A former Greater Grace World Outreach pastor who once led the Baltimore megachurch’s Bible college has been indicted by a Massachusetts grand jury for child sexual abuse, a spokesperson for the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office told The Baltimore Banner.

Eric Anderson, 80, is facing two counts of indecent assault and battery of a child, said Chief of Operations Julia Sabourin. The abuse is alleged to have occurred in 1980, when Anderson lived and worked at the church’s former headquarters in Western Massachusetts. Back then, the organization with offshoots around the world was known as The Bible Speaks.

Berkshire County has issued a warrant for Anderson’s arrest. He’s been living with his son Jesse Anderson, who was convicted of molesting a boy in the church but escaped prison time for his felony offenses. They live in rural Red House, Virginia. Another son, Jonathan Anderson, has also been accused of abuse, though he has not been charged with a crime.

Members of The Millstones, the group of former church members who investigated the organization’s handling of abuse allegations, said Eric Anderson was one of the first alleged perpetrators they learned about.

“He’s been the source of immense pain and suffering across multiple generations,” they wrote in a statement. “The justice he’s facing now is long overdue.”

“We hope this sends a strong message to the predators in the pews — abusing children has real world consequences. And we hope all victim survivors will get the justice they deserve,” they added.

Eric Anderson did not respond to a request for comment. His wife Joycelyn Anderson previously told The Banner that her husband called the allegations “total garbage.” Head Pastor Thomas Schaller declined to comment.

News of Eric Anderson’s indictment, which Sabourin said was handed down in April, comes roughly one year after The Banner exposed decades of child sexual abuse and coverups within Greater Grace, and as pastors and missionaries from around the world are gathering in Baltimore for the evangelical church’s annual convention.

A silent candlelight vigil is planned for Friday night during the event to honor the church’s sexual abuse survivors. It will take place on the hill overlooking the complex on Moravia Road.

Meanwhile, civil lawsuits are piling up that accuse church leaders of failing to protect former members from sexual abuse they say they suffered as children, and an independent investigation into the church’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations is ongoing. Church leaders also recently expelled two pastors accused of sexual misconduct.

Erika Slater accused Eric Anderson of ushering her behind his desk and groping her several times in the spring of 1980 when she was in first grade and he was her school principal. Last summer, following publication of The Banner’s investigative series, Slater traveled from her home in upstate New York to Massachusetts to file a police report.

Seeing her alleged abuser indicted 45 years later makes her feel validated and nauseated, she said.

“Never once did police just dismiss this or set it aside,” said Slater, 51. “They pursued it, despite how cold the case was. It was remarkable.”

‘Sometimes he locks me up there’

Eric Anderson is the patriarch of a family that was once prominent in the insular Greater Grace community.

He joined the church soon after it was founded by Carl Stevens, who tapped him for leadership roles. For many years, he led the Maryland Bible College and Seminary, where the church’s pastors receive theological training.

But Eric Anderson and his sons Jesse Anderson and Jonathan Anderson have all been accused of harming children members of the church.

After Jesse Anderson pleaded guilty in 2005 to felony sexual abuse of a minor, Eric Anderson callously told the victim’s parents, “You have no idea how hard this is for Jesse.” In the years since, several other people have accused Jesse Anderson of abuse. He previously declined to comment on his conviction or the allegations.

Jonathan Anderson, the older brother, was accused of groping a woman during a New Year’s Eve celebration held at the church in the mid-1990s, when she was in first or second grade. He also previously declined to speak with reporters.

Long before Slater described her alleged abuse to The Banner, she posted about it anonymously on a now defunct website called FACTnet.

Using the pseudonym Preston, she wrote about being a young child in the church. Slater’s family, like so many early church members, moved from place to place, sleeping in dorms of shared housing with other families.

Slater’s posts alluded to being abused in one shared living space, in a narrative written from her perspective as a child. “I don’t like the top floor. Sometimes he locks me up there,” she wrote in a post from November 2005. “Sometimes I run for the door and he laughs at me because he is stronger. He touches me and I don’t like it.”

She later told members of The Millstones she was speaking about Eric Anderson.

Slater is now a paralegal and child abuse caseworker who helps other survivors of abuse. She said she hopes coming forward will encourage others to report sexual abuse to law enforcement, even if they’re not ready to speak about the allegations publicly.

Over the last year, she said she has communicated with nearly two dozen former members of the church who say they survived sexual abuse.

“I knew that if I came forward, I would need to have a lot of margin in my life,” Slater said. “I knew that if I stepped in, I couldn’t do it halfway. I couldn’t close my heart to other people who needed to talk about their pain, or say no to someone who needed help.”

