Former West Alabama Pastor Among Those On Southern Baptist Convention Sexual Abuse List

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A former Walker County preacher was included among a list of more than 700 pastors published Thursday by The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) who are "credibly accused" or have been convicted of sexual abuse.

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John Lankston Anderson Jr., 81, is the former pastor at Carbon Hill First Baptist in Walker County and was first charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse of juveniles under the age of 12 in 2002 after leaving the church in 1995.

His name was among more than two dozen Alabama pastors mentioned in the investigative report by Guidepost Solutions — the independent consultant firm hired by the SBC to conduct a probe into the myriad allegations of sexual abuse within the church by members of its ordained leadership.

In total, 34 individuals with connections to Alabama were mentioned, with Anderson being the only one from the Tuscaloosa Patch coverage area. However, some cases, including a handful in Alabama, remain redacted as the investigations or litigation remain ongoing.

In addition to the accusations against Anderson during his time in Carbon Hill, the Guidepost Solutions document says he also preached at Southside in Russellville, Natural Bridge Baptist, West Blocton Baptist, Hartselle Baptist, and other churches in Mississippi.

One report published in AL.com in 2019 also said he once served as a pastor at Coker Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa County, although this specific detail was not included in the Guidepost report.

Anderson eventually pleaded guilty to the sexual abuse charges in Alabama and was sentenced to three years in prison.

However, following his cases in Franklin and Walker counties, he was immediately transferred to stand trial in Miller County, Arkansas, where he also entered a guilty plea to additional sex abuse charges, SBC records show, and was sentenced to 10 more years.

The SBC said he served prison sentences in both states and was released in 2014.

According to the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry, Anderson was most recently a resident of Memphis and last registered as a sex offender in March 2021.

Anderson's current status is listed as "absconded," which is defined by AL Code § 15-20A-37 as the failure to register as a sex offender or when the offender cannot be located by law enforcement.

Those same Tennessee state records also show Anderson's most recent place of residence was at Forgiveness House — a transitional home for felony offenders in Memphis.

As Patch reported on Thursday, the list of comes in response to an explosive report released over the weekend by an independent investigator that said the top leaders of the SBC "stonewalled and denigrated sexual abuse victims for two decades to protect their own reputations and remained singularly focused on avoiding liability" for the church.

"This list is being made public for the first time as an initial, but important, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Convention," the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee said in a statement on its website. "Each entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse. Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts find hope and healing, and that churches will utilize this list proactively to protect and care for the most vulnerable among us."

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