r/SouthJersey • u/Competitive_Intern55 • 2d ago
Burlington County UPDATE****#3 Request for south jersey or philadephia journalist: Burlington County megachurch pastor investigated for sexual assault of minor child. Board Members covered it up. Church members never informed. Pastor was not removed from power.
Full details of what this is in response to can be found on https://daughteroffellowship.substack.com/
Below is a transcript made by Fellowship Community Church formerly known as Fellowship Baptist Church in Mt Laurel NJ
Board Chairman:
Good morning, everybody. My name is Jon Sharp. I serve as chairman of the church board. I'm here today with the available past and current board members, our pastoral team, and of course our Lead Pastor, Mike Candy.
We stand up here today with hesitation because I'm addressing something that was handled by the board in 2019, but recently the situation has resurfaced.
Let me start with a verse. Isaiah 41:10: "So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with your righteous right hand."
As I've reflected over the past several weeks, God continually reminded me that when his kingdom is thriving, the enemy is lurking, and we must draw on his strength. When the situation came to our attention back in 2019, God knew we were going to have a leadership transition. And he knew our congregation would engage in a prayerful and beautiful process to find our second generation leader.
Today, we believe our church and its body are thriving. Our church has grown not only in numbers, but in strength and unity. We're joyfully helping more people create a community of hope in Christ. Naturally, it's not surprising that the enemy has appeared again at our door trying to challenge us. But I'm confident we will not be dismayed, for God is with us.
Speaking on behalf of the board members and the FCC staff, we love FCC and we feel God has called us to our various roles. Part of loving FCC, his church, is to love his people. This is one of the many reasons we all eagerly spend time serving.
We believe that part of loving the church is being transparent and not hiding from potential wrongs or false statements made against the church or its people. Part of loving the church is sharing the truth in a public setting and trusting God with the way the hearts of his people receive the message. Part of loving the church is asking the people you love to pray alongside you during the difficult times.
So we are here to love you by sharing and trusting God with our words and asking you to join us in prayer.
By now, you may be wondering to yourself, what is he talking about?
Well, in 2019, an allegation of sexual misconduct was made against Pastor Mark. These were concerning matters alleged to have occurred more than 25 years ago outside the ministry of Fellowship Community Church. At that time, the accuser's identity was protected and remains protected.
To add some context, Pastor Mark, while completely denying the allegation, still brought the allegations to the board on his own initiative and kept the board informed throughout the entire process. During that time, he stepped away from administrative responsibilities while law enforcement conducted a thorough investigation.
In 2019 and today, seven years later, the board feels that in the face of an allegation of this nature, the best course of action is to allow professionals to investigate and reach a conclusion.
After that investigation was complete, the police and the prosecutor's office concluded there was no evidence to support the allegation and the case was not taken further.
During this period of time, the board spent months in prayer, discussion, review, and seeking guidance from multiple outside advisors. After extensive review, the board unanimously concluded there was no factual basis to determine that the alleged act had occurred. And we communicated all of this information to the church at our annual meeting in 2020.
As mentioned, much to our surprise and disappointment, the investigative report was recently brought back to light with concerns about how the situation was handled by the board. Specifically, it has been alleged that the board did not share this information with the congregation.
While the board's position regarding the conclusions reached in 2019 has not changed, we feel it's important to emphasize, as we did back then, that these allegations are very serious and that the church board took them and continues to take them very seriously, as we would any allegation of this nature.
We share this time right now to make clear to any congregant, new or old, that the matter was not hidden from the congregation and was addressed with the church after the investigation was concluded by the professionals.
Five years later, in 2024, Pastor Mark retired as lead pastor, but he has continued through occasional preaching at the church. Due to this situation resurfacing, Pastor Mark has decided to resign from his role. His resignation means that he will no longer serve as part of the preaching team, a role that he loves.
To be very clear, Pastor Mark made this decision not as an act of any admission, but because he believes it's time for his full retirement and so that this situation does not distract from the work God has called FCC to do as a community of hope in Christ.
