Bishop William Young of Refreshing Springs Family Worship Center in Timmonsville, South Carolina, has landed himself in hot water after making inappropriate comments about a woman during a Sunday service. Instead of delivering the Word of God, he chose to humiliate a female churchgoer—while Bishop R. Christopher Brown III stood there smiling like it was all just good fun.
Bishop Young’s Disgraceful Comments
During a birthday celebration for Bishop Brown at his church, Sword of Truth in Florence, South Carolina, on Sunday, January 26, Bishop Young took it upon himself to single out a woman, Sofi Harris, in front of the entire congregation.
“WHERE THE OTHER LIL LIGHT SKIN GIRL THAT DO HAIR, SHE AIN’T HERE?” Young asked, clearly fishing for an reaction.
But he didn’t stop there. He took it to full-blown ridicule mode.
Young proceeded to yell “SOFiiiii,” instructing the congregation to chant her name in unison. He then mimicked body movements, implying Sofi was dancing inappropriately at a banquet the night before.
“Don’t give me all of this last night and can’t come to church and hear me preach today,” he added, doubling down on the blatant public shaming.
WATCH VIDEO BELOW:
Sofi Harris Speaks Out—And Rightfully So
Sofi, a holistic hair and scalp expert and owner of House of Transformations Salon in Florence, has since spoken out. In a heartfelt response, she called out the blatant disrespect and the culture within the church that allows this type of behavior to slide.
“It’s not okay, and that’s what I wanted to come on here and express. It’s not okay… It’s never okay,” she stated, emphasizing how most of hurt in her life came from inside the walls of the church.
Sofi made it clear that she wasn’t engaged in anything inappropriate at the banquet. She simply participated in a couple of line dances with elders and ministers. But somehow, that turned into a degrading sermon-worthy moment for Bishop Young.
Adding insult to injury, Sofi didn’t even know about the video until she attended Bible study days later—with people greeting her, “Sofiii, Sofiii” like it was all some kind of running joke.
“Here I am at Bible study, coming to study the Bible, and I’m greeted with this as if it’s a joke, and it’s okay,” she said.
Sofi made it clear that this type of behavior should not be tolerated.
On Monday, January 27—a full day after the service—Bishop Brown had the perfect opportunity to publicly apologize to Sofi, a member of his church. Instead, he conveniently focused on how “good” the service was.
It wasn’t until The North Carolina Beat reached out to Bishop Brown for comment that a response magically appeared. Bishop Brown issued another apology at 3:55 p.m. on Tuesday—hours after we reached out to him at 11:30 a.m. Clearly, a last-minute attempt to save face before this story.
Bishop Young should have never made those comments. Bishop Brown should have never laughed along. And the congregation should have never participated in this public mockery.
