Recently, my friend Ben Berwick got into a discussion with several Christians about [the] moral law. You can read his post on the matter here.
In Christian thought, there is a difference between “moral law” and “the moral law.” Moral law is generally viewed as natural law; the law that is supposedly written on the hearts of all humans. (Jeremiah 31:33, Romans 2:16, and Hebrews 10:16) Most Christians think the law written on our hearts is the Ten Commandments. Which version? Or just the Nine Commandments since keeping the Sabbath is practiced by few Christians today? The Bible never says what the laws that are written on our hearts, so Christians assume what these laws are, much like they assume God exists to start with and that we have a “heart.” If the law is written on the hearts of all humans, why is there such diversity and disagreement on morality — even among Christians? Is the Ten Commandments the only law that is “moral”? If not, why didn’t God write all of his laws on our hearts? Maybe it is a memory problem. We don’t have enough storage space for 635+ laws, so God just gave us a summary list of laws to follow.
Many Christians, especially those of a Calvinistic/Reformed persuasion, take a different view of the moral law. Believing ALL Biblical law is moral, these Christians divide God’s law into three categories: moral, ceremonial, and judicial. Some Calvinists believe the moral law is binding and in force, but the ceremonial law was fulfilled in the atonement of Christ and the judicial law applied only to the nation of Israel. While the judicial and ceremonial laws can still be instructive, only the moral law is binding today. Good luck with deciding exactly what those moral laws are. Other Calvinists believe that only New Testament law is valid and in force. Much metaphorical blood has been spilled defending these positions. As a Calvinistic Baptist, I held to the former view — that of theonomist Rousas Rushdooney — that all the law of God, rightly interpreted, is in force today.
Evangelical apologists would have you believe that the moral law is clear and absolute. Why, then, is there so much debate and confusion among Christians about God’s law? It seems to me that Christians are every bit as subjective on God’s law as they claim unbelievers are. They believe what they want to believe and ignore or interpret away the rest. Ever cafeteria Christians, they pick and choose which laws to believe and, hopefully, practice. I say hopefully since there is no evidence that Christians are meaningfully more moral than unbelievers.
A whole separate argument is whether God himself is moral. I argue that he is not, and that many of his “moral” laws are, in fact, immoral.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
A common ploy used by Evangelical gatekeepers — also known as keepers of the Book of Life wherein God writes the names of True Christians® — is to say that certain groups of believers are false Christians or cultural Christians. This subterfuge is used to cull from the Christian herd anyone who doesn’t meet certain theological, political, or social standards. Thus, people who deconvert from Evangelical Christianity are labeled as false or cultural Christians; people who never truly understood the gospel and core teachings of the Bible. Of course, study after study suggests otherwise; that atheists are better versed in the teachings of the Bible than many Christians — especially those of us who were Evangelicals before deconverting.
Presently, Christian Nationalism is in the news, and predictably, Evangelical gatekeepers say that Christian Nationalists are not real Christians. However, a recent article on Baptist News Global about the results of a Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) study on the matter suggests otherwise:
30% of Americans are Christian Nationalism adherents (10%) or sympathizers (20%)
55% of Republicans are Christian Nationalism adherents (21%) or sympathizers (34%), compared to 16% of Democrats
Highest states with Christian Nationalist populations: North Dakota (50%), Mississippi (50%), Alabama (47%), Louisiana (46%), West Virginia (47%), Tennessee (45%), Wyoming (45%), Nebraska (45%) Arkansas (44%), South Carolina (42%)
Lowest states with Christian Nationalist populations: Oregon (17%), Massachusetts (18%) Maryland (19%), New York (19%), Washington (20%), New Jersey (20%), Nevada (20%), California (22%), Connecticut (23%), Virginia (23%)
66% of White Evangelicals are Christian Nationalism adherents (30%) or sympathizers (36%)
Most supporters of Christian Nationalism read the Bible weekly (55%) and attend church weekly (52%)
There is of course the obvious: The idea of America as a promised land for European Christians — a powerful idea that predates the founding of the country — is fundamentally anti-democratic because it establishes a de facto ethno-religious state. Beyond that, it raises the stakes of political contests exponentially, transposing political opponents into existential enemies.
Politics is no longer understood to be disagreements between fellow citizens of good will but apocalyptic battles over good and evil, fought by agents of God against agents of Satan. Political opponents should not just be defeated in fair electoral contests but should be jailed, exiled, attacked or even killed.
