In Texas, Pastor Eric Crawford of Heritage Baptist Church in Haslet, TX resigned this past weekend after it became known that his son Caleb Crawford, a registered sex offender, was arrested for failure to comply with the sex offender registry. Caleb Crawford was arrested in late February which brought attention to congregants and parents that the pastor’s son was a sex offender employed by the church. Heritage Baptist Church has a preschool and Heritage Christian Academy, a Christian school, which opened in 2014. Caleb Crawford reported himself as self-employed, failing to notify authorities of his employment situation.
All of these changes were spurred by the backlash last month after parents learned Crawford’s adult son, Caleb Crawford, had been working at Heritage Christian Academy and around the church as an independent contractor doing maintenance and musical work, despite being a registered sex offender.
In a statement last month, the pastor told the congregation that his “intent was to allow his gifts to serve the ministry while ensuring that he held no role of responsibility or authority over minors entrusted to our care.” The pastor states his son’s legal process had concluded several years prior.Â
Evidently, the church was informed of his son’s status, which the father attempted to soft-pedal, but ultimately led to his resignation. There has been a debate in Christian circles of whether such a repentant person could function as a janitor for a church, and in this circumstance, the congregation seemingly disapproved and not without good reason. Having access to the facilities would allow someone the ability to plant spyware that might be used to collect child pornography. Police received notice from parents, subsequently leading to his arrest.
What is disturbing is the crime in which Caleb Crawford committed to land him on the sex offender registry. When he was 17, he was inappropriately touching his cousin, who was 12 when it began. The molestation lasted for two years. He was convicted in 2016, serving a sentence of only 2 years with a lifetime sex offender registration requirement.
Eric Crawford was relieved of his ministerial duties on February 19th, days after the arrest of his son. In the church’s announcement of his resignation, they vowed to do better when it came to implementing background checks and security around children. They will rely upon an interim pastor before finding a full-time replacement.
Scandals like this can easily tear apart a church. In this case, a father indulged his son and exposed his church to a predator whose past really was not “in the past” but required ongoing registration with the state. His judgment was blinded by his son and cost him everything.
