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Tag: Fellowship Baptist Church Sidney

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor JD Hall Arrested on DUI and Gun Charges

jd hall

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.

Jordan “JD” Hall, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney, Montana, and publisher of the Fundamentalist polemics site Protestia, was arrested on May 11, 2022, and charged with driving under the influence and carrying a concealed weapon while intoxicated.

Religion News Service reports:

A Montana Baptist pastor who has spent years warning that liberals were taking over the Southern Baptist Convention and evangelical churches, was arrested on DUI and weapons charges.

Jordan Daniel “J.D.” Hall, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney, Montana, and publisher of the online Christian polemics site Protestia, was arrested on May 11 after a traffic stop. According to a copy of the initial offense report obtained by Religion News Service, Hall was charged at 11 p.m. with driving under the influence and carrying a concealed weapon while intoxicated. The DUI charge is a first offense, according to the report. A Sidney police officer observed Hall driving in a bike lane and pulled him over.

Hall allegedly had slurred speech, stumbled and had poor balance, according to a copy of the complaint filed against him, which was also posted online. During the stop, police also allegedly found a concealed handgun. The pastor performed poorly on a field sobriety test, according to the police report, but a breathalyzer did not find evidence of alcohol in his system.

The Montana pastor is best known for his role as a writer for online site Pulpit&Pen, where Hall criticized what he saw as liberal and worldly influences affecting the evangelical church and especially the Southern Baptist Convention. Among the site’s targets were Bible teacher Beth Moore, former Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore (no relation), former SBC President J.D. Greear and Tennessee preacher and Trump supporter Greg Locke.

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In 2014, Hall announced plans to back away from his involvement in SBC conflicts, following the death of the teenage son of one of the church leaders he criticized. Hall and other critics had ridiculed the 15-year-old online, in what radio talk show host Todd Starnes called “theological thuggery.”

“In one sense, I am reaping what I sowed. When you live by the sword, you die by it,” said Hall in in 2014, according to Christianity Today. He had also apologized for criticizing the teenager.

Hall had become active in SBC conflict in recent years — joining other critics who claim the nation’s largest Protestant denomination has turned liberal — and had planned to attend the upcoming SBC annual meeting in Anaheim. The pastor claimed that “me and my boys will control the mics and rebuke is on the agenda.”

The pastor recently filed for bankruptcy, claiming he could not afford to pay legal fees in a libel lawsuit, according to Montana news reports. A transgender activist has sued Hall for libel, claiming “an article about her damaged her reputation,” the Longview News-Journal reported.   

Hall pled not guilty to the charges. He has also been assessed a $585 fine, according to the Daily Montanan, and has a court date set for mid-July. 

After Facebook banned the Pulpit&Pen, the site was renamed “Protestia.” Hall also heads the Gideon Knox Group, which runs a church-based collection of media sites and other media ministries, including the Polemics Report, the Bible Thumping Wingnut podcast network, and an AM radio station. He also founded the Montana Daily Gazette, a conservative news site.

Fellowship Baptist released the following statement:

The following statement from Fellowship Baptist Church is made in response to the events of the evening of May 11th, 2022 involving Pastor Hall, and subsequent findings and decisions made by the church.

Pastor Hall tenured his resignation to the church Thursday after being charged with DUI on Wednesday evening. There was no alcohol in his system and he blew 0.0 on the administered breathalyzer. However, police insisted Pastor Hall failed the administered field sobriety test. Pastor Hall has suffered from documented vitamin D deficiency, which can result in poor coordination, slurred speech, word displacement, etc. This medical issue has been discussed openly for some time and has been the subject of our church’s prayers. Nonetheless, Pastor Hall felt responsibility for bringing the stain of rumor upon the church and thus offered his resignation.

The deacons and elders met yesterday and rejected his resignation in consultation with three well-respected and Godly pastors of other churches, as it was unanimously determined that, as no alcohol was used and Pastor Hall’s coordination/health issues have been well known, this unfortunate incident was not ministerially disqualifying. The deacons, elders, and consulted pastors were apprised of Pastor Hall’s prescription medication, health issues, and spiritual, emotional, and physical state, and expressed great concern for his health and overworking.

The Church Council met soon after and likewise rejected Pastor Hall’s resignation. The council determined Pastor Hall was exhausted, potentially addicted to working, and must rest, do nothing for 3 months, and change his phone number (to not be bothered by outsiders). Additionally, the Council determined that church elders will handle Pastor Hall’s responsibilities along with a former church member (who had moved away) and lay pastor. Church leadership will place Pastor Hall’s wife in charge of when after that period he is well enough to go back to work, in consultation with the elders.

Subsequently, the congregation was apprised of the situation in a special business meeting after services Sunday. In a unanimous vote, they likewise rejected Pastor Hall’s resignation and voted to affirm the Church Council’s findings.

