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.
Neal Creecy, pastor of Redemption Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, stands accused of luring or attempting to lure a child or mentally ill person with the use of computer technology to engage in sexual conduct.
Police and federal officials arrested a Las Vegas pastor as he prepared to meet a person he believed was a teenage boy for sex, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained Monday.
Neal Creecy, 46, faces a charge of luring or attempting to lure a child or mentally ill person with the use of computer technology to engage in sexual conduct, records said.
Throughout August, the Nevada Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, along with the FBI and several Southern Nevada police departments, arrested at least eight men as part of a sting operation.
For the past five years, Creecy has rented space inside The Good Samaritan Lutheran Church on Sahara and Cimarron, where he operates his religious organization, Redemption Church, church leaders said.
On Thursday, Aug. 7, Creecy allegedly chatted with a person posing as a 14-year-old boy about meeting for “sexual contact,” police said. Creecy did not provide any images during the conversation but agreed to meet who he thought was a teenager at a “predetermined meeting location,” police said.
Creecy allegedly then drove to that location, leading to his arrest, police said.
Police recovered an iPad from Creecy, which they said was the device he used in the online conversation, documents said.
During an interview with police, Creecy “admitted to having been involved in the conversation with the decoy… and made the utterance, ‘I’m so sorry,’” documents said.
Creecy posted bond shortly after his arrest and was due to return to court on Sept. 2.
W. Don Seaborg, president of pastoral support for Redemption Church, said last week that Creecy is not affiliated with The Good Samaritan Church and only rents space.
Creecy’s Audible bio states:
Neal is the Senior Pastor of Redemption Church, a church plant started in October of 2018. Neal has been involved with pastoral ministries and church planting both in the United States and internationally for almost thirty years. He is Co-Founder and Vice President of Global Church Planting Partners, an organization that is involved in both theological training and church planting globally. He has also taught in various seminaries in the United States and around the world. Neal holds an MDiv and a Ph.D. in Missiology from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
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.
Thomas “Tommy” Pinkerton, a former youth pastor at Central Christian Church in Baltimore, Maryland, stands accused of abusing at least six teenagers from 2006-2010. Central Christian is affiliated with the Assemblies of God denomination.
Thomas Pinkerton Jr. used to tell children in his youth group in Maryland that it was normal for a pastor to kiss boys on the lips, because that’s how Jesus greeted his disciples, according to an arrest warrant made public last week.
Kissing was just the beginning, several men from Pinkerton’s former youth group told police.
Pinkerton, 52, a youth minister known as Pastor Tommy, is being held without bond following accusations that he sexually abused six teens from 2006 to 2010 while working at Central Christian Church, an Assemblies of God church in Baltimore County. He was extradited from his home state of Georgia to Maryland last Wednesday to face 24 felony and misdemeanor counts in Baltimore County. His attorney, Justin Hollimon, said he pleaded not guilty.
An arrest warrant said the alleged abuse included inappropriate touching and kissing of six teenagers in Maryland, who ranged in age from 13 to 19. The warrant said the alleged abuse happened at the church and at Pinkerton’s former home in Maryland. A seventh man reported abuse by Pinkerton in Georgia, according to the warrant, and that report was referred to authorities there, officials in Baltimore County said.
Detectives believe there may be more victims and have asked anyone with information to come forward.
Pinkerton, who has worked as a traveling evangelist in recent years, was “completely shocked” by the charges, his attorney said Monday.
“He is a pastor. He gave his life to the community, worked for the community,” Hollimon said, adding that he filed a motion Monday morning seeking another bond hearing for Pinkerton after a judge denied his release last week. “He’s anxiously waiting his day in court.”
An online statement from Central Christian Church noted that Pinkerton left the congregation more than 15 years ago to start his own ministry. Lead Pastor Larry Kirk called the allegations “deeply heartbreaking” and said the church is “committed to walking alongside these young men with compassion and support.”
Assemblies of God officials pointed out that although Pinkerton served in the denomination, he was never a formally credentialed minister, NBC News reported.
Likewise, Savala was not a credentialed minister when he wielded influence in Chi Alpha.
Pinkerton, who currently lives in Winder, Georgia, and recently worked as a traveling evangelist, communicated through his attorney that he was “completely shocked” by the charges. His attorney has filed a motion for a second bond hearing after his first request for release was denied, NBC News reported.
Pinkerton’s preliminary court hearing is set for Sept. 5 while he remains at the Baltimore County Detention Center.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
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 2023, Daniel Merrick, pastor of Congregation Yahshua Messiah Gathering, a Messianic Jew congregation in Smethport, Pennsylvania, and a Christian musician was charged with 570 counts of child pornography involving indecent contact, second-degree felonies; 316 counts of child pornography involving nudity, third-degree felonies; and one count of criminal use of a communications facility, a third-degree felony.
Merrick told law enforcement that he had an “addiction,” and only started looking at child porn because his wife wouldn’t have sex with him. Merrick called his “addiction” a curiosity.
A Christian musician, pastor, and former Bradford store owner is in McKean County Jail, charged with more than 880 felony counts of child pornography.
