After listening to his sermons for 24 years, parishioners of the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, Alabama, USA, probably thought they knew the Rev. Juan D. McFarland.<\/p>\n
But from the very pulpit where he preached about God’s love and service to the community, he delivered some stunning revelations: He had had affairs with women in the parish \u2014 and neglected to tell them he had AIDS.<\/p>\n
Perhaps because McFarland was so well-regarded, the church’s deacons initially had sympathy.<\/p>\n
“It was surprise, shock, but I think the leadership team did not react wanting to get him out. We wanted to get him help,” said James Long, vice chairman of the board of trustees.<\/p>\n
McFarland refused \u2014 and in a later sermon dropped another bombshell: He had been abusing drugs.<\/p>\n
That was enough. The deacons voted 80-1 to fire him on Oct. 5, but McFarland refused to leave, going so far as to change the building’s locks and the numbers of the church’s bank account before returning to the pulpit on Oct. 12, Long said.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the first business day following his last appearance, the deacons announced that they had filed a lawsuit to force McFarland out.<\/p>\n
The church’s website portrays the pastor as a man of passion, prayer and purpose “whose life is centered in Jesus Christ.”<\/p>\n
The suit describes McFarland as a man practicing “debauchery, sinfulness, hedonism, sexual misconduct, dishonesty, thievery and rejection of the Ten Commandments.”<\/p>\n
McFarland, 47, has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Knowingly spreading a sexually transmitted disease is a misdemeanor in Alabama punishable by up to a year in jail.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit asks a judge to block him from serving as minister and give them control of the church complex, its bank accounts and a Mercedes Benz furnished for the pastor’s use.<\/p>\n
“We are just trying to minister to the flock and get the church back in order,” Long said.<\/p>\n
McFarland remained unfazed by the news.<\/p>\n
“I will command the pulpit from this day forward,” he said in a brief telephone interview Tuesday. He declined further comment, saying he and his attorney needed more time to review the suit. He would not disclose his attorney’s name.<\/p>\n
Court records show McFarland had two marriages end in divorce after wives filed suit to end the unions. Neither complaint mentioned allegations of adultery or other wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1919. McFarland became pastor in 1990, and the church built a new complex near Alabama State University in 1993.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Credit: AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After listening to his sermons for 24 years, parishioners of the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, Alabama, USA, probably thought they knew the Rev. Juan D. McFarland. But from the very pulpit where he preached about God’s love and service to the community, he delivered some stunning revelations: He had had affairs with women in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":56577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[38,7],"yoast_head":"\n