Paul Pressler Just curious if someone knows more about this guy and/or the history of the so-called "fundamentalist takeover" of the southern baptist convention. He was a member of the House of Representatives and wrote a book called A Hill On Which To Die. Is he a fundamentalist or just a devout christian? One article from each side. Pressler pressure Architect of the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention tells his story By Edward E. Plowman The 16-year-old youth's first Sunday in Exeter, N.H., was a memorable one. Son of a prominent Texas family rooted in law, politics, and oil, he had come to Exeter to attend prep school. After breakfast that Sunday, he went to First Baptist Church, burst into the pastor's study, and announced: "I am Paul Pressler. I am from Houston, Texas. I was saved when I was 10. I am going to be here for two years, and I will want to be part of this church." The seminary-trained pastor studied him, then said, "I don't know what you people from the South mean when you say somebody has been saved." Puzzled by the response, the youth explained what he believed the Bible taught about salvation. The pastor listened graciously but remained unmoved theologically. It was Paul Pressler's first one-on-one encounter with liberalism in the church. Fifty-three years and many not-so-gracious encounters with liberals later, Paul Pressler was in Atlanta for last month's annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. The event in the Georgia Dome marked the 20th anniversary of the conservative resurgence in the 15-million-member denomination. Its most significant accomplishment has been the turnaround of the six SBC seminaries, with an enrollment of about 10,000, from a drift into theological liberalism. More than any other single individual, Mr. Pressler gets the credit for being the one who got things started. Now, in a new book, A Hill on Which to Die (Broadman & Holman), Mr. Pressler tells the story as he and his family lived it. His background is important to understanding his role as SBC reformer. As a teenager at Exeter, collegian at Princeton, Navy ROTC officer in Pennsylvania, law student at the University of Texas, and as a young lawyer in both Houston and Chicago, he had a passion for Bible teaching and evangelism. In Chicago, he met and married Nancy Avery, a conservative Presbyterian and Smith College graduate who shared his zeal and love of the Scriptures. Along the way, Mr. Pressler was exposed to neo-orthodoxy and liberalism in classes at Princeton and in special lectures by Union Seminary faculty. He defended biblical teaching and authority in discussions with professors. But the devastating effects of liberalism he was seeing in ministers and churches disturbed him. After his return to Houston in 1960, where he later became a state judge and legislator, he saw troubling signs of liberal inroads in the SBC and began to document them. Few seemed concerned. In 1967, Mr. Pressler met a brainy seminarian at New Orleans Baptist Seminary who did share his concerns: Paige Patterson. The two became close friends and colleagues in the coming struggle. Mr. Patterson became a pastor in Arkansas, then head of a Bible college in Dallas. Presently president of Southeastern Baptist Seminary, Mr. Patterson last month was voted by acclamation to serve a second one-year term as SBC president. In 1975, Bill Powell, a former SBC home missions executive and head of a small conservative group, explained to Mr. Pressler how the SBC "system" worked, and how it could be used to stop creeping liberalism. The presidency of the SBC is an honorary position with no power except one: appointment of the Committee on Committees. This committee in turn nominates members of the Committee on Nominations (formerly Boards). And this committee nominates members of the governing boards of all SBC agencies and institutions. Mr. Pressler immediately saw the possibilities. With committed conservative presidents and committee members and an informed voting constituency, it could take only five years or so for the boards to have conservative majorities and about 10 years to have complete control. With guidance from Mr. Patterson, he spent the next few years explaining the system to others and recruiting like-minded leaders to help. In his book, he takes readers behind the scenes to show how Memphis pastor Adrian Rogers agreed to be nominated president in 1979 and to appoint the "right" people to the Committee on Committees. (To help sort priorities in the beginning, Pastor Rogers would ask, "Is this a hill on which to die?" Hence the book's title.) Mr. Pressler shows how year by year the strategy continued to work, and how divisions came about in Texas, Virginia, and elsewhere. He describes the opposition of those in power as well as nasty showdowns at SBC headquarters. He directs his harshest criticism at the media, especially Baptist Press, the SBC's own news service, and many of the SBC state newspapers that opposed what he and the other conservative leaders were doing. Today, the fighting is mostly over. There was virtually no controversy in Atlanta last month. Many who were seminary faculty members in 1979 have been replaced, and the schools are thriving, Mr. Pressler says. He adds that he is easing off the scene to enjoy retirement. He warns the Texas convention may yet bolt and draw away hundreds of churches-and a lot of mission money-with it, perhaps creating a new denomination. But he also warns against internal dangers: complacency, unspiritual attitudes, and abuse of power. He urges his fellow members to pursue spiritual transformation. He hopes people in Exeter and elsewhere will know what folks "from the South" really mean when they say they are