IFB Pastor Sentenced to Three Life Terms and His Wife to 25 Years in a Tennessee Child Rape Case
On November 10, 2026, a Tennessee court sentenced a traveling pastor to three life sentences plus 84 years in prison without parole, and sentenced his wife to 25 years. Some headlines have shortened that punishment to 159 years. I am going to stay with what local reporting says the court actually imposed.
Circuit Court Judge Barry Tidwell issued the sentences in Rutherford County, in Murfreesboro. The pastor is Benjamin Garlick, 35. His wife is Shaantal Garlick, 32. A Rutherford County jury had already convicted both of them on August 17, 2026, after a trial that lasted two weeks.
I want to be careful with this story, because it involves crimes against children. I will not name the victims, and I will not repeat details that would help someone identify them. The public record is already heavy enough, and those girls do not need their suffering turned into spectacle.
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What the Court Found
Local news in Nashville and Murfreesboro reports that Benjamin Garlick was convicted of seven counts of aggravated rape of a child, six counts of aggravated sexual battery, one count of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor, and two violations of the Child Protection Act, which court records describe as continuous sexual abuse of a child.
The same jury convicted Shaantal Garlick of two counts of facilitation of aggravated rape of a child and two counts of aggravated child neglect. According to police, as reported after the verdict, she knowingly neglected a victim and assisted in the sexual abuse.
The Daily News Journal reported, and other outlets repeated, that the victims were three girls eight years old and under. I have seen some reports speak of them as the couple's daughters. I am not going to state that as a fact, because the local sentencing coverage I have been able to confirm describes three young girls and does not clearly establish that relationship. The ages of the children are already a sufficient reason for grief and for anger.
Murfreesboro police began investigating in August 2023 after a report that Garlick had sexually abused a child who was then five years old. As the investigation continued, detectives identified two additional victims. He was arrested the following month at his home in Blackman, a suburb of Murfreesboro. Reporting on the charges has said that most of them concerned crimes between 2021 and 2023, and that at least two charges reached back as far as 2014.
WSMV, citing the Rutherford County court clerk, confirmed the November 10 sentence of three life terms plus 84 years without parole for Benjamin Garlick, and 25 years for Shaantal Garlick. Telemundo Nashville reported the same sentences and the same conviction counts.
Assistant District Attorney General Hugh Ammerman said after the August verdicts, "All three victims showed great courage and resilience when called to the witness stand." He also said he hoped the jury's decision would help them heal and return their attention to being children. Those are worthy hopes. No sentence can give a child back the years that were taken from her.
A Traveling Ministry Is Not a Shield
Prosecutors, as reported by The Daily News Journal and The Roys Report, described Benjamin Garlick as a traveling evangelical pastor associated with the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement, with a home church in California. Police said he traveled around the country as a minister, and that much of that work was among Hispanic congregations. Reporting after the trial placed that travel in states including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, and Tennessee.
A man can preach in many churches, raise support, and still be a predator. A crowded itinerary is not evidence of holiness. It can even become a way of staying just ahead of questions. That is one reason I have written before that pastors should know what a guest preacher believes, how he has lived, and whether anyone who actually knows him will stand behind his character. A pulpit should never be handed over because a man is available, traveling, or well connected.
The Bible already told us what kind of man belongs in the ministry. "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2). The same passage requires that he have a good report of them which are without. That is not a public relations test. It is a moral test. A man who preys on children has no business in the pulpit, and a church that learns of such a charge has no business treating it as an internal embarrassment to be managed quietly.
Churches Must Protect Children and Report Abuse
The Lord Jesus spoke with terrible clarity about those who harm little ones. "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6). That warning should sit on the conscience of every Bible believing church.
When a child is abused, the first duty is not to protect a ministry brand, a conference relationship, or a family name. The first duty is to protect the child. That includes reporting the matter to the civil authorities. "For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil" (Romans 13:4). The police and the courts are not the enemies of the church when they punish this kind of evil. They are doing work God has assigned to the magistrate.
A wife, a church member, a pastor, or a friend who knows a child is being harmed and helps conceal it is not showing loyalty. Shaantal Garlick was not convicted of a vague failure of nerve. She was convicted of facilitation and of aggravated child neglect, and police said she assisted in the abuse. "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11). "Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear" (1 Timothy 5:20).
I do not believe every accusation is automatically true. Scripture also warns against receiving an accusation against an elder without witnesses (1 Timothy 5:19). That verse is not a hiding place for criminals. It is a call to examine evidence honestly, and then to act. When the evidence is this grave, delay can be another form of harm. If you have reason to believe a child is being abused, you should report it to the authorities. You should not wait to see whether a preacher can explain it away.
Bible believing people should also refuse the instinct to say, "But he was used of God," as if fruit in the pulpit could cancel crime in the dark. God does not need a molester in order to accomplish His work. The church is safer, and more faithful, when such a man is removed and when the truth is brought into the light.
This Should Break Our Hearts and Steel Our Resolve
I am thankful that a jury heard this case, that investigators stayed with it, and that the court imposed a serious sentence. I am also ashamed that a man identified as a pastor was the one who did this. We should pray for these children, that the Lord would heal what wicked men tried to destroy. We should also look at our own churches.
Do we know the men we invite to preach? Do we have a clear practice for reporting abuse? Do we teach our people that protecting a child is more important than protecting a platform? If the answer is no, then this case is not only a news story from Tennessee. It is a warning.
A title does not make a man safe, and a traveling ministry does not place him above the law. Bible believing churches must protect children, tell the truth, and report abuse to the authorities.
Sources and Further Reading
WSMV, "Tennessee child rape case: Traveling pastor sentenced to 3 life terms and more; wife gets 25 years. Here's what we know," November 12, 2026. Local confirmation of the November 10 sentences: three life terms plus 84 years without parole for Benjamin Garlick, and 25 years for Shaantal Garlick.
Telemundo Nashville, "Pastor que trabajó con la comunidad hispana en Murfreesboro es condenado por abuso sexual," November 12, 2026. Additional local reporting on the sentences, the August 17, 2026 convictions, and the 2023 investigation.
The Roys Report, "Itinerant minister sentenced to life in prison for raping children; wife convicted of facilitating abuse," August 21, 2026. Account of the August verdicts, the police description of Shaantal Garlick's conduct, and The Daily News Journal's reporting on the victims' ages and the years covered by the charges.
Protestia, "Predator Pastor Gets 159 Years in Prison, Wife 25 Years For Child Sexual Assault," November 13, 2026. The article that brought this sentencing back into wider circulation. Local reports should be preferred for the wording of the sentence itself.
Scripture references: 1 Timothy 3:2, 1 Timothy 5:19-20, Matthew 18:6, Romans 13:4, and Ephesians 5:11 (KJV).
Recommended Reading
Want to go deeper? Get my book Empire of Error: A Biblical Examination of a Dangerous Philosophy of Ministry Prominent in the IFB on Amazon.
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