Indeed, this erosion of democratic and civic norms is just what we find in this survey. Christian nationalists are more likely than other Americans to think about politics in apocalyptic terms and are about twice as likely as other Americans to believe political violence may be justified. Nearly four in 10 Christian nationalism Adherents (38%) and one-third of Sympathizers (33%) agree that “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country,” compared with only 17% of Skeptics and 7% of Rejecters.
In my recent book, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future, I made the case that Christian nationalism is best understood as a term describing the new incarnation of an old claim: that America is a God-ordained promised land for European Christians, where they alone occupy the highest positions of power and where laws are judged to be valid based on their particular interpretation of the Bible.
We’ve never fully resolved the contradictions between the regressive fantasy of America as a white Christian nation and the aspirational vision of America as a pluralistic democracy.
This survey illustrates how strongly white Christian nationalism is driving support for Donald Trump and the MAGA movement and how thoroughly it has established itself as an ideological keystone in today’s Republican Party. Until we fully vanquish this dangerous, authoritarian political theology, it will continue to undermine the potential for a truly democratic American future.
No matter how much Evangelical gatekeepers protest and suggest otherwise, most Christian Nationalists are Bible-reading, church-attending Christians; these crazy uncles are every bit as Christian as the gatekeepers (who often have their own Christian Nationalism tendencies, but just hide it better).
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Until recently, Corey Turner was the pastor of Neuma Church — an Evangelical megachurch located in Richland, Australia. After it was disclosed that Turner was having sex with one of his fellow pastors, he (and his wife) resigned, giving the following explanation for his adulterous behavior:
Out of sincere respect to those who have known me, trusted me, and been connected in some way to my ministry as a Christian leader over the past 25 years, it’s important that I publicly confess that the recent allegations toward me of my engagement in a morally inappropriate relationship is regrettably true.
Towards the end of 2023 I didn’t sufficiently guard my heart, reach out for help from trusted spiritual fathers, take decisive action or get the necessary rest I needed from the compounding levels of fatigue in my own soul.
In a fog of deception that clouded my emotions and judgement I sinned and compromised my relationship with God, my marriage covenant, my character, and my calling to ministry. I have sinned against God, my family, and the church and I am deeply sorry and repentant for my part in this and ask God and you for forgiveness.
According to Turner, he engaged in “a morally inappropriate relationship.” Not a sinful or adulterous relationship, just an “inappropriate” one. Inappropriate is the word preachers use when they don’t want to call a spade a spade: Turner committed adultery by having sex with a fellow pastor. He sinned against a thrice Holy God, breaking the Law of God.
Turner excuses his immoral behavior by saying that he didn’t “sufficiently guard his heart”; that his thinking was clouded by “the fog of deception.” Guard it from what, exactly? Was not Turner filled with the Holy Ghost? Was he not a child of God? Wasn’t God himself the keeper of his heart? Yet, none of this was enough to keep Turner from shagging a fellow employee. Why is that? To quote Paul Vannaman, a crusty old Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastor who was one of my teachers at Midwestern Baptist College, “a stiff prick has no conscience.” Turner wanted what he wanted, regardless of the harm it caused to him, his church, his family, or his fellow adulterer.
I am not the least shocked by the “sin.” Adultery is common among God-called preachers — far more common than most church members know. What bothers me is how offending preachers defend and justify their adultery (or fornication, if they are unmarried). Turner admits that he sinned and hurt his family and Neuma Church, but did you notice his justification for his illicit behavior:
[I didn’t] get the necessary rest I needed from the compounding levels of fatigue in my own soul.
Ah yes, the time-honored excuse for preachers banging someone other than their wives: I was tired, physically weak, or fatigued in my soul — whatever the Hell that means. I’m surprised he didn’t mention low testosterone or B12. Are we really to believe that a “lack of rest” is what led to Turner’s moral failure? I can think of far better excuses: lust, horniness, dissatisfaction with sex life, marital stress/indifference, etc. It would be refreshing if an offending preacher would just admit his “sin” and why he did it.
I suspect Turner’s wife will stand by her man, and a couple years from now, after a season of repentance, reflection, and restoration, the Turners will be back in the ministry. Contrary to what the Bible says and Paul clearly taught on the qualification for being a pastor, rarely does adultery or fornication preclude a man (or woman) from preaching again.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
In 2018, Kenneth Rose, the children’s church director at Milan Friends Church in Milan, Ohio, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison for a third-degree felony gross sexual imposition charge and a fifth-degree felony illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material charge.
