In that state, Hazlett volunteered at two churches, and at both places his behavior with children was apparently called into question. The civil suit filed by NewSpring families notes that at Cove Church in Mooresville, a fellow children’s ministry volunteer “voiced concerns to leadership about Hazlett’s interactions with youth.” And at Elevation Church in Cornelius, Hazlett was moved in 2015 to “an administrative volunteer role with no direct contact or oversight of kids specifically because…leadership had ‘an uneasy feeling with how he interacted with supervised kids.’” According to the civil complaint, “Hazlett was dismissed from Elevation Church specifically because of the concerns about his interactions with children.” Representatives from those churches haven’t responded to reporters’ questions.
Slavin, the attorney for NewSpring families, says Hazlett displayed a troubling pattern of behavior as a serial volunteer. “There are red flags the experts talk about,” he says. “Always insisting on volunteering with children, especially of a certain age, overly playful with kids, spending more time with kids than peers.” The civil suit claims NewSpring didn’t contact references about Hazlett at his previous churches. No criminal allegations were made against the volunteer at either Cove or Elevation.
NewSpring insists it was unaware of Hazlett’s past and is “gutted” by what he allegedly did on their premises. On its website, the church assures parents that KidSpring “offers an extremely safe place for children to learn about Jesus and have a fun church experience.”
A blog post at The Wartburg Watch notes that “NewSpring should have had two people involved in bathroom duty, as well as with any other activity that might cause a child to be alone with an adult without a family member present.” It concludes: “If a church cannot manage children safely, it should not have a children’s program.”
