By Cassy Benefield | FāVS News Reporter
The first of four civil lawsuits against Faith Baptist Church in Spokane for allegedly not keeping children safe from sexual abuse on their premises has been scheduled to go to trial June 15, 2026. The court date was assigned in a less than 10 minute status hearing on July 18.
The specific complaints in this case against Faith Baptist Church (FBC) are “negligence” in not keeping church property safe from sexual assault for the plaintiff and “outrage/intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
The plaintiff goes by D.H. as she was a minor (14), according to family, when she was allegedly sexually assaulted on FBC’s property in the summer of 2005. She was also a member of the church at that time. Today she resides in Potter County, Texas.
“The church has a duty, the institution has a duty to the plaintiff in this case to ensure that she was safe on the premises, to ensure that she was looked after,” said Damian Sullivent, D.H.’s legal representation from Frederick Nessler & Associates. “It’s our opinion that there was a breach of that or these things could not have happened.”
The other defendant in the case is Samuel Hennings, who the plaintiff accuses of the alleged “sexual assault and batary” along with “outrage/intentional infliction of emotional distress.” He was a member of FBC and also a minor (14) the day of the alleged sexual assault, according to his wife of 12 years, Renee Hennings. She sees her husband as one of the victims harmed by the church.
“His life has been ruined, and no one cares,” Renee Hennings said. “No one advocated for him appropriately in the moment. No one really even asked Sam what had happened.”
When Samuel Hennings, who is representing himself, left the courtroom after the status hearing, he said he didn’t think he should be a part of this lawsuit.
“It was two kids doing kid things, and now it’s been blown way out of proportion,” he said.
He denied all complaints the plaintiff laid out against him in her complaint.
When asked if Samuel Hennings being a minor at the time of the alleged accusation makes a difference in his accountability in the case, Sullivent said no.
The case against him rests on whether or not D.H. consented to his alleged “inappropriate touching, fondling and other sexual acts” without factoring in his age. Sullivent said that it was appropriate to also consider these alleged nonconsensual acts took place on FBC premises.
“There is a duty that is owed to these individuals when they’re on site that these types of things will not happen,” Sullivent said. “I think what we’ll see through this litigation is a systemic understanding from the church’s perspective, that this was not a one time event.”
The Faith Baptist Church pastor
Part of the next year will be a process of discovery and deposing witnesses and others with knowledge of the case. One of those witnesses will be Pastor Greg Boyle who has since retired from leading FBC and Faith Baptist Academy (FBA) after 43 years of ministry.
About two weeks ago, Sullivent said legal counsel in Seattle — who is representing a plaintiff on another one of the four civil court cases against FBC — contacted him and told him Boyle had dementia.
“We’ll be back up here (Spokane) probably in the next month to a month and a half …[to] do what they call a video deposition of him, which is recorded, and probably try to get that taken care of on all the cases in which we believe he has information related to, as soon as possible.”
D.H. filed an amended complaint on June 10 that replaced the initial one she filed on April 14. The amendment addresses the fact that D.H. and Hennings were not students of FBA, as the original stated, but were members of FBC.
According to court records, FBC only replied to the first complaint, which still included language about FBA and the plaintiff and Samuel Hennings being students at the time. In it, they deny all the plaintiff’s complaints against them and their defense includes asking for a change of venue, adding a “nonparty at fault” defense, claiming a statute of limitations and more.
Thomas Rohrer at Evans, Craven & Lackie, P.S., represents FBC and was in the status hearing on their behalf on July 18.
FāVS News contacted Rohrer four different times asking for clarification on why their client chose some of their defenses and how they plan on working with Boyle while his dementia progresses. He did not respond.
Superior Court Judge Annette S. Plese will preside over the case.
The next civil lawsuit to have a status hearing is J.P. v. Faith Baptist Church of Spokane, Washington, which also does business as Faith Baptist Academy, and Daniel Cunning. It will be on Sept. 5.