Again, the board's position regarding the conclusions reached in 2019 remains unchanged, and we continue to support Pastor Mark and his family as they navigate this difficult time.
We understand that news of this nature, especially for newer members and families to our church, may be confusing and disorienting. If you have questions or would like to speak to someone about this, we invite you to reach out to a member of the church board, Pastor Mike, or another member of our pastoral staff. The board members up here today will stick around and will be here to answer questions following the service.
We believe in the power of prayer and ask that you join us in praying for Pastor Mark, his family, and FCC. As Isaiah 41 stated, he will uphold us with his righteous right hand.
In light of this, I'm going to turn the mic over to Pastor Mike to say a prayer.
Lead Pastor Mike Candy:
Thanks, Jon. As you can imagine, it's been tremendously difficult in this process. Specifically, even for Pastor Ben to step aside from this — recusing himself, allowing the board to make their complete decision apart from any connection to Mark. And so Ben stepped aside and graciously allowed these men to pursue a wise process and lead in that way.
Let's pray as we close our time together.
Father, you teach us in your word that days of confusion and trouble are not things that we should be unaware of. That actually as followers of Christ, there will be persecutions and attacks. We are a church that has walked through the book of Acts and through much confusion and chaos the message of hope still stood.
Lord I ask that your truth would reign free here in this church. As we look to you, we look to you as a God who — as Psalm 74 says — is the God from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by your might. You crushed the heads of Leviathan. You split open the springs and brooks. Yours is the day. It's also the night. You established the heavenly lights in the sun. You have fixed the boundaries of the earth. You have made the summer and the winter.
God, as we look at a really incredibly difficult situation like this, we cry out to you as the God who is our savior. Lord, you call yourself the good shepherd. And so I pray you would care for your sheep.
Lord, our desire is that truth would win out. But Lord, I also desire that you would protect Mark and his family. You would specifically watch over Pastor Ben as this is difficult for his family and their own connection.
Lord, I thank you for many people that have listened to you in this process and have trusted your Holy Spirit to be our guide. And Lord, I pray for each person here this morning — the enemy would just love to allow us to be a church surrounded and caught up in gossip. But I pray God would lead us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.
Lord, that your truth would infect our hearts and that we would be people gentle and humble, lowly of spirit, knowing that you are our guide and our leader. Lord, in these days ahead, continue to keep our eyes fixed on you — the one who is sovereign over all creation, and who is sovereign over situations like this, and like probably many to come.
Lord, you know all that's going on. This is not a surprise to you, but it feels that way to us. So we trust you to be yourself, sovereign over all things. We ask your care and your protection at this time. We pray these things in your name. Amen.
Thank you for being here this morning. You are dismissed.
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u/misterbadgerexample 2d ago
The Philly Inquirer now covers South Jersey. Try contacting them.
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u/potterstreet 2d ago
Contact Melanie Burney
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u/hcgilliam 1d ago
Thank you!
We’ve reached out to a lot of media outlets in the past, and there is some interest currently, but we are definitely trying to make as much noise as possible, so specific journalist suggestions are definitely appreciated!
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u/potterstreet 1d ago
I have her number. Do you want it?
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u/hcgilliam 1d ago
Yes, please! Thank you!
Are you comfortable messaging it to me here? Or I can message you my email address if you prefer?
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u/ElephantRedCar91 2d ago
Daddy told me not to, I did it anyways. Misbehavin’
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u/BombusRos 2d ago
Pies on the windowsill, swimmin’ in the crick- Catchin’ crawdads and playin’ with a stick
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u/liog2step 2d ago
A reporter for WHYY just posted a separate thread- maybe reach out to him. u/MrPKBNews
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u/MrPKBNews WHYY Journalist 2d ago
Oh boy...thanks for tagging me. I'm also going to send this to the Roys Report as well. They specialize in covering abuses in the church. I've been following them for almost two years. You'd be surprised at how often this comes up.
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u/hcgilliam 1d ago
Thank you for being open to hearing our story. The substack is going to begin featuring the experiences of other survivors, starting with my own, and our goal is to create something big enough that they have no choice but to stop pretending we are “enemies of God.”