‘It’s been a long year’

Members of The Millstones, who all have loved ones who are alleged victims of abuse in the church, said the past year has been both heartening and exhausting.

“There are days where it’s felt really empowering — like we’re flipping tables in the temple or stepping out in front of younger versions of ourselves to stand up to the playground bully. And then there are days where it knocks the wind out of you and all you feel are the triggers, trauma, and soul-crushing sadness of it all,” said Matt Veader of The Millstones. “My hope is that when the smoke clears, there will be more healing than devastation.”

Jonathan Rasmussen of The Millstones completed a masters in counseling program this year and now counsels other survivors of religious trauma. He said he has been pondering the concept of justice and what that would look like for survivors of abuse at Greater Grace.

“Justice looks like an environment or a platform for every victim-survivor to be able to share their story without any fear of repercussion or without being retraumatized,” said Rasmussen. “Being believed.”

Another member, Ryan Heidenreich, noted that he had heard pastors bemoan a drop in church attendance and revenue in sermons broadcast online. He said he saw these as hopeful signs that congregants were thinking critically about the church’s practices.

“It’s been a long year, but that concrete change is ramping up,” said Heidenreich. “I still have the motivation to keep going.”

His sister, Nikki Heidenreich, was not a member of The Millstones, but formed a group called The Albatrosses to protest outside the church following publication of the series last year.

The Albatrosses stood weekly in silent vigil outside the Moravia Road campus last summer, stopping only after church officials announced the launch of the independent investigation, which is ongoing.

That probe is being led by an organization called Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, or GRACE.

The Albatrosses intend to resume their quiet protest at Greater Grace this evening, Nikki Heidenreich said.

“I’m exceedingly proud of what we have accomplished,” she said. “We seized the momentum and made sure it stayed in the collective conscience of the community.”

Veader said he planned to join the protest Friday evening. He had special shirts made for the event with a message for church leaders: “We’re your legacy, too.”

‘They have continually failed’

Since April, five lawsuits have been filed against Greater Grace under the Maryland Child Victims Act, which eliminated time limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to bring claims against their alleged abusers and the institutions they consider responsible.

One lawsuit filed against the church by a woman with the initials J.T. alleges she was fondled and forcibly penetrated with a cross by a Greater Grace preacher in his 30s. The alleged abuse occurred three times in the 1990s when the woman was between the ages of 10 and 15, according to the complaint.

She doesn’t identify the man, but she describes him as being clean-shaven with a medium build and nearly 6 feet tall.

“Defendant carelessly staffed spiritual leaders, priests, clergy members and other personnel members at its religious institution,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant knowingly protected these staff members so the public would not find out they were molesting children.”

Another complaint filed by a man with the initials A.B. alleges the son of a Greater Grace pastor fondled him and performed oral sex on him in 1996 when he was around 11 years old. The son wanted A.B. to reciprocate the sexual acts, but a member of the church knocked on the door and interrupted the alleged abuse, according to the complaint.

Former church members Jediah and Benjamin Tanguay filed lawsuits against the church and former youth leader Ray Fernandez, who was convicted of molesting the brothers in the 1990s. They allege the church was complicit in the abuse and has refused to take responsibility for allowing the attacks to happen.

John Patrick Richard Capello alleged in his lawsuit that he was repeatedly assaulted by Youth Pastor John Love’s daughter in the mid-to-late 1990s. He says Love blamed him for the alleged abuse, telling him only men can initiate sexual acts, according to the complaint.

The Banner is not identifying the children of pastors accused of abuse because they were minors when the alleged misconduct occurred. Neither responded to requests for comment. Former youth leader Ray Fernandez and youth Pastor John Love could not be reached for comment on the complaints.

Greater Grace leaders acknowledged the lawsuits in a series of statements posted on the church’s website this month and pledged to make youth safety the organization’s highest priority.

But the update also emphasizes that the alleged abuse occurred more than two decades ago and notes the church may raise a “charitable immunity” defense, which could protect it from liability exceeding its insurance coverage.

Benjamin Davis, an attorney representing the two anonymous plaintiffs, criticized Greater Grace for “doing nothing” to mitigate the threat of child sexual abuse in the year since publication of The Banner’s investigative series. “We have multiple victims abused in similar circumstances,” he said. “They have continuously failed to protect children in their care.”

Slater, the woman whose allegations against Eric Anderson led to his indictment, said she sees only one remedy — “I’d like to see complete replacement of church leadership.”