Cornerstone Church Sued for $10m

By Cari Wade Gervin
Nashville Post
May 5, 2016

http://www.nashvillepost.com/business/legal/article/20630734/cornerstone-church-sued-for-10-million

Cornerstone Church, the evangelical megachurch located in Madison, has been sued by a former member who alleges its negligence led to his molestation by a volunteer on the youth staff in 2008.

Brian Lance Mitchell was convicted of the abuse in 2012. At the time, the church said Mitchell had been pretending to be a volunteer to obtain access to the victim.

However, the lawsuit alleges that isn't true. It states:

Mitchell had been vetted by Cornerstone for the Youth Staff in 2007, at which point he disclosed that he had been convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 2003, when he provided alcohol to three minor children. Yet Cornerstone still let him volunteer with children, along with operating a sound board. After the victim's mother asked pastor Dana Lawson for advice in finding a male role model for her son — whose father had committed suicide when he was an infant — Lawson recommended Mitchell. Throughout 2007, the suit claims, Mitchell regularly spent unsupervised time with the victim, both on and off the church's campus, and in the summer of 2008 was appointed his "official mentor." Later that summer, the lawsuit alleges, Mitchell fondled and raped the victim and also took nude pictures and videos of him. Shortly thereafter, the victims' mother found inappropriate text messages from Mitchell to her son, referring to himself as "Daddy." She told the church administration about the messages, and they promised to "take care" of the situation. But the next Sunday, Davis allegedly used the situation in his sermon, publicly blaming her for letting her son be alone with an older man. Meanwhile, Mitchell continued to attend Cornerstone on occasions until at least 2010.

The victim is asking for $10 million in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages and legal fees. Mitchell is also named as a defendant.

Cornerstone, led by controversial pastor Maury Davis, continues to deny that Mitchell was ever a volunteer.