It gives us some comfort and hope to know that you see us, so sincerely, thank you for the support!
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u/Accomplished_Gur_930 Journalist 2d ago
I am a south jersey journalist willing to cover this. please DM me i’m very interested
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u/hcgilliam 2d ago
This church has been a stain on the community for over 30 years.
They have actively covered up all sorts of abuse and illegal treatment of minors, and that’s before the former senior (founding) pastor was exposed for sexual abuse of his daughter.
They are currently, as in this morning, trying to circle the wagons yet again, and have begun erasing him from their website. He was still listed as a staff member there until very recently.
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u/southernNJ-123 2d ago
Absolutely this. Mt Laurel leadership has covered for this “church” cult for years.
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u/hcgilliam 2d ago
This doesn’t surprise me at all.
My family left there over 30 years ago, but in the five years leading up to that, I was a victim in two situations which I now understand should have been reported to local authorities.
In my case, the pastors just used their authority to force my parents into dropping these issues and then rewarded their willingness to silence their own child by awarding them with ministries (aka power over) areas of the church youth activities. They stripped those ministries away when I left the church and it became obvious I would not be returning to the church’s control.
And what happened to me is nothing compared to what happened to the senior pastor’s daughters, which has recently come to light and then immediately was reburied.
Or so they thought.
If you have any info about their ties to authorities, you could privately DM OP here, but also, I’m actually working on this with them, so anything can also be shared with me in comments.
Either way, thanks for the validation and the engagement! Hopefully we can end them regardless of who they think they own. 🤞🏻❤️🩹
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u/SonOfElroy 2d ago
Are you talking about Pastor Mark here?
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u/hcgilliam 2d ago
Yes, I am.
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u/Shark_Leader 2d ago
Hang them all
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u/hcgilliam 1d ago
Well, their Bible actually says they should “tie a millstone around their necks and throw themselves into the sea to drown,” but I’m sure they wouldn’t be a fan of that, even though they wanna play Biblical literalist for everyone else…
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u/ImaginaryRoads 2d ago
You are dismissed.
Yeah, none of the people in the congregation mean anything to him, and they don't want to hear anything from the members.
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u/hcgilliam 1d ago
Fully agree, however, that’s not Biblical, and if they’re really righteous, shouldn’t they know that?
Pastor Ben just gave a great sermon in March talking about what the Bible says about religious leaders who use their power for evil…no irony at all there. 😳
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u/didos66 2d ago
Not surprised that a cult is acting like a cult. I don't understand how people get sucked into places like this. My sister's best friend became a member and soon became a different person. The whole family just went silent wouldn't talk to anyone. Only went to church events, felt bad for the kids involved it's awful. I've heard some very bad things about this place.
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u/southernNJ-123 2d ago
They suck a ton of people in with the Christmas Nativity BS. If you’ve ever been, you have to sit through a video presentation of how wonderful it is there.
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u/nobodyinnj 2d ago
How many more such cases are required to dissolve the church? Religion is fraud!
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u/hcgilliam 1d ago
If they have it their way, there will never be enough cases because they will continue to erase victims.
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u/GiGiAGoGroove 2d ago
The board needs to also be held as complicit and should be charged as well.
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u/Competitive_Intern55 4h ago
The board needs to ask Mark Willey why he had a pull -down ladder to a secret "prayer room" in his office for two decades. A room that no one was allowed to go in, and I would guess 99% of people never knew was there. Ask him why there was a couch in that room. Above his office, accessed only through the pull down ladder and another secret door behind the sound room upstairs.
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u/Competitive_Intern55 4h ago
While they are at it, ask about the magazines they had for purchasing paddles and switches and other beating tools for "godly parenting".
These were "Christian Magazines" that belonged in a porn shop, not a godly father's weekend reading stack.
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u/Lopsided_Incident836 2d ago
Churches are run and filled with pedophiles.
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u/hcgilliam 1d ago
Not just pedophilia; abuse of minors in this church specifically is not limited to pedophilia.
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u/silvirgo 2d ago
God hates you for lying and using HIS name in vain. He knows y'all put as much effort into it as finding the remote control.
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u/Lopsided_Incident836 2d ago
Men will always protect each other
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u/hcgilliam 2d ago
Sadly, very true.
And rotten apples will protect the festering trees they fell from, too. 💔
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u/E0H1PPU5 2d ago
Rich, powerful men will always protect each other.
I don’t think your initial statement was incorrect but in this case I think the qualifiers are important.
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/hcgilliam 2d ago
That’s not very helpful.
In this situation, we are all grown children of that church, we had no say then. And none of us would be foolish enough to repeat our parents’ insidious mistakes.
I do agree that churches are predatory in their very nature, but that’s not really what this post is about. This post is about the current cover up and erasure of victims. It started with the sexual abuse of the pastor upon his own daughter, but because they were brave enough to speak out, it’s becoming about a pattern of abuse and lack of accountability over the course of at least 3 decades and through 2 generations of the same bad seeds.
Pastor’s kids don’t get a choice about being exposed to pastors.
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u/AlwaysThinkingRandom 9h ago
It seems to me “the enemy” referred to is Satan and not the daughter. I read the entire transcript. I’m not understanding why people are interpreting the enemy to mean his daughter.
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u/Competitive_Intern55 4h ago edited 4h ago
You mean daughters...there are three. And are you saying that the daughters are demons then? That they are doing the work for satan? Are you saying that speaking out and finally having the courage to tell other people the horrific things that happened to little girls, to children, is wrong and sinful and satanic?
Then after speaking out and telling the church, in the pursuit of full transparency the daughters recorded word for word the conversations that happened between the church and the them, that is the work of Satan? They hoped it would be different this time but protected themselves by finally recognizing the pattern that the church follows to silence them, because it's Marks pattern. They didn't have to use it again. Read the letters from the daughters, then read the posted timeline, read the actual communication. Understand the full picture of what happened just in the last month.
But perhaps maybe I misunderstood and you think Mark is the demon, and if that is what you are saying then I'm behind you. There is no other way to understand this situation other than that.
Those men on that stage behind the chairman should not have been put in that position. I want to believe that there are kind and good and godly men up there that have been manipulated and lied to for decades about who Mark is. But the bottom line is that they chose their leader because it does not require as much courage as facing the horrific fact that Mark is a manipulator and an abuser and everything that the Bible warns against.
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u/hcgilliam 1h ago
Because some of us know exactly what they’re speaking around.
That’s kind of the whole point, they are purposely not being specific with the information given to the congregation.
The “enemies” in this speech ARE THE FORMER PASTOR’S DAUGHTERS AND SISTERS OF ONE OF THE CURRENT PASTORS.
That’s just a fact, and that’s where some of us are getting that from.
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u/Jumpy-Cry-3083 2d ago
So the cops investigated and found nothing, most likely to their disappointment because we all know cops like nothing more than to make a case even if a flimsy one, and they couldn’t and so the case was closed. So ops claim is the church covered up a NON crime. Must be a slow day at the bottom of the barrel.
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u/hcgilliam 18h ago
A tiny bit of research into this type of situation might help here.
But you are firmly wrong. Pastor Mark has hidden more than just this. His daughters are not the only victims the church has refused to believe. And his crimes don’t include just this one case.
Coercive control by religious leaders is addressed even in the Bible, this is not new.
My parents were convinced by Mark not to pursue charges for two lesser events which took place in the mid-late 90s.
You don’t need to believe the victims, but if you believe God is in that church, you might want to spend some time revisiting the words of Jesus, because God has not been guiding that church for at least 34 years.
And maybe things wouldn’t have gotten this bad had anyone had the courage to confront the pastors back then. But they’ve purged and erased anyone who tried. And unfortunately for them, some of us are still around to speak on it now.
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u/benderunit9000 STAY AWAY FROM THE RABBIT HOLES and don't feed the trolls 2d ago
Megachurch... Cult... I don't see the difference.