saved. http://www.worldmag.com/world/issue/07-03-99/national_5.asp Fundamentalists Take Control of the Denomination Moderates and liberals withdraw; Consider forming an alternate denomination A news flash from the 2001 Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly meeting? No, it's not about our denomination - and it's not news. But the headline is correct. We refer to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), one of the largest denominations, and to a story that began in earnest in 1979. In this first of two articles, we describe what happened to the Southern Baptists. In the concluding article, which we published on the day the 2001 General Assembly gathered in Louisville KY, June 8, we explore whether there are parallels with our current PC(USA) situation. "It can't happen to us," you say? Read on. For most of us, our primary church contact is our local congregation. The people near and dear to us provide support, nurture, and education. We take part as leaders, doers, listeners, and learners. We think less about the regional and national aspects of our denomination and very little, if at all, about other denominations. This may be even more the case in the Baptist tradition; each congregation is largely autonomous, though most take part in voluntary affiliations such as with state and national organizations often called "conventions". National and global mission is accomplished through a voluntary "cooperative program" managed by the denomination. Therefore, we believe it's instructive to reflect on the Southern Baptists' experience on the eve of the 2001 PC(USA) General Assembly. Some of us may not have focused on the SBC events; others may have forgotten Comparison of the Southern Baptists with the Presbyterians The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) claims 15 million members Nearly 38,000 churches 1,200 associations Over 35 state conventions $4.6 billion donated to the cooperative program Non-creedal; The Baptist Faith and Message, a statement of principles which originated in the mid-twentieth century, is however not binding on local congregations Originated in 1845 Compare this with the Presbyterian Church (USA) 2-1/2 million members 11,000 churches 173 presbyteries 16 synods Governed by a constitution including a Book of Confessions and a Book of Order First organization in N. America 1706; First General Assembly 1789 In 1979, SBC national assets included four general boards Annuity Board Foreign Mission Board Home Mission Board Sunday School Board and eight seminaries Golden Gate (Mill Valley CA) Midwestern (Kansas City MO) New Orleans Southeastern (Wake Forest NC) Southern (Louisville KY) Southwestern (Ft. Worth TX) Many other institutions, including colleges and universities were controlled by state Baptist conventions with Baylor University, Waco TX, being perhaps the best known and largest. "Takeover" The 1979 meeting of the SBC in Houston TX is said to be the beginning of the "takeover", or if one is a fundamentalist, the "take back" of the denomination for conservative purposes. The names of two leaders are indelibly fixed to this event: Paige Patterson, then president of the Criswell Center for Biblical Studies (now Criswell College) Paul Pressler, a Houston appeals court judge The two had met about ten years before and reportedly talked generally about the situation in the denomination. Their public statements characterized the SBC as having moved away from the Bible as the "inerrant", fully inspired will of God and without error of any kind. When pressed about possible translation or transcription errors, they said it was the original monographs of the Bible, some of which are now lost, which were inerrant. In a brief time before the Houston convention, the two recognized that SBC rules grant the national convention's president key appointment powers, which if used consistently, can control who is selected to the approximately 1,000 trustee positions that collectively control all SBC institutions. The SBC president chooses the members of the Committee on Committees, which in turn presents to the convention delegates a slate of nominees for the nominating committee, known as the Committee on Boards and later the Committee on Nominations. The nominating committee selects the slate of about 260 people to fill vacancies on the various SBC organizations, including the main boards and seminary trustees. The SBC convention delegates have approval authority over the slate. As in most organizations, trustees serve staggered terms, so replacing all of them, or even a majority, is a multiple-year project. So therefore the Patterson-Pressler strategy was to consistently get fundamentalists elected as SBC president who would appoint like-minded people to the nominating committee, which would do the same for the positions to which it nominates. Can nominations be made from the convention floor? Yes. For example, in 1985 moderates proposed a slate of candidates. The fundamentalist president in the chair, Charles Stanley, ruled the motion out of order. An SBC national convention meeting is a large and in some ways unwieldy body. For one thing, the size is large since each of the 38,000 SBC churches is permitted to send from one to ten representatives called "messengers" depending on the church's size or financial contribution to the Convention's work. The largest recorded attendance was in 1985 with 45,000 messengers. The cost to attend, such as hotel and travel, is paid by the messengers. There's no requirement for the denomination to support this cost. Of course, local churches are free to support their messengers. In 1979 about 15,500 messengers registered. On the first SBC presidential ballot, Adrian Rogers, a Memphis TN fundamentalist pastor, won by 