A former Milan Township church volunteer was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on child sex charges on Monday.
Kenneth Rose, 56, of North Pleasant Street, received his sentence for a third-degree felony gross sexual imposition charge and a fifth-degree felony illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material charge. Rose previously pleaded guilty to the two charges, as other charges were dropped.
The charges stem from alleged incidents in the basement of Milan Friends Church on East Mason Road where Rose allegedly touched a girl inappropriately on two occasions.
Rose worked as a volunteer children’s director at the time, but a pastor previously told the Register Rose is no longer affiliated with them.
Rose will have to register as a sex offender annually and every 180 days when he’s released from prison, according to a sentencing sheet. He’ll serve his time at the Lorain Correctional Institution in Grafton.
A Norwalk man and Sunday school teacher is facing charges after having inappropriate sexual contact with a child in a church basement.
Kenneth Rose is charged with gross sexual imposition of a child. He was the children’s director at Milan Friends Church in Milan Township and had been volunteering there for six months.
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Two alleged incidents were reported by one child who was in his program. The girl said both incidents happened while her parents were in regular church service. One happened on Feb. 25, the other on March 18.
“There was inappropriate sexual contact, so there was touching involved,” Detective Sergeant Dennis Papineau with the Erie County Sheriff’s Department said.
He said the young girl went to her father and told him what her Sunday school teacher did to her.
“There was spanking involved,” Detective Sergeant Papineau said.
It happened in the church’s basement, when no other kids were around.
“When this actually occurred, they were by themselves.”
Rose admitted guilt to investigators immediately.
“He was cooperative with the investigation.”
News 5 talked to the pastor of the church, Paul Campbell, on the phone. He didn’t want to go on camera, but said the church is cooperating with investigators and trying to be as transparent as possible.
Pastor Campbell said Rose never should have been with children alone, and they still aren’t sure how this happened. Campbell said there were no other incidents reported to them.
Rose is not listed as a sex offender and does not have a criminal history.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
In 2018, Brian Dicken, associate pastor of Church of Christ at Mountain View, was arrested and charged with taking indecent liberties with an underage girl who attended the church and Mountain View Christian Academy. Dicken pleaded no contest, and was sentenced to five years in prison, with three years suspended.
A former Church of Christ at Mountain View associate pastor has pleaded no contest to taking indecent liberties with an underage girl who attended the church and Mountain View Christian Academy.
In a plea bargain Friday in Frederick County Circuit Court, the Rev. Brian Sean Dicken entered the plea. As part of the agreement, a second count of indecent liberties was dismissed.
The 38-year-old Dicken, of the 900 block of Cedar Creek Grade, worked from 2003 until March 2017 at the Frederick County church, which is affiliated with the 170-student school. He began as a youth minister before becoming an associate minister and left to become lead minister at a church in New Bern, N.C. Dicken’s duties included teaching Bible classes, coaching basketball, chaperoning students on trips and counseling them.
The incidents occurred from Dec. 1, 2014, to Feb. 17, 2017, according to Heather D. Enloe, the assistant county commonwealth’s attorney who is prosecuting the case. Enloe told Judge Alexander R. Iden that Dicken touched the girl inappropriately during counseling sessions, including fondling and kissing her. “It became the new normal,” Enloe said.
Evidence includes incriminating texts from Dicken to the girl, who contacted the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office after turning 18. Enloe said the girl and her family are satisfied with the plea bargain.
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Dicken, free on a $50,000 bond, is scheduled to be sentenced at 1 p.m. Jan. 25. Dicken wouldn’t comment after the hearing, but his lawyer Jonathan L. Sylvester said the expected state sentencing guideline recommendations for Dicken will range from no jail time to up to three months imprisonment. He noted Dicken has no prior criminal record and is not accused of abusing any other children at the school.
Sylvester said Dicken strongly considered a bench trial before a judge to prove his innocence, but Enloe insisted on a jury trial. He said Dicken wouldn’t risk a jury trial, “given today’s social atmosphere,” a reference to increased awareness of sexual assaults and sexual harassment and a willingness for victims to speak out through the #Me Too Movement.
Sylvester said Dicken, a husband and father of six, thought a plea was best for his family, and it would spare his accuser having to testify at trial. “He thought it might have meant more stress for her and her family,” Sylvester said.
