Change.Org Petition Calls for Investigation Into 63-Year-Old Bishop For Alleged Predatory Behavior

63-year-old Bishop Dwight Reed is alleged to have groomed a young member of his church before marrying her at 18.

Bishop Dwight Reed of Christ Apostolic Temple in Des Moines, Iowa is alleged to have groomed Jordan Goodlett before marrying her after she turned 18.

In early March, 2022, a post made by Facebook user Jazmn Christine Felder began to make its way around the internet. After the post was brought to our attention, we spoke with Jazmn to get a better understanding of her claims.

Jazmn, a former member of the church, stated that she has firsthand knowledge of the predatory behaviors that take place in the church. She also alleges that Bishop Dwight Reed’s young wife, Jordan Goodlett Reed, is only one of many girls and young women who have been groomed to become the wives of older men in the church.

In addition, Jazmn alleges that since she made her post on Facebook, many alleged victims have messaged her privately to share their own stories of alleged abuse by members of Christ Apostolic Temple and the larger organization the church belongs to.

On March 16, 2022, Bishop Demetrius Sinegal, presiding bishop of Kingdom Churches in Covenant and the pastor of The Kingdom Church of Houston began a Change.org petition urging Des Moines police to begin an investigation into Bishop Dwight Reed. At the time of publishing, the petition had 161 signatures.

Bishop Sinegal is a pastoral counselor specializing in traumatic stress. He and a group of pastors, mental health professionals, and lay people curate discussions in a group called Safehouse Unmuzzled. According to Bishop Sinegal, “The conversations are all aimed at confronting predatory behaviors and cultures within the church as well as raising awareness on the psychological, emotional, and spiritual impacts on persons who have come through or are in these types of churches.”

Bishop Sinegal stated to Black Is The Standard that Dwight Reed returned to the church as its pastor in 2017, assuming leadership of both the church and the church’s school (that Jordan graduated from.) Bishop Reed’s father was the church’s previous leader before his death. It is assumed that in 2017, Jordan would have only been between the ages of 15 and 16, when the alleged “grooming” began.

In an interview with Jazmn Felder, Jazmn claimed that she has spoken to individuals close to the situation who claim that Bishop Reed was Jordan’s godfather. Jazmn also referred to an announcement Reed allegedly made to the church shortly after Jordan’s parents’ divorced (while she was still a minor) that he was taking her “under his wing”. At the time of the alleged announcement, Jordan would have been a student at the school in which Reed was Dean.

Photo of Jordan Goodlett Reed (l) and Bishop Dwight Reed prior to their mairrage (r). Source: Anonymous

Bishop Sinegal and members of his group, Safehouse Unmuzzled, will be hosting a Clubhouse chat to discuss Bishop Dwight Reed on Thursday, March 17, 2022 at 9:15 pm CST.

If you’d like to learn more about the petition and sign/share please click below.

View The Petition Here

Any and all references made to potentially illegal behavior by anyone mentioned in this article is alleged and have not been proven in a court of law. As of publishing, we are unaware of any criminal charges that have been filed against Bishop Dwight Reed. This story is still developing and updates will be published as new information is obtained.

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