UNITED STATES
Moscow Villager
By Kelsey Dallas
Posted Jun. 18, 2014
Publishing a youth pastor-turned-sexual-predator’s account of his crime may be one way to attract readers. But, as Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal learned this week, controversial posts can cause more harm than good.After posting a first-person account of statutory rape, Leadership Journal addressed the overwhelmingly negative response by first editing and then removing the initial post.The piece, titled “From Youth Minister to Felon,” was posted by Leadership Journal on June 9. Although it has been replaced by an apology, the original story is available in the online archive (subscription required).Harold Smith, the president and CEO of Christianity Today International, and Marshall Shelley, the editor of Leadership Journal, penned the apology, explaining they regretted the post’s focus on consent and mutuality and the youth pastor’s failure to acknowledge the harm he caused his teenage student.”The post, intended to dissuade future perpetrators, dwelt at length on the losses this criminal sin caused the author, while displaying little or no empathetic engagement with the far greater losses caused to the victim of the crime and the wider community around the author,” Smith and Shelley wrote.The initial piece brought a flurry of responses, some that were published on Christianity Today branded sites.
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