**SCROLL TO TO THE BOTTOM FOR RECENT UPDATE (March 2024)
Kelle’s Story
I connected with Kelle through a CSA survivor Facebook group called The Hope of Survivors. I want to take a moment to tell you about this organization and what it means to me as a survivor of clergy sexual abuse.
This year is the 10th anniversary of my clergy sexual abuse. When I exposed what was happening with the pastor of our church (that we attended for almost 10 years), my world and my family’s world imploded overnight. One of the only resources available to me during the darkest time of my life was The Hope of Survivors. I am forever grateful for their ministry and continued work to bring awareness to clergy sexual abuse. This is a ministry worth supporting with your prayers AND your dollars.
Like me, Kelle has received help and guidance from The Hope of Survivors ministry. She has come to a place where she is ready to tell her story of her assault by a pastor. She now feels that she has the strength and courage to warn others about the pastor who assaulted her.
He is still in the pulpit. I believe that people need to be warned about who he truly is and to know what he did to Kelle.
Looking For Hope
Dean Scott is the lead pastor of New Kingdom of Faith and Restoration Church in Kansas City, MO, a position he has held since the church was started in 2009. I was unable to locate a website for the church, except for the food pantry ministry. Until late 2019, he was also the president of the Community Empowerment Coalition, which is comprised of several local Kansas City churches that hold local meetings and events. He is also a frequent speaker at conferences and events.
According to Dean’s FB page, he attended Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
AUGUST 2012
In the summer of 2012, Kelle was facing new challenges in her life. She was forced to retire from her career due to some chronic health issues and was looking for a new church home. A friend recommended that she try a church in her neighborhood – New Kingdom of Faith & Restoration Church. She decided to drive by the church one Friday afternoon, and when she pulled into the parking lot, she saw a sign with a photo of the pastor and a phone number. She called the pastor (Dean Scott) to inquire about the church’s core beliefs, and during this conversation she also related to him about her health struggles and why she was looking for a church. He invited her to come to the final service of a week long revival, which would be that night. She thought that would be a good idea, so she could have a chance to get a feel for the church before committing to a Sunday service.
Kelle showed up a little early that evening, and was not warmly greeted by the two women inside. She politely introduced herself and said she was invited to the service by Pastor Dean Scott. Suddenly he appeared from his office and said, “Oh, you must be Kelle. I see you’ve met my wife.” Looking back, Kelle can now understand why she was treated the way she was by the two women, when she first arrived. The red flags were already present!
NON-EXISTENT BOUNDARIES
Kelle received a phone call from Pastor Scott after she arrived home from the Friday night service. He said that he wanted to drop off some books that he and his wife had selected for Kelle (remember – they had JUST MET), and he wanted to do it right then – at 10:30 pm. Kelle told him it was too late for him to come by, so he suggested to her that he could drop them off the next afternoon when he was finished with his sermon preparation at the church. Kelle told him that would be fine.
The next day Pastor Scott arrived at Kelle’s home after his Saturday morning sermon prep. She greeted him at the door and was going to just take the books from him at the doorstep, but Pastor Scott grabbed the door handle, pushed open the door and let himself in! He proceeded to sit on her furniture without an invitation to do so, wander through her house, ask for a beverage, invite himself to have lunch – and then questioned her about the contents of her kitchen and what medications she was taking – all very invasive and inappropriate behavior. He then said he would be back later with his laptop to copy a music CD that she was playing on her CD player! Having been brought up to be a gracious host and be respectful towards pastors, Kelle reluctantly agreed. She didn’t understand at the time how bizarre this behavior was.
The Assault
Pastor Dean Scott did return to Kelle’s house on Saturday evening, just like he said he would. He arrived dressed in what Kelle described as ‘evening attire’, or clothing that someone might wear if they were going on a date, and he smelled strongly of cologne. She just assumed he had somewhere to go after he finished copying the music CD at her house.
She was wrong.
She invited Pastor Scott inside. He did bring his laptop computer, but he also had grocery bag with him. He told Kelle he brought some snacks for for them to eat. Oddly enough, he had asked her earlier that day about her medical condition, and found out what sort of foods she was able to eat, then made a point to bring one of those items that night. He then said he brought a movie for them to watch together – ‘Courageous’ (a popular Christian-themed movie). He said he wanted to have movie nights with her and discuss ministries that she could be involved in, since his wife didn’t like doing those things. (BTW this is a very common grooming tactic for predator pastors)
Following the same lack of boundaries as before, Pastor Scott made himself comfortable in Kelle’s living room. He removed the CD from her CD player and began copying it on his laptop computer, then inserted the movie he brought into the DVD player. Kelle sat nervously on the corner of the couch, not quite understanding what was going on and feeling quite uneasy in Pastor Scott’s presence. Kelle is very small & petite and is less than 5 ft tall, whereas Pastor Scott is six feet tall & muscular. She described him as an ‘overpowering figure’. What happened next is described in a police report that Kelle filed with the Kansas City Police Department on 8/16/2012.
