A lawsuit is seeking at least $150,000 for alleged sexual abuse of a boy by a volunteer youth leader at First Baptist Church of Columbia, located downtown at 1306 Hampton St. The suit claims this is part of the church’s longtime pattern of concealing abuse.

The boy – now 17 – was 11 when the alleged abuse began, including explicit texts + messages over social media and private dinners, movies + sleepovers. The suit claims that the abuser’s supervisors knew about the abuse but did not report it – creating a culture of covering up incidents + protecting abusers. Read the lawsuit documents here.

The church responded that they became aware of “inappropriate conduct by an unpaid volunteer in the student ministries department” last year and banned this person from attending the church + interacting with its students – but did not address this lawsuit specifically.

In 2002, an ex-deacon at the church was convicted for lewd acts on a child and is currently serving a 36-year sentence. First Baptist is one of Cola’s biggest (7K members + $13M sanctuary), “most respected” + oldest (est. 1809) churches.

5 min read / The State + 4 min read / WIS