The Kansas U.S. Senate contest has drawn renewed attention to events at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood nearly two decades ago, after Republican incumbent Roger Marshall’s campaign began airing advertisements about the church’s handling of allegations against a volunteer.
Adam Hamilton, the church’s founding pastor and the Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Senate, has led the congregation for more than 30 years. It is described as the largest United Methodist church in the United States.
Marshall’s campaign is spending $1.2 million on a statewide advertising buy that asserts Hamilton failed to report a volunteer, Scott Preston Moore, to law enforcement after teenagers said Moore touched them at church retreats in 2005 and 2006, and that Moore was permitted to return the following year. The advertisement states that Hamilton “protected a pedophile.”
POLL: Would You Vote Against ANY Candidate Who Calls Themselves A Socialist?
#KansasSenate
Medium Buying: Adam Hamilton (D) releases new TV ad
“One evening I see lights. I open the door and it's a police officer. They arrested me because I didn't make a $50 payment to Roger Marshall.” pic.twitter.com/paK1pEQKfz
— Politics & Poll Tracker(@PollTracker2024) September 25, 2026
Court records and contemporaneous accounts, which were reviewed earlier by the Kansas City Star and Kansas Reflector, established that two boys, then ages 14 and 15, reported that a man entered their cabin at a November 2005 weekend retreat and touched them near the groin while they were in sleeping bags. A youth minister told the boys their accounts amounted to slander.
Two church officials, employee Randy Meyer and volunteer Nancy Brown, conducted an internal inquiry. Prosecutors later wrote that the boys provided detailed statements but could not positively identify the person responsible because of darkness. The investigators did not refer the matter to law enforcement or social services at that time.
Hamilton did not attend a subsequent meeting with parents, though he later confirmed he met with one of the families. The inquiry was inconclusive, and Moore returned as a counselor in 2006.
In November 2006, another teenager reported inappropriate contact. The church dismissed Moore, referred the allegation to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, and also provided information about the 2005 events. The county attorney declined to file charges.
The church barred Moore from roles involving children or vulnerable adults, notified the United Methodist conference, and contacted the Boy Scouts of America, where he also volunteered. Hamilton has said the church’s aim was accuracy and that there was no attempt at a cover-up. He has also stated that he “absolutely” would handle the 2005 report differently today by contacting law enforcement directly.
A former assistant has said the 2005 investigators lacked relevant qualifications, though Hamilton has defended their involvement.
Moore was later convicted in 2013 in Johnson County of misdemeanor sexual battery for touching a 16-year-old boy, a friend of his son, during a 2010 sleepover at his home. Teenagers from the earlier church retreats testified at that trial.
Separately, an adult who said Moore abused him as a young child in 1979 reported the account to Hamilton around 2010.
Moore received a one-year sentence and died in 2015. After the mid-2000s incidents, the church adopted additional screening and supervision policies, including a Safe Gatherings program that requires prompt reporting of suspected crimes.
RELATED: GOP Senator Confirms He Is Eyeing A Run For President In 2028
Continue reading...
[ H/T Trending Politics ]
