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Category: Evangelicalism

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Mark Hatcher Convicted of Sex Crimes Against Children

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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.

Mark Hatcher, pastor and chief apostle of Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was recently convicted of ten charges, including rape, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, and indecent assault of a child in connection with assaults of a boy and two girls between the ages of six and fifteen.

The Reporter reports:

For a Whitpain Township pastor, a jury decided it was judgment day, convicting him of multiple charges that he had indecent or sexual contact with an underage boy and two girls during an eight-year period at his home and in Philadelphia.

Mark Hatcher, 60, of the 800 block of Village Circle Drive in the Blue Bell section of Whitpain, was convicted in Montgomery County Court of 10 charges, including rape, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, and indecent assault of a child in connection with assaults of a boy and two girls between the ages of 6 and 15 in Whitpain and Philadelphia between 2000 and 2008.

Hatcher, a pastor of Holy Ghost Headquarters located on North Broad Street in North Philadelphia, showed no emotion as the jury of seven women and five men announced the verdict after 2½ hours of deliberations.

The tearful victims, now adults, were embraced by relatives in the courtroom as the jury forewoman firmly stated, “We the jury find the defendant guilty,” to each charge as it was read.

“I’m really happy for the victims. After all these years, they finally got justice and I’m grateful to the jury for giving them that justice,” Assistant District Attorney Caroline Rose Goldstein reacted to the verdict afterward.

“These three victims were kids when this happened. They all trusted the defendant. He was a pastor. One of the victims said that she looked to him as a father figure and he preyed on that and used that against them to commit horrible crimes that shaped their lives for years later,” Goldstein added.

….

Judge Thomas C. Branca, who presided over the three-day trial, permitted Hatcher to remain free on bail but ordered Hatcher to surrender his passport and prohibited Hatcher from having contact with minors as conditions of his bail. Branca scheduled Hatcher’s sentencing hearing for May 23.

As he left the courtroom to await that sentencing hearing, Hatcher said the verdict was “not right.”

“It’s not fair. No truth at all was in the matter,” Hatcher added.

Hatcher declined to reveal if he will be preaching on Sunday to his congregation that gathers at the Met Theatre on North Broad Street.

Hatcher potentially faces several years in prison on the charges. Goldstein vowed to seek a lengthy state prison term against Hatcher.

Gamburg vowed to appeal the verdict on Hatcher’s behalf.

“We’re very disappointed with the verdict. We’ll get ready for sentencing and get the appeal put together,” Gamburg said.

During the trial, an adult man and two adult women testified Hatcher indecently or sexually assaulted them while they were in his company in Whitpain and Philadelphia. Hatcher knew the victims’ families, some of whom attended his church.

….

The investigation of Hatcher began in January 2022 when one of the victims went to Whitpain police to report what happened to him when he was a child, according to the criminal complaint filed by Whitpain Detective Bradly Potter.

The 22-year-old man testified he was 6-years-old in the summer of 2007 when Hatcher indecently touched him and forced him to touch Hatcher’s penis while Hatcher masturbated. The victim recalled Hatcher had indecent contact with him again when he was 7 years old in 2008, specifically, Hatcher kissed him on the mouth and touched his buttocks as the boy was playing with a Noah’s Ark toy while visiting Hatcher’s Whitpain home.

“I trusted him. I remember feeling confused and disgusted,” said the man, who finally told his mother about the incidents in 2021. “I guess I was just tired. When I looked in the mirror I was ashamed. I felt weak and I felt disgusted with myself.”

The man told the jury he contemplated suicide over the years as he kept Hatcher’s assaults bottled up inside. After testifying, the young man was comforted by his mother in the courtroom.

A 39-year-old woman testified she was molested by Hatcher in 2000 when she was 15 years old and was visiting Hatcher’s Whitpain residence. The woman said Hatcher exposed his body to her, then approached her from behind and fondled her breasts. She recalled Hatcher asking her if he made her feel uncomfortable and when she told him “yes” he stopped touching her.

“I didn’t want to make a big fuss about the situation. I just wanted it to blow over. I didn’t want it to be a big thing,” the woman said, explaining why she didn’t report Hatcher’s conduct at the time.

The woman told detectives about the incident after she learned that the 22-year-old man had told authorities about Hatcher’s indecent contact with him.

A second woman testified that she was 13 when Hatcher forcibly raped her after he took her to a vacant Philadelphia residence in November 2006 on a day when the pastor was supposed to be counseling her. The woman said Hatcher put his hand over her mouth when she began to scream and eventually stopped the sexual assault while telling her he was “going to save me for my husband,” according to testimony.

The victim had reported the assault to Philadelphia authorities at the time but no charges were filed by prosecutors there, testimony revealed.

….

