MICHIGAN
The Detroit News
FRANCIS X. DONNELLY THE DETROIT NEWS
Bad Axe— A new minister began last month. A school supply giveaway drew a robust response last week. New members are trickling in.
The Bad Axe Church of Christ, a long-struggling church in the Thumb, is gingerly recovering from a sex scandal that could have destroyed it last year.
In December, the pastor resigned after the Department of Homeland Security raided his home and allegedly discovered child pornography on his personalcomputer, according to a search warrant unsealed last month.
The indictment of Paul Rennix last month was another reminder that clergy sex abuse isn’t just a problem in the Catholic church. In June, the host of a Christian radio show was arrested in Grand Rapids and charged with having sex with a 12-year-old boy and photographing the encounter.
“When you have many denominations, this independent environment, and then this distortion of scripture, that’s an environment where abuse can flourish,” said Boz Tchividjian, a former prosecutor who helped start a Lynchburg, Va., group, GRACE, that investigates and educates churches about sex abuse.
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