Lamb Addresses Church

By Janet Jacobs Corsicana
Daily Sun
March 22, 2012

http://corsicanadailysun.com/news/x1440948598/Lamb-addresses-church

Corsicana — A typical Wednesday evening at Northside Baptist Church involves supper and some socializing, praying and some music, but this Wednesday was different. Gary Welch, the 43-year-old beloved youth minister, and a fixture at the church for the last seven years, was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. He is accused of having a three-year affair with a teenage member of the youth group. He remains in jail in lieu of $150,000 bond. He has been suspended from his job with pay, a move designed to help Welch’s family, according to Pastor Rick Lamb.

Several hundred people attended the Wednesday evening service, many of them in tears, hugging one another and exchanging subdued greetings. Lamb led the Wednesday service, and he expressed his own sorrow over the week’s events.

“I’ve cried a thousand tears. It’s been a rough, rough week,” Lamb told his congregation. Seated on a stool behind a music stand, he spoke frankly and wept as he spoke of the man whom he loved “like a son,” calling this the second-most difficult week of his life.

He asked the church members to trust the Lord, but also to show love towards Welch’s family, the girl who made the outcry, and the youth group.

“This is a really important test for our church. We’ve got to go out of our way to help them,” he said, referring to Welch’s wife and sons.

Regarding the alleged victim, he asked that people not try to seek out her identity. Referring to the photo he carries of his own granddaughter, he said just the thought of possible abuse is “awful.”

“It’s overwhelming,” he said. “Anything that smacks of abuse is just horrible. It’s an awful thing, if this happened. The victim needs our help. We don’t need to victimize her all over.”

The next steps, Lamb said, are to find healing, to restore trust, and to find the truth.

“We’re not going to heal tonight,” Lamb said. “This is like a death.”

Having honest answers will help, and Lamb urged members not to speculate amongst themselves or on social media sites.

“We are headed towards the truth. We need the truth. Gary needs to tell the truth. If he’s innocent, praise God. If he’s guilty, then we’ll deal with that,” Lamb said.

Ultimately, this controversy cannot take over Northside Baptist, he said.

“This is not going to define Rick Lamb, and it’s not going to define Northside. We’re above this, and we’re better than this. It’s not going to define us,” he said.

Lamb said he couldn’t speak to the media on the advice of the church’s attorney, but he does intend to address this issue again from the pulpit on Sunday, and the service will be televised as usual.

Because Corsicana is a small town, the issue has already forced some people to make painful decisions. The police officers who arrested Welch, the justice of the peace who arraigned him, and the district attorney who may have to prosecute him, are all members of Northside Baptist Church.

After speaking his piece, Lamb then offered the microphone to anyone who wanted to speak. Two people expressed the belief that this was a move of “spiritual warfare” or Satan, while others spoke of their support for Lamb and the young people in the church.

A deacon’s meeting was conducted earlier in the afternoon Wednesday, and they are united in their support for Lamb, the church, and the youth, according to one of the members.

About 250 people attended Wednesday’s service at Northside. One person not in attendance was Toby Thornton who is alleging that Welch was “grooming” his step-daughter for a sexual relationship. The girl does not share his name, so Thornton felt comfortable in using his name for the interview with the Corsicana Daily Sun.

Thornton said Welch was texting his step-daughter, and going to the school to eat lunch with her. The incidents happened three years ago, around the time that Welch is alleged to have begun a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old.

“We first noticed it because of the texting in the middle of the night,” Thornton said. “I’d given her a cell phone. She was 14 at the time, so we were very concerned at the time of who she was talking to and how late she was staying on the phone. We noticed one number texting her during school, which they’re not supposed to do. But he was texting her at school, at night, everyday. It was not like on Sunday morning to remind her to wear pink socks to support breast cancer. We thought it was inappropriate.”

Thornton also claims that Lamb ignored the warnings. The girl’s parents forbade her from attending Northside after that.

The girl has spoken with police investigators, but even Thornton admits there’s no evidence. The texts were deleted, and the records of the texts may not be retrievable after three years. There was nothing Thornton or the girl’s mother saw in person, since they didn’t attend Northside with their daughter.

Counselors were on hand Wednesday evening at Northside Baptist Church. Lamb said that he would meet with the youth group this Sunday, but that volunteers would need to step up in the coming days to help guide the young people and restore their trust in the church.

“We’re not going to look for another youth minister tomorrow,” Lamb said. “It’s not the right time.”