Daniel W. Merrick, 64, of 858 Route 446, Smethport, is charged with 570 counts of child pornography-involving indecent contact, second-degree felonies; 316 counts of child pornography-involving nudity, third-degree felonies; and one count of criminal use of a communications facility, a third-degree felony.
According to the criminal complaint, State Police Computer Crimes received a CyberTip from Synchronoss Technologies, which is Verizon Cloud.
Between July 8 and Aug. 10, Synchronoss became aware of eight images and one video of child pornography involving indecent contact and one image of child pornography involving nudity, all of which had been uploaded to Synchronoss’ infrastructure.
Synchronoss provided to police the cell phone number which uploaded the images; the phone was registered to Merrick, the complaint stated.
On Jan. 9, Trooper Robert Whyel with the state police computer crimes unit served a search warrant for the content on the Verizon Cloud account for that phone number. The results included 178 additional images of child pornography involving indecent contact and 139 involving nudity. The images were saved on a Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G; there were numerous photos of Merrick on the account as well, the complaint stated.
On Feb. 10, a search warrant was executed on Merrick’s residence, and Whyel spoke with Merrick on the scene. He told the trooper that he “began viewing pornography due to his wife refusing to be intimate with him,” the complaint stated, which Merrick said led to a “two-month curiosity in child pornography.”
The complaint read, “The curiosity never entered the real world and was only a fantasy.”
He told police that he had an addiction and would seek help, the complaint read.
Reviewing Merrick’s phone, the trooper found 383 images of child pornography involving indecent contact and 176 involving nudity, including an image that was located on the CyberTip, according to the complaint.
Merrick was arraigned Friday before District Judge William Todd in Smethport. He was jailed in lieu of $20,000 bail. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 9.
….
According to Merrick’s website, he holds a Ph.D., is a singer, musician, author, preacher, pastor and composer. He completed Bible college and went into the U.S. Army in 1979 serving in active duty, the reserves and the National Guard until 2004. The site indicated that Merrick is now the pastor of a Messianic Jewish congregation in Bradford and has a weekly show on The Now Network Christian Television.
Pastor of Congregation Yahshua Messiah Gathering, a messianic Jewish followship, R. Capt. Daniel W Merrick PhD hosts “Faith Radio – The Latter Rain Chronicles” on Anchor FM and “Yah’s Way TV” on The Now Network Christian Station world wide. Dan completed his first Album in 1993 entitled “Aliyah” with 17 songs which featured “Like Stephen” which charted on the “CCM Countdown with Bob Sour” on Christian Radio Stations as a top 40 in 1994. Dan was born in Cleveland Ohio and raised on “church music” singing in the choir and as a teen was in the gospel singing group “The Teen Revivers” at Aspinwall Church of God Mountain Assembly. The group opened for the singing Rambo’s in the 1970’s in Cleveland. Dan grew up listening to Al Jolson, his dad’s favorite artist from WW2 era 1900’s who was the star of the first talking (sound) movie “The Jazz Singer” in 1929. Dan began composing music in High School and after having a few songs stolen, common in the industry, in 1987 copyrighted his first song. Dan has appeared on CTV, TCT TV and has weekly shows on The Now Network entitled “Yah’s Way TV” which broadcasts to 236 million people syndicated on Cable and Statilite TV Stations in Europe, USA, Africa, Middle East, Israel and via apps online to billions. Dan’s music is a collection of styles from Rock, Jazz, Gospel and Country with a stong Classical influence. Dan is the Son of “Lowes Girl” Fox Pin-up Model and Advertising Artist Laura Sloan Merrick Aka “Lolly” cousin of Jimmy Stewart.
In August 2024, Merritt was sentenced to 46 to 92 months in state prison followed by three years of probation.
A Pennsylvania pastor has been sentenced after police found him to be in possession of hundreds of images and videos of child pornography.
On Tuesday, August 12, the McKean County District Attorney’s Office announced that Daniel Merrick, a pastor in Smethport, was sentenced for possessing nearly 700 images and videos of child porn after attempting to withdraw a plea agreement.
Merrick claimed he was in possession of the content “as part of an investigation he had undertaken for law enforcement into Ukrainian and Russian children who are victims of child pornography.”
Later, Merrick told police that he and his wife had not been intimate in years, which sparked his curiosity to look at child pornography.
The DA’s Office stated that Merrick claimed he “never touched a child and that it was only a fantasy.”
Merrick will serve a sentence of 46 to 92 months in state prison followed by three years of probation. He will also have to register as a sex offender.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, is a Fundamentalist Christian blogger who has spent the past few years using my writing without credit or attribution for what he calls “teachings.” He takes a similar approach with my friend Ben Berwick. Thiessen has written more posts about the two of us that I can count. Sometimes, I just ignore the man. He’s little more than a gnat flying around my head on a warm summer day. These days, I selectively ignore Thiessen, choosing to only respond to posts I consider so egregious that they demand a response or are personal attacks on my character, family, or the readers of this blog.