Dicken, now 40, was convicted of indecent liberties for groping an underage girl between 2014-17 while an associate pastor at Church of Christ at Mountain View in Frederick County. He also taught at Mountain View Christian Academy, a private, K-12 school affiliated with the church. He was sentenced to five years with three suspended. The sentence includes five years of supervised probation during which time he can have no unsupervised contact with children other than his own, and registering as a sex offender for life.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Red Collar Scandal Series relies on public news stories for its content. If you read a story about an Evangelical preacher who can’t keep his pants zipped up, please send it to Bruce Gerencser.
Aaron Ivey was the head worship pastor at The Austin Stone Community Church, a multicampus evangelical church in Austin, Texas. Ivey was recently accused of trading sexual texts with men, going back twelve years, and may have included a minor. Austin Stone Church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Austin Stone Church, a multicampus evangelical church in Austin, Texas, announced on Sunday (Feb. 11) that it had dismissed its head worship pastor after discovering he had engaged in “inappropriate and explicit ongoing text messages with an adult male,” according to a statement from the church’s elders.
Aaron Ivey, the pastor of worship and creativity and an elder at the megachurch, was fired last Monday for what the statement called a “disqualifying situation,” which the elders said they became aware of the previous day.
“Several elders were made aware of this situation on the evening of Sunday, February 4th and after reviewing the explicit nature of these messages, it was clear that termination of Aaron’s eldership and employment was necessary in accordance with the clear biblical standards outlined in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and 1 Timothy 5:19-20,” according to the statement. The first passage, from the Apostle Paul’s Letter to Timothy, urges church leaders to be faithful in marriage; the second says church elders “who are sinning” should be reproved before everyone.
After firing Ivey, the elders said, they then discovered that Ivey, the husband of bestselling author and popular podcaster Jamie Ivey, had a history of texting with men, including one who had been underage at the time of the explicit texts, according to the statement.
“Since then, we have uncovered multiple similar instances with different individuals dating back to 2011 that show a very clear pattern of predatory manipulation, sexual exploitation, and abuse of influence,” the statement said.
The elders detailed a timeline of texts they had discovered, alleging that they began in 2011 with the exchanges with a minor, which they said they had reported to the “appropriate authorities.”
“The first known instance, which took place with a teenage male victim and continued over time, involved inappropriate and explicit communications, indecent exposure, and the use of alcohol and illegal substances,” read the statement.
A spokesperson for the church, which has been affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, declined to offer additional comment on the allegations and Ivey’s termination.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God. The principle itself — that human life is fundamentally distinct from other forms of life and cannot be taken intentionally without justification — has deep roots that reach back to the creation of man ‘in the image of God.
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The People of Alabama took what was spoken of the prophet Jeremiah and applied it to every unborn person in this state.
“[Alabamians] have required us to treat every human being in accordance with the fear of a holy God who made them in His image.
— Alabama Chief Justice and Fundamentalist Christian Tom Parker
Forced birthers have spent the past 50 years chipping away at reproductive rights, finally overturning Roe v. Wade two years ago. And they are not finished, not in the least. The recent ruling on IVF in Alabama is yet another reminder that Christian theocrats will not rest until all of us are living under the iron rule of Jesus and the Bible — as interpreted by them, of course. Evangelicals, Mormons, and Roman Catholics now have birth control in their sights. Believing personhood begins when the sperm and egg unite, forced birthers demand that all forms of birth control that “murder” zygotes must be banned. Some of them want ALL birth control banned, saying that God alone opens and closes the womb, forgetting that God himself is responsible for countless abortions every year via ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages. The goal is to return women to the good old days of the 1950s.
Next up on the agenda will be same-sex marriage. Chief Justice Tom Parker had this to say about the Obergefell decision legalizing same-sex marriage:
I’ve written extensively about the judicial overreach in the Obergefell decision, and it is going to be writings like that that the new [U.S. Supreme Court] majority can use to restore what our Founding Fathers intended for America to be.
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The relationship of marriage was designed by the Creator; it both predates and transcends civil societies. No civil government was its originator, so none has power to define its essence. Rather, the nature and outer boundaries of marriage are defined only by its Supreme Architect, in His written word and in the natural order. That nature and those boundaries include the original creation of marriage as a covenant relationship by mutual consent between two human beings of the opposite sexes – i.e. one man and one woman.
Theocrats are now in seats of power, places from which they can cause catastrophic harm to our Republic and undermine a hundred years of social progress. They will not rest until all Americans bow their knees and say Allah Akbar, uh, I mean, Jesus Christ is King and Lord Over All!
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
That’s what faggots deserve, is the death penalty! And they should do it publicly for everybody to see.
