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UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH MINISTER MACK CHARLES ANDREWS: FELONY SEXUAL CHARGES

This article is about extremely troublesome allegations against former United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) minister and pastor, Mack Charles Andrews Jr. When he was arrested he no longer held license and some questioned his affiliation with the UPCI. This article is a compilation of information found through various news sources, UPCI Directories, and elsewhere online. There are numerous links to sources. We also have a second article on this case. UPDATE: Andrews was released from prison early in May 2021. Donna Shay Smith (now Walker) shares her reaction to his early release in this video from May 20, 2021 as well as a second one that shared why she wasn't removing the first. AL.Com published an article on May 21, 2021 about his early release as did Newsweek and on May 24 the NY Post did, too. His name now shows in the sex offender registry. Investigator David Conner shares his thoughts about Andrews in this video.

The Felony Charges Against Mack Charles Andrews Jr.


Mack Charles Andrews, 55, of 21 Addie Lane in Jackson, Alabama (Clarke County) was arrested on September 25, 2013 and was charged with several felony sex related charges due to alleged acts with multiple minor girls. According to the City Of Thomasville Police Department’s Facebook Page post from October 1, 2013, he was charged with one count each of sodomy in the 1st degree, sodomy in the 2nd degree, sexual torture, rape in the 1st degree and rape in the 2nd degree. Three are Class A felonies and two are Class B. It appears that since his arrest he has spent the time behind bars at the Clarke County jail due to bond being set in the amount of $1,050,000. He faced possible life imprisonment.

United Pentecostal Church Background


Mack Charles Andrews was licensed with the United Pentecostal Church in 1987 from what I have been able to determine from old UPCI Church Directories. He is listed in the 1988 edition (which is more reflective of 1987) as holding a local license, which is the lowest level. He is also listed as being the pastor of the United Pentecostal Church on College Avenue in Thomasville, Alabama. At this time, the church did not hold legal affiliation with the UPCI, something that gives the organization more control over the church. It was still a UPCI church, as are all churches pastored by their licensed ministers. He is not listed in the 1987 edition. Prior to this in 1986, the church pastor was Larry G. Hinote and he was no longer listed as a minister in the 1988 edition. Below are images from the 1988 UPCI Church Directory, showing his local license and the Thomasville church.








By 1989, Andrews held a general license, the middle level of licensing with the United Pentecostal Church (as reflected by the 1990 Directory). Somewhere between 1987 and then, the church became legally affiliated.


In 1990, as reflected by the 1991 Directory, he was voted in as the Conqueror’s Secretary of the Alabama District, a term which in later years was changed to District Youth Secretary. He continued to hold the position through at least the next year (as seen in the 1992 edition). Unfortunately, I do not have most of the 1990 Directories and by the 1999 edition, which is reflective of 1998, he was no longer listed as holding any District position. The image below is from the 1991 UPCI Church Directory and shows all the elected officials of the Alabama District at that time.


By at least 1998, as indicated by the 1999 Directory, Mack Charles Andrews held the highest level of licensing in the United Pentecostal Church, that of an ordained minister. The church was no longer listed as being on College Avenue but the P.O. Box address remained the same. No physical address was given.


He last appears in the 2000 edition. The yearly Directories were compiled every fall and were issued in January of the following year. This is why listings from the year stated in each edition are more reflective of the previous year, though the ministers and churches listed could still be accurate for the stated year. In addition, District Conferences are usually held from February through August, so once new elections are made, the information in the Directories for each District could already be obsolete before each year passed.


The 2000 Directory still lists Andrews as the pastor of the Pentecostals of Thomasville Church and it remains an affiliated United Pentecostal Church as of the writing of this article and through 2018. However, over the years the name has changed to the Thomasville United Pentecostal Church and later the New Life United Pentecostal Church. This name change took place well before the arrest of Andrews as seen in a May 7, 2009 article from the Thomasville Times when their building fundraiser was mentioned. The location is 621 Tyson Street, which appears to be the same as 200 Adams Avenue, another address seen in Directories and online. (The church is at the corner of Adams and Tyson.) It is located across the street from the Thomasville Police Department. The old location of College Avenue is very close to Adams and Tyson Street. Russell Brown is the current UPCI pastor according to the UPCI.org website and in 2018 remained as such. There is not always a pastor of this church listed in the Directories. Below are images from the 2000 UPCI Church Directory.








