CONWAY, N.C. (BP) — North Carolina pastor Jayson Rowe died by apparent suicide June 2, according to the Conway Police Department. Law enforcement officers were investigating an allegation of criminal sexual misconduct against Rowe when they received a call about his death, a spokesperson told the Biblical Recorder.
Officers responded to the call immediately and attempted resuscitation, according to Conway Police. The medical examination and investigation reports are forthcoming.
Rowe, 40, had been pastor of Conway Baptist Church since 2018.
The church is focused on ministering to the entire church family in the wake of the tragedy, church deacon board chairman Tom Collins told Baptist Press Monday (June 8). Details are unfolding, but Collins said a 17-year-old male church member brought a credible allegation of sexual abuse against Rowe.
“The victim was a church member, and obviously we’re concerned and focused on the victim and the family,” Collins said. The church has no information of a young person being “physically abused,” Collins said, but “it was sexual abuse by the definition, so it’s something we take very seriously, obviously.”
Conway Baptist will make counseling available to church members who are hurting, Collins said, specifying the family of the alleged victim, members of the youth ministry and parents. Church trustees and deacons plan to give a full report to the church body when the Conway Police Department completes its investigation.
Rowe was a former staff member and student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS), where he lived in campus housing for five years.
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Source: Baptist Press
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