Hyles Grad and Michigan Pastor Tedd Butler Brought Up on Child Molestation Charges

And now there’s yet another Hyles grad from Michigan who has allegedly got a thing for boys in his congregation. WoodTV.com reports:

The pastor of a Walker Baptist church is expected in court Thursday to face charges he sexually assaulted two boys, each under 13, that he met through the church.

The Rev. Tedd Butler, pastor of the Gospel Light Baptist Church, is accused of two separate offenses.

In Ottawa County, he’s facing second-degree sexual assault — that is, improper touching – in Ottawa County’s Tallmadge Township. Records show he lives in that township, but it’s not known whether these alleged offenses happened at his home.

But in northern Kent County, authorities told 24 Hour News 8 he’s being charged with first-degree sexual assault with a different boy.

Ottawa County investigators said the alleged assaults happened years ago.

Butler, 46, is married with children and has no criminal record.

What the article doesn’t mention is that Tedd Butler graduated from Hyles Anderson College in 1988 and from Crown Bible College in 1998. I’m thinking this map might be a good place to start in picking pastors to keep an eye on.

It’s worth noting that the church website has apparently been taken down.

(photo taken from here)

46 thoughts on “Hyles Grad and Michigan Pastor Tedd Butler Brought Up on Child Molestation Charges”

  1. I’m going with the guy on the left in the picture.

    Seriously, how many of these perverts link back to HAC? It almost seems as if though HAC must have a class called Sexual Molestation 101.

  2. Based on the video report linked to above, it looks like Tedd Butler is the man on our right in the photo above.

  3. That map is enlightening. There’s an HAC-connected pastor in my town, and one in a nearby town, that I didn’t know about. Indeed, something to keep an eye on.

    1. Aaaahhh! We recently moved to El Paso, TX and there’s one down the road from us! http://www.faithbaptistelpaso.org/index.html

      Very priceless website, as usual. I love how they say “If you are looking for a fundamental church that is not afraid to preach the truth with love and long-suffering, then stop by and give us a try!” on their main page and then one of the only links on the side is one called “Are you guilty?” 😆

      1. P.S. Why does it say “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” sometimes when I post? Have I been deemed inappropriate? =

        1. I think it’s just because the blog and forum are on two different sites. No worries. 🙂

    2. I found one in my area. Lighthouse Baptist Church in Pasadena, Maryland. It was in strip mall and appears to be closed. 😛 There are already too many IFB churches in northern Anne Arundel County. Townsend Avenue Baptist Church in Brooklyn Park closed about 10 years ago, due to the changing demographic of that neighborhood. I hear many other local IFB churches are hurting for new members. Yet the Hyles cult thought there was room for another IBF church

  4. I find it so fascinating how many of these preachers consistently have “no criminal record.”

    “The better wool to hide my fangs and claws, my dear.”

  5. Stuff like this can be even more jarring because so many trust these men to not be like those heathen Catholic priests…disturbing.

  6. The guy on the left is a faculty member @ Crown College. ….How interesting to see this. It doesn’t surprise me at all.

    1. He was also my high school principal. He’s not at Crown anymore. From what I’ve heard, he’s recently become quite disillusioned with that brand of xIFB-ism. I hope so. I really respected him and his wife.

  7. How long until HAC blame the “liberal” media for reporting this?
    Because somehow if no one reports the news, then it never happened.

  8. Jon jenkins is on that list he is an accesory to rape he knows 2 girls got rapes by a teacher in his school and all he did was fire the guy and never reported it gotta love the hac grads

    1. Ugh. How horrible!

      Were there any news stories about this? Did the parents report the crimes?

  9. Looks like the website domain was allowed to expire. Don’t know if it was intentional as regards to this incident, or just being lax.

  10. Looking at that map link, I shuddered more than once, reading the names. There are a few loons on there, that were already KNOWN to be loons, back in the day. Frightening. 😯

  11. I’m sure every college in America has graduated child molesters just from statistical probability. HAC is a really small school with seemingly high incidences of this. Do you think HAC has exceeded the statistical average significantly, or are we just focusing on them. I do know that the small seminary I went to has only been around 23 years, and has probably only graduated about 1000 or so pastors in that time, but I’m fairly sure none of them have gotten caught in this kind of mess. The gossip around school would have informed me it seems. So is HAC a pedophile breeding ground or attraction?

    1. I truly wonder about this too. I’d be interested in seeing what the percentages are of sex abusers among HAC grads and how HAC compares to other Christian colleges.

      I have wondered, if Hyles was really involved in unrepentant sin, perhaps God has given them over to a reprobate mind. Has the atmosphere of hiding sin, focusing on man-made standards, and exalting the pastor to god-like status caused a spirit that is anti-God to be fostered there? I’m only speculating, but I grieve that so many are deceived that THAT is what Christianity is all about.

      1. I doubt very much that any college (religious or secular) is keeping statistics on how many of its graduates are convicted sex offenders. I mean, it’s not a number you’d put in the recruiting brochure.

  12. It’s interesting to peruse the church directory of Hyles grads. Saw some names I hadn’t heard or thought of in nearly 30 years. I also noted that some of the guys they have listed wouldn’t spit on Hyles-Anderson if it were burning to the ground — yet they are listed. I wonder if they could sue for defamation for having their names on there? Glad that I’ve been able to stay under the radar and was relieved to see my name and church absent from the Hall of Shame that is their directory.

