On Sunday, members of a Denton County church will hold services without their leader.
Earlier this week, police arrested Denton County Pastor Jeffrey Dale Williams. He's accused of sexual performance on a child, a third-degree felony. He bonded out of jail late Wednesday night.
On Saturday night, The Church of Corinth issued a statement. It reads in part:
Allegations have been made. At this time, they are allegations. And, our Pastor is on a leave of absence. A leave of absence is the best thing we can do for him to give him time to be with his family and to deal with everything going on in his life. Any time, when something like this happens, the impact that it has on everyone is painful. With that pain often comes a response that looks very much like the stages of grief. You may be feeling hurt, afraid, and confused. Many of us will feel angry. Anger is a response that we use to defend ourselves against the hurt, fear and confusion. Some will feel depression. But, with time – and a lot of prayer, we will begin to go through a period where we can begin to heal.
The church said it will have David Fink serve as interim Pastor. The statement also addressed The Church of Corinth's future.
So, what will the future look like at The Church of Corinth? In the short term, the Deacon board will continue to help in the day to day decision process of the operation of the church. We have already been in contact with the leadership of the Assemblies of God about the events of this week and are following their direction as well as getting input from their vast experience and wisdom. Dr. Richard Plunk is here today to represent them. We have and will continue to have their help and support moving forward to follow the best course of action to get through this tough time. As I have already stated, the Deacons have asked David Fink to fill in for us as our interim pastor.
According to the warrant, the incident happened on March 30. The listed address for where the incident happened is 3201 Tower Ridge Drive, which is the church address for the Church of Corinth.
Detectives said there are five audiotapes of Williams with a female juvenile. Officers said they could hear Williams trying to plead and beg the girl for two hours to take off her clothes so he could see some “eye candy.”
