PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News
By SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM
simone@phillynews.com
It was natural for the famed Bright Hope Baptist Church to want to hire popular gospel muscian Otis Joseph to work with its acclaimed choirs.
But there was a reason why Joseph, who wrote and produced a gospel CD and who developed the music program at West Oak Lane Charter School, was in need of a job.
He had been fired as young adult choir director in late 2001 or early 2002 from Canaan Baptist Church at Pulaski Avenue near Winona Street in Germantown.
"A young woman in the congregation" was pregnant with his child, said Rev. Gus Roman of Caanan Baptist who hired Joseph in the late 1990s.
When Roman heard that Joseph was being considered for a job at Bright Hope, 11th Street and C.B. Moore Avenue, Roman spoke to the church's longtime pastor, former Congressman the Rev. William Gray III.
"I talked with Pastor Gray," said Roman regarding Joseph's escapades with the 20-something woman.