51.36%. Some alleged voting irregularities, for example: One hundred seven messengers registered twice As many as a thousand people registered who had not been elected by their churches Some people cast ballots for others not in the hall in contravention of the rules Registration procedures were "loose", which allowed busing people from the region to attend and vote In any event, Rogers was the winner and did appoint conservatives to the Committee on Committees. The fundamentalists didn't seem shy about declaring their positions. For example, in September 1980, Paul Pressler described his strategy to a religious news reporter: "We are going for the jugular. We are going for having knowledgeable, Bible-centered, Christ-honoring trustees of all of our institutions, who are not going to sit there like a bunch of dummies and rubber stamp everything that's presented to them, but who are going to inquire why this is being done, what is being taught, what is the finished product of our young people who come out of our institutions going to be." Bailey Smith, the SBC president elected in 1980 by 52% of the vote said, "God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew." Moderates Respond Moderates were, of course, aware of the rhetoric and the results of the SBC elections. After the 1980 SBC annual meeting, Cecil Sherman, a pastor in Asheville NC and president of that state's Southern Baptist convention, called a meeting in Gatlinburg TN. This effort was unsuccessful; moderate candidates for SBC president lost by 5-10% margin in the following few years. Some said the counter movement was too poorly funded and received too little support from the people it was trying to help. SBC formed a 22- member "Peace Committee" in 1985 to attempt to ease tensions among the various positions. In one of its report it said, "the limits of legitimate diversity are at the heart of our ongoing process to bring about reconciliation." It disbanded in 1988, unsuccessful in pointing a path to reconciliation. A later moderate effort to regain some control also failed. A moderate pastor from Dunwoody GA, Dan Vestal, received national attention after being interviewed on a Bill Moyers' TV program "God and Politics." Vestal ran for SBC president in 1989 and 1990 and lost to fundamentalist candidates. Conservatives, now in firm control, replaced leaders in agencies over which the SBC national convention had control, or made life difficult for agencies over which control was less direct. In the latter category, the budget of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, roughly equivalent to the PC(USA) Washington DC office, was cut by 82%. Moderate trustees and presidents in the SBC seminaries were replaced. Russell Dilday, former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, called the fundamentalist crusade "the most devastating in the history of the SBC." Paige Patterson became president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. The SBC internal boards also changed hands. George Sheridan was ousted from the Home Mission Board (HMB), in part because he claimed that Jews retained a "covenantal" relationship with God. HMB has since refused to give aid to churches hiring women as pastors. Lloyd Elder, head of the Sunday School Board, the publishing branch of SBC with 2,000 employees and 70 million pieces sold, was forced into retirement in 1992. Foreign Mission Board president Keith Parks took early retirement; he'd taken an early stand against fundamentalists. In 1991, moderates formed the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), a quasi-denominational group committed to global missions and advocacy of historic Baptist values. Dan Vestal was the first moderator and is the current CBF coordinator. The current annual budget is $17 million contributed by individuals and local churches, about 60% of which is used for missions. In 2000, the SBC amended the Baptist Faith and Message statement to state: "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture." Adrian Rogers chaired the revision committee. http://www.tamfs.org/new/ga213/sbc.asp
I was wondering if, by any chance, someone else had met him or knows him. He's friends with the Bush family, and with Oliver North. I am interested in finding out what he has done during the last few years.
https://texasmonitor.org/paul-pressler-lawsuit-alleges-decades-long-molestation/ Home Reports Daily Monitor Reports Daily Monitor Featured Reports Editor's Picks Lawsuit alleges decades-long molestation by former Texas lawmaker By Johnny Kampis - December 6, 2017 34 Share on Facebook Tweet on Twitter Paul Pressler Former Texas state judge and lawmaker Paul Pressler has been hit with a lawsuit that alleges he molested a man over the course of 35 years. Pressler, a former justice on the 14th Court of Appeals, who served in the Texas House from 1957 to 1959, vehemently denied the allegations by Gareld Duane Rollins, who claims that Pressler began molesting him in 1979, when he was 14, through the year 2014. The suit also names Pressler’s wife, Nancy, his law partner Jared Woodfill, the First Baptist Church of Houston, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and its president, the Rev. Paige Patterson. Rollins seeks $1 million in damages. The suit was filed in Harris County on Oct. 18 and obtained by Quorum Report on Monday. Woodfill told the outlet the suit was an attempt to “extort money from the Southern Baptist Convention” and vowed to “fight it tooth and nail.” The suit alleges that Rollins and Pressler met when the former attended First Baptist Church, where Pressler held volunteer leadership roles. The suit alleges that Pressler enrolled Rollins in Bible study and began molesting and raping him in his master bedroom study. The suit also alleges that Pressler told Rollins he could stop at any time, but that Rollins thought God had sanctioned the rapes. The suit says the molestation occurred two to three times per month while Rollins attended college. A series of crimes that included forgery and possession of a controlled substance resulted in Rollins going to prison and Pressler wrote letters to the parole board asking for his release. “I have never before agreed to be actively involved in helping someone be released from prison and rehabilitated, but I am willing in this situation because I really believe in Duane,” Pressler wrote on Aug. 10, 2000. Rollins was denied on that occasion, but he successfully received parole in 2002, after Pressler wrote a letter saying he would employ Rollins to handle personal matters for him, including driving him to speaking engagements. The job would allow Rollins time to finish his college education, Pressler wrote. “I would be personally involved in every bit of Duane’s life with supervision and control,” Pressler wrote in that May 22, 2002, letter. However, Rollins was arrested for driving under the influence in Houston in 2004, which led to a string of arrests and jail stints over the next decade-plus. In 2015, he told a psychologist about the alleged molestation and began receiving treatment. A letter from psychiatrist Dr. Harvey Rosenstock that is included in the case file says that Rollins likely suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from childhood sexual trauma. Pressler is a leader in the “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention, which seeks to push back against perceived liberal influence in the Baptist church. Several pages of Rollins’ suit attempt to discredit the theology of the resurgence, arguing that Pressler and others seek power over women and children. Previous articleBush questioned over ‘convoluted’ Alamo oversight Next articleSexy texts surface in senator’s corruption case Johnny Kampis Johnny Kampis is a reporter for The Texas Monitor. Kampis formerly served a similar role at Watchdog.org. Over the course of his nearly 20 years in journalism, he has been published in such outlets as the New York Times, Time, Fox News, and Daily Caller. RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR Southern Baptist Convention added to Pressler molestation lawsuit Former University of Texas track and field coach claims discrimination after firing over relationship with student HCC trustee bribery fallout puts college system’s accreditation in question 34 COMMENTS Anon February 1, 2018 at 9:23 pm I know these people and my parents knew these people and my Father just told me he had heard the rumors way back when. He also told me he himself had been approached as a young man invited to a hot tub at a ranch. The corruption and obsession with control, especially over women and those less powerful (children and young people) and the complete crushing of any kind of questioning of authority that resulted from the hard swing to the far right in the Baptist Church, especially in Texas where I grew up–and in Houston, where money can buy you pretty much anything–caused me, and eventually my entire family to leave the Baptist Church. Add to that the horrific events and attacking of the victims at Baylor of late (where a large part of those I grew up in the Baptist Church in Texas with ended up) and you can see that this kind of abuse and hypocrisy has destroyed and perverted the baptist Church. This is about control and deranged people gaslighting generations of young people. It will stop and we will out all of the abuse and hypocrisy. my great-grandparents, who deeply loved their Baptist Christian faith and dedicated much of their lives and philanthropy to Baptist institutions in Texas, would be horrified. I for one am proud to have had the courage to speak out and leave that church as it moved into a right wing control state at the age of fourteen. They brainwash youth. This joke of a SBC is cultlike. The women at Baylor who were raped and assaulted have also not had their day in court but it is coming.
I'm not a Southern Baptist, nor a fan of any fundamentalist styled teachings. But this guy put himself out there as a face of the movement so when he falls it makes them all look bad. I feel some pity for folks that bought into his crapola.
The reason I am asking about this guy is because I know him personally. And yes, I was invited to a country club/health club in the Galleria area by that guy.
That's kind of scary. I read the comments under the article. That's very frightening stuff. Did you ever get a creepy vibe from him?
I am a bit conflicted. He and his family were very friendly to me. They have a mentally handicapped son who must now be in his 50s, I am sure that has not been an easy thing to deal with. At the same time, yes, I cannot deny the slightly creepy vibe, and there was an intolerance towards other beliefs. And there was always pressure to join them for "bible studies" (I didn't). In that health club, I found it weird that there was total nudity, but then again, I am from Germany where that is normal. Nothing was ever tried or anything, but I certainly didn't go back there either. I didn't stay in touch with them, and I always felt a bit ungrateful for that. The only reason I came across these news is that I was in Houston for a day, and it reminded me to google some folks I knew in Houston, and then I saw the news. The strangest thing is that I am not surprised by it. That doesn't mean that I know for sure it's true, but I am not surprised.
Crazy. Hopefully, if anything overt would have happened, you would have dealt with it rather than become a victim. But it's probably better that it never came to that anyway.
