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Image credit: Pentecostal flame. By J.Filgueiras, courtesy of Wikipedia.
A group of women who say they were sexually abused by Pentecostal preacher Joe Campbell as children are renewing their push for accountability, decades after they first reported his alleged crimes. According to a lengthy NBC News investigation, Campbell has faced allegations from at least five women who say he assaulted them in the 1970s and 1980s while serving as a youth pastor in various churches across Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri.
The women—Kerri Jackson, Cheryl Almond, Kim Williams, Lisa Ball, and Phaedra Creed—say they first came forward as teenagers, alerting church leaders, local police, child welfare agencies, and federal authorities. Yet each time, Campbell denied wrongdoing and continued his ministry. In 1989, after a 14-year-old girl reported that Campbell raped her repeatedly while she lived with his family in Missouri, he was arrested and charged. The case was ultimately dropped when the victim’s family withdrew, citing her mental health.
Despite being expelled from the Assemblies of God denomination in 1989, Campbell continued preaching and founded a youth camp in Missouri called Camp Bell. There, he welcomed volunteers and staff—including several people convicted or accused of sexual abuse—who were allowed to work with children. Campbell’s sermons were broadcast nationally on the PTL Television Network until recently, when they were quietly removed after NBC began its inquiry.
For decades, Campbell’s accusers attempted to alert the public and law enforcement, but were often met with apathy, disbelief, or expired statutes of limitations. That changed in December 2023, when Jackson filed a new police report in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after changes in state law reopened the door for historical abuse claims. The women are now calling for broader public awareness and renewed criminal scrutiny, citing recent legal efforts against other prominent pastors as a sign that justice might still be possible.
As Campbell continues to run his Missouri camp, the women remain determined to see him held accountable. “He needs to pay for what he did,” said Ball.
This article is based on a much longer investigative report by NBC News. You can read the full investigation here.
