A Canton youth pastor who was arrested Wednesday for allegedly sexually assaulting an underage girl involved with his church was released from jail Thursday after posting bond. Jason A. Phillips, 34, a youth pastor and associate pastor at Covenant Community Fellowship Church in Canton, faces one felony count of criminal sexual assault in Fulton County Court. Police said Phillips had sexual contact on several occasions with the girl, who is between the ages of 13 and 17.... Fulton County State's Attorney John Clark said Phillips was a "person in a position of authority" at the time of the alleged assault and had contact with the girl "through his work." Church founder and senior pastor Kevin Van Tine is not commenting on Phillips' arrest, a church staff member said Thursday.According to the church's website, Phillips began working part time at the church in 1996 and was hired to work full time in 1997 by Van Tine and the church's board of elders. The website also said Phillips has been married for nine years, has two children younger than 5 and started his involvement in the ministry after a "radical transformation by the power of Jesus Christ."
A radical transformation, but... an incomplete one. Also on the Covenant Community Fellowship Church's website:
Covenant Community Fellowship Church is a place where children often say, “When can we come back?” If you are looking for a place where learning is fun, then CCFC is the right place. Our children not only have fun while they are learning, but they also have the opportunity to put what they are learning into practice.
Let's hope those kids are using protection if they are. And for some reason this stuff about kids is in the "What Do I Wear" section of the church's website. Come as you are, kids, but carry mace, okay? And remember: God doesn't make mistakes. The odd incomplete transformation, sure, but never mistakes.
According to the church's blog (everybody blogs), God dropped in to Covenant Community Fellowship to cure brain tumors, atheism, drug addiction, and knee pain—all on a single Sunday!—but He somehow didn't get around to curing whatever it was that ailed Covenant Community Fellowship's youth pastor while he was in the house. Another incomplete for the Almighty.
