Multiple abuse allegations.
At three churches.
Over 20 years.
Never Prosecuted.
This summary focuses on Taylor’s years leading the Cornerstone youth ministry at The Falls Church Anglican (TFCA)* from 1990-2002 because this chapter of Taylor’s story is the most publicly known. Additional details are on the Timeline and Reports pages.
From the late 1980s-2009, Jeff Taylor was a youth minister at churches in Winnetka, Illinois, Falls Church, Virginia, and Atlanta, Georgia.
It is alleged that for decades, he sexually abused and groomed boys.
Allegations
Adult survivors of abuse at TFCA brought allegations of misconduct to the church in 2007 and 2015, with parents of survivors bringing further allegations in 2021. Survivors or their families asked for investigations in 2007, 2015 and 2021. TFCA repeatedly failed to either investigate or share the allegations with the vestry, Bishop and congregation. Allegations of misconduct were also made at Church of the Apostles (COTA) in Atlanta in 2003-2004.
TFCA Investigation
In 2021, a couple lost their son, an abuse Survivor, to alcohol abuse, and went to TFCA retired rector John Yates to request an investigation. In Fall 2023, frustrated from two years of conversations with TFCA that resulted in little action, they appealed to Bishop Chris Warner, who directed TFCA to start an investigation.
Had the parents not gone to the Bishop, it is likely that TFCA might have never investigated Taylor’s alleged abuse, since it hadn’t been investigated since first reported in 2007.
In Fall 2023, TFCA hired employment lawyer Eddie Isler, of Isler Dare, to investigate. The process was described as independent with an unlimited scope, but some observers found significant flaws in Isler’s process. TFCA did minimal direct outreach to former youth group members to invite participation and mostly relied on word of mouth. One email to about 75 former youth group members was sent, but at any given time in Taylor’s 12 year tenure, Cornerstone had several hundred students.
Some former youth group members lost faith in the process, felt unsafe, felt their information was mishandled, or saw it left out entirely. Isler revealed one Survivor’s identity in a public forum. The Addendum to the report contained an inappropriate and sanctimonious warning to the Cornerstone community: “the question that remains..is whether they will persist in a season of anger and resentment that this darkness was visited upon them, or whether they will move through this season towards healing and reconciliation.” Isler has admitted to some of these mistakes and said in the Report Addendum that while he performed the task with diligence, he has not done it perfectly.
The TFCA report was publicly released in April 2024, and while it appeared comprehensive (80+ pages), some found it to be too friendly to TFCA and missing critical facts, including that abuse survivors brought allegations to then-rector John Yates in 2015. For those who knew Taylor, and who trusted TFCA, reading the report was brutal.
Churches’ Responses Before 2023
In 2002, Taylor left TFCA and joined Church of the Apostles (COTA) in Atlanta. When allegations of inappropriate conversations with boys arose in Fall 2003, there was no formal investigation. In early 2004, pornography was found on Taylor’s computer. While Taylor was under review for this, he voluntarily resigned and joined Christ Church of Atlanta. During the hiring process, Christ Church asked COTA for a reference. They were told Taylor had left voluntarily, and there hadn’t been any issues with him.
After hearing the 2007 allegation, TFCA, to their credit, reported it to Christ Church Atlanta, who removed Taylor from youth ministry. But because he denied the allegation and because Christ Church could not interview the abuse survivor, he remained on staff, but with a directive from the Bishop to stay away from youth. When Taylor violated this directive in 2009, an investigation was opened, Taylor was forced to resign, and was defrocked, i.e., lost his status as an ordained priest. More details about TFCA’s responses to the 2007, 2015 and 2021 allegations are in the TFCA report.
The Impact
Whether allegations were intentionally covered up or mishandled with no malice, the failure of the church to investigate and report them caused further harm to abuse Survivors and led to even more abuse.
For over thirty years, abuse Survivors have suffered in silent shame, each walking their own painful journey. Pastors did not take abuse Survivors’ and their parents’ allegations seriously. Parents and congregations were in the dark and weren’t able to protect their boys or help their adult sons who were traumatized by the abuse.
Governance failed when rectors did not tell their vestries and bishops, and investigations didn’t happen or were severely delayed. Though charged with a sacred responsibility to protect children, leaders did not proactively educate themselves on how abuse happens in churches and how one allegation almost always leads to more. They chose to protect the institution and its reputation instead of protecting their flock.
Because they were charmed by Taylor’s charisma and his large, successful youth program, he was not managed well. He openly violated child protection policies, like driving kids alone in cars, which was a key foundation of his one-on-one discipleship model. Because this wasn’t challenged, it gave him free reign to allegedly abuse. There was not enough accountability. For years there was no repentance or amends made to those who suffered.
Now, nearly twenty years after allegations were first reported at TFCA, things are starting to change. Since TFCA’s April 2024 report and August 2024 addendum, TFCA has taken steps to respond and has started an abuse Survivors counseling fund. Bishop Warner is engaged with TFCA and issued a noteworthy pastoral response letter. In that Nov 2024 letter, he revealed that he issued formal admonishments to former Rector John Yates and current Rector Sam Ferguson for their mishandling of the abuse allegations.
Perhaps not surprisingly, little attention has been paid to former youth group members who are now grown, especially the women, many of whom recall feeling like “second class citizens” compared to the boys.
For example, despite multiple requests, no former youth group members have ever been members of the Special Committee that TFCA formed in Fall 2023 to manage their response to the investigation. TFCA has made pastoral care available to anyone, but some former youth group members have no interest in engaging with the institution that not only failed to protect them as children, but is excluding them now.
Both former youth group members and abuse Survivors find themselves shaken and shattered, trying to examine their past in the light of this awful truth, and make sense of what was good and what was evil. And where was God?
Some have lost their faith, some have belief but no faith community, and some have both but still have questions. Many are carrying grief for their abuse Survivor friends, while simultaneously carrying rage for Taylor, a man they used to love and admire. Some take a broader view, concluding that this is another example of the religious trauma they felt growing up in Evangelicalism and purity culture. Others feel deep empathy for Yates, are convinced he did the best he could, and have quickly extended their forgiveness.
But this is only part of the story. Since the report was released, we don’t know what happened at the Atlanta churches. We also don’t know about Taylor’s time at Winnetka Bible Church in the late 1980s or if there have been any abuse allegations since 2009, when he lived in Athens, GA (2009-2014), and now in Cincinnati, Ohio (2014-present).
Information about Taylor’s time in other churches comes from public sources and the TFCA report, which has greater detail. This narrative will be updated as new developments emerge.
*During Taylor’s TFCA tenure, the church was called The Falls Church Episcopal (TFCE). In 2006, when the church left the Episcopal church and affiliated with what became the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), they changed their name to The Falls Church Anglican. To minimize confusion, when we refer to TFCA, we are referring to the same church where Jeff Taylor led Cornerstone from 1990-2002 under Rector John Yates. Yates retired in 2019 and was succeeded by Rector Sam Ferguson.