I was notified last week by a member of Beltway Park Church that Jeff Berry has been attending services there for at least the last three weeks. Beltway Park is a church plant of Pioneer Drive Baptist Church, which is the church where Berry was working as a music intern in the mid-1990’s when he sexually assaulted an underage boy. He pled guilty to the crime in April 2020, and was sentenced to 180 days in jail and required to register as sex offender. He only served 56 days of the 180 day sentence.
Berry’s longtime friend Jeremy Kirles is the worship pastor at Beltway Park Church. Both attended Hardin-Simmons University. According to the member of Beltway Park, no announcement has been made to the church regarding Berry and the fact that he is a registered sex offender. I spoke with Anna Berry, Jeff Berry’s ex-wife, who is extremely concerned that he is working his way back into church in order to gain access to young men, as this has been his pattern in the past. I am equally concerned, considering that Jeff Berry has close ties to the Abilene community. His parents attend Pioneer Drive Baptist Church, where pastor Stan Allcorn came under fire after Berry’s arrest. In a letter addressed to members of his church, he seemed to express more concern for Berry & Berry’s family than for the victim. Allcorn later apologized.
Pioneer Drive Baptist Church is also where fugitive from justice Jeffrey Forrest allegedly abused a child in 1998 when he was employed there as a youth pastor. After a 4 year manhunt, he was arrested in Mexico in May 2020. Coincidentally, Jeff Berry & Jeffrey Forrest served at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church together in the 1990’s.
Matt Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church & Steve Hardin, former campus pastor of The Village Church & current campus pastor at Lake Pointe Church – White Rock worked at Beltway Park Church in the 1990’s.
Richardson, TX
In 2004, Jeff Berry & his family moved to the Dallas area when Jeff started a new position as Contemporary Worship Pastor at The Heights Church, a large Baptist church in Richardson, TX. In 2007, Berry abruptly resigned from that position, citing ‘burn-out’ and family obligations as the reason for leaving.
That wasn’t true.
Berry had been mentoring a young (male) 20 year-old Hardin-Simmons University student at The Heights, and in the summer of 2007, Berry’s wife Anna discovered the two of them together. Distraught, she told senior pastor Gary Singleton what she saw.
Singleton immediately placed Berry on sabbatical, informing the congregation that Jeff just needed a break to rest and focus on his family. The church arranged for counseling with a professional counselor. Anna was told by the counselor that Jeff was not a homosexual, but was only ‘acting out’ due to previous abuse he himself had suffered when he was young. She was told that she needed to stand by him and be a better wife, and to not blame Jeff because he himself was a victim. At the time she did what a lot of good Christian wives do – try harder and stay quiet. She did.
Berry’s victim, however, did not. He returned to Abilene and confessed to his pastor – David McQueen of Beltway Park Church.
McQueen contacted The Heights Church and demanded that Berry be fired or he would expose what really happened. The Heights Church instead allowed Berry to resign, under false pretenses.
Anna says most of the leadership at The Heights knew what happened with Berry & the young intern. She felt especially shamed by Jud Hardage, the current worship pastor. He blamed her for what happened, then later allowed Berry to return to The Heights as a guest worship leader several times. Here is a screenshot of a photo of Jeff leading worship in 2011:
Eventually one of the pastors in leadership became so uncomfortable with this arrangement that he demanded Jud stop inviting Jeff to lead worship.
Years later, Anna was able to have a conversation with Berry’s victim. She had discovered through emails that Berry & the intern were in a ‘relationship’ for at least 2 years. When she asked him if he considered what happened with him & Berry to be abuse, his response was, “absolutely.” Berry was more than 20 years his senior, and he used his position as a mentor to groom and abuse him.
Puzzling Lack of Response
Pastor David McQueen of Beltway Park Church is keenly aware of Berry’s proclivities and crimes, so why has he not made an announcement to his congregation that a registered sex offender is attending his church? Knowing what he knows, would he not take extraordinary measures to protect the members of his church, particularly the most vulnerable?