    1. No, I mean the website of GLBC. The link was messed up.

      Upon looking a little further it appears that the church’s domain name was allowed to expire so it’s hard to know if it was intentional or just an oversight.

  13. I believe these kinds of things are the result of unaccountable men who are allowed to rule the church by their own authority. This kind of leadership is unbiblical and it is not surprising to see these kinds of things happen when members fail to hold their leaders to a biblical standard. HAC has been a place linked to sex-abuse because they breed a mentality of cult-like leadership. When people follow their leader without question, these abuses are more likely to take place.

  14. Whoa. Jack Trieber from NVBC and Tim Ruhl from PVBC are HAC grads? My church definitely associates with them. And yet, there’s a HAC-associated church RIGHT IN MY HOMETOWN which is like 5-7 miles away from my church. And here was my church telling us we were the only Bible-believing Baptist church for 20 miles.

    1. Two assistant pastors from Lancaster are HAC grads too, along with a few staff members.

      1. Eesh. What upsets me is that when the 20/20 video hit, everyone from my church hated the video because they thought it falsely associated us with Jack Schaap. Plenty of people said that we’re not like that at all and condemned Schaap as a mean-spirited, arrogant leader. Yet it turns out that there we’re only 1 or 2 degrees away from him in the network. Ridiculous.

  15. butler is the guy on the right…and not all HAC grads child molesters btw…my pastor happens to be an HAC grad and he isnt a child molester! these kind of people make my pastor sick and make any real man of God sick!

  16. and btw to say that all HAC grads ARE child molesters is obnoxious and childish, not to mention rude. just because you have a beef with them doesn’t mean you have to trash them!

    1. I never said that all Hyles grads are child molesters. I said that people might want to keep an eye on pastors who graduate from there.

      For such a small college Hyles has graduated an inordinate number of perverts. That’s just a fact.

    2. You’re in denial, honey. Even if most of them aren’t molesters, they do a darn good job of covering up the incidences and standing behind the molesters, just so they look good. They don’t address the issue, or if they do, they water it down, and the victims suffer due to this disgusting negligence. And that denial and its perpetrators should be “trashed” so the word gets out and the crimes become fewer and fewer. I hope you find your way out of that cult soon.

  17. WOW! And I thought the media was bad. I figured a group on a supposed Christian website would believe in innocent until proven guilty. Especially when all the facts have not been made public. But here you all are damning someone based on the media. You all seem kind of pathetic to me. I was raised to believe someone was innocent until proven guilty. And if they are, we, as christians should do what is in our power to help them. Not automatically degrade them based on little to no facts. Just my opinion though. I,m sure you all will start blasting me now. Gives you something else to talk about with no facts.

    1. “Innocent until proven guilty” is something you will not find in the Bible concerning pastors. Pastors are to be blameless and above reproach, which Mr. Butler most certainly is not.

    2. Adam, do you have any equally emotional opinions on helping the VICTIMS of the “innocent until proven guilty” perpetrators? I’m guessing that you have absolutely no experience or history in dealing with a clergy entitlement mindset, the degradation and devaluation of women and children, and the shameful treatment of victims. If you do, forgive me. But you sound very much like you believe there’s a huge problem with falsely accused perpetrators. Turns out that’s such a rare occurrence, that we would be far better served to actually comfort, aid, and help the victims of clergy abuse. Be very thankful if you have no experience along these lines, but don’t dismiss the reality that there is a huge problem with the very people who should be trusted taking indecent liberties. I believe HAC’s uniquely large numbers of credibly accused perps has to do with their harsh degradation and devaluation of women. It’s beyond shameful–all of it.

      I hope you never have to have any personal experience with this, Adam.

      1. As a child, I made a false accusation against my stepfather, alleging that he had beaten me and whipped me on the back of my legs. It was a lie, which I told because it got me a lot of attention. Fortunately the authorities investigated and found out that it was not true, and my step-father did not get in trouble. BUT—and this is important—there is a reason I made that up. I was suffering through serious neglect at home, and stunts like this were a major call for help and should have been a red flag. I personally think that in the small percentage of cases where accusations of abuse are found to be false, people need to seriously investigate what else is going on in that child’s life that would make them say something like that.

  18. Allegations of sexual misconduct have dogged Hyles-Anderson since the days of Hyles and his alleged liasons with one of his employees. Whether he was actually guilty or not remains unknown, but his own son’s behavior certainly has never been above reproach, not just with sexual misconduct but even an unexplained child death.

    More to the point, as long ago as 1991, a mentally disabled woman was repeatedly assaulted on the church grounds and it was thoroughly covered up. Other accusations have been made. Only recently has any of this started coming to light. Where there’s smoke …

    And Schaap is disgusting.

  19. Power corrups and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

    so when you claim to speak for God…….

  20. I dated this guy while he was at HAC. Thank God that I broke it off with him!! Not to mention , I left that IFB religion. I’m disgusted. He’s a pedophile. I was in his brothers wedding. Best friends with his sister-in-law. I stayed with him and his parents. I’m in shock and angry!!

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