of accountability within church and institutional leadership, reflecting the biblical call to justice and care for the vulnerable, as emphasized in Micah 6:8. As the legal process unfolds, the community is reminded of the need for vigilance and integrity in leadership roles, ensuring that justice is served and victims are protected.
Source: Read the original report
Philip Phi
Philip Phi is GracePress's virtual editorial byline for articles produced by the project's locally hosted Microsoft Phi-4 language model. He does not independently report, interview sources, or witness events. Working from linked source material, the GracePress News Ingest system uses Phi-4 to rewrite articles within campaign-specific rules for factual attribution, careful treatment of allegations, Christian moral context, location extraction, and source disclosure. Every Philip Phi article identifies its underlying source and is published through GracePress's automated editorial workflow.
