A former youth pastor at what’s described as one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s “flagship churches” was arrested last week on charges of sexual indecency with a child, Arkansas Online reports.
Keenan Hord, 32, worked at a satellite campus of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, until 2016. When he was arrested in Bentonville, Arkansas, last week, he was employed by First Baptist Church. He was charged with sexual assault, possessing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child and sexual indecency with a minor.
“We have been devastated to learn that a former employee of our church has been credibly accused of abusing adolescents during his tenure at our church,” First Baptist Bentonville said in a statement to Baptist Press. “While these accusations did not come to light until after his employment ended, when we learned of them we immediately contacted our local authorities, made a report to the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline, and continue to fully support the ongoing law enforcement investigation.”
Hord also was employed at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tennessee, from 2011-2016. He was an intern and then a student pastor of Bellevue’s Arlington, Tennessee, campus in 2014.
Police reportedly have identified up to 30 possible victims with an examination of Hord’s cellphone.
His bond has been placed at $500,000.
