SHALLOWATER (TX)
Baptist News Global [Jacksonville FL]
June 21, 2024
By David Bumgardner
Luke Cunningham, a former youth pastor at four Texas churches, was arrested June 19 by United States marshals in Shallowater, Texas, a small town 11 miles west of Lubbock, on one count of sexual assault of a child.
While in jail June 20, he was arrested again on two additional charges, one for sexual assault of a child and one for aggravated sexual assault of an adult.
Cunningham has served Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas; Turning Point Community Church in Lubbock; North Forth Worth Baptist Church in Fort Worth; and Agape Baptist Church (now defunct), Fort Worth.
He was arraigned on June 20, and his bond was set at $200,000, then another $300,000 was added to the bond with the new charges. He is currently being held in the Lubbock County jail. A staff member of the clerk’s office of the Lubbock County Criminal District Court indicated to Baptist News Global that Cunningham’s case remains in a pre-indictment status, no hearings are currently scheduled, and grand juries are typically summoned around once a week.
When asked if it is typical for United States marshals to make arrests for state-level felony cases, the clerk representative said it is atypical but not unprecedented. It is unknown if Cunningham faces federal charges in addition to the state felony child sexual assault charge. However, DFW Fox affiliate Fox 4 News reported the involvement of the U.S. Justice Department.
Baptist News Global has filed a Public Information Act request for redacted versions of Cunningham’s arrest warrant and Lubbock County’s probable cause affidavit and will update this story once the Lubbock County District Attorney has provided the responsive documents.
Cunningham was the former youth pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church of Granbury. He was dismissed from the church about two weeks ago on allegations of impropriety with students.
Lakeside is a sizeable congregation with a weekly average attendance of 1,200 people in the small community of Granbury, which is home to about 12,000 people and serves as the seat of Hood County.
Mark Forrest, a former missionary to Malawi and a two-time graduate of Southwestern Seminary, serves as pastor at Lakeside. Forrest served at Murphy Road Baptist Church in Plano before departing for Lakeside in 2008.
Lakeside’s pastoral staff also includes Malcolm Yarnell, a research professor of theology at Southwestern Seminary. Yarnell is known in SBC circles for his writings on the Trinitarian controversies and abuse crises and his recent motion to add the Nicene Creed to the Baptist Faith and Message at the annual meeting in Indianapolis.
Cunningham publicly baptized 13 students before a packed auditorium at Lakeside mere weeks before his termination by the church.
BNG has confirmed reports of allegations from potential victims from all four churches. BNG also has confirmed that Cunningham was, at one time, the subject of another investigation by the Lubbock County District Attorney that did not result in criminal charges or a conviction.
In a statement to BNG, Turning Point Community Church associate pastor JD Small said Lakeside Baptist staff contacted Turning Point on June 3 to inform them that Cunningham “was being reported to local police and Child Protective Services regarding accusations of inappropriate conduct and alleged sexual abuse with minors.”
Small further said Turning Point has reported allegations relating to former students who may be potential victims to the Lubbock Police Department and is cooperating with the investigation. He said Turning Point had no prior knowledge of Cunningham’s alleged crimes, abuses or other improprieties.
“While Luke served on our staff, we received no complaints, no allegations, nor had any suspicion of wrongdoing,” he said. “All allegations that are surfacing have been brought to our attention after Luke’s employment, not during or before. Currently, we have no information about these alleged incidents, no names, no descriptions of these events. We are awaiting further details from LPD.”
North Fort Worth Baptist Church declined to comment on this story through administration pastor David White.
Lakeside Baptist Church issued the following statement to its members via a newsletter, citing its own case as an example of the importance of the SBC establishing a database of abusers:
Dear Church Family,
It is with deep grief yet steady resolve that we, your pastors and lay leaders, must update you on the status of the former student minister, Mr. Luke Cunningham.
As we announced to the congregation on June 2, we received information from outside our church that Mr. Cunningham had been accused of inappropriate conduct with a minor in another church. Upon learning of the accusation, we immediately suspended Mr. Cunningham, barred his interaction with the church and students, and conducted an investigation. We determined within days that there was enough evidence to turn him over to the Personnel Committee, who immediately released him from employment.
We also immediately reported what we discovered to law enforcement agencies with the State of Texas and with law enforcement agencies in Lubbock and Granbury. We also spoke to leaders at other churches. We encouraged all those with direct information to contact law enforcement. We also instructed all staff to come forward and cooperate fully with law enforcement. We have just learned that Mr. Cunningham was arrested yesterday by United States Marshals near Lubbock.
Your church has continued our partnership with MinistrySafe, and pastoral and lay leaders are evaluating the events leading to the present crisis so that we can provide the best safeguards for our children and members. Although we are not aware of any assaults having occurred with any of our students, we wish to say again that we stand ready to continue offering help with professional counselors. Moreover, if you or your child have been a victim of sexual abuse or have information that would help law enforcement, please contact law enforcement immediately.
Lakeside Baptist Church stands firmly against clerical sexual abuse. We believe that, if the Southern Baptist Convention had a working database for offenders, we would likely have never been exposed to Mr. Cunningham. We plan to do everything possible to encourage national leaders to exercise their spiritual responsibility, identify perpetrators in the churches, and stop this from happening again. Until then, we plan to re-evaluate and institute our own even more rigorous processes. Out of respect for law enforcement officers, we must refrain from commenting any further about particular people or events.
We ask you to join with us in praying for the victims of clerical sexual abuse, in praying for perpetrators to repent of their gross evil and be brought to justice, and in praying for all the families and churches who have been harmed.
Anyone with additional information about this case is asked to contact the Lubbock Police Department at 806-775-3483 and the Lubbock County District Attorney at (806) 775-1100.