The Pilgrims/Holiness Church is a Methodist-Pentecostal movement here are some examples of of systemic child sexual abuse in this institution.

http://blogs.thearda.com/trend/featured/sexual-abuse-of-children-crosses-faith-lines/

“My husband and many other boys were abused by a clergy member in a very large Holiness church back in the late 70’s/early 80’s. When kids started to tell, the church just moved this guy to another state. The men in the church leadership somehow convinced the parents not to call the police – spiritual abuse at its worst. And yes, as your article stated, the leaders were more interested in protecting the institution than helping the victims.”

https://ffrf.org/faq/feeds/item/18505-betrayal-of-trust-clergy-abuse-of-children

Case, 1983: Rev. Wilbert Thomas, pastor of the Christian Alliance Holiness Church in Trenton, New Jersey, was indicted on charges of conspiring to control his congregation through criminal acts, including sexual assault, lewdness, involuntary servitude and beatings of women and children. He was convicted in 1985. (Source: Trenton Times, 2/83; 1985)

https://www.apnews.com/b9aaeadd6520cac224009195d414fa2d

The Rev. Wilbert Thomas Sr., founder of the Christian Alliance Holiness Church in Trenton, Miami, and Akron, Ohio, was sentenced Wednesday by Superior Court Judge David J. Schroth. Thomas must serve eight years before becoming eligible for parole.

Thomas, 55, was convicted on 18 of 22 criminal counts, including sexual assault, conspiracy and atrocious assault and battery. He could have received a 100-year prison term, said the judge, who dismissed the conspiracy conviction Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Thomas preyed upon vulnerable people, transforming his congregation into a cult where ″people’s wills were stolen from them.″ Thomas was never accused of striking the victims, but he was accused of ordering their beatings.

Witnesses said they were forced to strip for disciplinary rituals in which they were whipped with belts or tree limbs until they bled. One woman said Thomas forced her to have sex with him, his wife and a female church member.

https://cumberlink.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/former-pastor-faces-more-child-sexual-assault-charges/article_d3b0027a-1e98-5707-8a7d-9efe2f398ae9.html

A former pastor who already faces sexual assault and intimidation charges faces more accusations after another alleged victim came forward to police. Raymond Paul Buhrow, 64, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, was charged Thursday with felony sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors and misdemeanor indecent assault of a person younger than 13 in relation to an incident in 2011.

Buhrow, a former pastor of Calvary Temple Holiness Church in South Middleton Township, already faces charges of indecent assault stemming from accusations in July from two girls dating back to incidents in 2009. He was charged less than a month later with intimidating the father of the two girls in which court documents say he attempted to get them to drop the charges.

The new charges come from a 14-year-old girl who came forward after hearing about the previous girls, according to court documents.

The girl, who was 9 at the time of the incident, told police that she was taken to the church in 2011 by her babysitter and was in the basement with other children when Buhrow allegedly led her into a basement closet away from everyone else and forced her to perform a sex act, court documents said. Buhrow then told the girl not to tell anyone, the affidavit said.

https://www.heraldonline.com/news/local/crime/article12287339.html

The pastor accused of sexually assaulting a girl at two York churches is the son-in-law of a bishop in the Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas – the organization that presumably assigned Cory Dean Moses to another church despite knowing he was a convicted sex offender, his mother said Wednesday.

The Rev. Greta Moses, who said she left the Fire Baptized Holiness church last year, denied the allegations lodged against her son, saying he would “never threaten nobody; he’s not that type of person.”

Police have charged Moses, 38, with two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and three counts of assault and battery. They allege he fondled and inappropriately touched the girl several times while he was pastor at New Mount Zion Church on U.S. 321 and then again at Redeemed Christian Ministries on Ross Cannon Drive in York.

New Mount Zion, now defunct, was part of the Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas. Redeemed Christian Ministries is not.

https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/damages-sought-against-oklahoma-based-ministry-as-part-of-oregon/article_3e71c777-3ce9-57c8-bbaa-3225f90037b8.html

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A multimillion dollar lawsuit has been filed on behalf of three sisters against a pastor accused of sexually assaulting them between 1996 and 2001.

Soto, 83, was arrested in 2002 and charged in Yamhill County with sodomy and sexual abuse. He pleaded guilty to attempted sex abuse and attempted sodomy, and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 10 years' probation. At the time of the incidents, Soto lived in Gaston, as did the girls, who were all younger than 10 and members of Soto's church.

It asks for similar damages against the church and its Oklahoma-based governing body, the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, alleging negligence in hiring Soto and failing to warn the congregation.

According to the lawsuit, the church knew Soto was a predatory sex abuser and was aware that he had made sexually suggestive remarks to other girls in the congregation.

http://www.wtoc.com/story/13792478/pastor-accused-of-child-molestation-now-in-more-trouble/

More trouble for a minister people trusted with their children and their money. First he was charged with child molestation, now investigators say a Bloomingdale pastor stole $200,000 from his church.

United States Attorney Edward Tarver says Kenneth Terrell embezzled at least $200,000 of his church's money for his own personal expenses and benefit.

The indictment alleges that Terrell commited the crimes over a span of over four years while serving as pastor for a local Savannah congregation that is part of International Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Nearly one year ago, Effingham County Sheriff's Deputies arrested Kenneth Terrell on charges of child molestation and sexual battery. Deputies say the victim was under 5 years old and that Terrell was released on a $25,000 bond. Now Terrell is charged with seven counts of wire fraud and could face up to 20 years in prison.

http://www.protestantya.com/index.php/pentecostal

Wallace, NC: Deputies say a pastor has been charged with multiple sex counts, including statutory rape of teen girls. Duplin County deputies say Edgar Damian-Nicholas of Teachey was arrested Friday after they received a complaint of a sexual assault on a teen. Sheriff Blake Wallace says the man is a pastor of a Pentecostal Holiness church in Wallace. He said the victims are 14 and 15 year old girls. One was a victim for several years, while the other for the past year, according to the sheriff. Wallace says when questioned, Damian-Nicholas admitted to the sexual misconduct. The 37-year-old has been charged with two counts of indecent liberties with a child, first degree statutory rape, and statutory rape or sex offense where the defendant is greater than or equal to six years older than the victim. The sheriff says they are still investigating if there are other victims, and they do anticipate more charges in the case. Damian-Nicholas is jailed on a $500,000 bond.

https://www.swvatoday.com/news/article_4790c812-97cd-11e6-b5ec-8f9f843f65bd.html

Accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl in August, a then Wythe County minister is facing two felonies. Nathan Phillips, 59, of Austinville was indicted Monday on charges of aggravated sexual battery and object sexual penetration following an investigation by the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office.

Both allegations, which have an Aug. 13 offense date, involve the same teenage girl, according to the indictments. Police said that Phillips was pastor at the Austinville Pentecostal Holiness Church when the allegations came to light but that he has since resigned. Originally from Floyd County, Phillips has been in the ministry for more than 30 years, according to his bio on the church’s website.