The Rev. Jim Goins, senior pastor of St. Eugene Catholic Church, is also warning local houses of worship about the Rev. Dillon Awes, pastor of Anchor Baptist Church, and his overtures for dialogue.
The priest said he is particularly concerned for Catholic houses of worship after he saw a video on Anchor Baptist's Facebook page that showed Awes preaching a sermon in which he vilified Catholicism and suggested that Catholic churches be "burned to the ground."
"What's so frustrating for me is here's someone I invited into our church thinking this is an ecumenical moment — we can dialogue," Goins said. "He came here all nice and polite ... and then to do this, and to say this about us, just to me, seems designed to spread fear. He's trying to spread division and fear amongst all sorts of people."
Goins and Sharon Blakely, director of operations at St. Eugene, said the clash with Awes stemmed from the minister's visit to the church in mid-May. They said Awes told them that he wanted to ask Goins some questions about Catholicism for a documentary he was making about different faith traditions.
Awes disputed the accusations. He said Goins' agreed to let him come to St. Eugene so the two could have a conversation about faith.
"I offered to have a respectful dialogue about the doctrine of salvation, which is exactly what we did," Awes told The Oklahoman in an email.
He said he made "no promise to paint Catholic doctrine in a positive light."
Ecumenical dialogue?
Awes was referred to Goins by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City because he initially requested an interview with Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley. A spokesman for the archdiocese said Awes was referred to Goins because the archbishop's schedule was full and Goins is the archdiocese's coordinator of ecumenical affairs.
Blakely said she spoke to Awes to set up his appointment with Goins and she specifically asked the minister about the nature of his filming at the church. She said he told her it was not a negative project, although Awes said this part of their conversation did not happen.
Goins said he and Awes visited together and talked about Catholicism's perspective on salvation while Awes had someone filming their exchange. The priest said he left to go back to his office after the discussion was over, and without his knowledge, Awes filmed footage in which he bashed the Catholic Church.
Awes also shared his perspective about what happened.
"After the interview, we filmed several videos at the church where I used the Bible to refute doctrinal errors taught by the Catholic Church," he wrote in an email. "We had permission from church staff to be on the property. Additionally, no one was using the church where we filmed, and we did not interrupt any religious service or meeting."
In at least five videos that have been posted online, Awes is shown standing in St. Eugene's nave — the central part of the church — with pews, the altar and a large crucifix in the background.
"Catholic doctrine makes no sense," he proclaimed at the start of one of the videos and goes on to attack Catholic traditions and teachings. He criticizes other faiths throughout his posts as well, including Judaism and Islam.
Goins said an associate priest told him about Awes' videos.
"He said 'I don't think this is what you were expecting," Goins said.
The associate priest's assumption was correct. Goins was dismayed by the videos. He said he tried to contact Awes but couldn't reach him.
Then, the priest saw one of Awes' recent sermons on a video posted on Anchor Baptist Church's Facebook page. In the video, the minister said Catholic churches should be burned to the ground.
Goins said he felt that this amounted to violent rhetoric and he worried that Awes' words would cause someone unstable to attack Catholic churches.
The priest shared his concerns in the comments section on Anchor Baptist Church's Facebook page. He said he was attempting to push back at Awes' rhetoric to correct some of his misinformation and derogatory remarks about the Catholic Church, which included calling Catholic priests "pedophiles" and referring to them using an anti-gay slur.
Goins and Blakely said they decided that the church should boost its security measures and reach out to other houses of worship in the Oklahoma City metro area to warn them of Awes and what they viewed as his deceitful actions hiding behind the pretense of ecumenical dialogue.
Goins and Blakely said they sent information to Oklahoma City Council members, describing what he felt was Awes' insincerity with him and the priest of another local Catholic church. Goins said he took that actios after learning that Awes was a city employee.
Preacher's rhetoric has drawn concerns in the past
This is not the first time Awes' rhetoric has raised red flags.
He leads a storefront congregation in Oklahoma City that meets at Peppertree Square shopping center on Northwest Expressway. The church was started in 2022 as a branch of Stedfast Baptist Church. It was renamed Anchor Baptist Church in 2024. The church is listed under its former name as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Awes, who is an Oklahoma City IT employee, was the subject of a story in The Oklahoman in 2025 after several city employees expressed fears for their safety when they learned that he had been preaching that LGBTQ+ individuals should be executed. Their safety concerns stemmed from Awes' access to their computers and the lack of security at City Hall.
The comments by Awes and the beliefs of his church are well known in Texas, where protests led to the congregation repeatedly being evicted by landlords. The story was covered by the largest newspapers in Texas, including The Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. National coverage included NBC News, Newsweek, Yahoo and The Daily Beast.
On the website for his Oklahoma City church, Awes talked about how he went into full-time ministry at the age of 23 at Stedfast Baptist Church after he moved to Texas. He shared that it was that church’s pastor, Jonathan Shelley, who ordained him and sent him to Oklahoma City to start what is now Anchor Baptist Church (not to be confused with other churches using the name of Anchor Baptist Church in other communities).
A 2023 story in the Houston Chronicle reported Shelley co-founded Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth in 2014 and built a congregation around open hatred of Jewish and queer people. The newspaper quoted an October 2022 sermon in which Shelley asked, “Did (the Nazis) actually kill six million (Jews)?”
Meanwhile, Awes said his planned documentary and his interviews with Goins and another local priest will be posted on social media in several months.