A prominent pastor and community outreach leader in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman, according to a Texas court record.
As reported by CBS News, Koinonia Christian Church pastor Ronnie Goines was taken into custody on July 25. He has since been charged with two counts of sexual assault, according to the Tarrant County Court Clerk.
Goines, 51, was released from the Tarrant County Jail on July 27 on $3,000 bail.
Telephone messages left with the Arlington Police Department about the allegations were not returned. But according to KERA, a National Public Radio station, the charges resulted from a woman’s “outcry that was reported to the department” in June.
Goines is the founding pastor of Koinonia Christian Church in Arlington, Texas. His arrest marks at least the fifth Dallas-Fort Worth area pastor to be embroiled in scandal in the past few months.
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Others include Robert Morris of Gateway Church; Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship; Josiah Anthony of Cross Timbers Church; and Tony Cammorata of Stonebriar Community Church.
Pastor Josh Howerton of Dallas-area Lakepointe Church has also recently faced strong backlash for alleged misogyny, plagiarism, and church staff attempting to manipulate a traffic study.
Officials at Goines’ Koinonia Christian Church declined to comment on the sexual assault allegations but said Goines did not preach on July 28.
According to an Arlington city website, announcing an honorary street named in his honor, Goines’s wife, Nikki, is mentioned. However, in the church’s biography webpage, Goines’s wife’s name is absent.
Goines is also involved in the community in many roles, some of which include, Unity Council, Arlington Police Department Volunteer Chaplain, Mayor’s Interfaith Coalition, and Mayor’s Advisory Board.
Goines also owns All Things Life Insurance Agency.
Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.
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11 Responses
I’m beside myself with bewilderment with these multiple upon multiple reports of sexual misbehavior. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t read most of the reports because it’s too discouraging. What’s even worse is that I have to assume that this hasn’t just started. That is, perhaps sexual misbehavior has been going on for decades, but I was never aware of it. I’ve been in the ministry for almost six decades, and I have to admit that I’m shocked.
Pastor Dave, at some point we’ve got to realize that this is a feature of american evangelicalism, not a bug. Truly, how many more times do we have to see that this system we have is churning out arrogant abusive men before we stop to figure out why? I know it’s not all men and not all pastors- but it’s certainly FAR to many, and pretty consistently. There is something in the way we have decided to do “church” that not only allows for this type of man to hurt people with his power and authority- but actually produces it. What we are doing is flawed, and it will continued to be flawed until we get serious about examining it and changing it.
I am only one person in my late 60s, and I know more than 10 people (80% female) who were routinely sexually assaulted at church or at a pastor’s residence/outbuildings as children/teens. Those incidents were in the 1960s, and were almost all involving Southern Baptist pastors, youth pastors and ministers of music. Every one of the victims are now from 65 to 74 yrs of age, and their lives were a trail of broken relationships, broken marriages, wounded children, bewildered parents, etc. The church has long destroyed the lives of women and children by enabling, and even teaching, heinous domestic abuse. I am thankful I met Jesus before meeting any “church people.”I would never raise children in a Conservative Evangelical or Charismatic Church.They are dangerous and damaging.
Sinful mankind will sin, and it’s more horrible when it is done from the pulpit. But as to “multiple upon multiple reports”, don’t fall victim to group attribution error (GAE) by imputing the individual exception to the general group. As of July 31, 2024, the population of the United States is 341,963,574 (see Worldometer). According to Gallup polling in 2023, 68% of Americans identify as Christian. Takeaway: there are hundreds of millions of Christians in America.
Some who love to attack Christianity will use GAE to seize upon these horrible individual sinful occurrences to claim the hundreds of millions of Christians in America are ALL rotten – these are the same hateful deluded clowns who don’t understand or can’t define the differences between men and women and who advocate for gender quotas in the Navy SEALs and the US Secret Service. Don’t fall for their GAE lies; the individual instances are horrible and do need to be addressed but the vast majority – hundreds of millions – of Christians are still walking with Jesus.
Jim, I encourage you to peruse this website to see if this isn’t a consistent and ongoing issue of the american evangelical church.
there should be ZERO room for abusive pastors in any christian church, and yet we have 2-3 stories week. It doesn’t matter what the denominator is in that equation whether it’s a hundred or a million- a single abusive pastor is too many.
I am suggesting that this isn’t about “individuals” but about systems in place that regularly produces, accepts, promotes, and defends those individuals. It is not GAE to recognize that this is a consitent and regular outcome of the way we do church.
you claim that “the vast majority – hundreds of millions – of Christians are still walking with Jesus.” based on the fruit we see in america, I do not believe that to be accurate by any metric provided in scripture.
Jim – We aren’t seeing an issue with all Christians behaving this way; we are seeing a very specific subset of Christian men behaving this way, namely evangelical Christian preachers, and many times with a large platform/congregation/influence. There are too many of those stories coming from that specific subset of people. That should cause use to question why that particular role in that type of church is resulting in those types of stories.
God is purifying his church
Amen! And it’s a good thing, not a bad thing. It’s encouraging, not discouraging. The tares are being removed from amongst the wheat. Praise You, LORD for doing this! And may the full truth be revealed as never before, to Your Glory!
Let us not presume that the items that make the news represent all that needs to be purified, with that “purification” likely being defined in as many ways as there are people considering the question. Based on my observations on this and similar blogs, the proposed purification rarely, if ever, includes the one holding forth on the issue. Although we are loath to acknowledge it, we are part of the “church culture” producing these outcomes. Someone has observed that charity begins at home. I’d submit the same is true of purification. But, alas, such an effort will not ensue without a perceived personal need for the effort.
Frederic,
My first response was too long…hoping it was discarded.
I resemble your remark! The log in my eye is HUGE and I need purification!
Jim Walker – I do NOT think you intend this! The problem with your post is it can be read to minimize the horrible, ongoing sin in the Church, although it is true.
Jen – the problem with your post is that I see every word of it as dead-on Gospel Truth!
Pastor Dave – you express such sincerely Christian sentiment.
Thanks all, thanks Julie, please pray for me!
God certainly doesn’t need me to speak for him, but, it does seem like God is cleaning house in Dallas. And I praise him for it.