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Reporting the Truth.
Restoring the Church.

‘I ♥ Hot Youth Pastors’ Sticker Given to Students Sparks Backlash

By Julie Roys
youth pastors
An image of a sticker reportedly distributed to students at Fairview Baptist Church in Greer, South Carolina has gone viral online. (Photo via Facebook)

A Southern Baptist Church in South Carolina is facing backlash, after its student pastor reportedly passed out stickers to teenagers this week saying, “I  hot youth pastors.”

A picture of the sticker was shared in a private Facebook group for South Carolina moms by someone who said her 14-year-old sister had received the sticker from the 35-year-old youth pastor at Fairview Baptist Church in Greer.

A redacted version of the post was tweeted by Emily Petrini, who said her best friend was in the Facebook group and had sent her the post. Petrini’s tweet quickly received thousands of likes and hundreds of retweets.

Kyle J. Howard, a theologian and “trauma informed soul care provider,” called what the pastor did “Grooming Behavior!”

Orville Erickson, pastor of Greenhill Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, tweeted: “As a Senior Pastor if this happened at my church, this person would be immediately relieved of duties AND a third party would be asked to investigate to make sure nothing of an even more serious nature took place. I am NOT a prude in any way but this is beyond the pale.”

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The Roys Report (TRR) reached out to numerous pastors at Fairview Baptist for comment, including Student Pastor Cory Wall, but did not receive a response.

However, several people on Facebook and Twitter shared a screenshot of an email reportedly by Fairview Baptist Administrative and Children’s Pastor Scott Shipes, addressing the matter:

“We see and hear your concerns and affirm the matter has been taken seriously,” Shipes wrote.” I cannot comment on our accountability actions with Cory because it is a personnel (sic) that cannot be discussed publicly. I will confirm the leadership and Cory understand the severity of the incident and have addressed it with the him (sic). He is meeting with his leaders to discuss the mistake he made and that it was in very poor taste.”

In the email, Shipes also addresses Wall reportedly discussing a past sin struggle with students, stating: “We met with Cory and he understands this should not have been shared with the students until he made parents aware of the topic beforehand and explain (sic) the context of why he would share this from his testimony.”

Hot Youth Pastor Shipes Fairview
Email reportedly sent by Fairview Baptist Children’s Pastor Scott Shipes

Another email circulating online reportedly is from Wall to the woman whose sister received the objectionable sticker.

“Let me assure you that my intentions were pure, and the last thing I wanted to do was make you, your sister or anyone else feel uncomfortable,” the email stated. “. . . The sticker was meant to poke fun of the ‘I Love Hot Mom’ culture. In hindsight, the joke was of very poor taste and a mistake on my part. I do apologize for their distribution.”

According to a post on the church’s Instagram account, Wall has a master’s degree from Southeastern Theological Seminary and “has spent the last 14 years serving local churches in North and South Carolina in the areas of students and college.”

Fairview Baptist is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which has been embroiled in scandal concerning the coverup of sex abuse at SBC churches. An independent report by Guidepost Solutions found that for decades, SBC leaders protected sexual abusers and mistreated their victims.

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45 Responses

  1. Yeah. Neither the church’s nor the pastor’s explanations make any sense. This was wildly inappropriate and unimaginably tone deaf, especially given the SBC’s newfound and alleged commitment to keeping kids safe from clergy sexual abuse.

    The stern talking-to the church has given to this pastor is weak tea. Start by suspending or firing him. Proceed by commissioning a credible investigation into other and more serious violations.

    I for one would not attend a church where this guy was allowed to continue ministering to young people.

    1. Totally agree John. It’s one thing with trying to counter culture and it’s ridiculous stereotypes through discipleship. But to fully engage in it where there is no defining line, is just as ridiculous.

      It wasn’t just the youth pastor who Ok’d this. There was most likely a family pastor and a creative director who signed off on it. I’m sure others in house caught wind of this to. While, the youth pastor needs to be disciplined, there are others who probably need to be talked to as well.

  2. I noticed in the screenshot above, a small portion of text at the beginning of the the second paragraph is blurred out. Over at “The Wartburg Watch 2022”, the blurred out portion is revealed as follows: “having a porn addiction”. This is the “past sin struggle” that the youth pastor had been discussing with the youth. Dee Parsons, who wrote the post at TWW, also tried contacting the church, for a clarifying response, but, (surprise!) it’s been pretty much crickets from the church’s side.

