After over fifteen years of serving an independent Baptist church in Douglasville, GA as pastor, Bill Wininger, Sr resigned when allegations of sexual abuse of children resurfaced after 18 years. King's Way Baptist Church is located about 30 minutes west of Atlanta (about a 30 minute drive from my home in West Georgia). King's Way runs approximately 1000 in attendance and is both an independent church as well as a "King James Only" fellowship. In addition, as one of the oldest private Christian academies in Georgia, King's Way Christian School is owned and operated by King's Way church.
Wininger came to King's Way church to be pastor over fifteen years ago from a previous pastorate at the North Sharon Baptist Church, Grassland, MI where the purported abuse took place. Apparently, an earlier investigation was begun but soon went cold. However, new information surfaced from reportedly more victims of sexual abuse and led to not only a criminal investigation in Michigan, but also spawned Wininger's resignation at King's Way church and academy. The Douglas County Sentinel reports:
Officials did inform parents at King’s Way Christian School about Wininger’s departure in a letter dated Oct. 18 and that they were aware of the allegations in a second letter dated Oct. 27.
“We want to prayerfully inform everyone that we have been informed that our pastor has resigned and will be submitting his formal resignation immediately,” Dr. Ray Conway, King’s Way Christian School administrator, wrote in the Oct. 18 letter. “Pastor Wininger will no longer be involved in the ministry of The King’s Way Baptist Church and King’s Way Christian School. As many of you already know, our pastor has inflicted life-threatening harm upon himself and we would prayerfully ask that you pray for his well-being.”
The Sentinel went on to suggest the letter offered counseling to any who needed it in wake of the developments as it addressed the most recent allegations:
“I have been receiving a few inquiries regarding the allegations against our former Pastor, Bill Wininger. As most of you know, we have accepted Bro. Wininger’s resignation,” Conway wrote in the letter. “Regardless of these events, the church and school leadership are committed to doing what is right and Godly.
“The allegations and charges that are surfacing on the Internet today were events that occurred while Bill Wininger pastored in Michigan 18 years ago. As administrator, I am not aware of any accusations, by students or minors, made against The King’s Way Baptist Church or any of the ministries. Moving forward, the safety and well-being of every child in the ministries of the King’s Way Baptist Church and Christian School has been and will continue to be our highest priority.
King's Way church and academy community needs our prayers and encouragement. They obviously are a broken community. We should also note that no indication I could discern points to any type of "cover-up" by King's Way. In addition, we must pray for the victims of this alleged abuse.
In closing, over the next month at least six Southern Baptist state conventions are poised to consider a similar if not identical resolution on sexual abuse of children as the Southern Baptist Convention passed in June of this year.
Helpful articles:
"Pastor resigns amid abuse allegations" by Bob Allen
"Pastor out at King's Way as 1990s allegation of abuse in Michigan resurface" by Mitch Sneed
King James!
Posted by: JND | 2013.10.31 at 10:21 AM
While concern for the church and school and even that minister are right, the primary care is to be for the children that have been abused. In 1985 I was moved to enroll in Liberty University's School of Lifelong Learning (it is online learning now)to work on a Master's in counseling. I was in the first graduating class from that institution. The reason for my seeking that degree was due to the fact that in a three month period I had 5 cases of incest and/or pedophilia come to me as a pastor, and, though I had deal with a few of such cases in my work as a Social Worker in Kentucky's Public Assistance program (welfare dept.), I felt overwhelmed by so many cases. so I enrolled in my most challenging degree program, one that my wife thought would give me a heart attack. During that course work I wrote a paper on Incest, and it would lead to my employment in a Senior High School as a Counselor (primarily Career, but with a special responsibility for that pathology). Yes, the pathologies among the students are of such a nature that they can assign counselors with special responsibilities for such areas.
If the people only knew the damage that such sexual conduct does to the child at practically every stage of development, they would, indeed, take action to ensure that it might not ever happen again. We now have talk of allowing child-adult sexual relations due to genetics, caring, etc. However, such talk is despicable, and the allowance of such relations would be a travesty and utterly devastating to children.
Posted by: dr. james willingham | 2013.11.01 at 10:51 AM
Dr Willingham, Thanks for your comment. Since I have been really researching what seems to have become an phenomena within church circles, I have been so devastated at what children go through all the way through adulthood with the consequences of this heinous sin. Having been on the board of a rape crisis center, I was well versed on that subject as an advocate but had not really read up on the long term effects of child molestation. (Most folks do not realize what that can encompass)
First of all, a trusted adult uses their position to groom the child. Secondly, rarely is there DNA evidence even if another adult suspects a problem. It is rarely provable.
And lastly, most adults are naïve enough to think their children are really safe at church. But that is not what a police detective told me. Perverts look for places where they can operate best and churches are one of the better venues. People tend to think you are automatically a Christian so you get trust points for that. If you are a leader you get extra trust points. If the church is patriarchal, no one dares question the big cheeses anyway.
It is one of those crimes that is very hard to prove as the perverts are well aware so take advantage of that fact. They are also very clever at grooming children to keep quiet.
The shame these children live with until adulthood is incredible. The most shocking revelation to me was the typical result for a girl is to become promiscuous further denigrating herself. And it is also interesting to note how many boys become homosexual or molesters, too.
I am praying that God will purify His Body and that we will stop our associations with those who protect child molesters teaching that it is a sin to call the police or for the victims to speak of it. Instead they counsel them to forgive immediately because "they are sinners, too". I speak of CJ Mahaney and the SBC's association/partnering with him because of Mohler and Dever. What message are we sending people? We are telling them to be wary of victims...the children who are most vulnerable and trust the leader instead.
This is why we MUST have zero tolerance for associating with those who protect those who protect molesters. We must say enough is enough. Whether we think an accusation is credible or not, we must let the civil authorities handle it.
Posted by: Lydia | 2013.11.01 at 07:18 PM
Good Lord! We are seeing a steady stream of abuses by church leaders who betray pastoral trust. We should not write off such behavior too readily as mental illness - many churches are haunts for demonic activity. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. When these abuses happen, innocence is stolen, ministries die, churches are destroyed. Regional spirits have no authority where God's people pray ... church folk are not praying as they ought.
Posted by: Max | 2013.11.03 at 07:52 PM
It is amazing how long some of these guys get by with their crimes in, around and among the churches. A pastor of an SB church in the town where I graduated from high school molested nearly 50 children over a period of about 40 years before getting caught (he also taught elementary school, and not all 40 years were in our town). Sadly, he was released after serving four years.
Posted by: Robert Vaughn | 2013.11.05 at 05:16 PM