Pastor Hall spoke to the congregation to say he would submit to their requests, would come or go at our pleasure, and agreed to remain in his office at our request. He cautioned us solemnly to be ready for what enemies of Christ would do with his situation and to brace themselves. The congregation spoke openly to assure Pastor Hall he should not be ashamed, that we do not care what the world thinks, as that we know the truth.

Please pray for Pastor Hall and his family during this incredibly stressful season.

Hall blames a severe Vitamin D deficiency for his DUI-like behavior. Even if this is true and it causes impaired behavior, Hall had no business driving an automobile.

Hall will use his arrest to fuel his belief that he is being persecuted by nefarious outside sources or Satan.

If I was making a Top 100 list of Christian Assholes, JD Hall would be Top 5.

Fundamentalist Pastor JD Hall Brags About Breaking the Law

Fundamentalist J.D. Hall “Apologizes” to LGBT Community

The Sounds of Fundamentalism: J.D. Hall and Fred Phelps, Two Peas in a Pod

Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Christians Say the Darnedest Things: “Sissy” Men Can’t Go to Heaven

jd hall

Christian men, you know how you have a natural disdain for limp-wristed, soft-handed dandies with their coiffed hair, penny-loafers, and man-purses? Guess what? It’s not a natural disdain; it’s a supernatural disdain.

The reason why you have an instinctual contempt for men who double-up on fashion accessories and get manicures is that the Holy Spirit has led you to hate sin. You’re not a bigot when you despise effeminate men, you’re a Spirit-filled Christian. Don’t let namby-pambies tell you that you’re being a fundamentalist; you’re just reaching into your inner discernment and hating the things God hates. It makes you like Jesus, and it pleases God to hate sin.

Almost universally, the females of any and every culture spend a far greater amount of time in their personal beauty regiment than men. Women, because men are more visually impressed, naturally spend more time on their wardrobe, hair, and external beauty. When men do these things, it is right to presume they also are trying to impress men.

In other words, when a man aspires to dress for fashion, he’s acting gay (whether he is or not). The Bible calls it being effeminate, and God hates it. That’s right, God hates even acting gay. And regardless of how many times vapidly ignorant Christians argue that God doesn’t care how you dress, they have to overlook a hundred-plus places in the Bible where God gives explicit instructions on how to dress (including prohibitions about gender-bending in places like Deuteronomy 22:5) to do so.

Men, by God’s design, should be practical in their dress, not stylish. Manliness should be displayed in the outward appearance of men in the same way that femininity should be displayed in the outward appearance of women. While this doesn’t imply one thing or another about things like dresses or slacks, it does forbid men putting off a feminine vibe or women putting off a masculine one.

But most of all, I am sick and tired of being treated like my detestation of skinny jeans or stylish man-scarves is some kind of tawdry bigotry. It’s not; it’s godliness. God hates that garbage, too. In fact, if some men don’t man up a bit and stop prancing around like daisies, it bodes poorly for where they’ll spend eternity.

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In some cases, godly men might need to help an effeminate new convert who’s been sissified from a soft-existence in 21st Century cosmopolitan culture learn how to unbend their wrists or how to replace their slippers with a good pair of boots. But that’s hard to do when – increasingly – evangelical leaders are taking their style advice from GQ to fit in with the cool kids who are, by and large, androgynous morphodites.

— Jordan “JD” Hall, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church, Sidney, Montana, publisher of Pulpit & Pen, Effeminate Men Can’t Go to Heaven, July 17, 2020

Fundamentalist Pastor JD Hall Brags About Breaking the Law

jd hall
Pastor Jordan “JD” Hall, a breaker of Montana law and God’s.

According to British uber-Fundamentalist Susan-Anne White, Jordan “JD” Hall, pastor (elder) of Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney, Montana and the operator of Pulpit & Pen, bragged in an email about texting while driving. In a July 2019 post, White wrote:

We had cause to contact an American Pastor this week and when he responded to us he did not address us at all. He typed two or three lines of a non-response to our questions and that was it.

We sent another e-mail to take him to task for his lack of courtesy and his failure/refusal to answer the questions we put to him.

He responded by apologising for his lack of formality which he explained was due to the fact that he was driving at 70mph whilst texting his response to us.

We were horrified to think that he was putting himself and other drivers and pedestrians in danger whilst he responded to our e-mail.

We contacted him again and informed him that if he texted whilst driving in Northern Ireland he would be a lawbreaker.

NI law states that “It is illegal, while driving, to pick up or use a hand-held mobile phone or similar device.”

The Pastor’s responses to our rebuke of his cavalier attitude to his potentially dangerous driving were as follows,

“This is ………… where we have freedom and don’t like nanny-state serfs and peasants telling us what to do while driving. So yes, I text and drive.”

“We prefer liberty OVER safety on this side of the pond.” (He capitalised the word OVER for emphasis)

To spare this fellow’s blushes, we will not name him or his State.

Today, after “suffering” in silence for six months, the pedantic White decided to out Hall as the unnamed pastor:

Pastor Jordan Hall is the Pastor referred to in our post below. He was not identified in the post but the time has come to reveal all.

