First Baptist Dallas Sued for Negligence in Sexual Abuse Case

Church leaders claim sexual activity on youth trip was consensual.

A North Texas family is suing First Baptist Dallas and two of its pastors over alleged sexual abuse that occurred during a church-sponsored youth missions trip.

First Baptist Dallas / Google Street View

On November 11, the father of an 8th grader filed a lawsuit in Dallas County against the church and Pastors Ryland Whitehorn and Alan Lynch.

The suit accuses First Baptist, a Texas megachurch pastored by Robert Jefferies, of failing to protect the father’s son, identified in court documents as D.R., on a youth missions trip to San Diego in July 2022. Court documents allege that on the final night of the trip, a 10th-grader from the church assaulted D.R. Two months later, the lawsuit notes, church employees allegedly tried to intimidate the victim and his family into silence.

The family is suing for more than $1 million in damages for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy.

According to the lawsuit, on the last night of the trip, D.R. was sexually abused by an older teen.

The family said D.R. and his family were already concerned about safety on the mission trip because at a previous church-sponsored event another teen threatened him with a knife.

The suit says before the San Diego trip, D.R.’s mother met with Associate Student Minister of Worship Davin Hutchinson to voice her concerns over the boy’s safety. Hutchinson was reportedly the First Baptist staff member in charge of the San Diego mission trip.

It continues to say that, according to D.R.’s mother, they were told the trip participants would be supervised by “hand-picked” leaders and that those leaders would protect the students. The suit alleges that Hutchinson told the boy’s parents that the church would enforce strict conduct and nightly curfews and would ensure the students would be supervised and protected throughout the duration of the trip.

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But the suit says that Thad Taylor, First Baptist’s associate minister to high school students, lifted the curfew on the last night. Around 11 p.m., D.R. was invited to hang out in a room with four 10th-grade boys.

Taylor was in the room with the boys when D.R. arrived. Taylor left about 30 minutes later, but before leaving he told D.R. to go to his room. However, the 10th-grade boys asked if he could stay, and Taylor agreed.

“That was the last time D.R. had any adult supervision that night,” the suit says.

According to court documents, the boys later watched an R-rated movie on Netflix, and one of the 10th graders sexually assaulted D.R., who left the room around 1 a.m.

The lawsuit alleges that after the abuse, a witness told the younger boys to stay silent, and the victim, fearing shame and retaliation, did not report it.

Two months later, church leaders Lynch and Whitehorn summoned the victim and his mother to a meeting, during which Lynch allegedly claimed that D.R. was responsible for what happened that evening, court documents say.

The suit also alleges the church knew about the accused boy’s previous history of sexually assaulting another alleged victim at a First Baptist youth trip. Lynch had allegedly discouraged that family from reporting it.

The lawsuit adds that the church lacks a policy for reporting child abuse to law enforcement, and the victim’s case was never reported.

First Baptist Dallas claims authorities have concluded the incident was consensual.

“The alleged incident involved sexual activity between two male teenage parishioners,” the church said in a statement. “Immediately upon learning of the subject allegation, it was reported to the necessary applicable law enforcement agencies. After extensive investigations, including interviews with eyewitnesses, each law enforcement agency indicated this was consensual sexual activity and closed any and all respective cases.”

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