Student pastor in South Carolina is on leave after giving out ‘inappropriate’ stickers to students

A student pastor in a South Carolina Baptist church has been placed on leave after handing out ‘i [heart] hot youth pastors’ stickers to students – allegedly including a 14-year-old girl.

Cory Wall, 35, acknowledged via a statement put out by Fairview Baptist Church in Greer he ‘made a poor decision and a mistake’ by distributing the stickers to students.

Parents of children who attend the South Carolina church have taken to social media in outrage that the sticker was insensitive and inappropriate.

Youth pastors across America have attracted controversy in recent years for cases involving sexual misconduct with children.

Fairview Baptist Church is also a member of the Southern Baptist Convention – along with around 50,000 other churches throughout the US – which this year has been accused of covering up sexual abuse in its churches.

An image of the sticker shared by the sister of a 14-year-old girl who was allegedly given it by Wall

The controversy ignited when the sister of a 14-year-old girl shared an image of the sticker online claiming it had been given to girl by Wall during a midweek service.

She says in the social media post that the sticker made the girl feel ‘uncomfortable’. 

The image caused a stir online late last week and on Sunday the church announced in a brief statement that its ‘deacon officers and personnel team’ had chosen to put Wall on leave pending an investigation.

Wall was swiftly removed from the church website.

Fairview Baptist Church in Greer, South Carolina, is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has been embroiled in controversy surrounding sexual misconduct coverups this year

Emails allegedly sent by Wall and church officials after the controversy have also circulated online.

Fairview, nor its lead pastor, Eddie Leopard, have responded to a request for comment regarding the validity of those emails. 

The first, which allegedly came from Wall, says: ‘We’re updating our church-wide database, and I encouraged kids to come see me to get a sticker and update their information.’

‘The sticker was meant to poke fun of the ‘I Love Hot Mom’ culture. In hindsight, the joke was of very poor taste and a mistake on my part.’

Wall joined Fairview as a student pastor in January.

He’s a graduate from Chapman High School and has a degree in Psychology from North Greenville University as well as a master’s from Southeastern Theological Seminary, the church said.

He had ‘spent the last 14 years serving local churches in North and South Carolina in the areas of students and college’, said the church in a statement at the time.

A recording also leaked of the church’s lead pastor Leopard addressing the stickers during a service. Again, the church have not responded to queries regarding the veracity of the recording.

‘I wanted you to be first to hear, that’s only right,’ said Leopard in the alleged recording.

‘Any decision made by the leadership of the church should be shared by the church, not with the media and certainly not on social media.’

In the recording a man, alleged to be the pastor, also says that the stickers may have offended ‘some people’.

Basyle Tchividjian, an attorney for the law firm Bozlaw which represents survivors of sexual abuse in the US, told Christian media outlet The Roy Reports that he found the recording concerning.

He also asks about the possibility that Wall had the stickers made himself: ‘Not that I’ve been looking, but I’ve never seen these stickers for sale anywhere,’ said Tchividjian.