I have never heard of the guy so I can't say one way or the other about the accusations but if anyone who professes to be a Christian does not understand the meaning of "being saved" I found that very sad.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/ne...ccuse-former-Texas-judge-Baptist-12831892.php More men accuse former Texas judge, Baptist leader of sexual misconduct By Robert Downen April 13, 2018 Updated: April 13, 2018 1:29pm 28 Photo: MICHAEL STRAVATO, STR / AP IMAGE 1 OF 4 Former judge Paul Pressler, shown here in 2004, has been accused by three men of sexual misconduct. The list of men accusing a former Texas state judge and leading figure of the Southern Baptist Convention of sexual misconduct continues to grow. In separate court affidavits filed this month, two men say Paul Pressler molested or solicited them for sex in a pair of incidents that span nearly 40 years. Those accusations were filed as part of a lawsuit filed last year by another man who says he was regularly raped by Pressler. MOST POPULAR More men accuse former Texas judge, Baptist leader of sexual misconduct Breaking down 2018 Texas A&M football: Quarterback With health failing, former first lady Barbara Bush forgoes treatment for comfort care School districts in Houston, statewide feel crushing effects of budget troubles Face the facts: Beto will lose [Opinion] McClain: Early look at Texans' lineup is promising 3-pointers: Takeaways from Rockets' Game 1 win over Timberwolves Pressler’s newest accusers are another former member of a church youth group and a lawyer who worked for Pressler’s former law firm until 2017. Toby Twining, 59, now a New York musician, was a teenager in 1977 when he says Pressler grabbed his penis in a sauna at River Oaks Country Club, according to an affidavit filed in federal court. At that time, Pressler was a youth pastor at Bethel Church in Houston; he was ousted from that position in 1978 after church officials received information about “an alleged incident,” according to a letter introduced into the court file. TRANSLATOR To read this article in one of Houston's most-spoken languages, click on the button below. Want a venison sausage recipe? Too bad. It’s all a secret German Olympic Figure Skater Ripped for Using ‘Schindler’s List’ Score: ‘Bad Music Choice’ “If (the office manager) knew of Pressler’s past inappropriate sexual behavior, I find it hard to believe that you did not know about it,” he wrote in a Dec. 9, 2016 email to Woodfill, court records show. Woodfill responded that Pressler was no longer his law partner and that “this 85-year-old man has never made any inappropriate comments or actions toward me or any one I know of,” court records show. In a subsequent email, Woodfill said that the conduct Schott described “is unacceptable” and said he would address it with Pressler. In an email on Thursday, Woodfill responded to Schott’s assertion, writing that “the person described in Mr. Schott’s affidavit doesn’t match up with the Judge Pressler I know” and that Pressler “has not been associated with my law firm for over a decade.” He also provided a copy of a letter from Schott, written last month, in which Schott offered to sign a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for $35,000. Schott said that included the costs for his moving to Houston, preparing for the bar exam, paying off a lease when he left town and other expenses. Schott resigned from the firm in May 2017. In his resignation letter, which was also submitted to the court, he cites Pressler’s advances as a key reason for his departure. ‘Alleged incident’ In a January 2017 letter that was made public as part of Rollins’ lawsuit, an attorney for Bethel Church, Frank Sommerville, confirmed that the church “received information about an alleged incident involving Mr. Pressler in 1978.” “Upon learning of the alleged incident, the church immediately terminated Mr. Pressler’s involvement with the youth group and its activities,” Sommerville wrote. “The Presslers subsequently left the church sometime in late 1978.” In his memoir, “A Hill on Which to Die,” Pressler described the timeline of his departure from the church, writing that he and his wife, Nancy, resigned in 1979 after realizing they could not dedicate themselves to the Southern Baptist Convention while they were members of a non-SBC church. Pressler wrote that he first attended one of the SBC’s annual conventions while it was in Houston in 1968, though merely to “hear the messages.” He attended at least two more conventions before his departure from Bethel, and met more regularly with Southern Baptist leaders in the 1970s. He wrote that in December 1978, “God opened the door for me to participate in changing the convention by altering my personal work situation” — a reference to his earlier appointment to the Court of Appeals, which he said allowed him more time to travel. Later that year — and only a few months after his departure from Bethel — Pressler wrote that he was challenged by a pastor, who asked him: “Are you going to minister to 250 high-school students or 13 million Southern Baptists?” “I realized that I needed to give up working with the young people who had been very close to my heart,” Pressler wrote. “We had seen so many trust the Lord and grow in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/27/houston-jared-woodfill-gop-paul-pressler-southern-baptist/ Houston GOP activist knew for years of child sex abuse claims against Southern Baptist leader, law partner Under oath, outspoken anti-gay activist Jared Woodfill said he was told in 2004 that Paul Pressler had sexually abused a minor. But Woodfill did not cut ties with the Southern Baptist leader — and said he had no knowledge of Pressler’s alleged behavior when another young man came forward about alleged sexual misconduct in 2016. BY ROBERT DOWNEN MARCH 27, 2023 Then-Texas GOP party chairman candidate Jared Woodfill at the 2016 state Republican convention in Dallas on May 12, 2016. Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. In 2016, former Harris County GOP chair Jared Woodfill received an urgent warning about Paul Pressler, his longtime law partner and a Southern Baptist leader. In an email, a 25-year-old attorney from Woodfill’s Houston firm said he’d recently gone to lunch with Pressler, who told him “lewd stories about being naked on beaches with young men” and then invited him to skinny-dip at his ranch. Woodfill — an outspoken anti-gay politician and prominent conservative activist who’d just played a key role defeating an equal rights ordinance for LGBTQ Houstonians — responded to the young man’s request for help with shock and indignation. “This 85-year-old man has never made any inappropriate comments or actions toward me or any one I know of,” he wrote of Pressler at the time. But new court records show that wasn’t true. In recent sworn testimony, Woodfill said he’d known since 2004 of an allegation that Pressler had sexually abused a child. Woodfill learned of those claims, he said, during mediation of an assault lawsuit filed against Pressler that he helped quietly settle for nearly a half-million dollars at the time. Despite his knowledge of the accusation, Woodfill continued to work with Pressler for nearly a decade — leaning on Pressler’s name and reputation to bolster their firm, Woodfill & Pressler LLP. Rather than pay him a salary, Woodfill testified, the firm provided Pressler a string of employees to serve as personal assistants, most of them young men who typically worked out of his River Oaks mansion. Two have accused Pressler of sexual assault or misconduct. REFERENCE In 2004, leaders of First Baptist Church of Houston delivered this letter to Paul Pressler, a prominent evangelical figure who'd been accused of sexual misconduct by another church member. (171.0 KB) DOWNLOAD Woodfill led the Harris County Republican Party from 2002 to 2014 and has for years been at the helm of anti-LGBTQ and other hardline conservative movements in Houston and Texas. In 2015, amid tense debate over a Houston equal rights ordinance that would have made LGBTQ workplace discrimination illegal, he and well-known GOP power broker Steven Hotze co-led a campaign that, among other things, said the measure would allow children to be sexually groomed and abused in bathrooms, paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars in opposition advertisements and compared the gay rights movement to Nazis. Since then, Woodfill has remained a fixture in Texas GOP politics: During the height of the pandemic, he and Hotze filed numerous lawsuits challenging COVID-19 mandates, and he’s currently representing conservative political candidates challenging the 2022 election results in Harris County. Woodfill is also representing Hotze in a criminal investigation stemming from a 2020 incident in which a private investigator, allegedly acting at Hotze’s behest, held at gunpoint an A/C repairman who he believed was transporting fake ballots. Woodfill’s deposition came as part of an ongoing, six-year-old lawsuit in which a former member of Pressler’s church youth group accuses him of decades of rape beginning when he was 14. The suit also accuses Woodfill and others, including leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, of concealing and enabling Pressler’s behavior — claims that prompted a 2019 Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News investigation into widespread sexual abuse in the SBC, the nation’s second-largest faith group. Released over the last few weeks, the thousands of pages of new court records show how Woodfill leaned on his Pressler connections to bolster his political and legal career — despite warnings about his law partner’s behavior. And they shed new light on how Pressler, a former Texas Court of Appeals judge and one-time White House nominee under George H.W. Bush, allegedly used his prestige and influence to evade responsibility amid repeated accusations of sexual misconduct and assault dating back to at least 1978, when he was forced out of a Houston church for allegedly molesting a teenager in a sauna. Pressler is best known for his work in the Southern Baptist Convention, where he was instrumental in pushing its 16 million members and 47,000 churches to adopt literal interpretations of the Bible, strongly denounce homosexuality and align more closely with the Republican Party. And for decades, he was a high-ranking member of the Council for National Policy, an uber-secretive network of conservative judges, mega donors, media figures and religious elites led by Tony Perkins, head of the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council. The new records show that in 2004, leaders of First Baptist Church of Houston, a massive Southern Baptist congregation, investigated claims that Pressler, then a deacon, had groped and undressed a college student at his Houston mansion. The church leaders deemed the behavior "morally and spiritually" inappropriate and warned Pressler but took no further action, citing differing accounts of the incident and Pressler’s stature in their church and the Southern Baptist Convention. In recent depositions, plaintiffs attorneys also briefly mention new complaints from two others about Pressler, though those documents remain sealed ahead of the looming civil trial in the case. At least six men have now accused Pressler of sexual assault or misconduct, including two who say they were molested while minors and two who say they were solicited for sex in incidents after 2004, when Woodfill and First Baptist leaders were separately made aware of complaints about Pressler. Pressler has not been criminally charged in any of the incidents. Neither Woodfill nor his attorney responded to a list of questions about Woodfill’s handling of the allegations against Pressler. In a Wednesday email, Woodfill’s lawyer David Oubre said they are “confident Mr. Woodfill will be successful in defeating these claims.” (continued...)