    See TWW link: https://thewartburgwatch.com/2022/10/07/fairview-baptist-church-sbc-appears-to-be-ignoring-possible-warning-signs-of-grooming-by-their-hot-youth-pastor-also-update-on-tullian-tchividjian/

    1. Having witnessed this kind of “discipline” is infuriating. Those who knowingly hire someone with a testimony, a past sin struggle or anything that sounds fluffier than what it is, when it is a sex addiction, is doing so for a reason but giving it a different name. Anyone who cares about their society would not hire an alcoholic to work in a beer store. When the top leaders hire this kind of person they are doing so not because they lack logic but usually because they are protecting their own self interests which are usually of the same nature. Any decent human being with any amount of empathy would never hire someone who “struggles” with or has a “testimony” of sexual sin and then place them as a leader of teens. The two together never ends well. Evil cannot have first place or be protected by those in charge.

  3. This is absurd. Very evil. So sad for kids these days. Youth groups have become targets for perverts, the unqualified and the immature. Starting to think they should be ended completely.

  4. I’m having a hard time believing a youth pastor would do this but if so, he needs to be fired for creepiness and stupidity. Be done bro!

  5. It’s very suspicious that neither the lead pastor nor anyone in leadership bothered to remove the wolf who was obviously grooming children. The only reason churches are a safe haven for pedophiles is because too many pastors are okay with it.

  6. If there is any sexual abuse going on (and it appears likely), then the pastor and church are criminally complicit and liable.

  7. Yeah. If the youth pastor was a 19 or 20 year old Bible College undergraduate you might do mentoring/training to help orient him/her towards a more productive way of building rapport with the youths. However, this youth pastor is a 35 year old seminary grad with an M.Div and 14 years of experience. He is a candidate for a sudden career path change (i.e. firing).

    1. Totally right on. Firing is step 1. Full investigation is step 2. Investigation should also involve previous churches.

  8. Been there with staff since the 1970’s. I had website with name of Reaching Men 1995 – 2010. I posted about pedophilia. From 1980-2008, I was contacted to research the behavior of “bad guys”.In the profile of these guys , they give “tels” and in their thinking, they won’t get caught, as others are too stupid to figure it out! And when they confess to porn and then get caught in inappropriate words and actions, there is a history going back five years. Immediate suspension! Contact insurance company-follow guide line. Never alone with a child, teen, adult female. Talk to and take families to contact police. Contact all families and give total transparency. No swearing to secrecy. Provide counseling for families and victims. Forbid bad guy assembling in the local body. This transparency and forthright courage will lance the underlying cover of years past hidden trauma in the lives of “your believers”. They will begin the journey of healing and release from all the ugliness stored inside. Grace to All and courage to stand against the horrifying evil. I have comments about Shepherds but will not post here. These guys never recover, the best they can do is become neutral.

    I have stood in the Hell of the victims moments when they had meltdowns of screaming and wailing. I also have watched Christ bring healing and freedom. Hallelujah! Glory!

    Grace, Mercy Peace

  9. I would like to add another consideration. First, I fully stipulate that the behavior in question should set off alarm bells. I repeat THIS SETS OFF ALARM BELLS. Which is why I am about to say what I say next.
    I think a more constructive approach would have been instead of posting the matter on Facebook the sister could have immediately reported the matter to the state children & family service as potential abuse of a minor and let the investigators figure it out. This accomplishes two things: (a) it puts the matter on the radar of people who know how to investigate these things and (b) tells the pastoral staff they are on that radar when the investigator calls. If the sister feels courageous enough she can bring a witness with her and make an “offer they cannot refuse”: either you take this matter as seriously as we think you ought to take it or we will make sure the authorities get on the case for you, no matter how many times we have to try. That way even if the state investigator finds the current accusation unfounded the pastoral staff knows she is not just gossiping or bluffing. Either way, this gets the ball rolling in a more constructive fashion than Facebook post. I do not think she risks repercussions as long as she sticks to the facts so the authorities know she is not just “revenge” calling.

    1. This is very sound advice. Unfortunately people have been programmed to do the “right thing” according to Matthew 18. So not only is this spiritual abuse of the congregation, but abuse of the teens involved. This is how too many churches operate. Far too often the people that should be able to be trusted are the most vicious wolves. This is the very reason I trust no church leaders.

  10. I just cannot and do not understand. Based on the supervising / senior pastor’s remarks, the church itself sounds like a sick culture. As a parent, I’d vote with my feet and with my dollars. My kid(s) would be outta there so fast. And I’d make sure every other parent in the geographical area knew about this situation. I’d name names. It’s not gossip. It’s the truth. He’s not going to improve ove time.

