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Megachurch Pastors Leave Reformed Evangelical Network Amid Child Abuse Scandal

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey
C.J. Mahaney, who has left the Gospel Coalition council, in a 2006 photo. Photocourtesy of james.thompson, via Wikimedia Commons
May 19, 2014
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Two pastors are no longer listed on a Reformed evangelical group’s leadership after a different pastor from their church confessed to covering up sex abuse claims. Pastors Joshua Harris and C.J. Mahaney have left the Gospel Coalition council after a trial involving child abuse in the church they have both overseen.

A criminal trial that concluded last week has raised questions about which pastors at Covenant Life Church, a megachurch in Gaithersburg, Md., knew what about the abuse in which years.

Nathaniel Morales, 56, was convicted Thursday of sexually abusing three young boys between 1983 and 1991 when he was a youth leader.

Former Covenant Life pastor Grant Layman suggested while testifying about allegations against Morales that he withheld information from the police about the abuse.

“Did you have an obligation to report the alleged abuse?” public defender Alan Drew, who represented Morales, asked during cross-examination. “I believe so,” Layman said. “And you didn’t,” Drew responded. “No,” Layman said.

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C.J. Mahaney, who has left the Gospel Coalition council, in a 2006 photo. Photocourtesy of james.thompson, via Wikimedia Commons
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