What does God say the homos deserve? In Leviticus 20:13, a famous verse, it says, ‘If a man also lie with a man as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.’ That’s what faggots deserve.”
Every single sodomite, every single homosexual should get the electric chair. And they should do it publicly for everybody to see, so that they know that’s what happens to these freaks! These rapists, these child molesters.
They are God-haters. It’s the reason why they’re even like that.
You know, a couple of my friends in the New IFB, they got in hot water because they said that they should line up all the faggots and, you know, and put them in front of a firing squad. I think that’s too easy. I think they should get the electric chair, make it a little more painful.
— Robert Larson, Bible Believers Baptist Church in Union Gap, Washington
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
William Kannarney, pastor of Blue Ridge View Baptist Church in Pickens, South Carolina, was recently arrested and charged with first-degree prostitution. Blue Ridge View Baptist is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
A pastor in South Carolina has been charged with prostitution, according to an arrest warrant and police.
William Martell Kannarney is charged with first-degree prostitution. He was arrested this week, according to Seneca Police.
The warrant said in October Kannarney either engaged in prostitution or aided or abetted prostitution knowingly at a location off Seneca Drive and Bypass 123 in Seneca.
Kannarney was listed as Senior Pastor at Blue Ridge View Baptist Church, in Pickens, in a February 2024 church bulletin.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
In 2019, Bret Welty was formerly a sound tech at Calvary Chapel in Boise, a pastor at Common Ground Biker Church in Meridian, and currently the pastor of Hard Rock Revival Church (a home church) in Boise, and the operator of Sound Harvest (all in Idaho) — a business that set up audio equipment for churches and events. (According to Linkedin, Sound Harvest was owned by Michelle Welty.) Welty also sold real estate.
Hard Rock Revival Church described itself this way:
We are a new church with old roots! Doing our best to recapture and revitalize Jesus’ mission here in Boise. We have started off as a home based church and plan to grow as the Lord ads [sic] to us and we would love to serve you and your family. Our Pastors Bret and Kelly Welty have served as ministers and Worship Leaders for over 30 years and worship is a center point here at Hard Rock Revival. So is connecting people with Jesus and God’s word! We endeavor to give our utmost towards raising up God’s people to be active, healthy, and loving people who want to make a difference in this crazy world.
In August 2019, Welty was charged with “sexual abuse of a minor younger than 16 years old, and lewd conduct with a minor younger than 16 years old.”
One of the members of his congregation was a 15-year-old girl who was having family troubles and living with anxiety. The family felt it might help her to spend a weekend at the Welty household, where Welty lived with his wife, 15-year-old son, and 24-year-old stepdaughter. She was at the home Aug. 9.
Police and prosecutors say that night Welty entered her room and touched her inappropriately. He continued to touch her for between 30 minutes and an hour, until he was interrupted by his wife, Fouts explained in court.
“The defendant confessed to his conduct,” Fouts said. “He stated that he’d struggled with such behavior before, although not with victims of this age, this young age.”
Fouts asked Magistrate Judge Michael Lojek to set Welty’s bail at $350,000. Smith asked for far less.
“He’s been a pillar of…various churches that he was ministering at, and I would just ask the court to set bond at $25,000,” Smith said.
Lojek set Welty’s bond at $250,000. He also ordered Welty stop ministering, until given permission from the court “so as to protect any other…vulnerable potential victims he may come into contact with in that capacity.”
Lojek said he considered the nature of the relationship between Welty and the girl. It was unique, given that he was her pastor, and the pastor for the rest of her family. He issued two no contact orders in the case, barring Welty from having contact with the girl, as well as with her father.
Matthew Fouts, of the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, stated “The defendant confessed to his conduct. He stated that he’d struggled with such behavior before, although not with victims of this age, this young age.” This tells me that there is likely more to this story than has been reported. I suspect there are more victims.
Bret Welty was also a musician. His bio page stated:
Bret Welty is a blues rock singer, songwriter, and guitar player with an inspired approach to blending the soul of blues with a variety of musical genres. Bret has been playing in bands for over 25 years, in a variety of roles.
Born in California and raised on a variety of music, Bret spent his formative high school years split evenly between Oregon and later California, where he was exposed to blues and rock. “The first time I heard guitar and blues put together, I was hooked,” Bret explains. As a young man, Bret tried his hand at 11 instruments before settling on the guitar. He received his first real guitar at age 15, and by the summer he had saved up enough money to buy his first electric guitar. Within 6 months, he was in his first band, and his love of performing live grew from there. Bret studied jazz in college, and has worked as a guitar teacher and faith music leader.
