JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Darrell Gilyard, the former pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, did not appear at his arraignment on a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor, but his lawyer entered a plea of not guilty.

Gilyard is accused of sending sexually explicit text messages to the daughter of a church member. He resigned from the church the week before he was arrested.

According to court documents, Gilyard "solicited a person under 16 years old to commit a lewd act by sending her lewd text messages and requesting for her to send him lewd text messages back."

An investigation by the State Attorney's Office showed the obscene messages came from Gilayrd's cell phone, according to authorities.

While Gilyard did not appear at Tuesday morning's hearing, a woman who claims she was a victim of Gilyard's sexual advances when he was pastor of a church in Dallas was in court.

"For the victims, especially that can't be here, I wanted to be here in court today to left everybody know what happened," Tiffany Croft said. "I didn't think he'd show."

Gilyard was never charged with a crime in Texas.

Gilyard has remained free on bond since Jan 14, the day of his arrest. A pre-trial hearing in the case is set for Feb. 26.