(...continued) “A big name” The new allegations came as part of an ongoing lawsuit in which Duane Rollins accuses Pressler of decades of rape and molestation beginning when Rollins was 14 and a member of the church youth group led by Pressler, who was then in his late 40s. Those alleged attacks, Rollins says in court documents, pushed him into years of drug and alcohol addictions that kept him in prison for much of his adult life. While in prison therapy sessions in 2015, Rollins says he uncovered repressed memories of sexual abuse by Pressler. He was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress as a “direct result of the childhood sexual trauma he suffered,” according to medical records filed in court. In 2017, Rollins sued Pressler, Woodfill and Southern Baptist figures and institutions that he says enabled and concealed Pressler’s behavior, arguing that, because of trauma and manipulation by Pressler, it took him decades to reconcile that he was sexually abused. Last year, after the defendants fought to have the suit tossed by arguing the assault claims were outside the statute of limitations, the Texas Supreme Court agreed with Rollins' arguments and allowed the lawsuit to go forward. The new filings give insight into Woodfill’s long relationship with Pressler beginning in the mid-1990s. At the time, Pressler, then 65, was phasing out of years of work in the Southern Baptist Convention and focusing more on politics. Woodfill was still in his 20s and said Pressler’s conservative bona fides were a valuable asset. Pressler’s support has long been sought and touted by Republican political hopefuls, including Sen. Ted Cruz, who has known Pressler since he was a teenager. In 2012, Pressler hosted a retreat at his Texas ranch, where a group of prominent conservative leaders agreed to support Rick Santorum over Mitt Romney in the upcoming presidential election. “Obviously everybody knew who he was. He was a big name,” Woodfill said during his deposition. “A lot of people would come and ask for his endorsement.” Over the course of their law partnership, Woodfill testified, Pressler did almost no work for the firm, but was provided numerous young, male assistants who tended to his and his family’s needs — including his son who has a physical disability. “I can think of one or two cases that he brought in,” Woodfill testified. “He may have gone to one hearing in his entire time with us, two at the most. Really, it was his name. … He got an employee that worked for him. So he didn’t get a salary. He didn’t get a draw. He didn’t get a bonus. We paid for someone to come and assist him. That’s how he got compensated.” The latest lawsuit marks the second time Rollins has sued Pressler over allegations of assault. In 2004, Woodfill represented Pressler in a lawsuit in which Rollins accused him of assault stemming from a 2003 incident in a Dallas hotel room, during which Rollins says Pressler injured him during a physical altercation and, citing his stature as a former Texas judge, threatened him if he came forward. In order to avoid publicity, Woodfill helped settle the suit for $450,000 in a one-day mediation that also included a confidentiality agreement, he said in testimony last month. Copies of the lawsuit did not refer to the incident as sexual assault. But as the case was being mediated, Woodfill said under oath last month, he was told by Rollins’ then-attorney that Pressler had “been sexually inappropriate” with Rollins, had “done some things to him when he was a child” and “sexually abused (Rollins) ... when he was a child or in a youth group or something.” During his deposition, Woodfill declined to discuss most other details of the 2004 lawsuit, citing the confidentiality agreement. Even so, Woodfill’s testimony directly contradicts his previous assertions that he had no knowledge of Pressler’s alleged grooming and sexual misconduct toward young men — claims that he has repeated since at least 2016, when he denied any knowledge of such behavior after the young attorney detailed Pressler’s alleged invitation to hot tub naked, as well as in subsequent media interviews and court filings. Rollins’ attorneys say Woodfill “had an incentive to turn a blind eye to Mr. Pressler’s abuse.” “As a former state judge and prominent religious figure, the Pressler name was too important to lose or see tarnished,” lawyers for the law firm Baker Botts wrote in a recent filing. “Thus, when allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct surfaced, they were quietly swept under the rug to avoid the risk of losing a business partner.” Records show that Pressler remained a limited partner at the firm until around 2012, when Woodfill said Pressler retired. The firm was renamed Woodfill Law Firm and has been involved in numerous lawsuits involving conservative causes over the years. The firm has also faced accusations of impropriety, including money laundering allegations that sparked a 2018 raid and investigation by the Harris County District Attorney’s office, though no charges were ever filed in the matter. (continued...)
