An associate pastor at an Alabama church is out of a job after leaving his child in the car alone for hours while he went out to get drunk and eat. John Gibson, also known as “Trey,” was the associate pastor at First Baptist Church of Dothan when he went out late on Saturday night with his child, who is under the age of five, in his SUV. Gibson then left the child unattended in the vehicle while he got drunk in a bar. Afterward, he drove the car across a parking lot to a 24-hour restaurant, where he left the child unattended again while he went inside to eat.

A concerned patron alerted police to the unattended child. The temperature outside was around the low 80’s according to reports. “When officers arrived, people directed them to a parking lot where they found the vehicle with the child inside unattended and ID’d Gibson as the owner of vehicle and the child’s family member,” Dothan Police Department Lt. Scott Owens told USA Today. Owens stated the Gibson “was pretty highly intoxicated.” Owens noted the danger of leaving the child unattended. “”Regardless of the temperature, someone could have come and kidnapped the child or the child could have had a medical emergency. It’s just an overall unsafe issue to leave a child in the car,” he said.

Gibson was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. The Alabama Department of Human Resources took custody of the child until family members could be reached to care for him. Gibson reportedly had a wife and daughter who were out of state at the time of the incident. The child was examined by paramedics and was determined to be unharmed. Gibson was later released on $500 bond.

A statement from First Baptist acknowledged the incident, stating, “This incident occurred on the staff member’s personal time and in no way involved any of the students or children who participate in our student ministry.” It also noted that the church had “parted ways” with Gibson, stating the church “takes very seriously” its “responsibility as followers of Christ to obey the law and promote the safety and well-being.” There are reports that members of the church intend to walk with Gibson as he seeks help.

Charlamagne Tha God gave Gibson the odious distinction of being the “Donkey of the Day” on his show. “It takes an extreme level of faith and extreme trust in the Higher Power to just leave a five-year-old in the car while you in a bar having a drink and then going over to a 24-hour restaurant to get a bite to eat, and knowing everything gonna be all right. Okay, not to mention it was a Saturday night going intoa Sunday morning,” he said. “Clearly, it wasn’t his Sunday to preach. . . . (H)e must have thought to himself, ‘I’ll go sin on this Saturday night and ask forgiveness, ask for forgiveness in church on Sunday morning.’”