Tennessee ties & Cedarville
I was contacted by an anonymous source who informed me that Jeff Berry had been a guest speaker at Cedarville University in 2015. In the bio he provided to Cedarville, he mentions that he was on the board of a missions organization called Justice & Mercy International. According to their website, their mission is to:
“Justice & Mercy International (JMI) is a faith-based, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that exists to make justice personal for the poor, the orphaned and the forgotten of the world. JMI primarily works in Moldova in Eastern Europe and in the Amazon region of Brazil and we do our work through programs that have the Good News of Jesus at their core.”
A 2012 Form 990 tax form shows Berry was on the Board of Directors:
The principal officer is JEFF SIMMONS, who is the lead pastor of Rolling Hills Community Church in Franklin, TN, where Berry attended until his arrest in October 2019.
Jeff Simmons is a graduate of Baylor University, and attended when Jeff Berry was teaching at the college. Anna Berry says they’ve known each other for many many years.
When Jeff Berry left Baylor to begin leading worship at Grace Bible Study in Abilene, there were rumors that it was because he had been accused of inappropriate sexual conduct that occurred while he was attending a church in the Waco area.
And here, once again, we see Jeff Berry was involved at the HIGHEST LEVEL of a ministry involving children.
Reprehensible Actions At Rolling Hills Community Church
When Jeff Berry was told in 2018 that he was under investigation for a child sexual assault in Texas, Pastor Jeff Simmons was immediately notified. What shocked Anna Berry was that despite being informed of this, Simmons continued to allow Berry to lead worship and participate in church activities, which included youth and children!
It wasn’t until the victim’s uncle contacted Simmons and the elder board at Rolling Hills Community Church repeatedly, pleading with them to remove Berry from any form of ministry, that Berry was finally removed from formally serving in the church. I have been told by a former member that Berry was still serving ‘behind the scenes’ in the worship ministry up until his arrest.
Anna Berry stated that during the investigation, she separated from Jeff and was seeking a divorce. She was told by Simmons that it was her responsibility as a wife to ‘stick with Jeff‘ and help him, despite the charges leveled against him. During that time Anna began to uncover just how much more there was to Jeff’s secret life. Knowing this, she took steps to protect herself and her children. In my previous post Connections: Grace Bible Study, Jeff Berry & Those Who Know the Truth, Anna stated that Rolling Hills Community Church essentially shunned her and her children, removing Anna from her serving positions in the church.
CONTINUED SUPPORT FROM TENNESSEE
It appears that Jeff still has support from Rolling Hills Community Church. According to this recent update of The Berry Group LLC on the Tennessee Secretary of State website, Berry changed the address of his company to a property owned by Atema Revocable Living Trust. Tom Atema Jr. was serving as an elder at Rolling Hills Community Church when Jeff was being investigated, and according to Anna Berry, “..the Atema’s rule that church.” Tom Atema Jr. is a very successful businessman who owns OCD Labs & AP Live, which provide wiring and infrastructure for concert touring and fixed production.
Anna Berry said that she had concerns about Jeff Simmons, Tom Atema Jr. & their support of Jeff Berry. Prior to Berry’s investigation and arrest, certain elders and important men in the church would convene for a highly secretive monthly meeting at the church, the details of which Jeff Berry would never divulge to his wife.
I was also told by a former member that Tom Atema Jr. was very influential at Rolling Hills Community Church, and was seen frequently with Jeff Berry.
REPEATING PATTERNS
It appears that Jeff Berry is reaching out to his contacts to reestablish himself in some form of ministry.
THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN
When I spoke with Anna Berry, she said this is exactly the pattern Jeff uses to groom and gain control so that he can abuse again. He is very likable, charming and manipulative, and according to Anna, he has most likely spun a story that he is innocent and was forced to plead guilty to avoid a lengthy court trial.
Now is the time to sound the alarm and warn people about Jeff Berry. He IS a convicted sex offender. According to Jimmy Hinton, (a pastor whose father is serving prison time for molesting children), he once asked a prison guard to name ONE thing to describe the sex offenders in jail. He used the word ‘compliant’. He said they are ‘remarkably compliant‘ – which means they will follow all the rules and do absolutely everything that is required of them in order to gain the trust of those around them.
That is what Jeff Berry is doing right now.
I hope that Pastor McQueen does the right thing and alerts his members at Beltway Park Church. It is his duty to inform them of Jeff Berry sex offender status and to take steps to protect his congregation.