    This guy has an unhealthy interest in seeing kids reactions to him and his “past sins”. The nicest thing I can say is it’s at the very least a severe case of arrested development. He thinks he’s the cool kid in their group! Get your kids outta there first. Then file a police report second. He poses a much bigger threat than their kids anything they will encounter in the secular culture.

    He needs a new career path that doesn’t involve contact with youth. He’s a predator. Testing to see how much he can get away with.

  11. I will assure everyone that if that had happened where I serve as Pastor-Teacher, I would have fired this guy immediately and on the spot! I am sick of grown men preying on young girls due to their immaturity and cowardly behavior. They’re afraid of real women, so they want to hurt young girls and damage them so that they want nothing to do with the Church. Churches need to vett these predators more seriously!

    1. Wayne Cooper and others. Churches, schools and other places of business can do background checks until they are blue in the face. Until, EACH and EVERY PERSON on Earth who knows of a porn, sexual addict, sexual groomer reports these people to all local and state authorities, there WILL NOT BE ANY RECORDS to be found. Canvas each person’s social media accounts, friends and check ALL of the dating, hook-up sites. Those WILL PROVE the truth of WHO they REALLY ARE. Any kind of addict, is NOT to be in ANY leadership role, until they HAVE BEEN IN A SERIOUS, FULL TWO YEARS OF RECOVERY. Addicts are addicts until death. They HAVE TO go through CONSISTENT RECOVERY. Then, they move into recovery maintenance. “If” or “when” they “slip”, they have to go back to the beginning with the recovery stage. Women need to read up and educated themselves on sexual grooming, gaslighting and narcissism.

    2. Addicts, cheaters and people who have something to hide use alias names when they are online. Occasionally, they will use part of their real name. People of all ages need to remember, that ANYONE can say they are someone, a certain age, and add and send other kids or adults photos to ANY ACCOUNT, in order to make others believe that they are legitimate.

  12. This kid is only still on staff because of who else knew.
    If those names got out then the place would be gutted.
    All of them need to be immediately let go with a severance package that teaches them the phrase, “would you like fries with that.”
    If not for being a creepy sexual predator then for being stupid.

    1. please don’t demean wage earners who work in food service in this way. at least they have honest jobs and actually provide a service humans need. unlike pastors, be they creepy youth pastors or just general run of the mill hypocrites.

  13. Another questionable aspect to this youth pastor and this church: asking the minors to come see me and update their information in the church database.
    Who really needs the minors’ information: the church or the groomer/pervert/youth pastor?
    No church should request the personal information from minors. They should ask the parents permission for personal information, only what is minimally needed.
    How does the church protect this information? I’d guess very poorly.

    1. I agree, normally parents keep their family information updated. A youth pastor should send a message to parents if the church needs more information, which typically would be used to notify of events, send study material, etc. If done via the church database, there can be oversight of communications made to students.
      An associated minefield: Communicating with minors via person social media accounts; it should always be with a church owned account, where things are monitored. That cuts both ways: keeps staff accountable, and helps prevent false accusations.

      Working in a school, I am flabbergasted by the whole thing, clearly the church was not thinking straight.

      – Greg

  14. As I posted elsewhere some of these pastors started out on the wrong foot even when they were training for ministry.

    I wish there’s a way responsible leaders could vet incoming pastors but many keep their predatory behavior under wraps before entering into official positions in the church.

  15. Who produced those stickers? They had to come from somewhere. Did the youth pastor produce them himself? Did he order them from somewhere? This would have taken time, forethought, and possibly help from a third party. And it that period of time none of the parties involved questioned that perhaps this was a bad idea?

    1. he would have ordered them from somewhere by the looks of them they are screen printed on vinyl. not a home printer job.

  16. Let’s just revisit the whole “youth group” “children’s” ministry idea.
    Worldliness has invaded, but the church calls it “relevant”. Ugh. I call it lazy and irresponsible.
    God-fearing parents want their kids to learn how to stand up for righteousness AND stand alone if called to, in a dark & lost culture—not fit in. Hellloooo??!!!

    1. I completely agree. The remedies for these occurrences become more and more elaborate and don’t seem to be working. When something so egregious is happening almost daily, would a person not think to go back to the very source (youth ministries) and re-examine the whole thing? Christian youth are already Christians so why aren’t they included in the general population of the church and allowed to mature there? Outsourcing our children to these child-like men seems to be causing more problems than it’s solving. These misbehaving ministers are like immature children themselves only with advanced degrees.