Twice this week, Thiessen has demanded that both Ben and me apologize to him, for what I am not sure. I assume he’s demanding an apology because we dared to challenge his assertions about science. Thiessen sees himself as a defender of young earth creationism, a Bible literalist who will resolutely defend all sorts of nonsense because it appears in the Bible or is a personal belief of his. No amount of argumentation will change his mind. (And his defense of clerics who commit sex crimes is beyond disgusting.)
Thiessen claims to have a doctorate, including four science degrees — a claim he recently made for the first time. Geoff, a long-time reader of this blog, had this to say about Thiessen’s education claims and his understanding of science:
I don’t really care what educational achievements Tee claims, the proof of the pudding is in the eating or, in Tee’s case, the writing. There’s almost not a single sentence he writes that I can’t take issue with. Grammatically he’s dreadful, a clear indicator of his lack of proper education. Writing style not withstanding, his reasoning is impossible to understand by anyone with the slightest grasp of logic. He just doesn’t understand the scientific method. He seems to think it’s some isolated part of human existence, standing on its own, when in reality it’s the foundation on which everything we know about the world is based. Science essentially is observation and testing, reaching provisional conclusions, and incorporating them as needs be. Science and the scientific method is actually the only way we have of determining reality.
How is exploring the natural physical world going to provide the correct answers to our origins if science is not looking in the right direction or looking in the correct places? Providing the best explanation is not sufficient enough as the best explanation is not the truth.
The best explanation is the lazy man’s way to avoid the problems that arise with scientific research, when that research leads them away from natural solutions and into the supernatural. The scientists are too lazy and dishonest to say that the supernatural method is the only method possible.
Hence, God did it is the correct answer when science has no solutions. Here are some examples of science/evolution cannot answer why something exists.
…
How can anyone trust science when it fails to provide the answers to these and a myriad of other mysteries? It is not lazy to say God did it because that is the answer to all the mysteries science cannot answer.
Science is incapable of digging for and finding the truth because it does not want the truth. it wants something that misleads, misinforms, and hides the truth. In other words, they want something they and their biases can live with, and that is not science, nor is it objective.
True science would recognize the weakness of the natural-driven science and recognize God as the creator, as there is no alternative answer. It would also recognize God’s creativity, power, and glory in all of these and other examples science cannot find a natural solution.
It is just idiotic to dismiss the phrase ‘God did it’ because science cannot accept the supernatural. That dismissal is arrogance and ignorance on display at the same time. It is also a demonstration that science is incapable of studying the past as well as deriving the correct answer.
Saying science is the only way to get to the answers is showing a great bias against reality and the truth. Science is no longer objective but a tool to promote one bias or preconceived conclusion over the truth.
Instead of providing the correct answer, science becomes a place for unbelievers to hide from both reality and the truth. No one can trust a research field that takes great pains and many steps to avoid coming to the right answer.
When one expounds the truth, God did it, they are not being lazy, but illuminating the correct answer for everyone so that they are not misled by the lies that come from the deceived and blind secular world.\Yes, God did it all and science is a tool used by evil to lead people away from God and giving him the proper credit and glory.
Only a fool would say or repeat the words in the title in the exact same sentence structure. God created everything supernaturally and without the aid of science. Science is in over its head and outside of its scope when it investigates origins.
The Bible has the correct answer every time.
This is a good summary of the way Thiessen thinks about science.
Thiessen confuses “science research” with “science.” They are not one and the same. Further, Thiessen might want to study what Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder’s critics think of her work.
This brings me to Thiessen’s demand that I apologize. After posting Hossenfelder’s video, Thiessen wrote:
With the above video, we expect a very honest, public, humble, and personal apology for the attacks and off-the-wall comments from both MM & BG.
We know what we are talking about; they do not.
I still haven’t stopped laughing about Thiessen’s demand. There’s nothing I’ve said that deserves an apology. Thiessen is butthurt over our coverage of his bogus “four science degrees” claim. Until Thiessen actually provides evidence for his degrees, there’s no reason for anyone to believe he has them. All we know for sure is that Thiessen attended an unaccredited Bible college in Canada as a young man. And we didn’t even know that until I outed him. Thiessen claims “God knows, and that’s all that matters.” This is a common ploy of Thiessen’s. Don’t want to answer a question? Deflect or make some sort of God claim. End of discussion.
MM [Meerkat Musings] continues to make false accusations against us [me], so we [I] are [am] ignoring his latest response. Yet, neither he nor BG [Bruce Gerencser] has [have] apologized for their false accusations and their lies about us [me]. They like to make things personal, which we [I] do not, thus they have no credibility or an honest character.
We [I] have proven our [my] point quite well and guess what. We [I] opened up YouTube a few minutes ago and at the top of the suggestion list was the following video:
….
We [I] do not make fraudulent or misleading statements about anything. As you may have noticed, we [I] use legitimate websites and books to support our [my] points, so our [my] readers know they are getting accurate information.
That video is 20 minutes long, and it is well worth listening to as it provides not only information to defend one’s views on science but also provides eye-opening information on what is going on behind the scenes in science.
Maybe MM [Meerkat Musings] is upset as his rose colored view of science is destroyed, and it is not as glorious as he thought it was. Do not be fooled. Christians cannot trust scientists, and they do need to be fact-checked, etc., to get to the truth.