While Goldstein argued Hatcher was a trusted pastor and mentor to the victims and took advantage of that trust for his sexual gratification, Gamburg suggested the three victims fabricated the allegations and he questioned their delays in reporting their claims.

“It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Is there any objective evidence? There is too much reasonable doubt to convict him,” Gamburg argued to the jury. “They are horrifying allegations against Pastor Hatcher.”

Hatcher did not testify during the trial. But Gamburg presented a half-dozen character witnesses, relatives of Hatcher and members of his congregation, who testified he has a good reputation in the community for being a “non-violent, peaceful and law-abiding man.”

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

What Independent Baptists Mean When They Use the Phrase “Old-Fashioned”

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old fashioned baptist church
Statement from the website for Green Pond Baptist Church, Carl Hall, pastor

Repost from 2015. Edited, rewritten, and corrected. 

Many Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) churches advertise themselves as “old-fashioned” churches. Many IFB preachers call themselves “old-fashioned” preachers. What do they mean when they say they are an old-fashioned church or an old-fashioned preacher?

An old-fashioned church is one that yearns for the past — usually the 1950s. In their mind, if society and Christianity would return to the 1950s all would be well. In the 1950s, Blacks knew their place, women were barefoot and pregnant, birth control was hard to come by, abortion was illegal, homosexuals and atheists were in the closet, and Joseph McCarthy terrorized Americans with attempts to root out communism. In the 1950s, we fought a war against communism, teachers still prayed and read the Bible in school, creationism was considered good science, and Christianity controlled the public space.

Then came the rebellious 1960s and 1970s, and everything changed. Sixty years later, Blacks no longer know their place, Whites are becoming a minority, couples no longer get married,  women have access to birth control, LGBTQ people and atheists are out of the closet, a Kenyan-born Muslim socialist communist black man was president, abortion is legal in some states, prayer and Bible reading in school are banned, creationism is considered religious dogma, same-sex marriage is legal, and Christianity is no longer given a preferential seat at the head of the cultural table.

From the Fundamentalist Christian’s perspective, I readily understand why people yearn for the old-fashioned days of the 1950s. The 1950s were a time when their brand of Christianity was the norm. Now they are fighting to be heard. Thousands of church members have left, seeking out the friendlier confines of generic, hip Evangelical churches. Instead of hard preaching against sin, Christians clamor for pastors who will “feed” them and minister to their felt needs. Most of all, they want to be entertained. Nones and atheists are increasing in number, and more and more people consider themselves spiritual or not religious. Pluralism and secularism are on the rise, and cultural Christianity is the norm and not the exception.

So what’s an old-fashioned Baptist church like? Their services are quite traditional; traditional meaning as it was in the 1950s. The focus is on “hard” preaching, often from the King James Version of the Bible. The goal is to convert sinners and strengthen church members so they can withstand the wiles of the devil and pressure from the “world.” Everything the old-fashioned Baptist church does is a throwback to yesteryear — an era when preachers preached hard, hymns were sung, altar calls were given, couples stayed married, women saved themselves for marriage and the kitchen, and the Christian church was the hub around which the community revolved.

Millions of Americans attend some sort of an old-fashioned church, even if the Baptist name is not over the front door. They love the respite their church gives them from the evil, sinful, atheistic world they live in. They love the certainty they hear in their pastor’s sermons. They are glad to be a part of a group that thinks just like they do. For those who desire to live in the 1950s, an old-fashioned church fits the bill. It heals their angst and gives them peace. It does not matter if their beliefs are true or whether their practices accurately reflect the 1950s. People seeking and finding value, hope, peace, and direction do not require or need truth. All they require is faith, and their belief that their “old-fashioned” version of Christianity is true. This is the power of myth.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

God’s Moral Law

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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, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Are Christian Nationalists Real “Christians”?

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christian nationalism 2

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%)

Robert P. Jones, the president and founder of PRRI, had this to say about this study:

Why should we be worried about this?

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, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

How Adulterous Evangelical Pastor Corey Turner Explains His Behavior

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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, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Children’s Director Kenneth Rose Sentenced to Four Years In Prison for Child Sex Crimes

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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.

The Sandusky Reporter reported:

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.

News-5 added:

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.

….

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, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Church of Christ Pastor Brian Dicken Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Taking Indecent Liberties with Minor Church Girl

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brian dicken

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.

The Winchester Star reported:

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.

….

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.

The Winchester Star also reported:

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, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Red Collar Scandal: Southern Baptist Worship Leader Aaron Ivey Accused of Trading Sexual Texts with Men

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aaron ivey

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 Religion News Service reports:

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, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Latest IVF Ruling Reveals What Christian Nationalists Really Want

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christian nationalism

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.

….

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.

….

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, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

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You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: LGBTQ People Deserve the Electric Chair Says IFB Preacher Robert Larson

6 Comments
robert lawson

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, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.