I also hope that the members of Rolling Hills Community Church will take a closer look at their pastor and leadership. Jeff Simmons allowed a sex offender to continue serving in the church while alerting NO ONE. He put your children at risk. Not only that, he shamed Berry’s wife and took away her serving opportunities because she chose to divorce a man who had sexually abused children. He believed the abuser over the abused. Jeff Simmons is, in my opinion, disqualified to lead.
And then there’s Gary Singleton, pastor of The Heights Church in Richardson, TX. He did what a lot of pastors do – he passed the trash. He knew what Jeff Berry did and allowed him to move on to other ministry positions, alerting no one. His inaction most likely resulted in further victims. He, along with other men in leadership at The Heights, kept that knowledge to themselves, even allowing Jeff Berry to return to their church to lead worship. The level of hypocrisy is astounding.
I will repeat what I wrote in my previous post – there are a lot of people who know about Jeff Berry and what he’s done. I have had people reach out to me by email, relating to me that they always heard rumors about Jeff. One person even told me that her friend said Jeff hurt her little brother. There are stories out there that need to be told. There are people out there that know the truth – well connected people in evangelical circles – and they are not talking.
I grabbed this comment from my friend Dee’s blog, The Wartburg Watch. I think it sums things up nicely for someone like Jeff Berry.
Just now coming across this information. He was predator, I went to college at Hardin Simmons in 2006 he invited myself and my roommate who was being “mentored” by him to a sleepover. I know we were both of legal age but we’re still very young and naive. His wife was out of town and he just wanted to hangout. It felt extremely weird and off so I declined and am really glad I did.
I just found your blog. I was a high school student in the 90’s in Abilene and attended Grace Bible Study. Jeff led worship at several church camps, Disciple Nows and even had some concerts at my childhood church. When the news came out about him I found my old CDs and trashed them. I recently discovered that his music has been uploaded to TikTok and is available as a sound for videos. I’m currently looking into whether that is a violation of TikTok’s rules. Sadly this sort of “covering up” is so common in churches, even my childhood church.… Read more »
Having read a few other entries on your blog, I know understand why you mentioned Matt Chandler.
What do you mean?
This is so sad and infuriating! As a survivor of childhood abuse, it’s horrific that the church covers it up. Unfortunately, it has been going on for many years. It’s so disheartening! How can we make a change? On a side note, I don’t think your mentioning Matt Chandler is fair. Just because they worked together in the early 90s, doesn’t mean Matt knew Jeff was a predator. While you’ve made clear, long-term connections between Jeff Berry and other church leaders who knew, or were made aware, of his abusive and predatory behavior, no such connection was made with Pastor… Read more »
I see your added comment above in regard to your question, but I would like to add something, not for you Melanie, but for other readers who may likely be asking this same question. I have watched Matt Chandler at TVC between services. He is kind towards his flock and especially kind towards little children. He is a very tall man. He kneels on the ground in order to give the little ones high fives and joyfully and sincerely encourages their love for Jesus. He volunteers his time to coach local sports teams. For a major Big Eva figure,… Read more »
I can’t believe how these churches cover up for predators. Beltway Park and Rolling Hills Community Church are cesspools of secrecy, trying to guard their godly image, while jeopardizing the safety of people in the church. They coddled Jeff Berry, and attacked his wife. Shame on them. They are unsafe churches, run by unsafe leaders. Run!
I go to Beltway and have for 24+ years. I know several employees and pastors there and I can assure you that Beltway is not a “cesspool of secrecy” but at the same time, it isn’t anyone’s business to call out someone in the congregation for their past. I assure you that the church won’t allow Jeff Berry to work there or be around kids. I wouldn’t let him close to my kids or any kid for that matter! But we all have sinned, and church is the best place for any sinner to be. Otherwise, we are no better… Read more »
Joe, I agree with you in sinners needing to be closer to Jesus. Even the sinners who sexually abuse children are God’s children. HOWEVER without active continued treatment they are proven to repeat offend and prey on the innocent. Sexual predators have defective brains and are not capable of controlling the urge to prey on children. There is a reason they are not allowed near schools and playgrounds. They have a right to walk with Jesus, but they can seek Jesus while being safely segregated from the innocent children. As a parent I’m so glad this website exists so if… Read more »