(RNS) — A North Carolina Baptist church has suspended its pastor after he was indicted on allegations of giving false records to the FBI.Matt Queen, a former professor and administrator at Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice last week with attempting to interfere with a grand jury investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sexual abuse.
He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
Queen is pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, a role he was named to in February, but on Monday (May 27), Friendly Avenue said Queen had been placed on administrative leave. He has not preached since May 19, the Sunday before his indictment was announced by DOJ.
“The actions alleged in the indictment oppose the moral values of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church, and we condemn all forms of sexual abuse,” the church said in a statement. “Dr. Queen has committed to resolve this matter responsibly, and we support his full cooperation with the authorities. To this end, Dr. Queen is on administrative leave from his pastoral responsibilities. He will step away to devote his attention to his family and to assist authorities in their inquiry.”
RELATED: Former Southwestern Seminary professor Matt Queen indicted
Few details have been made public about the federal government’s 2-year-old investigation into the SBC, which began after the release of a report by the third-party investigation firm Guidepost that showed that denominational leaders had mistreated abuse survivors for years and sought to downplay the extent of abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
SBC leaders pledged to cooperate fully with federal law enforcement. As part of the investigation, SBC e …
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He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
Queen is pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, a role he was named to in February, but on Monday (May 27), Friendly Avenue said Queen had been placed on administrative leave. He has not preached since May 19, the Sunday before his indictment was announced by DOJ.
“The actions alleged in the indictment oppose the moral values of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church, and we condemn all forms of sexual abuse,” the church said in a statement. “Dr. Queen has committed to resolve this matter responsibly, and we support his full cooperation with the authorities. To this end, Dr. Queen is on administrative leave from his pastoral responsibilities. He will step away to devote his attention to his family and to assist authorities in their inquiry.”
RELATED: Former Southwestern Seminary professor Matt Queen indicted
Few details have been made public about the federal government’s 2-year-old investigation into the SBC, which began after the release of a report by the third-party investigation firm Guidepost that showed that denominational leaders had mistreated abuse survivors for years and sought to downplay the extent of abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
SBC leaders pledged to cooperate fully with federal law enforcement. As part of the investigation, SBC e …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]