Youth pastor, James Randolph,of Living Word Church in Midland Michigan was sentenced for sexual abuses against a minor. Randolph served in his position of youth pastor under the direction of his father-in-law pastor, Pastor Mark Barclay.
What makes this story very tragic, is that James Randolph has a prior conviction for sexual assault against a minor.
In 1985, he pleaded guilty to third-degree CSC after raping a 15-year-old girl with developmental disabilities in Jackson.
https://www.wnem.com/2025/08/30/midland-pastor-convicted-sexually-abusing-child-after-week-long-trial
The question of how someone with a conviction of sex crimes against children could get a position of youth pastor is ever present. It has not yet been answered. Did the church do a background check? If not, why? If they did, how come he held a position close to children? Wouldn’t his prior conviction require him to keep distance to any children? Where was the oversight?
Living Word Church
Reviewing the website for Living World Church, there is a very absent message of their youth pastor being convicted for a second time, for sexual crimes against a minor. Some churches take a proactive stance, and issue a public statement, others dismiss their failures and move on.
Ironic that a pastor who claims to be “spirit led,” couldn’t predict that his son-in-law James Randolph (who holds a prior conviction for child molestation) would molest another child and be found guilty of it in 2025.
Other Church Members Guilty of Sexual Assualt
The story gets even more strange. Few media outlets are reporting that not only is this not the first time Randolph has been convicted for child sexual abuse, but it also isn’t the first time this church has had a leader found guilty of child sexual abuse.
In 2024, Living Word church elder Brandon Saylor, was convicted for sexual abuse of a minor:
Brandon Saylor, 44, was sentenced to 5 years to 15 years in prison on three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child under 13 on Thursday, April 4.
https://www.wnem.com/2024/05/15/former-midland-church-leader-resentenced-child-sex-crimes
To recap:
- A pentecostal, political church
- Supposedly spirit led
- Has two members convicted of different sexual crimes against children
- One the youth pastor
- The other a church elder
- The youth pastor had a prior conviction of sexual abuse against a minor
There’s so many problems here. How did a church put into a position of authority over children, a man who pled guilty to raping a minor? Furthermore, how did the same church have elders committing similar offenses? Finally, how does a pastor with such a disgrace in his church continue to “predict” things and shame and point fingers at other political parties? Perhaps he should focus on his own book and read how one should not look at the speck in another’s eye when a mote is in their own. In other words, this guy clearly isn’t getting led to the real problems in his own house, his own church, so why should anyone listen to him on his personal views?
