63-Year-Old Bishop Defends Marriage To 19-Year-Old Congregation Member

Bishop Reed told churchgoers to stop stirring up trouble around his relationship.

A video of an Iowa bishop explaining his marriage has gone viral. Bishop Dwight Reed of Christ Apostolic Temple in Des Moines recently attempted to defend his marriage to a member of his congregation, who was 19 years old at the time. He was 63.

The clip has been circulated by several outlets and popularized on social media. It shows Reed standing behind a pulpit and giving a statement to those who stirred up trouble in his church that morning due to his marriage to Jordan Goodlett. According to The Des Moines Register, Goodlett was 19 when she married the Bishop.

Reed started, “And I wish some of y’all would mess with my wife, Jordan. Talking about, ‘What you gonna do if you see her?’ Well, you will see me on the news!”

He continued to tell the audience how he expected them to react instead. He said, “You better walk by and say, ‘Praise the lord!’ that’s what you better do because that’s my wife! And she has grown! She didn’t need anybody to sign any paperwork for her. If this was out in the streets, y’all would be saying she made a come-up, but you are a hypocrite.”

Reed recited scripture surrounding the value of marriage and told everyone that he and his wife were happily married and had done nothing wrong.

He added, “And we sleep well at night! Ain’t nobody up all night worried about these crooks.”

As previously reported by The Des Moines Register, Jordan and Reed married in November of 2021. She is the Bishop’s third wife.

The Bishop knew the teen before they were in a relationship. He described “offering special guidance” to Jordan while she was underage while he was the dean of the church school she attended.

Despite the 40-year age gap between them and others pointing out the notable power imbalance between them when they met, their relationship is completely legal. The legal age of consent in Iowa is 16 years old.