The Bible warns Christians about unbelievers and what they say. Those warnings include scientists and science, whether done by unbelievers or believers. We [I] are [am] not saying Christian scientists are all pure and do not commit fraud.
Those ‘Christian’ scientists who accept and promote evolution cannot be listened to either.
So once again, we [I] are [am] expecting a public, honest, humble, and sincere public apology from both BG [Bruce Gerencser] and MM [Meerkat Musings] because they are falsely accusing us [me] and have done nothing but lie about us [me] through their personal attacks.
Make sure to listen to the entire video to get all the right information on science.
Once again, Thiessen demands an apology from me.
Thiessen believes that Hossenfelder’s eighteen-minute video PROVES that Ben and I are lying about him and his science prowess. This claim has no merit. Besides, does Thiessen really believe that an eighteen-minute video by a controversial theoretical physicist justifies his criticisms of modern science? As I mentioned above, Thiessen confuses “science research” with “science” itself. He stupidly thinks that because a small minority of researchers lie or manipulate data that science itself can be disregarded anytime it disagrees with young-earth creationism and his wooden, literalist interpretations of the Bible.
Speaking only for myself, no apology will be forthcoming. I stand by every word I have written about Thiessen and his errant views of science and the Bible. I do kinda, a little bit, — I mean a teeny, tiny microscopic bit, regret saying a few years ago that Thiessen wants a picture of me naked to hang on his bedroom ceiling, but outside of that bit of risque humor, I stand by what I have written about him.
And Derrick? The offer of a picture still stands, but my nude photos are no longer available. 🙂
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
It was late September 1975. I had driven to Phoenix to spend the weekend with my twenty-year-old girlfriend Anita at the Southwestern Conservative Baptist Bible College. We had started dating six months prior, a relationship that quickly turned serious. Both of us had volatile personalities. Years later, I concluded that had we married, one of us would likely have ended up in prison for murdering the other.
Our weekend together turned sour, and by the time Sunday night arrived, I had broken up with Anita and angrily driven back to the home of my dad and his wife in the southeast Arizona community of Sierra Vista. I vividly remember driving my 1960s Chevrolet station wagon at excessive speeds for the three hours home, culminating in a speeding ticket near Huachuca City. The same state trooper had ticketed me the previous week for assured clear distance. He warned me that my next ticket could result in the loss of driving privileges. I was eighteen.
By the next weekend, I had packed my meager belongings in two suitcases, hopped a Greyhound Bus, and traveled to my mom’s home in the northwest Ohio community of Bryan. I left my car with my father to sell, which he soon did. I am still waiting for the money, fifty years later.
After returning to the place of my birth, I immersed myself in the life of First Baptist Church in Bryan, reconnected with friends such as Randy Rupp and Dave Echler, and became the dairy manager at Foodland, a local grocery store. I planned to wait a year and then enroll in classes at Briercrest Bible Institute in Caronport, Saskatchewan, Canada.
In early 1976, I turned my focus towards preparing for college. At the time, Canada had strict financial requirements for non-residents attending Canadian colleges. It became clear to me that I wouldn’t be able to meet this requirement, so I began looking at other Fundamentalist colleges to attend. I asked my pastor, Jack Bennett, for recommendations. He provided none. I came away from our discussion angry. I suspect Pastor Bennett thought that I was not qualified or well-suited to become a pastor, due to my family background and general orneriness.
Polly Shope and Bruce Gerencser, February 1977, Midwestern Baptist College Sweetheart Banquet, the only time we were allowed to be closer than six inches apart.
My mom’s dad and stepmother lived in Pontiac, Michigan. They attended Sunnyvale Chapel, a Fundamentalist church. Upon hearing that I was not going to Briarcrest, the Tiekens suggested that I check out Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac. In June of 1976, I drove up to Pontiac to check out the college. I quickly decided that Midwestern was where “God” wanted me to study for the ministry. In truth, Midwestern was much cheaper than other Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) colleges. Jobs were also plentiful. My grandparents, ever-helpful — until you crossed them — found a job for me working at the Rochester Hills Kroger. (Please see John and Dear Ann.)
I arrived at the Midwestern dormitory in late August 1976. A few weeks later, I started dating a beautiful seventeen-year-old dark-haired preacher’s daughter who would later become my wife.
Men lived in the basement and on the first floor of the dorm. Women were housed on the second floor. As one walked into the dorm, one entered a common meeting room. At certain times, dating couples could sit there six inches away from each other (please see Thou Shalt Not Touch: The Six-Inch Rule), and “fellowship.” To the right, down the hallway toward the section of the men’s dormitory called the “Spiritual Wing,” was the snack room. (I lived on the “Party Wing.” Of course, I did.)
While Midwestern had a school cafeteria that provided rudimentary breakfasts and lunches for students, most dorm students did not use the cafeteria. In my case, I was too busy taking a full load of classes and working a full-time job to fit going to the cafeteria into my schedule. Thus, for the two years I lived in the dorm, the snack room became my “kitchen.” I say “kitchen,” but that would imply it had basic appliances such as a stove, refrigerator, and cooking utensils. It didn’t. The snack room had a handful of tables and a microwave.