      1. Pam Pollenkoff and others. It is not fair to just talk about the males in these situations. Both males and females are porn, sexual addicts, sexual groomers, pedophiles, gaslighters and narcissists. They are in the schools, church pulpits and the pews and at your childrens school aand church camps, in businesses and everywhere online within social media sites and their groups, chat rooms and in waiting through apps, and even are hanging around and are websites commenters. Women REALLY need to read the following books in order to protect yourself and your children.: ‘Porn Nation: Conquering America’s #1 Addiction’ by: Michael Leahy.
        ‘Anatomy of an Affair: How Affrairs, Attractions, and Addictions Develop, and How to Guard Your Marriage Against Them’ by: Dave Carder.

    2. I agree that this youth group idea needs to be revisited. As a start, families need to be much more involved. Summer camps or field trips need to be supervised by mom and dads along with female staff. I believe a thoughtful and Spirit-filled church can come up with some great ideas, but let the families work side by side with the Church. In our own churches, let us be agents of light.

  17. If I may, I offer this slightly modified item from Blake’s diatribe early in the movie “Glengarry Glen Ross” as advice for anyone that serves at a church:

    A always
    B be
    C careful

    Always be careful.
    Always be careful.

  18. When will pastors grow a spine and be strong enough to tell someone: yes you are forgiven thru Christ. But redeemed doesn’t mean being on the pulpit or classroom ever again. That’s not redemption. That’s called risking other people for your own malignant narcissist behavior. Story after story of spineless church leaders afraid that god will get them because they aren’t placing these people where “they say” god has led them. The moment I hear someone talk about God leading them to do such and such, is always a red flag. To easy for weak people to succumb to that line.

  19. What person worthy of that calling ever thought that was ok?

    Jonathan Edwards preached in a monotone voice. Today it’s about using gimmicks to be entertaining.

    As a child I attended a church where the preacher had an affair with a teenager younger than some of his kids. He divorced and they married. He was very popular, a gifted speaker, so he refused to step down. People left the church in droves. The church had to be reestablished – with a new pastor.

    We’ve got to stop wanting our ears to be tickled too. Some churches are nothing more than social gatherings.

    This report is vital! Hopefully instead of people growing numb, the modern church will have its own awakening.

  20. “Who produced those stickers? They had to come from somewhere”

    Exactly my question.
    Search for youth pastor bumper stickers. Cafe Press returns 172 results. The whole concept concerns me.
    Some examples:
    *World’s hottest pastor
    *World’s sexiest pastor
    *I’m addicted to my pastor
    *World’s greatest pastor
    And on and on….. People are buying these apparently

    1. “But among you there must not be even a HINT of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” Eph 5:3

      Rather than a hint, he put his depravity on a bumper sticker so no one would have eny doubts.

    2. Oh my. So, this isn’t necessarily a one-off incident. There’s a market for this type of material. That is perhaps even more disturbing.

  21. I am not ashamed to say I’d happily buy any leftover stickers. If you’re reading this article and have a few stickers to sell please let me know. Not to make light of what this implies, but rather to shed light on what this implies. thanks

  22. I might believe him about merely wanting to poke fun at “I” love “hot mom” if the sticker had said “I” love “hot Baptist Administrative and Children’s Pastors”! But drawing attention to himself with “hot youth pastors” …

  23. I guess what I see in the comments here has become the standard of christian culture today. Very sad. No one even know the motivation or the intention behind this sticker. I for one will not defend this youth pastor of this weird and misleading way, but I do think we need to keep our judgement till we know the facts. Sadly, even the article above did not give us that facts (motives & intentions behind these stickers) and yet all I see is judgement after judgement. Sad.

    1. Mie Liong and others, who DO NOT understand the meaning behind the sticker. Pay close attention to the lyrics and what the word HOT stands for.

  24. Merriam Webster Dictionary
    Hot definition :
    (1): sexually excited or receptive
    ie. It’s obvious he’s hot for her.
    (2): SEXY
    i.e That guy she’s dating is really hot.

    Judgmental – no!
    Discerning – yes!

    Thinking it could how how, for some reason, maybe, possibly, be ok, is “very” sad.

    “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, …Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place.”
    Ephesians 5:3-4

    1. Thanks, Debra. Having “hot” defined leaves little room for confusion about the intent of those producing or using the discussed sticker.

    2. Debra Howard. Thank you for adding the definition. There are also Slang Words which are used to talk. People also need to educate themselves with the meanings behind using emoji’s. Innocent emoji’s are used for sexual things, and drug deals and usage.

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