MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – The Rev. Juan D. McFarland is described as a man of “passion, prayer and purpose” in a three-paragraph summary on the website of the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. The site concludes by saying such an overview “does not begin to tell his story.”
Parishioners realized just how true that was in recent weeks, when McFarland dropped the bombshells: He had had affairs with several women in the parish – inside the church – but neglected to tell them he had AIDS.
“It was surprise, shock, but I think the leadership team did not react wanting to get him out. We wanted to get him help,” said James Long, vice chairman of the board of trustees.
McFarland refused – and in a later sermon dropped another bombshell: He had been abusing drugs.
That was enough. A church document shows members voted 80-1 to fire him on Oct. 5, but McFarland refused to leave, going so far as to change the building’s locks and the numbers of the church’s bank account before returning to the pulpit on Oct. 12, Long said.