Nashville Megachurch Faces $10m Lawsuit in 2007 Rape

By Liz Lohuis
WBRC
May 5, 2016

http://www.wbrc.com/story/31905960/nashville-megachurch-faces-10m-lawsuit-in-2007-rape

A Nashville megachurch has been slapped with a $10 million lawsuit connected to a rape that happened nearly a decade ago.

A Nashville megachurch has been slapped with a $10 million lawsuit connected to a rape that happened nearly a decade ago.

Brian Lance Mitchell has been in prison since 2012, convicted of multiple sex crimes against children.

Mitchell worked for Cornerstone Nashville church.

Attorneys for the victim said the church’s negligence led to the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy back in 2007.

The victim is being represented by Ozment Law.

The lawsuit says Mitchell was part of the youth staff at the church, and the victim's mentor.

Pastor Maury Davis declined an on-camera interview and told Channel 4 to reference comments he made during last Sunday’s service.

“Though he (Mitchell) attended our church he was not a volunteer in Cornerstone Nashville's children or youth ministry at any time,” Davis said.

The lawsuit claims the church knew Mitchell had been in trouble with the law for giving alcohol to minors, but allowed him to spend time with children anyway, both on and off campus.

It also says during unsupervised time at Mitchell's apartment, Mitchell raped the victim and took nude photos.

The lawsuit says the victim's mother went to the church with concerns after seeing inappropriate text messages to her son from Mitchell, but the church did nothing.

But in an interview with Channel 4 back in 2012, another pastor said the church did take action.

“We brought Lance in and sat down with him and shared the concern that the mom had, and basically told him, ‘We don't want you to have any more communication with this child,’” said Pastor Dana Lawson.

The lawsuit claims the church never followed up, and that Pastor Davis shamed the victim's family during services.

Davis said once he can talk about the specific claims he'll have a lot to say.

“We can all agree to vigorously defend our church while still deeply caring about this young man's life,” Davis said.

Attorney Tricia Herzfeld with Ozment Law also declined an on-camera interview, but said in a statement, "We believe that the lawsuit speaks for itself."