Paul Pressler dead: Southern Baptist leader accused of sexual abuse

Paul Pressler, a leader in the Southern Baptist Convention who was accused of sexually abusing boys and young men and later reached a settlement over the allegations, has died. He was 94 years old.

Pressler’s death on June 7 was announced in an obituary posted online by the Geo. H. Lewis and Sons funeral home in Houston. Pressler’s funeral service was held Saturday. The cause of death was not announced.

News of Pressler’s death was first reported by Baptist News Global.

Pressler was one of the architects of the Southern Baptist Convention’s “conservative resurgence,” an initiative in the 1980s that changed the direction of America’s largest Protestant denomination. Pressler and others pushed out more liberal leaders, helped forge an alliance between white evangelicals and Republican conservatives, and focused on electing Republican candidates to public office.

The Southern Baptist Convention has more than 47,000 churches with a total of nearly 13 million members, according to its website. 200 of these are considered “megachurches,” but the vast majority have fewer than 200 people attending weekly services. Most of the churches are located in the southern United States. The denomination’s executive board is based in Nashville.

In a 2015 video supporting Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas during his failed presidential bid, Pressler said he had dedicated his life “to the conservative principles on which our country was founded.”

“I think people are really angry about the orders coming out of Washington. I think if we don’t have good people in Washington, we’re not going to save our country,” Pressler said.

But Pressler’s religious legacy was tarnished after he was accused of sexual assault by a former assistant, Gareld Duane Rollins. In a 2017 lawsuit filed in Harris County, where Houston is located, Rollins claimed that Pressler raped him when he was 14 after the two met in a Bible study group led by Pressler, according to court records. Rollins claimed that Pressler continued to sexually abuse him regularly over the next 24 years.

The Associated Press does not typically name victims who allege sexual assault or abuse, but Rollins and his lawyers have publicly mentioned his name in court documents.

Rollins also sued the Southern Baptist Convention and others who he said covered up or enabled Pressler’s behavior. As part of the lawsuit, at least seven other men came forward with their own allegations of sexual abuse against Pressler.

Rollins’ allegations prompted the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News to launch a comprehensive investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention. The series of reports revealed that top leaders had ignored or downplayed warnings of a sexual abuse crisis within the Protestant denomination and led to significant reforms.

In December, Pressler, the Southern Baptist Convention and others confidentially agreed to settle the dispute.

Pressler denied the allegations against him and no charges were ever brought against him.

The Southern Baptist Convention held its annual meeting last week but did not appear to acknowledge Pressler’s death during the event. A Southern Baptist Convention spokesman did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Sunday.

Pressler also served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives in the late 1950s, representing the greater Houston area. In 1970, he was appointed a state district judge. Eight years later, he was appointed a state appellate judge, a position he held until his retirement in 1993, according to his obituary posted online.