A pastor accused of covering up abuse at his former Illinois church is now running a ministry aimed at restoring fallen Christians. Meanwhile, his former Illinois church settled a lawsuit this month surrounding alleged child sexual abuse that happened on his watch.
Restoration Care Ministries (RCM) out of Columbia, Tennessee, lists Rev. Paul Kingsbury as its executive director. Kingsbury resigned in 2021 from North Love Baptist Church, an Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) church in Rockford, Illinois, amid mounting allegations of sexual abuse there.
North Love Baptist, now named Woodlands Baptist Church, was sued just before Kingsbury’s resignation by a woman alleging its former youth pastor sexually abused her while she was a teenager. The woman, Nicole McIlroy, revealed her identity publicly in an interview last month with TV station WIFR, telling viewers she hoped to find healing by sharing her story.
McIlroy is one of 34 women alleging abuse at North Love Baptist. But her faith in God has not been shaken, she said, because “I know Jesus is my best friend and he’s on my side.”
Jesus is “very dishonored” by the church’s attempts to silence her, she told WIFR. “That’s not what Jesus would do.”
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McIlroy added that in her last meeting with Kingsbury, “the first thing that he did was he praised my silence. He complimented me that I stayed silent all these years and didn’t tell anybody.”
Kingsbury and McIlroy did not reply to requests for comment for this article. But McIlroy announced En facebook that the church had settled the lawsuit June 5. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Court records show the case was closed June 10.
Kingsbury began “an itinerant preaching ministry” after leaving full-time pastoring. That led to the launch of RCM, according to his biography on RCM’s website.
He teaches online courses titled “Adversity University,” “Uprooting Bitterness,” and “Restoring the Fallen,” and sells numerous books and other materials through RCM.
The ministry urges churches to pay a $100 monthly fee to access its six online courses and monthly webinars.
RCM operates under the umbrella of Family Baptist Church, an IFB congregation in Columbia. The church’s founder and pastor, David Baker, is listed as a restoration specialist for RCM.
Like Kingsbury, Baker attended Colegio Hyles-Anderson en Indiana, donde se alega que los funcionarios cubierto repetido abuso sexual by the founder’s son, David Hyles. (Hyles has not been charged.)
Baker and Hyles reportedly run a ministry together called Fallen in Grace.
Those allegations are among a host of claims surrounding sexually abusive pastors linked to the IFB movement.
El Informe Roys (TRR) asked RCM what qualified Kingsbury as an authority on dealing with fallen church members, given his resignation and the allegations of abuse at North Love Baptist. We did not receive a reply.
However, an advocate for those alleging abuse at North Love Baptist told TRR she believes Kingsbury is not Biblically qualified to lead a ministry of restoration.
“He himself has yet to seek out restoration for his actions and words,” Kyra DeBerry explained by email.“He is not above the reproach he gained by speaking falsehood from the pulpit about North Love’s handling of abuse. Restoration is impossible without sincere confession on a personal level and, as a leader, on a higher level to the communities he is part of here and abroad.”
DeBerry believes at least some of the material Kingsbury teaches at RCM is likely based on sermons he gave at North Love, “with misrepresented/twisted Scripture passages.”
“In one sense, ‘restoring the fallen’ is something he has enough experience with to create more heartache and havoc,” she added. “I pray those who call him friend or brother in Christ would call him to repentance from it rather than continuing to turn a blind eye.”
This story has been updated to note the current number of women who’ve alleged abuse at the Rockford church.
Sarah Einselen es una escritora y editora premiada que vive en Texas, EEUU.
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Just great. A leader who covered up abuse and preached a clear heresy that Paul condemned, namely legalism, has started a ministry to restore fallen, heretical, malignant narcissists back to the pulpit so that they can wolf down more sheep. I think both Paul and Jesus Christ would have some very salty things to say about that…
I think it is more of a criminal racket. Fallen pastor goes to this “restoration” ministry, where naturally the fallen pastor’s sins are swept under the rug and the pastor is “restored” aka sanitized. (for a fee of course). Naturally the formerly fallen pastor sends others he know that are fallen over to this guy and convinces the suckers in his new church to support this “ministry”. If this was currency were dealing with, this would be known as money laundering.
Abusive pastors can and should go through counseling to be restored to fellowship in the body, but they should never be in a position of power, authority, or leadership again. Those are reserved for people with character, and any instance of abuse of people who have trusted you in that role is permanently disqualifying from leadership. find another job, hopefully one where you can’t hurt people.
It is bad enough that many Pastors today can either abuse people and think it is acceptable to do so, or to cover up for others that are doing so, but I see a definite trend that has been growing since the Todd Bentley debacle. That trend is building an entire network and industry around “restoring” these abusers so they can go somewhere else and enlarge their trail of victims. “Above reproach” means exactly what it says. Once you choose to take the Todd Bentley/Mike Bickle/Robert Morris road, that behavior precludes you from ever serving in a ministry position again. You can be forgiven, and cleansed of your sin spiritually, if you truly repent, but you can never again assume a leadership position. These restoration gurus are, in my opinion, almost as bad as the violators they work to restore back into leadership. Run ’em through the car wash and turn ’em loose.
The voice and experience of the victims is what is needed more than further commentary or response from the disqualified, fallen leaders. Let them wither and rot in isolation. There are now several podcasts and dozens of episodes that do a great job giving voice to the victims and expose the horrendous damage done by these “leaders” across IFB circles and other evangelical churches and schools. The exposing of the harm that’s been done, along with accountability, is what we need more of, and fortitude among church members and leaders to never let abuse or abusive teaching have any place again, no matter whose feelings get hurt, no matter what political pressure within the insular community exists. That has proven to be selfish and destructive every time it’s been allowed to continue.
Groomers covering for groomers. It’s time evangelicals get honest about who the real groomers are.
Well written article but not 21 instead 34 . I think that we should send prayers for the brave people who despite the abuse and being robbed of their innocence are coming forward trying to stop it .
Paul Kingbury is the fool on the hill . He is trying to rebuild his cult .
My daughter who is 33 is also one of the young ladies in the lawsuit with Northlove. We attended there for many years and pastor Kingsbury covered up her sexual abuse in which we did not learn of till this broke loose about 5 years ago. I’m so hurt that he kept this a secret all this time and still lying about any of this happened under his watch along with others on staff. He also permitted these perps to be transferred to other churches around the country to destroy other young people’s lives. He needs to be removed all together from ministry and be held accountable for all the years of abuse he allowed in his church. His church ministry destroyed many young peoples lives because of his silence and misuse of authority…which is he allowed to continue to work in an area where he has ZERO accredibility or accountability. You Paul Kingsbury have brought reproach on the church, the name of Christ, and the IFBC ministry. Such shame on you and your name.
Matthew 7.
21 “No todo el que me dice: 'Señor, Señor', entrará en el reino de los cielos, sino el que hace la voluntad de mi Padre que está en los cielos. 22 Muchos me dirán en aquel día: 'Señor, Señor, ¿no profetizamos en tu nombre, y en tu nombre echamos fuera demonios, y en tu nombre hicimos muchos prodigios?' 23 Y entonces les declararé: 'Nunca los conocí; ¡Apártense de Mí, ustedes que practican la iniquidad!'