It is not known when Andrews first became involved in a United Pentecostal church. One article shared why he was no longer licensed around 13 years before his arrest. He confessed to his church that he committed adultery and left his wife for the other woman. He then resigned. Some ministers, when suspected of possible wrongdoing, resign their license in order to prevent further inquiry and possible disciplinary action by the organization.


Faith Christian Academy


The church has operated a school for grades 1 through 8 or 12 at the church location or possibly 634 Tyson. Faith Christian Academy “was established in 1982 and is associated through Accelerated Christian Education in Nashville” according to a Thomasville Times article from July 14, 2011. This would be before Mack Charles Andrews became pastor. From browsing honor roll and graduation announcements in the Times, it would appear that the enrollment has been low. The Academy is mentioned as late as September 11, 2014 in the Times when a young girl, in doing fundraising for a UPCI program called Sheaves For Christ, “set a new record for fundraising within the organization for Alabama”.


Prior to this in 1979, they started Noah’s Ark Day Care Center, where they utilized the A-Beka curriculum. It is not known if the day care yet exists, though it appears to have continued after the start of the Academy or a new one may have opened. The pictures below are screen shots from Google of the church property as of April 2011.


  























Warrants, Indictments & Important Aspects


On October 3, 2013, the Thomasville Times reported that Andrews had been arrested the previous week and that “several people came forward with accusations related to the alleged crimes.” His home was searched. It was also stated that the crimes took place over a span of more than twenty years. The Thomasville police chief mentioned the cooperative efforts of “TPD, Clarke County Sheriff’s Department, Department of Homeland Security, BEST, Alabama Marine Police, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Alabama ABC and the Grove Hill Police Department.” (Some information on Alabama’s Departments of Homeland Security, Marine Police and ABC may be found here.) Due to all these agencies being involved, it appears this case may be complex. (It is interesting to note that his father lived in Grove Hill, though I do not know if that has any connection to the cases.)


The Thomasville Times reported on January 30, 2014 that two weeks prior, a Spring term grand jury indicted Mack Charles Andrews on “six indictments with a total of 21 counts” and they allegedly “occurred in Thomasville and other areas”.  The bonds at that point totaled almost 1.5 million dollars. Then on April 16, 2015, the Times reported that the case was being continued as Andrews had a new attorney.


An important piece of information that might not be caught by some was a mention in the Times in their October 3, 2013 police report where they list the charges filed by the police during the week ending September 29, 2013. In the first paragraph they list the charges filed against Andrews and the beginning of the second paragraph states, “The following incident reports were also filed: sodomy, first degree and sexual torture – 621 Tyson Street”. In the Times October 10, 2013 police report during the week ending October 6 it was stated, “The following incident reports were also filed: rape, second degree, sodomy, second degree – 621 Tyson Street; rape, second degree, sexual torture – 621 Tyson Street”. This is the address of the New Life United Pentecostal Church, which if I am understanding it correctly, means that some of the charges are alleged to have happened on church property.

According to an article on Al.com from September 21, 2015, the original warrant issued for the arrest of Mack Charles Andrews cited four different cases. One involved the alleged rape and sexual torture of a girl from the age of seven through twelve and Andrews is said to have been her pastor during that time. It is uncertain if Andrews was the pastor of the other victims. Two involve the alleged rape and attempted rape of two different girls in January and March of 1990. The fourth charge allegedly involves the sexual abuse of a sixteen year old girl in 1994. The warrants covered charges from the late 1980s and into the 1990s. In addition, there were also victims whose cases were not included in the criminal counts against him.


It is alleged that in September 1988, Andrews sexually tortured the youngest victim by inserting various objects into her vagina. When she was nine, it is alleged that he raped her on her father’s grave. It was claimed that Andrews threatened her that “demons would come and get me from my bed” if she told anyone. These are some troubling and disgusting accusations. This victim was referred to as ‘Jane’ in the Al.com article.


This might be the same woman who on November 25, 2013 posted this article after his arrest. In the article it is mentioned how some church members have treated her since she came forward to the police. “The people of his old church congregation have all turned against me. In there blindness of the Truth they blame it on me because I came forth finally and told the truth. I haven't been a member of his church in 20 years. But, until the point of me telling the police my story I still considered some of them friends. I know better now. It's funny to me how people who so radically claim their salvation have shown no love of Christ to me or any other victims in this case. The really wild thing is some of those congregants are actually victims themselves. Yet, their rage against me is strong and venomous.”

