Pastor resigns after abuse allegations derailed hiring by First Baptist Clarksville
By Chris Smith, Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle, November 27, 2019
A pastor who was rejected as a ministry candidate by First Baptist Clarksville over accusations of pastoral abuse has now resigned from his position as lead pastor of preaching and vision at Berean Baptist Church in Burnsville, Minnesota.
Wes Feltner has been accused by two women of manipulating them into secret relationships — one of them sexual — while he was their youth pastor 17 years ago at First Southern Baptist in Evansville, Indiana.
Following Leaf-Chronicle interviews with the women and reports about the accusations, on Nov. 10, FBC announced it had dissolved its pastoral search committee and parted ways with Feltner as their candidate for lead pastor.
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During services on Saturday and Sunday, Berean church leaders said the following as part of a statement to their congregation:
“The Berean elders were recently made aware of claims made about Pastor Wes Feltner in a previous church setting. We understand the gravity of these claims and we take them very seriously. We are performing due diligence toward all parties and questions, and this continues. …
“After much prayer and deep consideration for his family and the mission of Berean Baptist Church, Pastor Wes Feltner has submitted his resignation. Pastor Wes and his family are entering a period to seek healing and we will walk with them during this process.”
The statement said the investigation is continuing and that Feltner is cooperating with it.
“We also know that this season has opened wounds in our faith family and we are developing a plan to make resources available to help heal our faith family,” the statement said.
The two women at the heart of the allegations, Megan Frey and JoAnna Hendrickson, told The Leaf-Chronicle the abuse started in 2002 when they were 18 years old and still members of Feltner’s youth group. Feltner was 24 at the time.
Frey, who was still in high school, had sought counseling from Feltner after a breakup. The counseling session turned physical, she said. She said their secret relationship quickly became sexual, and involved a trip together to Las Vegas and a pregnancy scare.
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Hendrickson said her relationship with Feltner started after her summer internship with him, when he told her he felt called to pursue a relationship with her, despite still being in a public relationship with another woman in the church.
Both women said that when the truth came out at a youth retreat, they were told by the lead pastor at First Southern at the time, Don Moore, to keep quiet for the good of the church and their own reputations.
They say Feltner was allowed to quietly leave the church and move on to another church — complete with severance pay and paid vacation time.
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They said they received the same message — to keep quiet — again when they first shared their stories with the head of the FBC pastoral search committee, Paul Batson, who reached out to them as part of the hiring process.
The weekend that FBC dropped him as a candidate, it was announced at Berean Baptist that Feltner was taking a leave of absence.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary announced Nov. 6 that they’ve suspended the teaching responsibilities of Feltner, who served as an adjunct professor.
This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: Pastor resigns after abuse allegations derailed hiring by First Baptist Clarksville
