Two More Men File Lawsuits Claiming Defrocked St. Luke Pastor Tyrone Gordon Made Sexual Advances
By Robert Wilonsky
Until February, Tyrone Gordon was the respected senior pastor at St. Luke Community United Methodist Church — a former executive board member at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology and the successor to Zan Holmes, among the city’s best known clerics. But that all changed earlier this year when two former St. Luke members — who were also employees — sued Gordon, claiming he made unwanted sexual advances toward them, sometimes in his office between services. One alleged that the pastor masturbated in front of him while watching porn during an out-of-town church trip. Gordon, who voluntarily left the church in February to start his own congregation, has denied all the allegations. But this week two more men filed similar lawsuits against Gordon, St. Luke and the North Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Both suits were filed by downtown attorney Marilynn Mayse, and the allegations ring familiar. In his suit, Anthony Bollin says he became a member of the church in 1996, and was active in the male chorus and adult Sunday school. He looked up to Gordon, considered him a mentor and spiritual counselor — especially during the early days of November 2010, when Bollin says he was going through a “rocky period.” According to the suit, Gordon said he’d like to hang out with Bollin and began texting him, initially with “uplifting scriptures and motivational messages encouraging Bollin during his difficult time.” As far as Bollin was concerned, theirs was a “pastoral relationship.” But on November 10, Bollin’s cell phone service was cut off; he hadn’t paid the bill. The suit says Gordon offered to cover the costs and, it says, he asked Bollin, “What are you going to do for me since I did this favor for you?” It wasn’t the only time Gordon gave Bollin money, nor was it the only time he asked how he’d repay the favor, the suit alleges. Bollin says he quickly discovered how Gordon expected to be repaid: The suit says that on November 16, 2010, those spiritually uplifting texts were no longer spiritual in nature: One, says the suit, featured “four sexually explicit pictures of women.” Bollin alleges that Gordon offered to “show [him] a good time” and offered Bollin a job as a bodyguard and promised him trips to Los Angeles and Atlanta. At that point, the suit alleges, the texts got far more graphic. Finally, says the suit, Bollin asked Gordon if he were gay, to which Gordon replied that he might be. Bollin says he knew then what the pastor wanted: “some type of sexual relationship.” So he severed all ties with the church and “became deeply depressed and disillusioned.” In the second suit filed this week, Christoper Mosley offers his variation on the same theme. He says he went to work for the church in 2006 as a sexton under the supervision of Evelyn Kelly, the church’s director of operations. And he, like Bollin, had financial problems he brought to Gordon’s attention in the hopes a little counseling would steer him through the rough patch. The suit says Gordon offered to help pay Mosley’s bills, but that each offer came with an invitation to lunch. Mosley refused each one. Finally, he alleges, Gordon asked him, “Are you afraid to go to lunch with your pastor?” But, eventually, the pastor was able to spend some alone time with Gordon — during an ’06 mission trip to New Orleans, where they, along with other staffers and parishioners, had gone to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. That, Mosley says, is where they finally shared a meal — and a few drinks on Bourbon Street. There, says the suit, Gordon took Mosley “to the area where there were nude women in the windows, where Gordon said, ‘You didn’t know your pastor has it like that.’” Gordon bought Mosley a six-pack of Bud Lite to take back to the hotel; the pastor got himself something a little stronger at the liquor store. When they got back to the hotel, Mosley alleges, Gordon called him up to the presidential suite where he “answered the door in an undershirt/muscle shirt and boxers,” which Mosley thought “was odd since [he] knew Plaintiff Mosley was coming to his room.” As they spoke about Mosley’s long-term future at the church, says the suit, “Gordon sat on the corner of the bed with his legs open,” and warned the young man that he alone could decide his fate at St. Luke. The suit continues: After this conversation about Plaintiff Mosley’s employment, Defendant Gordon proceeded to show pornographic pictures on his church issued laptop. At the same time, Plaintiff Gordon starts rubbing his bare legs against Plaintiff Mosley saying what Defendant Gordon could do for Plaintiff Mosley. Defendent Gordon referred to the pornographic photos saying “I bet you didn’t know your pastor could get down like this.” Defendant Gordon then began to ask Plaintiff Mosley what kinds of things Plaintiff Mosley did when Plaintiff Mosley was locked up in the Penitentiary. These incidents were abruptly halted due to a phone call on Plaintiff Mosley’s phone from his girlfriend. As Plaintiff proceeded to leave the room, Defendant Gordon indicated that if Plaintiff Mosley told anyone about this incident that no one would believe Plaintiff Mosley. Defendant Gordon then stated “whatever happens in New Orleans stays in New Orleans.” The suit says that when they got back to Dallas, the pastor didn’t stop making advances, inviting Mosley to lunches and Mavericks games, to which Gordon had season tickets. Mosley says in the suit that when he’d finally had enough and complained to his immediate superior in writing, he was fired. And in the end, he says, he “was hurt and angry that this abuse was perpetuated by his senior pastor and secular-based counselor.” In addition to Gordon, Mosley and Bollin are suing the church and North Texas Conference, insisting neither investigated their claims and those made by others. The suits allege St. Luke should have removed Gordon but stayed silent. The plaintiffs also claim the church and the Conference “enabled [his] predatory behavior,” and both men are asking for a trial during which “a fair and impartial jury” can decide how much they’re owed. Contact: rwilonsky@dallasnews.com
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.