[1] Though founded in 1887 by Allen Hill, it was under Jack Hyles' leadership from 1959–2001 when it became one of the megachurches in the United States and during the 1970s, had the highest Sunday school attendance of any church in the world.

These in include the Preying from the Pulpit expose in 1993 and the 2013 conviction in federal court of former pastor Jack Schaap of the sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl.

During the early and mid 1970s the church's Sunday school used carnival-like entertainment along with free transportation by a fleet of over 200 buses to attract thousands of people from the Chicago Southland and northern Indiana.

[13][14] During a Sunday school class "a church worker reportedly witnessed the act and removed the girl from the room, police said.

[15] The paper reported the "lawsuit claims Hyles and the church had not fulfilled their obligation to ensure that children were protected from harm during Sunday school.

"[15] Furthermore, the lawsuit "claims the minister told the child's parents that Ballenger 'just loved children,' and, 'You don't have a case.

"[25] The report "said the sermon has the 'ring of Jonestown' to it—the mass suicide in Guyana in 1978 by followers of cult leader Jim Jones.

[27] In 1997, Hyles and the First Baptist Church of Hammond were sued "for negligence in connection with alleged sexual assaults on a mentally disabled church member over a six-year period"[28] The lawyer for the woman, Vernon Petri, "says Hyles is a defendant because he failed to protect the woman", such that "controls have to be set to be sure things are conducted appropriately.

Also, Hyles denied the allegations that either he or his church were negligent in the care of the woman in an October 12 advertisement in the Hammond Times.

"[29] The "civil suit filed in Lake Superior Court in Gary claims the Chicago woman was "induced by agents" of the church in 1991 to ride a bus to attend Sunday.

[32][33][34] Schaap reportedly admitted to deacons of the church that he had an adulterous affair with the young woman, who was 16 years old at the time.

[38] In September 2012, Schaap was charged in a U.S. District Court for taking a minor across state lines to have sex with her (the Mann Act) and pleaded guilty.

[30] An article in the January 2013 issue of Chicago magazine about First Baptist Church stated, "A string of assaults and sexual crimes committed by pastors across the country have one thing in common: The perpetrators have ties to the megachurch in Hammond, Indiana.

"[30] In January 2013, Schaap asked the court for the minimum 10-year sentence, claiming he was under great stress, exhausted and depressed at the time of the relationship.

[43] In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors revealed that Schaap "groomed" the girl, including kissing the victim during counseling and had sex with her in his office.