Take note that Andrews held license with the United Pentecostal Church from 1987 through at least late 1999 as previously explained. This would appear to cover the dates of the alleged sexual charges mentioned by Al.com. During this time, besides being the pastor in Thomasville, he advanced in the UPCI, moving through all three levels of licensing and holding at least one District position.

Additional Information


Mack Charles Andrews Jr. Is the son of the late Mack Charles Andrews Sr., who passed away in 2015 while Andrews has been incarcerated, and Addie Mae Dolbear Andrews, also deceased. He has two brothers and one sister.


It appears that at some point, possibly years before his arrest, he and his then wife divorced or separated. Newspaper records show her applying for a marriage license with another man in 2014, so she was divorced by that time.


On September 22, 2015, Mack Charles Andrews was scheduled for a settlement docket where he could have entered into a plea agreement. It had been rumored that one had been offered to him but none was accepted at this time and a trial was tentatively scheduled for the week of November 16, 2015. Clarke County Circuit Judge Charles Robert Montgomery issued a gag order at the request of Jan Jones, the attorney representing Andrews, due to sensitive information being reported in the news media the day before. The District Attorney agreed with her request. Fox10 news reported that the “family of Andrews in the courtroom applauded” when it was issued. The Thomasville Times reported that the District Attorney “took several victims and their families into a nearby conference room to discuss the case with them” after the proceedings.


Eleanor Janice ‘Jan’ Jones is a sole practitioner in Mobile, Alabama. This isn’t the first rape related case she has defended in court. In 2014, there was a case of a man in his 40s who was charged with burglary and raping an 85 year old woman. In his defense, it was claimed to be consensual and that she paid him for it. There was a mistrial and when a second jury convened, they took under five minutes before arriving at a unanimous verdict of guilty. District Attorney Spencer Walker appears to be prosecuting the case.

Teachings of the United Pentecostal Church


In online articles it has been shared that the church was conservative and a few outward standards have been mentioned. However, there is much more to the ‘holiness standards’ and other beliefs of the United Pentecostal Church. They are not a mainstream Pentecostal group, but rather fall under the definition of Oneness Pentecostals, which separates them from most Christian groups. For those who would like more detailed information, including links to official UPCI writings, our article on UPCI beliefs may be of interest.

Other Sexually Related Cases


Through the years there have been multiple sexually related cases involving United Pentecostal Church licensed ministers and other church leaders that have made the news. Many cases have never been reported to the police, nor prosecuted. Read our first article which covers a few cases. There is an ongoing series of blog posts regarding sexual abuse cases.



Guilty Plea


On November 16, 2015, the day his trial was to begin, Mack Charles Andrews plead guilty. As part of his plea agreement, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He received credit for the two years he had already spent there. He was quoted as saying "I'm pleading in the best interest."


One newspaper report credited the testimony of Donna 'Shay' Smith, victimized by Andrews from age 7 through 12, in his case being tried. "It was her testimony in an unsuccessful attempt to regain custody of her daughter that exposed how the pastor raped and abused young girls at First United Pentecostal Church and its school, Faith Christian Academy, in the 1980s and '90s, authorities said." She had previously shared her story anonymously as 'Jane' with AL.com. Investigator Donald Conner shared, "Without Donna's emotional strength, I wouldn't have been able to dig and find other victims." As of November 2015, Conner had talked to 11 victims and believed there were more. Unfortunately, some victims hired attorneys to keep him from talking to them. Often times all it takes is for one person to be willing to come forward and tell their story. If you are a survivor of sexual abuse, you do have a voice and you can make a difference.


Despite the very troubling charges Andrews faced, there were church members who remained loyal to him and apparently oblivious to the possibility that these crimes had been committed. Investigator David Conner was quoted as saying, "I've had members of the church try to bail him out of jail. Some wouldn't even entertain the thought that he might have done it. He is a master of manipulating people and, for lack of a better word, brain-washing them. ...The hold he has on the community is still evident."


This was not the first time that Andrews had been reported for sexual abuse. D.A. Spencer Walker was an investigator in the prosecutor's office in 1994 when police first looked into claims involving Andrews. People were uncooperative in sharing information, so nothing was able to be done. Walker was quoted as saying, "The church under his leadership was very insular. No one would corroborate any of the allegations made in '94. We were unable to get any of them to admit to that."


Created September 27, 2015 & Updated May 25, 2021