Mark Aderholt — International Mission Board / South Carolina Baptist Convention
A missionary whose abuse the International Mission Board substantiated internally in 2007 without reporting it to police. Charged in Texas in 2018 with four felony counts, he pleaded in 2019 to a misdemeanor that left no conviction on his record and no registry requirement.
Southern Baptist Pleaded guilty (2019)
- Person
- Mark Aderholt
- Role
- Missionary (IMB); later South Carolina Baptist Convention staff
- Institution
- International Mission Board; South Carolina Baptist Convention
- Location
- Texas (charges); South Carolina
- Status
- Pleaded guilty (2019) to misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury
- Sentence
- 30 days in jail; 24 months' deferred adjudication; $4,000 fine; no registry
Case in brief
Tier 1 · Court-proven
Mark Aderholt was a Southwestern Seminary student who became an International Mission Board (IMB) missionary and later a South Carolina Baptist Convention staffer. In 2018 Texas charged him with four counts of sexual assault of a child under 17, for abuse in 1996–97 of a 16-year-old. In 2019 he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury: 30 days in jail, 24 months’ deferred adjudication/probation, and a $4,000 fine — terms under which, on successful completion, the conviction would not remain on his record and he would not be on the sex-offender registry.
The institution
The International Mission Board was informed of the abuse in 2007, conducted an internal investigation that substantiated it and led to Aderholt’s resignation — and did not report it to police. He then worked at Immanuel Baptist and Central Baptist churches in Arkansas and for the South Carolina Baptist Convention. In 2018, IMB president David Platt publicly apologized to the survivor.
The record
Tier 1 · Court-proven
| Item | Record |
|---|---|
| Original charges (Texas, 2018) | Four counts of sexual assault of a child under 17 (conduct in 1996–97) |
| Institutional knowledge | IMB informed 2007; internal investigation substantiated; resignation; no police report |
| Plea (2019) | Guilty — misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury |
| Terms | 30 days in jail; 24 months’ deferred adjudication; $4,000 fine; no sex-offender registry; conviction not to remain on record on completion |
Status
Plea entered (2019). The case is a documented example of two pattern behaviors at once: internal handling instead of a police report (2007), and a plea outcome that removes the offense from registry counts.
Records requested & responses
This archive has not filed records requests in this case. The file rests on the published sources below and will be updated if court or institutional records are obtained, or if that changes.
Sources
- Baptist Press, “Mark Aderholt pleads guilty in sex assault case”: baptistpress.com
- Baptist News Global via BishopAccountability.org, “Former Southern Baptist official charged with sexual assault pleads guilty to lesser crime” (2019): bishop-accountability.org
Filed October 18, 2026, from the published sources below. Minor victims are never named or identified in this file.