Mother of youth pastor’s victim breaks silence

By Jace Larso
Click2Houston
October 27, 2014

http://m.click2houston.com/news/mother-of-youth-pastors-victim-breaks-silence/29374478

HOUSTON -

The mother of a girl who was targeted by her youth pastor says the pastor exposed himself online via Skype during secret video-chat sessions. For the first time, the girl’s mother spoke publicly and only to Local 2 Investigates.

“It began with texting several times a day and then it went into Skyping,” the girl’s mother said.

She said she had no idea her daughter was being preyed upon.

“He would expose himself,” the mom told investigative reporter Jace Larson.

The woman, who asked that she and her daughter not be identified, has filed a lawsuit against two churches where former pastor Chad Foster worked. She is suing Second Baptist and Community of Faith churches. The mother says the churches are partially responsible.

Foster is currently in prison after being found guilty of online solicitation of a minor and sex assault involving another girl.

“After that, my daughter no longer believed in God,” the mother said.

The girl, who is now 17 but was 12 when she claims Foster exposed himself to her, is in high school.

The Skype sessions happened after Foster met her at her public school during lunch. He was at the school to talk with students and recruit them to attend his church.

Not long after the girl met Foster, he left Second Baptist and started working at Community of Faith.

The girl changed churches to be with him, said her mother.

Her mother says her daughter later told her she had a romantic interest in Foster.

The mother says she doesn’t recall any signs of an improper relationship.

“I mean it’s the church. It’s the house of God,” the mother said. “I just had faith in these churches that they would do better hiring these youth ministers to protect my child.”

She hopes her lawsuit prompts churches to watch more closely over their staffs.

Both churches tell Local 2 Investigates that they did not know of Foster’s actions until after he had left both churches.

Mike King, an attorney for Community of Faith, said Foster worked for the church from January of 2011 to September of 2011. He resigned before any of these allegations came to light, King said.

“Following the resignation of Mr. Foster, Community of Faith learned of allegations against Mr. Foster. Community of Faith immediately contacted the authorities, reported Mr. Foster and cooperated with the authorities in his prosecution. Community of Faith reached out to the community and offered to provide support and counseling to anyone effected by Chad Foster's conduct,” King wrote in an email to Local 2.

Both churches say it is their policies to do background checks. Local 2 did not find a previous criminal history for Foster.

Foster declined to participate in this story, according to a prison spokesman.