Sending email

God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with. Billy Graham

---

The following is an email that Ashley Ester and I sent out today.

---

To Craig Tuck of the Charleston Baptist Association

To Gary Hollingsworth of the South Carolina Baptist Convention

Dear Mr Tuck and Mr Hollingsworth:

My names is Dee Parsons and I write a blog that addresses abuse in the evangelical church. Ashley Easter, a victim’s advocate and founder of The Courage Conference which also deals with abuse, contacted me to see if there was something we could do to help Shanaqua Johnson and her children.

Here is a link to the post that I wrote about her situation. Pastor Rashan Wilson Assaults the Mother of His Three Children While Claiming to Be Married to Another Women.

Let me review the pertinent facts:

• Shanaqua is the mother of two children by Rashan Wilson and is pregnant with the third. She is not married to him.
• Rashan Wilson is the pastor of Impact Church which is located within the building that was (or is) owned by Southside Baptist of Charleston. He does not pay child support and claims to be married to another woman. He allegedly has children from other relationships as well.
• Two of her children were born during the time that Southside Baptist of Charleston was holding (or promoting) joint services with Impact one though Impact is not an SBC church. There is a screen shot on the post proving that.
• It is likely that members of both churches were aware of at least one of the children.
• Rashan Wilson was arrested for attempting to strangle Shanaqua. The incident was reported in a number of news media sources. The relevant links to the media stories can be found in the post or doing a Google search.
• We have learned that Shanaqua is in a financially vulnerable situation. She is living with friends, sleeping on a couch. She is holding two part time jobs at night when friends can watch her children, while attempting to scrape together a down payment on a small rental. Recently, she was unable to pay her cell phone bill.
• We are unable to contact Southside Baptist of Charleston. Their phones have been disconnected although their Facebook page states they still have services at 9:30 AM on Sundays.
• Local sources have told us that they believe that Southside has merged in with Impact but i cannot get confirmation of this. However, both churches use the same address on Beaufain Street in Charleston.
• We were informed by the SCBC that Southside is both a member of the SCBC and the Charleston Baptist Association.
• We are both aware that all SBC churches are autonomous.

What we are requesting:

• We are asking that the SCBC and CBA consider providing some financial assistance to help Shanaqua get on her feet.
• We would also ask if they could provide her with some legal assistance so that Pastor Rashan will undertake his responsibility to help support his children.

Why?

Southside Baptist of Charleston endorsed this church and even promoted its service. We would imagine that Baptist leaders would feel some compassion towards Shanaqua Johnson in her time of need. This situation was ongoing while Southside was endorsing Impact services on their Facebook pages.

For consideration:

The SBC has always taken a strong pro life stand. Ms.Johnson has carried these difficult pregnancies to term and is attempting to support her children. This would be a wonderful opportunity for the SCBC and CBA to show their devotion to caring for the welfare of children after they are born.

Ashley and I look forward to hearing from you.