A true musician in every sense of the word, Bret plays drums, bass, lead guitar and mandolin. He has played all over the Northwest at both intimate and large venues, including state fairs and music festivals. Bret has played shows with Daryl Mansfield and has performed with Dennis Agajanian in concert.
Bret will release his album in 2014 “Unlimited Edition” a collection of rock and blues originals, is due to be released August 23rd 2014. It features a song dedicated to wounded service men and women whohave been hurt in the service of our country. Coves of Bill Withers and the Marshal Tucker band can be found on this release.
Blues is at the heart of Bret’s music, but listeners will also enjoy elements of jazz, rock, funk, Latin, R&B, southern rock, and country. His albums feature original song writing and topics that listeners can easily identify with: love lost, hard times, triumph, freedom, and patriotism.
A Boise man who ran a church out of his home has pleaded guilty to molesting a teenage girl whose parents had asked him to help her with her anxiety.
Bret Welty, 48, admitted to sexual abuse of a minor Dec. 4 as part of a plea deal in which prosecutors dropped a charge of lewd conduct with a child.
Welty was the pastor of the now-defunct Hard Rock Revival Church, which was attended by both the 15-year-old victim and her parents. Prosecutor Erin Pittenger said in court the sexual abuse happened Aug. 9, after the girl’s parents had sent their daughter to stay at Welty’s home for the weekend.
“The reason for having the victim stay with the defendant and his family is that she was suffering from some anxiety issues, and her family believed that a weekend with the pastor and his family would help,” Pittenger said.
According to prosecutors, the teen was in a bedroom when Welty walked into the room, refused to leave, and had the girl undress under the guise of giving her a massage. Pittenger said Welty touched the girl sexually for between 30 minutes and an hour, only stopping when his wife knocked on the bedroom door, interrupting the assault.
Welty later admitted to abusing the girl during a recorded phone call, and told her not to tell anyone about what had happened.
Welty’s wife filed for divorce the month after his arrest. At his plea hearing, Welty told the judge he had decided “early on” to admit guilt in the case.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will ask for a 15-year prison sentence, with three years before Welty could be eligible for parole. The judge ordered him to undergo a psychosexual evaluation before his Feb. 11 sentencing.
If evaluators determine Welty is a low risk to re-offend, prosecutors will consider recommending the rider program, which could drastically reduce Welty’s time behind bars.
The defendant’s attorney, Jeffrey Smith, asked the judge to reduce Welty’s bond, noting that his client had been held in the Ada County Jail on a $250,000 bond since his arrest in August.
mith asked for the bond to be dropped to $20,000 or $25,000 instead, arguing that release from jail would enable Welty to care for his mother after a major surgery and get back to his work of scheduling and performing music.
His lawyer said those shows would either be held locally “or within a couple hundred miles of Boise,” and that Welty would not leave the state unless given permission by the court.
Smith also pointed to Welty’s volunteer work, which included leading youth groups, coaching children’s sports teams, and teaching music at both middle and high schools “to thousands of students during his time here in Boise.”
Since his arrest, Welty has also started a Bible study for other inmates in the Ada County Jail, his lawyer said.
In his argument for the bond reduction, Smith described Welty’s sexual abuse of the 15-year-old as “a one-time occasion,” and asked Judge Deborah Bail to take into consideration that Welty has a very minimal criminal history.
“He’s basically crime-free,” Smith said.
“Well, that’s fine, but he just pled guilty to a major felony,” Bail responded.
The judge rejected the motion to lower Welty’s bond, telling him she was concerned about his access to minors.
“He appears to me to have quite a lot of access to children, with a position that would make parents likely to drop their guard, because one would expect that a person in that role would be a safe person for one’s child to be around,” she said.
Bail added that she wanted to see the results of Welty’s psychosexual evaluation before she would weigh in on whether he could be safely out of custody, and reminded him again that he had just admitted to a significant crime.
“It’s a serious invasion of a person’s personal space and an extraordinary breach of trust,” she said. “I’m not changing anything until I know what’s going on.”
In October 2020, Welty was sentenced to up to twelve years in prison.
The Idaho man who ran his own church and pleaded guilty to lewd conduct with a 15-year-old girl last year will spend at least three years in prison.
A judge on Monday sentenced Bret Welty, 49, to up to 12 years in prison after Welty in December pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor younger than 16 years old.
Welty is now out on parole.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