*WARNING – the following documents contain descriptions of a sexual assault, which may be triggering for some readers*
The day after assault (Sunday) Pastor Dean called Kelle to find out why she didn’t come to church. In the voicemail he left, he told Kelle he was going to tell her the night before that he was divorcing his wife and was planning on announcing it to the church. He decided not to because he thought Kelle wouldn’t come to church if he did. He continued to text and call her throughout the day. Kelle said his bizarre behavior made her feel very afraid of him and she was hesitant to report the assault the police.
Later that night Dean Scott returned to her house. He knocked on her door, then ran to his car when Kelle didn’t answer. She surmises he may have been suspicious that she had called the police. She then called a friend to tell her what had happened to her.
A few days later Kelle called a trusted pastor to tell them about the assault. He told her to go immediately to the police station and file a report.
After Kelle filed the police report, Dean Scott was arrested at his home, in front of his family. A church member bailed him out.
Kelle stated that on September 26, 2012, Dean Scott pled guilty in a Jackson County, MO courtroom. He did not receive jail time. I contacted the Jackson County criminal records department, but the clerk was not able to locate the court records for the case. Kelle had been told some years ago that the records were sealed and she could not have a copy of them. I suspected that Dean Scott’s record had been expunged, similar to what happened with Jeremy Grinnell’s case in Michigan. I asked the clerk if this was a possibility and she said yes. With all that being said, there is no way to confirm what happened in court that day, unless someone can access expunged or sealed court records in the state of Missouri.
No Consequences
As it happens in most cases of clergy sexual abuse, Dean Scott’s criminal assault of Kelle was covered up and he was allowed to continue as the lead pastor of New Kingdom of Faith & Restoration Church. Make no mistake, however, that this happens in a vacuum. It takes a concerted effort by many enablers to keep a man like this in the pulpit. Typically starting with (or on behalf of) the wife, the church leaders and many others prop up the ‘man of God’ – they are a group of people who believe that no matter what the pastor does, he must be pulled up, cleaned up and restored. There is basically nothing short of murder that will keep their chosen man out of ministry. It’s the same mindset that is behind Doug Coe’s organization ‘The Fellowship‘, which at its core, believes that if a man is chosen for greatness, whether it’s political or ministerial – nothing disqualifies him. He is chosen and that’s that. His fellow men must come along and pull him out of whatever mess he finds himself in, and restore him back to glory. I would highly suggest watching the Netflix documentary ‘The Family‘. It is a real eye-opener and very much parallels how churches handle restoration in regards to pastors who fall morally.
It became painfully clear to Kelle that Dean Scott was very well connected in the community and fellow pastors were not willing to hold him accountable. She then contacted an attorney.
Restitution
With the statute of limitations approaching in 2017, Kelle decided to pursue the only legal recourse she had – financial restitution from the church. Her attorney sent this demand letter to New Kingdom of Faith and Restoration Church. Unfortunately, time ran out before the case could be filed in court.
By sheer coincidence Kelle discovered that the paralegal who worked for her attorney knew Dean Scott was seeing another woman, because she disclosed to Kelle that the ‘other woman’ was her friend!
Corraboration
Kelle didn’t give up. In 2019, she had finally decided that she was ready to speak out about Dean Scott. She started watching the church’s and Community Coalition Facebook pages, trying to warn people about Dean Scott. If she discovered he was speaking at another church or event, she would call or email the church or venue hosting the event. She discovered on the Community Coalition Facebook page that a pastor named Amanda Bush had received her ordination from Dean Scott, and decided to reach out to her. Amanda had a story of her own to tell.
Amanda Bush was also part of the the Community Empowerment Coalition and is the author of various Christian books. I looked her up on Amazon, and there are some self-published books available that she has written.