Most students either ate at nearby fast-food restaurants, ate out of a can, or warmed up meals in the microwave. Imagine the eating habits I developed from eating this way for two years. The highlight of each week was going out on a double date on the weekend to a real restaurant that served food that didn’t require a can opener. I will never understand why Midwestern didn’t care enough about dorm students to require that they eat at least two meals a day in the school cafeteria. Surely they had to know that students needed proper nutrition and sufficient nourishment; especially since students were spending virtually every waking hour attending classes, doing homework, working full-time jobs — often at local factories — attending church three times a week, working bus routes, teaching Sunday school, preaching, and going soulwinning. Whatever the reasons, dorm students were left on their own to scavenge for food. This led to numerous hilarious stories.
One evening, Polly decided to cook a special meal for me. She knew that I loved liver and onions. I had eaten it on one of our early dates at Jerry’s Restaurant. Polly bought one of those ribbed microwave “browning” plates and cooked liver and onions. Needless to say, an awful smell emanated from the snack room as Polly lovingly cooked for me. The taste was not much better.
One student worked at a nearby McDonald’s. Each night at close, the manager instructed him to throw away the unsold hamburgers. Not wanting to miss out on a free meal opportunity, the student brought the hamburgers home. Remember, there was no refrigerator — students were not permitted to have appliances or electric cooking implements in their rooms — so this student took to storing the hamburgers outside in a snowbank. More than a few of us afforded ourselves to one or more of Tom’s free hamburgers. It’s a wonder we didn’t get food poisoning.
Bruce Gerencser, Midwestern Baptist College, 1978
Most students had a food box. I had a long cardboard box that I kept under my bed. It was not uncommon for students to trade foodstuffs. It was also not uncommon for food (and money) to come up missing. We may have been at Midwestern to serve God and train for the ministry, but hunger and an empty gas tank will turn the best of people into petty thieves. I put the blame for this not on a lack of character, but on the blindness and indifference of Tom Malone, the college president, and dorm supervisors to the financial and material plight of many single students. All the focus was on winning the lost. What’s a bit of hunger when souls need saving, right? I suspect some with the college administration believed that deprivation was good for students; that suffering hardship would make for better Christians, and for better pastors and missionaries. Midwestern advertised itself as a “character-building factory.” By the time I arrived at Midwestern, I had already lived through nineteen years of doing without. I knew how to adapt and survive, even if it meant swiping Hostess cupcakes and soft drinks from the grocery where I worked.
Polly, on the other hand, came from a solidly middle-class family — a new car every two years, annual vacations. Polly’s dad entered the ministry late in life, graduating from Midwestern in May 1976. Polly was grossly unprepared for the life that awaited her at Midwestern. Her parents gave her little, if any, financial support, expecting her to “survive” on the part-time wages she earned at places such as Burger King, Sveden House, and cleaning houses. Her means of transportation was a worn-out early-1970s AMC Hornet. After the car broke down, her parents told her to junk the car, with no new car forthcoming. Fortunately, her mechanically inclined boyfriend was able to fix the car. When it finally gave up the ghost, Polly drove my car. If it hadn’t been for me providing financial support and allowing her to drive my car, I doubt she would have made it through her dormitory years. Of course, I have a vested interest in making sure that didn’t happen.
While I have many fond memories from the two years I spent living in the Midwestern dorm, I do wish that the college had invested more money in the welfare of its students. Sadly, all too often, it seemed that students were just fuel for the machinery of the college and nearby Emmanuel Baptist Church — the megachurch all dorm students were required to attend. As a pastor, I had the opportunity to counsel church teens about their post-high school plans. While I suggested checking out schools such as Bob Jones University, Tennessee Temple, and Pensacola Christian College, I never recommended Midwestern. Had Midwestern cared better for its students, I may have sent students their way. It’s not that I am bitter about my experiences at Midwestern, I’m not. But the college could have been so much more had it not been so focused on soulwinning. The number of dorm students who didn’t return for their sophomore year was staggering. Midwestern prided itself on this winnowing process, sending home those who were “affectionately” called Momma-called, Daddy-sent preachers. By the time students reached their senior year, the majority of the students in their freshman class had dropped out. I wonder if this attrition could have been lessened had college officials truly cared about dorm student living conditions.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
In July 1983, I started a new Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church in Somerset, Ohio. Our first service was held in a storefront building we rented for $100. A few months later, we rented the second floor of what was called the Landmark Building. Attendance growth was slow. By the summer of 1985, our average attendance was 50. To facilitate our expansion, we bought an abandoned United Methodist Church for $5,000. Built in 1831, the building was typical of Methodist churches built in the nineteenth century.
Over the next few years, Somerset Baptist grew to over 200 in attendance. Some of the members who attended the Methodist church when it was open were worried about our growth. Why? When we bought the Methodist building, it came with a cemetery, one that contained some of the early settlers of the area. The cemetery was a wreck, littered with toppled tombstones or stones that didn’t belong to any particular grave. We cleaned everything up, mowing the grass as needed. We were, in every way, good citizens.
