DETROIT (MI)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
August 1, 2024
By Liz Lykins
A Detroit pastor has been charged with criminal sexual conduct, according to local court records.
Kenneth Flowers, lead pastor at Greater New Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit, was arraigned last week on two charges, the court records stated. He faces one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with force or coercion and one count of criminal sexual assault with intent to commit sexual penetration.
If convicted, Flowers faces a maximum of 15 years in prison for the criminal sexual conduct charge and 10 years for the assault, according to Michigan law.
Flowers told the Detroit Free Press, “I deny all those charges, and that is all I have to say.”
The Roys Report reached out to Flowers’ church for further comment but did not hear back prior to publication.
Court records indicate that Flowers stood mute at the arraignment, and a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf.
Flowers committed the alleged crime on December 20, 2023, in Farmington Hills, a northwest suburb of Detroit, according to the court records. The Detroit Free Press reports that a “source knowledgeable about the case” claims the matter involves a 17-year-old male.
At the arraignment, Flowers was released from jail on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond, the court records said. This means he did not have to post cash for bail but instead gave a written promise that he will appear at the court when required to do so.
Flowers was also ordered to have no contact with the victim, court records stated.
Flowers will next appear in court on August 7 for a preliminary examination, unless he opts to waive the proceeding.
Flowers has served as a pastor at Greater New Mount Moriah in his hometown since 1995, according to the church’s website.
He is a prominent pastor in the area, according to the Michigan Chronicle.
At an event celebrating Flowers in 2015, U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Damon Keith praised the pastor, the Michigan Chronicle reported.
“My job as a federal judge is reading people, and as soon as I saw him and talked to him I knew we had a Christian superstar on our hands. That’s wonderful,” Keith said. “He’s involved himself in the NAACP, the United Negro College Fund, the Black Pastors of Detroit, and I’m just so proud.”
Prior to Greater New Mount Moriah, Flowers worked in Los Angeles as the director of the Ecumenical Black Campus Ministry at the University of California Los Angeles, an associate minister for evangelism and pastoral care at Wilshire United Methodist Church, and the lead pastor at Messiah Baptist Church.
He earned his Master of Divinity Degree at Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, New York.
The Greater New Mount Moriah website lists him as an international “community/social activist for human rights issues.”
Flowers is the first pastor at the church to license and ordain females to preach and be ordained as deacons, the church’s website said.
Greater New Mount Moriah has been operating since 1925 and currently has 1,000 members, according to its website.
Flowers last preached at the church last Sunday, a video on the church’s Facebook page shows. No mention of the pastor’s recent arraignment was made.