Kelle confided in Amanda concerning the assault on her by Dean Scott. Amanda believed her, and told Kelle that she had concerns of her own. Dean Scott had previously counseled her sister-in-law for marital issues and had engaged in grooming behaviors such as inappropriate and suggestive language. When Amanda’s sister-in-law confided to her what happened, Amanda confronted Dean Scott and told him to stop and to cease contact with her sister-in-law.
Kelle also reached out to Mike Reeves, one of the pastors on the Community Empowerment Coalition. While Pastor Reeves was willing to listen to Kelle’s story, he would not admit to her if he knew Dean Scott or not (even though he was a VP at the coalition when Dean Scott was president). Amanda Bush was then willing to broker a meeting with another local pastor to confront Dean Scott. According to Kelle, Amanda told her that Dean claimed Kelle was lying and only wanted money. Then he said he was going to take a sabbatical and get counseling and offered to do training at the church to bring awareness to sexual misconduct/abuse AND speak to his wife and church leadership about giving Kelle money for counseling. Amanda told Kelle that in her opinion Dean was not being fully honest, but she felt that he could be helped (i.e.; restored). This was very discouraging for Kelle. She knew this was a predatory pastor that needed to be permanently removed from ministry. Now she was being told that he just needed some time off and that she was the ‘bitter one’ who could not move on.
I decided to contact Amanda Bush to get her side of the story. She corroborated Kelle’s account of what happened 100% – and then some.
Amanda confirmed to me that she was present with another pastor when Dean Scott confessed to assaulting Kelle. She stated that she convinced Dean Scott to give money to Kelle to cover counseling costs. She also confirmed that Dean Scott was grooming her sister-in-law while he was conducting marriage counseling, and that she had to intervene and warn him to stop.
In Summary, Pastor Dean Scott:
- Confessed to the assault to another pastor
- Groomed a woman who came to him for counseling
- After Amanda confronted him, gave money to Kelle for counseling
How do we know he gave money to Kelle for counseling? Kelle still has the letter AND the check from the church:
I reached out to the church to try and obtain a statement, but did not receive a response.
WOLVES AMONGST THE SHEEP
The only issue is not that there are predator pastors still preaching and leading churches….that is a very easily identifiable problem. The secondary and extremely frustrating issue is the multitude of church MEMBERS who fail to heed scripture, choose instead to bury their heads in the sand, and refuse to believe that their beloved pastor is a sexual predator.
Unfortunately, Pastor Dean Scott has not missed a beat.
He is still teaching, preaching, leading while experiencing ZERO consequences for what he did to Kelle. She has to live with the devastating effects of not only the physical assault by Dean Scott, but also the emotional and spiritual abuse – soul rape. Her world was changed forever on that August night in 2012. A slap on the wrist by the justice system and a paltry check won’t serve justice in this situation. Dean Scott should have gone to jail. I am now beginning to see an emerging pattern in our court system. Judges are handing out questionable sentences for sexual crimes that allow the records of the offenders to be expunged. What good does that do for background checks?
The bottom line is this – Dean Scott is a predator. He seeks out vulnerable women to abuse for his own gratification. He likely has many victims, who are probably too ashamed or too afraid to speak out against him. He is a powerful man who is aligned with other powerful ministers in his community who appear to be ready and willing to defend and cover up his abuse. Only when these men are exposed and pressure is applied for them to remove themselves (or be removed) from ministry, will lasting change ever come to the church.
For victims, healing can begin when our stories are told boldly. Many women who have been abused by pastors don’t have a safe place to tell their story. They don’t have a platform to tell the world what happened to them. My hope is that by sharing Kelle’s story, she will finally feel seen, heard and validated.
***UPDATE - 3/6/24
Well, it appears that in true ‘conga line’ fashion, Dean Scott has started a new church, Spriit & Truth Worship Center in Kansas City, MO. These abusive pastors will never stop working in ministry. They have to BE stopped.
I was there when Dean Scott started his North Kansas City Church. The stories I could tell. I was a part of his first leadership team. He bamboozled us all!
Can you please give me your number.. I recently met mr scott and would like to talk to you please.
I am so glad that this kind of Predatory behavior is being exposed in this article. I am sure this kind of behavior takes place in probably every denomination around. Such a brave thing you guys have done by speaking up and telling your stories. You all are very strong women. I pray for continued strength for each woman out there who have had to endure this type of abuse and pain. It takes strong women like you all to stand up and expose the truth so that others in the future may possibly see the signs and avoid the… Read more »
It is so disturbing that the church would turn a blind eye to such behavior. Their more concerned about profit than protecting souls.
Author of Breaking the Silence from Shame