Some of the people who formerly attended the Methodist church became worried that we were going to pull up the tombstones and turn the cemetery into a parking lot. They demanded we turn the cemetery over to the township, threatening us with a lawsuit if we didn’t submit. I remember being perplexed at the time. We hadn’t done anything with the cemetery other than maintain it (at our own cost).
Eventually, the township agreed to take over the cemetery. I told township commissioners that they would have to fence the cemetery and pay us for mowing the grass, which they agreed to do. And with that, the Methodists avoided the Baptists paving over the graves of former members and community residents. I never understood their paranoia over something we never would have done. Yes, we needed more parking, but turning the cemetery into a parking lot was never an option. Instead, we expanded the parking near the church building and encouraged healthy members to park along the road in front of the church and cemetery. Problem solved. 🙂
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
I have been blogging for seventeen years. I have had several blogs over the years. This one has been live since 2014. Titled The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser, this blog focuses on my journey from Evangelicalism to atheism, with a lesser focus on sex crimes committed by Evangelical preachers and critiques of Christianity in general.
While this blog has a biographical bent, it is not, strictly speaking, a biography. Over the years, I evolved theologically and changed my beliefs on all sorts of social issues. For example, I entered the ministry as a hardcore, King James-only, Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB). Over time, my beliefs have evolved, so much so that the Bruce Gerencser of 1983 would not recognize the Bruce Gerencser of today.
When new readers frequent this site, they rarely read all of my biographical writing. Brought by a search engine to this site, they might read one, two, four, or even fifty posts, thinking that is sufficient to understand by story and beliefs. It’s not, and this leads readers to reach wrong conclusions about me. For example, countless Christian readers have told me that my problem is that I was raised and schooled in the IFB church movement. Is this claim true? No. I left the IFB church movement in the mid-80s, twenty years before I deconverted. Sadly, pigeon-holing me this way allows critics to dismiss my story out of hand. “No wonder he’s an atheist. He was an IFB preacher.” Lost on my critics is the fact that I only pastored three IFB churches; that I also pastored Sovereign Grace, Christian Union, Southern Baptist, and non-Denominational churches. The last church I pastored was a Southern Baptist congregation in Michigan. One Sunday, a young man who was a member of a church I pastored for eleven years in southeast Ohio came to hear me preach at this Southern Baptist church. Afterward, he told me that my preaching had changed; that I was now preaching a “social gospel.” And to some degree, He was right. My beliefs had changed, a reflection of my deep immersion in Mennonite and progressive Christian theology.
Many readers pick a point on my timeline and judge me accordingly. What they fail to see and understand is that I was no longer at that point, belief-wise; that my theology had changed, as had my understanding of social issues. Today, I am an atheist, secular humanist, liberal, progressive, socialist, and pacifist. Twenty-five-year-old Bruce would have despised sixty-eight-year-old Bruce.
With these thoughts in mind, let me address several false judgments Evangelicals and other Christians make about my life.
First, some critics say that I left the ministry (2005) and Christianity (2008) because I was unhappy as a pastor. This idea is not anywhere in my writing, but taking disparate stories and putting them together, critics often conclude that I was unhappy was a pastor. This claim is patently untrue. I was generally happy as a pastor. I loved preaching and teaching the Bible and helping those in need. Did I battle with depression as a pastor? Sure, but that doesn’t mean I was unhappy. My depression — as it is today — was driven by perfectionist tendencies, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), and a Type A personality. When I couldn’t meet impossible expectations put on me by church members and myself, depression ensued. This is true to this day, though years of therapy have helped me see myself in a different light. I still find myself “driven” to perform, but one thing serious health problems have done is make it impossible for me to meet my lofty self-imposed standard.
Second, some critics think I deconverted because of how poorly churches paid me over the years. This assertion reveals that they really haven’t read much of my biographical writing. Had they done their homework, they would have learned that I would have pastored churches for free; that I was bivocational on and off during the twenty-five years I spent in the ministry. I was never a part-time pastor. Instead, I often pastored full-time while working outside the church. As a result, I worked long hours, often six or seven days a week. If there is one thing I would never do again, it is giving the ministry priority in my life. Both Polly and I devoted ourselves to every church I pastored, regardless of the time and effort it took. We felt, at the time, that this was God’s calling for us. In college, Polly was reminded by professors that she would have to accept playing second fiddle in Bruce’s ministerial orchestra. The same went for our children. The church always came first. It took me twenty years to change my ways.
Third, some critics claim that I deconverted because the “church” hurt me. When asked for evidence for their claim, none is provided. How, then, do they know the church hurt me? Supposedly, they can read the “hurt” in my writing or by looking into the eyes of a photograph of me. I have not once suggested that “hurt” was a reason I deconverted. This claim is an assumption made without evidence for the truth of it.
Have I ever been “hurt” by church members? Sure, but never to the degree that I wanted to leave Christianity. Most of the hurt came after I deconverted; when lifelong friends and colleagues in the ministry turned on me after I left Christianity. From nasty emails and letters to sermons especially about me, I quickly learned that fidelity to certain theological beliefs was the glue that held our relationships together. Once this fidelity evaporated, I was branded an apostate; a tool of Satan; a false prophet; an enemy of the one true faith.
