Church members shocked, hurt by pastor's child rape charge

Church members shocked, hurt by pastor's child rape charge

Stephen Kerr is seen during his arraignment at Pierce County Superior Court on Tuesday, May 8, 2007.

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Story Published: May 9, 2007 at 7:42 PM PDT

Story Updated: May 10, 2007 at 8:03 PM PDT

By KOMO Staff

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Members of the Gig Harbor Church of Nazarene are deeply shocked. Their former pastor Stephen Kerr, who they had trusted to teach them religion and values, now sits in jail, accused of molesting a 7-year-old girl.

How do you begin to deal with that?

"Everybody, of course, is deeply hurt by this," said church spokesman Ted Hughes. "Our whole congregation is devastated, because we never imagined that anything like this could ever happen."

At the regular Wednesday night prayer service, the congregation prayed for its former pastor and the 7-year-old victim.

Stephen Kerr was arrested for allegedly trying to have sex with a 7-year-old girl while making her watch videos of children playing with men's private parts.

Kerr pleaded not guilty in court on Tuesday. Hughes said he was surprised by the plea, because Kerr told him something different.

"He openly confessed it, you know," said Hughes. "There was no question to the fact that he had admitted to his guilt. But it was explained to me that there are technical, legal reason for that."

Prosecutors believe the sexual abuse had been going on for at least two years.

Church members say forgiveness won't come so easy.

"It's one thing to be able to say 'I forgive you for what you've done.' It's another thing to be able to forget it," Hughes said.


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