Myles and DeLana Rutherford, the senior pastors of Worship with Wonders Church in Powder Springs, Georgia, say Marcus Kendall Turner, a former employee who was recently sentenced to 25 years in prison for sex crimes against a teenage boy, wasn’t an employee when he committed the crimes.
“Out of respect for the courts, we have been silent during the criminal prosecution of Marcus Kendall Turner, a former member of our church, to allow justice to work its course. We are satisfied with the sentencing and that closure has been brought to all of this,” the Rutherfords said in a statement on Saturday.
While the Rutherfords admit that Turner worked in a part-time administrative role at the church from 2017 to 2021, they stated that he was “never a pastor at the church” and “never hired to work as a youth leader.”
“To be very clear, Mr. Turner was not an employee of our church during the commission of his crimes,” the senior pastors stated.
Cherokee County District Attorney Susan K. Treadaway announced that Turner, 34, pled guilty on Feb. 9 to several sex crimes against his middle school-aged victim over a period of months, beginning in May 2023. The crimes include: two counts of aggravated child molestation; two counts of child molestation; one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes; one count of obscene internet contact with a child; four counts of sexual exploitation of children; and one count of cruelty to children in the first degree.
Despite the statement from the Rutherfords, however, investigators say Turner started his relationship with the teenage boy through his leadership role at Worship With Wonders Church. They also noted that it was the boy’s mother who first reported the crimes to authorities.
Investigators say Turner invited his victim to join a new church youth group called “Hangout Life Crew” in May 2023. Within months, Turner, who was also recorded leading worship at the charismatic, non-denominational church, started spending time alone with the boy. He also contacted him frequently by phone over the next five months, sending some 12,691 text messages, which included sexually explicit content.
In August and September 2023, investigators said Turner committed repeated acts of sexual abuse against the middle school-aged boy at his Cherokee County home. The abuse was reported to the church’s leadership in September 2023, but they didn’t call the police immediately, which forced the boy’s mother to act.
“They (church leaders) sat me down, and they said Marcus Turner has something that he would like to tell you, and that’s when he told me that he sexually abused my son,” the mother said in an interview with Fox5 Atlanta.
The mother, whose identity was protected, said she trusted Turner with her son because he was presented to her as a leader in the church.
“I trusted him, I trusted the pastors,” she said. “I felt sorry for my son. I was devastated because, obviously, all of my life I have protected my kids from this, and I just never thought it would happen in the church of all places.”
Talynn Madison Plyler, who claims to have been baptized by Turner at the church, wrote in an October 2023 Facebook post that even though the church’s pastors said Turner was not hired to work with youth, he was the person who baptized her as a teenager.
“As I’m reading these articles and going over the public statement that was released from Worship with Wonders Church I am truly heartbroken at the lies,” she wrote on Facebook. “[I]n their statement they claimed that Marcus Turner had NO responsibility over minors at the church, but in May of 2021, when I was only 15 years old, Marcus Turner baptized me ON CHURCH GROUNDS.”
Turner was sentenced to 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole, followed by life on probation with sex offender special conditions. He is required to register as a sex offender on completion of his sentence and must have no contact with anyone younger than 18. He has also been ordered to have no contact with his victim or any member of the boy’s family.
“This sentence delivers justice and ensures accountability. It honors a mother who stood firmly and refused to be silenced and her son who showed tremendous courage in coming forward,” Treadaway said in a statement. “Sexual predators can be highly manipulative and strategic in gaining the trust of their victims. We will continue to aggressively prosecute those who prey on children in Cherokee County.”
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