The leadership crisis engulfing Pawleys Island Community Church has taken another startling turn: several elders who resigned as the church's sex-offender scandal exploded have now returned to leadership.
In an August 22 email to the congregation, the South Carolina church acknowledged that its previous communication had left members confused and without answers. Leaders said they had been wrestling with legal restrictions, church finances, ongoing construction and the practical challenge of keeping church programs operating.
"The past weeks have certainly been challenging for all of us," the elders wrote, apologizing for the "delay or confusion" caused by their silence.
But the most revealing part of the update concerned the elders who stepped aside when longtime Senior Pastor Don Williams resigned. According to the church, the longer-serving elders initially resigned after receiving advice from a source they considered reliable.
The church has now reversed course, saying it later became clear that the decision "had not been carefully considered and prayed over." Those elders have consequently returned to help direct the congregation-an extraordinary development while lawsuits are naming unidentified members of the former elder board as defendants.
PICC identified eight previously ordained elders currently serving in active roles: Kyn Gdanian, Dana Marsh, Brent McClellan, Ric Hucks, Russ Peterson, Tom Powell, Dale Sander and Chris Skodras. Jeff Herwig and John Windham are described as inactive elders, although the church said both continue providing counsel and leadership in areas suited to their experience.
The returning elders will wield considerable influence because PICC currently has no senior pastor. Church leaders also indicated that additional elders could be appointed as they attempt to stabilize a congregation shaken by arrests, resignations, a school closure and mounting litigation.
The controversy began after authorities discovered that Warren Perry, a convicted sex offender, had been volunteering as a custodian on the church campus shared with Pawleys Island Christian Academy. The academy served children ranging from infants to kindergarten age.
Perry had pleaded guilty in 2023 to sexual exploitation of a minor. His probation conditions reportedly prohibited contact with children, yet authorities allege he was repeatedly present around students. Photographs cited by investigators allegedly showed him at activities involving children, while one lawsuit accuses him of sexually abusing a student. That accusation remains an allegation to be decided through the legal process.
Former Pastor Don Williams publicly admitted that church leaders knew about Perry's conviction but had made a "judgment call" about how widely to disclose it. A complainant also alleged that when a teacher raised concerns, administrators said Perry had been rehabilitated and that judging him was "not a Christian thing to do."
Williams and his wife, Ginny, resigned in July after 27 years at PICC. Academy Director Niki Howard also stepped down. All three were subsequently arrested, along with church operations and missions director Michael Anthony Fields and Perry. The charges remain allegations unless proved in court.
The scandal has now produced six lawsuits against the church. Three reportedly name 10 unidentified elders as defendants, while one early suit sought $25 million in damages. The academy has also closed, although the South Carolina Department of Social Services disputed the church's suggestion that licensing delays contributed to that decision.
Despite the unresolved turmoil, PICC resumed its children's ministry on August 23. Leaders announced a partnership with MinistrySafe and said all staff members and children's volunteers must undergo more extensive background checks and complete sexual-abuse-prevention training.
Those safeguards may be welcome, but the return of previously resigned elders is certain to produce a harder question: can the same leadership structure associated with the church's crisis credibly oversee its recovery?
For a congregation talking about healing, accountability and restoration, returning familiar figures to positions of authority could either provide desperately needed stability-or deepen suspicions that the leadership shake-up changed far less than members were originally led to believe