Okay, Bruce, why DID you leave Christianity? I deconverted because Christianity no longer made sense to me. I came to believe that the central claims of Christianity were false — especially its supernatural claims. I no longer believe the Bible is inerrant and infallible. I no longer believe that Jesus was in any way supernatural. Jesus was an apocalyptic Jewish preacher who lived and died — end of discussion. I concluded that I couldn’t believe these things and still be a Christian. Unlike many Christians, I was unwilling to close my eyes to errors and contradictions in the Bible and the harm caused by its teachings. Once I started treating the Bible as I did other books, everything changed. Sure, I could have faked it as many Christians do, but I’m not one to lie about what I believe.
I hope this clears up the misunderstandings readers have about my story. If you still have questions, please ask them in the comment section. If you have not read the posts on the Why? page, I encourage you to do so. Still have questions? Email me and I will try to answer them.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
The biggest difference is in the teaching of each faith. When was the last time you heard or saw gangs of Christians invading villages, killing their members, setting their buildings on fire, and then celebrating the deaths of those who do not believe?
Unbelievers get upset and call Christians and God many different names, accusing them of crimes they did not commit, all because they do not like the teaching found in the Bible. Yet, that teaching has not ordered anyone killed, nor villages burned, nor for celebrations of the death of the wicked.
Talk about a sanitized version of Christianity, from the teaching of the Bible to present day Christian beliefs and practices. Talk about living in denial over what the Bible actually says.
Sure, some expressions of Islam are violent. However, if we go back a thousand years or so, we find Christians acting just as violently as some Muslims do today. And when we turn to the Bible? We find account after account of God’s violence against those who dared to disagree with him or worship another deity. And when we get to the book of Revelation? Boy, oh boy, God drops all pretense and shows that he is, indeed, a violent, murderous, genocidal deity.
Did God ever command his chosen ones to commit violent acts? Of course he did.
Consider:
Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go out; fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’s hands grew heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on either side, so his hands were steady until the sun set. And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a remembrance in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called it, The Lord is my banner. He said, “A hand upon the banner of the Lord!The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (Deuteronomy 17:8-14)
Hundreds of years later, GOD said:
Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and struck down all who lagged behind you; he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies on every hand, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget. (Deuteronomy 25: 17-19)
And this brings us to 1 Samuel 15:1-8:
Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand soldiers of Judah. Saul came to the city of the Amalekites and lay in wait in the valley. Saul said to the Kenites, “Go! Leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites, or I will destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites. Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.He took King Agag of the Amalekites alive but utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. (1 Samuel 15:1-8)
Virtually every Bible scholar — except Evangelicals — says that God commanded Saul to commit genocide against the Amalekites for what their great, great, great, great, great grandparents did hundreds of years before.
The Bible contains numerous accounts of God’s violent acts, either directly or by his followers.
Richard Dawkins was right when he said:
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
From Genesis through Revelation, we find a violent God who often maims and kills people out of jealousy or because they pissed him off. Shit, he killed a man just for keeping the Ark of the Covenant from toppling over. Talk about pettiness.
And since Jesus was God — the second member of the Trinity — another absurd, irrational belief — he, too, is responsible for the God ordained violence recorded in the Bible.
God of love, mercy, and kindness? Maybe, but honest readers of the Bible can’t ignore the fact that God was, at times, anything but. Oh, Evangelicals have all sorts of explanations for God’s immoral, sinful behavior, but the fact remains God commanded Saul to slaughter the Amalekites, including children, infants, and fetuses. A pro-life God he is not.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Why do I get upset when Evangelicals (and other Christians) say, “I’m praying for you?”
First, Evangelicals who say this to me deliberately violate the clear teaching of the Bible. Did Jesus not say:
Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:6 NRSV)
These verses seem clear, without ambiguity. Jesus commanded his followers to give and pray in secret. Why, then, do so many Evangelicals think it important for them to tell me that they are praying for me?
Second, I ask Evangelical readers in the comment guidelines to not leave “I’m praying for you” comments. Unlike some readers of this blog, I find no value or purpose in telling people you are praying for them. God is a myth, and so is “answered” prayer. I view prayer in the same light as I do God — a waste of time. It’s fine if Christians think differently, but understand that telling me that you are beseeching the God of the Bible on my behalf does little more than irritate me. Why do something that you KNOW will irritate the hell out of me? Especially since my knowing that someone is praying for me plays no part in whether God answers said prayer.
Third, praying for me is literally the least you can do for me, no different than politicians who offer up “thoughts and prayers” when there is another mass casualty shooting. Countless Christian prayers will be offered up for the dead. Why? They are dead. Instead of prayers, how about actually doing something that will make a meaningful difference?
Thousands of people have allegedly prayed for me. I say allegedly because I know Evangelicals are famous for lying about praying for others, or they briefly pray one time and move on. Instead of doing something that will tangibly improve my life, Evangelicals choose the one thing — prayer — that does nothing for me.
