Daniel Willis

Introduction

Daniel Willis, a 62-year-old former pastor of Free Life Community Church in Terre Haute, Indiana, was arrested on a Monday and charged with ten counts of possession of child sex abuse material, according to Indiana State Police. The arrest was reported by local station WTHI on September 2, 2026, in an article that carried the church’s first public response to the charges against its onetime leader. Within a day of the arrest, Willis had been terminated from all pastoral and church responsibilities, effective immediately, with the church stating that there is no possibility for his reinstatement.

It bears emphasis that Willis faces criminal charges, not convictions. The counts were described by police; nothing in the available reporting indicates that the allegations have been tested in court, and the case was described as an active investigation and legal proceeding by the church itself. Every claim discussed below is an allegation, and Willis is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Background Information

Willis is a 62-year-old Terre Haute pastor whose ministry was connected to Free Life Community Church, a congregation tied to the Indiana South District of The Wesleyan Church according to the church’s own statement. Beyond his age, his city, and his pastoral role, the available reporting contains little biographical detail about him.

One wrinkle in the record deserves plain statement. Indiana State Police, in the account relayed by WTHI, described serving a search warrant at the church “where he serves as senior pastor,” using the present tense. The church’s own statement, released after the arrest, calls Willis its “former pastor” and announces his termination. The two formulations reflect the same fast-moving sequence — an arrest on Monday, a statement within roughly a day — viewed from either side of his removal, and this page presents each source’s wording exactly as it stands rather than resolving the tension.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The investigation that led to Willis’s arrest began in early 2026, according to Indiana State Police, after investigators received tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and a second company that was not named. Reports of this kind are the standard starting point for cases involving alleged online child sexual abuse material: the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children operates a national reporting clearinghouse to which service providers and the public can refer apparent illicit material for law-enforcement follow-up. The corpus here does not disclose what the tips concerned, which company made the second referral, or what investigators found; it establishes only that the case originated this way.

With assistance from local and federal agencies, Indiana State Police served a search warrant at Willis’s home and at the church where police said he serves as senior pastor. Willis was arrested without incident and transported to the Vigo County Jail.

The charges, as described by Indiana State Police, are ten counts of possession of child sex abuse material, characterized in police language as material involving minors under the age of 12 and bondage, filed as Level 4 felonies. The reporting does not describe the evidence underlying the counts, any prior record, or the specific conduct alleged, and no additional charges or findings have been announced in the material available here.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The immediate institutional reaction came from Free Life Community Church itself, which released a statement addressed to its congregation and community. The church said: “Free Life Community Church has been informed of the arrest of Daniel Willis, 62, the church’s former pastor, on 10 counts of Possession of Child Sex Abuse Material. Church leaders and members are shocked, saddened, and deeply disappointed by the allegations and circumstances surrounding the arrest.”

On his employment, the statement was unambiguous: “Willis has officially been terminated from all pastoral and church responsibilities, effective immediately. There is no possibility for his reinstatement at Free Life Community Church.” The church added that as the outcomes of the investigation are decided, church leadership will also “implement formal denominational protocols regarding the former pastor’s ministerial credentials.”

The statement also drew in the denomination. It said the Indiana South District of The Wesleyan Church had been informed of the arrest, that the church and district are fully cooperating with law enforcement as the investigation continues, and that because the matter is an active investigation and legal proceeding, both will not speculate beyond the facts established by law enforcement or comment on matters that could interfere with the ongoing investigation. The district, it said, is serving alongside church leadership and the congregation, providing care and support, with the sentiment that “Our hearts are broken for everyone affected by this tragic situation,” and a commitment to “transparently responding to this situation with truth, compassion, and accountability.”

Finally, the church and district asked the community to pray for all those who have been hurt and affected, “including all who have been victimized, the Free Will Community congregation, the former pastor and his family, those conducting the investigation, and the Terre Haute community.” WTHI also noted that the Vigo County Sheriff’s Office released its own statement regarding the investigation.

Current Status

As of the September 2, 2026 report, Willis had been arrested without incident and transported to the Vigo County Jail, and faced ten Level 4 felony counts of possession of child sex abuse material. The investigation remains active, and the church has said it will not speculate beyond the facts established by law enforcement while the legal proceeding runs its course.

Institutionally, his separation from Free Life Community Church is complete and permanent by the church’s own terms: termination effective immediately, no possibility of reinstatement, and a denominational credentials process to follow as the investigation’s outcomes are decided. No conviction, plea, or trial outcome appears in the available record.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Willis’s ministerial career, at least at Free Life Community Church, has ended outright. A pastorate that police still described in the present tense at the time the search warrants were served was formally terminated within a day of his arrest, with the church foreclosing any return and signaling that his ministerial credentials will now pass through formal Wesleyan denominational protocols.

The criminal case carries consequences of its own. Ten felony counts, the involvement of state, local, and federal agencies, and a case originating in referrals from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children place the matter on a track that will be resolved in court rather than in church statements. Until that process concludes, the factual record consists of charges and institutional responses to them, and Willis retains the presumption of innocence that the church’s own statement implicitly acknowledged by declining to speculate beyond the facts established by law enforcement.