Lifetime registered sex offender once on ‘America’s Most Wanted’ leads church in Texas

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Tuesday, January 07, 2025

Chuck Adair, a lifetime registered sex offender who was once listed on “America’s Most Wanted” for running off with an underage parishioner, is now a ministry leader at Grace Place Church of Christ in Duncanville, Texas, and a part-time staffer with Watermark Community Church in Dallas.

“This is a dangerous predator,” warned survivor advocate Amy Smith in a video shared on X on Jan. 1. “He should not have a position of leadership as a pastor. He was not being truthful about keeping away from children.”

In a recent statement addressing Adair’s work with the church, Watermark elders Todd Anders, Timothy Ateek, Ben Caldwell, Mickey Friedrich, Blake Holmes and Rob Thomas said he has been an active member of the church since 2017, and does both volunteer and paid work with their prison ministry. They also stated that Adair does not work with minors and their relationship with him is “guided by care and common sense.”

“Mr. Adair was convicted in 1996 and completed his community supervision in 2006. Mr. Adair has been an active member of Watermark since 2017. He volunteers in our prison ministry and with Watermark’s adult recovery ministry, re: generation, where he occasionally teaches," Watermark elders said.

“He is also employed part-time as a re: generation coach with Watermark Resources, remotely helping other churches implement Watermark’s recovery program in their local church contexts. Mr. Adair does not serve on our staff in a pastoral role.”

Adair, who is now 62, was convicted of sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1996, according to previous reporting by The Dallas Morning News. That conviction came after he initiated a sexual relationship with a girl he met in his youth group while working for Garnett Church of Christ in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1990.

“I can’t justify it,” Adair told The Dallas Morning News in 2012, “because it is inappropriate at every level.”

He would eventually leave that church to join Golf Course Road Church of Christ in Midland, Texas. This is where he would meet Kristen Berryhill when she was just 13 in 1992. The girl frequently visited his house where he told his then-wife, Missy, that he was just counseling the girl. Berryhill’s parents questioned the nature of Adair’s relationship with their daughter in 1993. In 1994 when she turned 15, Adair admitted that others began to notice that he and the young teenager were “a little too close.”

To avoid getting fired, Adair resigned from Golf Course Road Church of Christ in December 1994. He told The Dallas Morning News that he begged for forgiveness and planned to stop seeing the underage teen, but he eventually began having sex with her.

He absconded with the 15-year-old and an alert was issued on “America's Most Wanted.” He was arrested after just 11 days on the run in May 1995 at a Las Vegas Motel. After his conviction in 1996, Adair went on to marry his victim in 1998 when she turned 18 while he was in prison. He was 38. The marriage only lasted for two years. Berryhill, who claimed her relationship with Adair was consensual, divorced him in 2000. Prior to being paroled in 2005 and returning to Dallas, Adair received sex-offender treatment.

Adair did not immediately respond to questions from The Christian Post on Tuesday about his current involvement in ministry, but a longtime member of Golf Course Road Church of Christ, who declined sharing her name publicly, told CP on Tuesday that it’s difficult to say whether or not Adair should or should not be in ministry.

“Who knows what happened in prison?,” the church member who recalled the shock and sadness that hit the congregation in the aftermath of the scandal, told CP. “It’s up to God.”

Watermark elders said in their statement that they engaged with Adair with full knowledge of his past, but they believe he brings value to their ministry to adults.

“Mr. Adair has spoken openly and honestly about his past offenses as a means of pointing others to Christ’s redemptive work in his life. Watermark is aware of Mr. Adair’s status as a registered sex offender and his previous completion of his required community supervision/parole. While Mr. Adair has no legal restrictions preventing him from visiting our campus, in light of his past transgressions, Mr. Adair has long agreed with Watermark’s leaders that he should not be permitted to provide childcare or volunteer in any ministry to minors,” the elders wrote.

“Mr. Adair’s past has disqualified him from ministering to minors, but it has not disqualified him from the grace of God or participation in the body of Christ through service to other adults — including through our recovery and prison ministries.”