I have been blogging for seventeen years. I can count on two fingers the number of Evangelicals who have done something material for me; something that would make a difference in my life. The two people I have in mind sent me money to help with my needs. Is this not the essence of loving your neighbor as yourself? I am known for being a big tipper when we go out to eat. During the holidays, it is not uncommon for me to leave a tip equal to the bill total. I do this for one reason; to be a blessing and help to others — no strings attached. I should add that these two people — both preachers — have left Christianity. Beware of giving money to Bruce Gerencser. It could cause you to lose your faith. 🙂
One of my biggest beefs with Evangelical churches is that they rarely, of ever, do anything just to be a help to others. Years ago, an Evangelical preacher named Iggy left a comment detailing all the things he and his church did to be a blessing to others. I dared to question the motivations behind these acts of love. Boy, did we have a digital fight. 🙂 I concluded that the goal was not helping others as much as it was advertising the church’s and pastor’s name.
Will this post keep Evangelicals from saying they are praying for me? Silly boy, of course not. Evangelicals gonna do what Evangelicals do.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
Anyone can comment on this site, even Evangelicals and Independent Fundamentalist Baptists. All I ask is that commenters follow the comment policy. Unfortunately, many followers of Jesus either can’t read or they think the comment policy doesn’t apply to them. In their minds, they are servants of Jesus, so whatever he tells them to do or say, they do it, Bruce be damned.
Over the past week, a new Evangelical commenter has been commenting on this blog. She has also sent me numerous emails. Her behavior gave me pause, but I thought I would let her continue to comment. Well, today brought the following comment which I want to respond to:
Ar the risk of being given the “boot” for mentioning prayer on here, I was just so touched, I had to send this. I wasn’t gonna say a blessed thing about prayers going up.for your health condition, 🙏 but was clandestinely putting you on every healing prayer site I could possibly find, in hopes that you would begin to regain some strength, and hope that you aren’t “destined” to continue suffering like this.
Yes, you have indeed crossed a line. I do not appreciate your conduct. Did I ask you to contact people and ask them to pray for me? No. Did I ask you to share my health problems with them? No. Yet, you felt you had the “right” to parade my name and health issues before others. You could have kept this to yourself, but you didn’t. No, you needed me to know that you and your Christian ceiling knockers were praying for me, ignoring what Jesus said about praying in secret.
I can’t stop people from praying for me. If Christians want to babble at the ceiling, so be it. However, I am not interested in being apprised of your vacuous, empty prayers. Yes, empty. Thousands of Christians are allegedly praying for me, yet my health remains the same, and I am still an unrepentant atheist. It is evident, at least to me, that prayer doesn’t work. It can’t, because the Christian God is a myth. He can no more answer a prayer than another mythical being, Satan.
That said, if I am instantly healed of gastroparesis (incurable), exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (incurable), degenerative spine disease (incurable), and peripheral neuropathy (incurable), I will repent and put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Time to put up or shut up. Surely, with all these prayer warriors praying for me, healing is but an utterance away.
This commenter gossiped about me with a pastor associated with Catch the Fire Ottawa. This pastor sent the woman a copy of what he prayed (all spelling and grammar in the original):
— begin prayer —
Lord Jesus,
We lift up Bruce to You today. You see his pain, You know every part of his body that is suffering, and You understand the depths of the times of despair he has felt at times bevause of it. He has said that if You cared enough to heal him, he would believe. Lord, we know that You do care — deeply. You cared enough to come, to suffer, and to die so that we might have life.
So we boldly ask, in Your mercy, that You would touch Bruce’s spine and body. Heal what doctors say is incurable. Bring relief where there has been only pain. Speak peace into the storm of his body and mind. Let healing flow through every part of his nervous system, his muscles, his digestive system, his pancreas — and especially his spine. Let him be able to say, “God heard me. God helped me. God is real.
But more than just healing, Lord, we ask that You would draw Bruce to Yourself. In Your gentleness, open his heart to Your love. Reveal Yourself not just as a healer, but as a Father and a Friend. God loves the fatherless. Meet him in the dark places with Your light. Give him hope not only for his body, but for his heart and inner well-being, healing from trauma and deep brokenness.
You often used healing in Scripture to bring people to faith — not just to restore their bodies, but to re-invite them into a relationship with You. Would You do that for Bruce? Not just to lessen his pain, but to show him You have never forgotten him.
We ask all this in Your powerful and compassionate name, Jesus Christ, our Healer and Redeemer. Amen.
Yes, Lord! We ask for a regenerative miracle for Bruce.
Amen
— end of prayer —
What more can I say other than “sigh.” (Please see Why I Use the Word “Sigh.”) Just another example of a follower of Jesus who shows no regard or respect for me or thinks she knows what is best for me. Such behavior is unsurprising. I’ve been blogging for seventeen years. I have seen this boorish behavior over and over again.
For the record, I wish I weren’t sick. I wish I weren’t in pain all the time. But wishing, like prayer, is a waste of time. Life is what it is, and no amount of babbling to the ceiling will change that fact. I accept that this is my lot in life. As I mentioned above, most of my health problems are incurable. There’s nothing doctors can do except treat my symptoms and try to alleviate my suffering.
Saved by Reason,
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 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.
