Eastminster Church issues statement on allegations against former staff member

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Eastminster Church in Wichita released a statement on its website regarding the allegations of sexual abuse by former director of student ministries Bodie Weiss.

“Eastminster’s current governing board of elders deeply regrets the systemic failure to provide proficient oversight to Bodie Weiss in order to protect the minors we had been entrusted with,” the statement said.

Last week, Eastminster Presbyterian Church sent a letter to its congregation, admitting to knowing about past allegations of sexual abuse by Weiss before last year. Previously, the church shared that allegations against Weiss were brought to the governing board of elders last July.

Accusations against Weiss said that he sexually abused boys within his youth group during the 1990s and early 2000s.

In response to the allegations, Eastminster hired Fact Finding Ministry to investigate these allegations.

The investigation, conducted over six months, included more than 52 interviews with former staff, alleged victims and witnesses, the church said.

“In addition, FFM screened 43 former students,” the church said. “Out of these interviews, FFM determined that there was a total of 23 victims.”

12 News spoke this week with Tyson Stuart, one of the 23 abuse victims, who is calling for Eastminster to turn over its reports to law enforcement.

“A true third party, law enforcement, is the only entity that can conduct the investigation that this case needs,” Stuart said. “And their non-credible report needs to be turned over to authorities as evidence. Eastminster has and continues to show itself as widely incapable of handling such serious allegations in an appropriate manner.”

Eastminster said Thursday that it has waived confidentiality from a non-disclosure agreement between the church and a victim, who was a former student. The church said the agreement was mutual.