(...continued) “If brought to light” Rollins’ latest lawsuit also brought to light other sexual misconduct allegations against Pressler, including an affidavit that was submitted as part of the 2004 lawsuit. Woodfill declined to comment on the affidavit while under oath, citing confidentiality rules. In the affidavit, which was made public this year, another college student says Pressler pressured him to get naked and then groped him at his Houston mansion. According to court records, the young man met Pressler through First Baptist Church of Houston and then was hired by Woodfill’s law firm as Pressler’s assistant. The Texas Tribune does not identify victims of alleged sexual assault without their consent. In the newly-surfaced affidavit, the young man said he was invited to live with the Presslers. “Moving into the Pressler home was in the fashion of being invited to be a member of the family which, by that time and owing to the church relationship, I had become,” he wrote in his affidavit. One night in May 2004, he was asked by Pressler to give him a neck massage on his bed, he said in the affidavit. Pressler then removed his pants and began to give the young man a massage, the man said. Pressler later invited him on a trip to Europe, and the college student said he was “non-committal." When he went outside after, Pressler followed him and suggested they undress to get him “adjusted to traveling in Europe,” where he said nudity among men was common, according to the affidavit. The young man said he declined multiple times but eventually gave in to Pressler’s requests and briefly undressed. Pressler later suggested they pray together naked, he said in the affidavit, after which the college student got dressed and hurried into the home. Pressler followed him inside, he said, and “reached to hug me goodnight.” He said Pressler then “quickly and without warning or invitation, grabbed my swim trunks and pulled them down far enough to expose my genitals and buttocks.” “I was horrified and froze,” he said. “Apparently, in response to my reaction, he backed away and went upstairs.” Court records show that, after the college student mentioned the incident to a church leader, a small group of top First Baptist leaders briefly looked into the matter but determined it was a “he said, she said” type of ordeal that would be damaging to Pressler if made public. Pressler was beloved by many at the church and had just served on a search committee that brought the church’s new pastor on around the same time. “Given your stature and various leadership roles in our church, the Southern Baptist Convention and other Christian organizations, it is our considered opinion that this kind of behavior, if brought to light, might distort your testimony or cause others to stumble,” First Baptist leaders wrote in a 2004 letter to Pressler that was recently made public as part of Rollins’ lawsuit. “We desire neither, but, rather, pray that God continues to use your gifts and talents to accomplish His will and purpose.” In an interview, a lawyer for First Baptist defended the church’s actions, saying leaders immediately looked into the allegations and, after interviewing both Pressler and the college student, found nothing that was conclusive or criminal. “The church acted promptly when we heard this alleged behavior,” Houston attorney Barry Flynn said. “Remember: We didn’t know if this was true or untrue.” Flynn said the church has strict rules on background checks for anyone who works with children — but noted that Pressler primarily taught adult Bible study classes. And, he added, even if the church had checked his background, they would not have found anything criminal. In a deposition, a top church leader reiterated that stance and compared Pressler’s behavior to boys who playfully “depants” one another. He said Pressler’s defense — that he was readying the young man for a trip to Europe — was believable. Pressler remained a deacon at the church, First Baptist leaders testified, but significantly curtailed his involvement there until around 2007, when he transferred to Second Baptist Church of Houston, a massive network of Houston-area churches that’s led by former SBC President Ed Young, and has been previously accused of concealing other sexual abuses. Flynn, the First Baptist attorney, said there was “no communication” between the two churches about the allegations against Pressler. Woodfill is also a member of Second Baptist. A pattern of behavior In the years after leaving First Baptist, Pressler was accused of sexual misconduct by at least two other young men — including a young Houston Baptist University student who testified that, as a result of Pressler’s sexual advances, he stopped pursuing a career in ministry, frequently had panic attacks and attempted suicide. That man’s allegations are similar in detail to those described by the 25-year-old attorney who wrote to Woodfill in 2016. The attorney, whom the Tribune is not naming, was a recent law school graduate who said in an affidavit that he moved to Texas in 2016 for a job at Woodfill’s law firm. During that time, he said, Woodfill introduced him to Pressler, calling him his “mentor for over 25 years,” a “hero of the faith” and a “great man.” Two months later, the young attorney said he ran into Pressler at a political fundraiser at the home of Hotze, and was encouraged by Woodfill to go to lunch with Pressler. The following week, he said, he arrived at Pressler’s home to pick him up. Pressler answered the door without pants on and invited him inside, after which he showed him pictures of “important people” he knew and talked about swimming naked in Europe numerous times, the attorney wrote in his 2018 sworn affidavit. At lunch, Pressler told the attorney about a 10-person hot tub at his Dripping Springs ranch and invited him there, saying “when the ladies are not around, us boys all go in the hot tub completely naked,” he said. Horrified, the attorney addressed the incident with a longtime employee of Woodfill’s law firm, who made it clear that this was not the first time he’d heard such allegations, the attorney said in the affidavit. “I discovered that this was not unusual behavior for Pressler, and that he had a long history of lecherous behavior towards young men. Even going as far as bringing scantily clad men and parading them through the office,” he wrote in his affidavit. Emails show that the attorney reached out to Woodfill, who claimed it was the first time he’d heard of such alleged behavior by Pressler. Woodfill later offered the attorney a $10,000 raise, court records show, and said he’d talk to Pressler and keep him away. “However,” the attorney wrote, “within two weeks Pressler was at a political luncheon that Woodfill required me to attend.”
This is all pretty crazy to me because the guy definitely was very insistent on inviting me to his health club in the Galleria and I remember sitting in that hot tub and thinking WTF is going on here and getting out there quickly lol.
Haha I don't punch old people, but I would have. Just pretty crazy to read these stories. It doesn't seem that unusual that the people who are most outwardly pious have the most skeletons in their closet.
