FORT MILL (SC)
CHVN 95.1 FM [Winnipeg, MB, Canada]
July 19, 2024
By Sylvia St. Cyr
A church in South Carolina just fired their pastor after finding out some disturbing information about him regarding an assault on a 14-year-old girl.
Pastor Donald Logan has been fired from his position at Eternal Church in Fort Mill, SC, in the U.S.A. It was recently revealed that Logan is a registered sex offender convicted of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old girl, an incident that took place 27 years ago.
“Effective immediately, we have made the decision to release Pastor Don Logan from his call as Pastor of Eternal Church,” reads an email church elders sent to the congregation on July 10, a copy of which was published by The Fort Mill Sun. “Our decision to release Don was made with much prayer and discernment around the biblical qualifications for overseers of the church. Retaining Don as our pastor is not consistent with the truth, wisdom, and practicality in this text.”
In 1997 Logan was convicted of a class C felony, according to court records. The 14-year-old girl knew Logan when the assault took place because he was her minister at the time. He was 29 years old at the time and lived in Indiana.
When the crime took place, Logan spent 18 months of his three-year sentence in prison before being released.
“Special conditions of probation are that the defendant make restitution to the victim and her family for the cost of counseling, that he relinquish his minister’s license, that he have no contact with any minor without adult supervision, and his type of employment is approved by the Court and Probation Department,” according to court records.
This was back in 1999 after his release. He was ordered to register as a sex offender upon release, yet Logan only registered in April 2024, 25 years after being released from prison. Plus, he has been a pastor with Eternal Church for the past 10 years.
The Eternal church elders shared that a few leaders were aware of Logan’s criminal past. They have maintained that the voting members of the pastor selection committee who hired him in 2015 were not told.
“The Elders failed to see how Don’s conviction would adversely affect him, his family, the victim, members, attenders, and most importantly the church’s witness within the community by not bringing the conviction into the light years ago,” said the elders in their letter. “We recognize our congregation is in a real place of pain and hurt, and that for some, trust has been broken.”
While the elders of Eternal were apologetic, they also expressed gratitude for Logan’s years of service.
“Despite the recent events and decisions, we continue to affirm the sufficiency of Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin. We have the comfort and promise from the word of God in 1 John 1:9: ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ We still believe Don experienced this transformational power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe this for ourselves as well.”