JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former pastor once touted by Southern Baptist leaders as America’s next great black preacher has admitted to fathering the child of a woman who claims he raped her during a counseling session in 2004.
Darrell Gilyard, who is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for molesting a different girl in his church and sending lewd text messages to yet another, signed a consent judgment to resolve a paternity suit the woman filed against him, the Florida Times-Union reported Dec. 11. The admission came after a court-ordered paternity test. Gilyard was not charged with rape.
Gilyard, former pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla., pleaded guilty May 21 to molesting a 15-year-old girl and sending lewd text messages to another. He was arrested Jan. 14, 2008. Gilyard resigned Jan. 4, 2008, after 15 years as pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan, a 7,000-member predominantly black congregation.
Circuit Judge W. Gregg McCaulie ordered that the Jacksonville woman be given full custody of the child. Gilyard, 47, isn’t currently able to pay child support, but he must notify the mother’s lawyer within 10 days of his release from prison. Gilyard’s former church previously settled a lawsuit filed by the woman. (TAB)
Share with others: