A scandal that began with shocking revelations about a convicted sex offender volunteering at a South Carolina church and Christian school has just gotten much bigger - and now the Southern Baptist Convention itself has been pulled into the legal fallout.
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and its Executive Committee have reportedly been named as co-defendants in a new federal class action lawsuit involving Pawleys Island Community Church (PICC), Pawleys Island Christian Academy (PICA), and several church and school leaders.
The lawsuit marks a dramatic escalation in a controversy that has already produced arrests, resignations, angry parents and multiple lawsuits.
According to ChurchLeaders, this is now the sixth lawsuit connected to the Pawleys Island controversy - but it is reportedly the first filed in federal court and the first to name the SBC and SBC Executive Committee as defendants.
At the center of the storm is Warren Spencer Perry, a convicted sex offender who had reportedly been volunteering as a custodian on the church campus, which is shared with the Christian academy.
And that's where the story becomes particularly disturbing.
Perry's sex offender status allegedly wasn't a surprise to some of the people running the church and school.
According to previous reports, Perry had volunteered at PICC since 2021 and continued doing so after being placed on probation in 2023. Former pastor Don Williams subsequently acknowledged that church leadership knew about Perry's history.
When concerned citizens alerted authorities and Perry's status became public in July, the revelations ignited outrage among parents and members of the Pawleys Island community.
Then came the congregational meeting.
On July 15, Williams stood before what became an explosive gathering of angry church members and parents and attempted to explain why Perry's sex offender status had not been disclosed.
Williams maintained that strict safeguards had been established to prevent Perry from being alone with children.
Parents reportedly weren't buying it.
Some loudly challenged the pastor's account during the contentious meeting, disputing whether those protections had actually kept Perry separated from children.
Within days, the leadership structure began unraveling.
Williams, his wife Ginny Williams, former Pawleys Island Christian Academy Director Niki Howard and several church elders resigned on July 17.
Then came the arrests.
Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver announced criminal charges against Don Williams, Ginny Williams, Howard and Perry on July 20.
Don Williams and Howard were charged with obstruction of justice, unlawfully placing a child at risk and criminal conspiracy. Ginny Williams and Perry were initially charged with obstruction of justice and criminal conspiracy.
The arrests did not end there.
Ginny Williams was rearrested July 24 and additionally charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk.
Days later, Michael Anthony Fields, identified as PICC's director of operations/missions and the person responsible for security on the church and school campus, became the fifth person arrested in connection with the investigation. He was charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk.
The criminal allegations remain allegations, and those charged are entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until proven guilty.
But while authorities continue investigating what happened locally, the legal battle is now reaching considerably higher.
The addition of the Southern Baptist Convention and SBC Executive Committee to a federal class action immediately raises a potentially explosive question: How are plaintiffs attempting to connect the nation's largest Protestant denomination to what allegedly happened at an individual South Carolina congregation?
That question could become one of the most closely watched aspects of the case.
Southern Baptist churches traditionally operate as autonomous congregations rather than branches controlled directly by a national denominational hierarchy. Simply naming the SBC and Executive Committee as defendants therefore does not establish that either organization is legally responsible for the alleged conduct at Pawleys Island Community Church.
Nor does being named in the lawsuit mean the allegations against any defendant have been proven.
Still, the optics are difficult to ignore.
What began with revelations about one convicted sex offender volunteering on a church-school campus has now spiraled into five arrests, leadership resignations, six lawsuits and a federal class action naming the Southern Baptist Convention itself.
And the controversy may be far from over.
The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office investigation remains ongoing, meaning additional information - and potentially additional legal developments - could still emerge.
For the SBC, meanwhile, the Pawleys Island controversy has suddenly become much more than a local South Carolina church crisis.
It's now a federal court fight with the denomination's name attached to it.
