Hourgian being ordained although he's a sex offender.
I'll be honest about something: I've lived in Louisville just about all my life, and I've never heard of the church called City of Refuge Worship Center. That is, until yesterday. WHAS 11 did a report on this church for an investigative story yesterday. What brought on the investigation? One of it's members, Mark Hourgian will become an ordained minister on September 6. What's different about this man becoming an ordained minister? He's a registered sex offender for life.
This obviously has brought out some concern for some Louisville residents because he will be near children, including a former member of the church who left because he disagreed with the church leaders about whether he should be ordained or not. Pastor Randy Miller, the pastor of City of Refuge Worship Center, doesn't seem like it should be that big of a deal, due to the fact that God has changed Hourgian's heart. Miller stated that Hourigan will sign an agreement stating that he will not be ministering to children.
Some people may not have a problem with a registered sex offender becoming an ordained minister, because they feel that he has changed his ways. Most people, however, feel quite uncomfortable that this is being allowed to take place. Sure, Mark Hourgian may now be a Christian and is serving in a church, but being a sex offender who is becoming an ordained minister brings out numerous questions about the church. The questions would vary from "Is it legal for sex offenders to become ordained ministers?" to "Why would a church, of all places, would let a sex offender become a leader?"
First Timothy 3:2 states: "Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach." If the church wanted to represent the church of Jesus Christ well, then the church has to look for someone who is actually qualified and not have a record. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that Hourigan gave his life to Jesus. However, like most of the people in Louisville who have heard this story within the last 12 to 18 hours, I have concerns about this. Just because Hourgian will sign an agreement stating that he will not minister to children and won't be left alone with children while he is one of the minister at this church doesn't mean that the temptation is still there. Letting things like this happen in a church makes people who don't go to church question whether going to church or becoming a Christian will really do any good.
Although letting a sex offender become an ordained minister may not sit well with most, those who are willing to pray has to be willing to pray about what will be the best way to deal with this situation.
To read more about this story, visit www.whas11.com. For learn about the beliefs of City of Refuge Worship Center, visit cityofrefugewc.org.
Comments
I thought God forgave everyone - am I wrong here? Why cant he become a minister? Do we even know his crime? He could be one of the thousands of people out there that are considered sex offenders for "consensual" teen sex. Now a days, anyone can be a sex offender. Find out at www.love-is-not-a-crime.com EVERYONE deserves a second chance.
The way these sex offender laws are set up in another 10 years there will be no registry, every one in the U.S will be sex offenders eccept for the politicains who wrote them
We don't even know what this man's crime was and these people have him slotted as a child molester.
When did America become a land of locking people away and punishing them for what they MIGHT do? I might do all kinds of things, YOU might do all kinds of things. This is a slippery slope we're on, and it's going to come back to bite everyone in their backside one day, and probably not too far into the future.
I did a sex offender registry search for the State of Kentucky and there is no one in the registry by the last name of Mark Hourgian
1. I have taught crime prevention for over 15 years. Child molesters never, never quit. I don't care who "forgives" them. 8 in 10 reoffend.
2. How does the GLBT community ever expect to be taken seriously and accepted by the "straight" community by doing things like this?
3. "Miller stated that Hourigan will sign an agreement stating that he will not be ministering to children"- big deal. Children still attend. Molesters know how to work around the loopholes. They just admitted on CNN they will have to "watch him." ???
4. Thank God Michael J's dead. He'd be lining up for a job...
First of all, it's Randy MEADOWS not Miller, secondly, as a personal friend of all parties involved, I can't believe the ignorance and backwards hillbilly judgemental mentalities of the inhabitants of this city, which up until now, I have been proud to call my new home. GOD CREATED Mark Hourigan. GOD KNEW him before he was formed in his mother's womb. God is not the creator of confusion or evil. Satan is. Not one of us is exepmt from the power of temptation. Each of us has skeletons in our closet, and no sin or crime is less than another. I'm proud of the City of Refuge for doing the very thing that God calls us to do in His word, which is to spread a message of salvation and FORGIVENESS! Is the fact that Mark has NOT fled the country and HAS interviewed on CNN not indicative of the change in his heart and the healing power of HIS Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Have a great night and study the word of the Lord, folks! You just might find you don't know it as well as yo
cont'd: as you think you do!
The WHAS 11 news report said this guy was convicted of(and he plead guilty to) 2 counts of forcible sodomy on an 11 year old boy. Yes, God forgives and changes hearts, but child molesters do not change ever. Would you make a recovering drug addict the keeper of the police evidence locker where drugs are stored? No! Child molesters NEVER change and I would never take a chance with my child being near this guy.
What a wonderful world this has become! How is it that sexual offenders have now found this loop hole and i say this because there is now a sex offender in my city (guilty of raping his own sister) working as a pastor. There young children having verbal contact in and out of the church without watchful eyes. I find it sickening somehow some way sexual offenders worm their way into positions which gets them closer to children. Child molestors NEVER change
They never quit ? 8 out of 10 reoffend ? You are mistaken. That is fear mongering. The statistics show that 3-12 out of 100 sex offenders reoffend after being caught. Most don't. Is anyone truly "Above reproach" before coming to Christ ? Could that verse be talking about a potential minister's CURRENT behavior, and not his past ? People talk about "forgiveness" and love, but continue to ostracize sex offenders. You don't forgive. You don't truly believe in forgiveness or conversion. You think YOU DESERVE forgiveness but others don't. Truth is that none of us do. Another fact. Sex offenders usually victimize someone in there own family and not someone else's child. And, once they've been caught, they almost never reoffend. Church is the last pplace a person should be rejected for his past. HYPOCRITES !!
LOL "God forgives and changes hearts, but child molesters never change" How very contradictory and hypocritical. Case in point for showing the you don't really believe in the power of God to change a person and convert them.
"He that is forgiven much loves much. He that is forgiven little, loves little."
Oh, by the way, Paul persecuted the church and had believers in Christ imprisoned and killed. In other words, before his conversion, he murdered people, yet he was made an apostle. Was he "above reproach"? He himself called himself "the chief of sinners", speaking obviously of his behavior BEFORE his conversion... yet he was an apostle, a leader of the church. If we only had perfect people becoming ministers, then we would have no ministers, especially if we hold their behavior BEFORE their conversion against them. A minister's qualifications as being "above reproach" should obviously be taken as their behavior AFTER conversion, and a list is given as to what that refers to..."the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach." Paul, speaking of his behavior AFTER his conversion, said "but I keep my body, and bring it under subjection, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself might be cast away." You people who want to sit in judgement of this man because of his past just don't get the power of God to change a person. You are full of hate, not love. Instead of glorifying God for changing a sinner into a saint, you hate the man for his past.
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