DALLAS — A North Texas family is suing First Baptist Dallas, alleging their now-16-year-old son was sexually abused by another teen while on a mission trip in 2022, court records show.
The boy, who was in eighth grade at the time, sang in the student worship choir at the downtown Dallas church and was invited to go on a mission trip to San Diego in 2022, according to the lawsuit.
During the San Diego trip, the boy was invited to a hotel room shared by four 10th-grade boys and one of the 10th-grade boys sexually abused him after the group watched an R-rated movie, the lawsuit alleges.
The boy’s parents were called to a meeting by First Baptist staff about two months after the trip and were told in a subsequent call that “no force” was used by the 10th-grade boy and their plan was to keep the two apart during youth meetings and activities, but no other leaders would be told about the alleged abuse, according to the lawsuit.
First Baptist Dallas denied the allegations in a statement, alleging it was determined the incident involved “consensual sexual activity.”
“First Baptist Church of Dallas categorically denies any allegations of impropriety. The alleged incident involved sexual activity between two male teenage parishioners. Immediately upon learning of the subject allegation, it was reported to the necessary applicable law enforcement agencies,” the church said in a statement. “After extensive investigations, including interviews with eyewitnesses, each law enforcement agency indicated this was consensual sexual activity and closed any and all respective cases.”
The lawsuit alleges the same 10th-grade boy had abused another student on a previous First Baptist Youth trip and that incident had been reported to First Baptist, but staff had encouraged that boy’s parents not to report the alleged abuse to higher-ups at the church.
The boy’s parents allege in the lawsuit First Baptist staff knew about the previous allegation against the 10th-grade boy and that he’d be on the San Diego trip when they told them their son would be safe on the trip, the lawsuit alleges.
The boy’s parents say they asked for a copy of the church’s sexual abuse policy and were told the church had no policy to report allegations of sexual abuse against minors, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in damages for alleged negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy, court documents show.
