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Minister at Anti-HERO Church Accused of Sending Nude Photos to Minors

By John Wright

A student minister at an anti-LGBTQ Houston church has been arrested and charged with online solicitation of a minor, after allegedly sending nude photos to dozens of underage girls.

Timothy Jeltema, 28, served as a student minister at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Northwest Houston.

Jeltema was arrested June 12 by Tomball police after the parents of one of the victims, along with the church, contacted authorities, according to Click2Houston.com. In addition to sending and requesting nude photos from his minor victims, Jeltema allegedly asked them to meet for sex.

Pastor David Fleming (YouTube)

“Detectives said they believe Jeltema has requested nude photos of 20-25 additional girls between the ages of 14 and 17,” Click2Houston.com reports. “Police said Jeltema made several out-of-state trips as a student minister, including to New Orleans, Louisiana, and Panama City, Florida. He also participated in church camp activities at Carolina Creek and Huntsville, Texas.”

The pastor of Champion Forest Baptist Church, David Fleming, was among the organizers of a 2014 petition to repeal Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), which prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Fleming and other opponents of HERO falsely alleged that the ordinance would somehow lead to predators assaulting young girls in public restrooms.

The beliefs section of Champion Forest Baptist Church’s website states: “God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male and female and the two distinct, but complementary genders, uniquely in all of creation, reflect the image and nature of God. God commanded the male and female to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, so He ordained marriage to be exclusively the union of one man and one woman, and that sexual activity occur exclusively within that sacred union.”

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