He cannot be reasoned with because he does not like anyone telling him what to do.

He prefers “liberty over safety,” despite the fact that he is a danger on the roads and could kill himself or someone else. In addition to texting whilst driving at 70mph, he does not wear a seat belt!

In his most recent sermon at his church (Fellowship Baptist, Sidney, Montana) he condemned abortion, and rightly so, but he cannot see that it is hypocritical to condemn abortion whilst he is endangering other human beings by his dangerous driving.

We informed him that we are going to name him, and he responded with,

“I’m perfectly fine with the entire world knowing I text and drive. I also refuse to wear a seatbelt because I don’t like being told what to do.”

What a rebellious, arrogant and defiant man!

He is also liberal on drugs, stating that he is “100% for the legalisation of marijuana and all substances.”

This is outrageous!

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Susan-Anne White, a True Christian, So True She Can’t Find Any Church Pure Enough For Her

Readers may remember the run-ins I have had with White in the past. (Please see Susan-Anne White Thinks I’m a Despicable, Obnoxious, Militant, Hateful AtheistBritish Fundamentalist Susan-Anne White’s List of Politically Correct Words, The BRCA1 and BRCA2 Gene: Susan-Anne White Condemns Women Who Have Preemptive Surgery and The Infamous Fundamentalist Susan-Anne White Has Given Up on Blogging.) It doesn’t surprise me that she is making a mountain out of a molehill; though I do love the fact that it is Fundamentalist Asshole of the Year® JD Hall she is going after. Always fun to watch Fundamentalists devour one another.

White says that Hall can’t be reasoned with and doesn’t like anyone telling him what to do — as if White is any different from Hall. Child, please. Hall and White are two peas in a pod. Both of these servants of the most high God scour the Internet in hopes of finding the smallest offenses by fellow Christians. Granted, White hasn’t badgered someone into committing suicide as Hall reportedly did, but she’s hardly a shining example of a loving, kind, compassionate follower of the Prince of Peace.

Both White and Hall believe, in theory, that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. I say in theory because their public dust-up violates all sorts of Biblical commands about how believers are to treat one another and how they are to handle disagreements with fellow Christians. And on a more hysterically serious note, Hall’s Bible must not contain Romans 13:1-3:

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:

The Message, my favorite paraphrase, puts Romans 13:1-3 this way:

Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it’s God’s order. So live responsibly as a citizen. If you’re irresponsible to the state, then you’re irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible. Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you’re trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear.

By texting and driving Hall is NOT violating Montana law. He is free to drive like an idiot and put the lives of others at risk. You go boy! Way to be good example of a follower of Jesus. However, it is illegal in Montana to not wear a seatbelt while driving or riding in a moving automobile. And by deliberately violating the law of the land, Hall is disobeying God’s clear commands in Romans 13:1-3. As a Christian and a pastor, Hall is duty-bound to obey the law. Worse yet, by violating the law and the commands of God, Hall is no longer fit to be an elder of Fellowship Baptist Church. In 1 Timothy 3, the Apostle Paul said that bishops (elders/pastors) must be blameless, of good behavior, and have a good report (testimony/reputation) with unbelievers.  Hall’s behavior fails on all three counts. Since Hall is living in serious unrepentant “sin,” I call on the membership of Fellowship Baptist Church to immediately remove him as pastor. My God, people, set the standard. If you let Hall break the seat belt law, what’s next? His complicity in the death of a troubled teen? It’s time to stop sin in its tracks!

To Susan-Anne White: what I wrote above is snark and sarcasm. I don’t give a rat’s ass about Hall’s driving habits or your outrage over his behavior. Think of all the things you could be “worrying” about, yet you are focused on getting a pound of flesh out of Hall over his texting while driving.

Now pass me some popcorn.

About Bruce Gerencser

Bruce Gerencser, 62, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 41 years. He and his wife have six grown children and twelve 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. For more information about Bruce, please read the About page.

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Fundamentalist J.D. Hall “Apologizes” to LGBT Community

jd hall

Last year, attention whore J.D. Hall, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney, Montana (the church’s website proudly reports that men such as Fundamentalists Paul Washer, James White, Voddie Baucham, Chris Rosebrough, Douglas Wilson, Ray Comfort, Phil Johnson, Justin Peters, and Sye Ten Bruggencate have preached there) , wrote an “apology” letter to the LGBT community. He reposted his letter today on the Pulpit & Pen website — a trash repository for all things Fundamentalist, Baptist, and Calvinistic. When I first saw  the headline of Hall’s post I thought, has J.D. Hall had a come-to-Jesus moment? Dare I hope that Hall is repudiating his hatred for LGBT people? These thoughts were quickly extinguished by the fact that unless Hall is admitting he is a transvestite Baptist, there’s zero chance that he will turn from his gay-hating ways.

Hall used his “apology” letter to the LGBT community to remind them of the following:

Dear Gay Community,

As a Christian who has been forced to evaluate where I stand in recent days in light of Scripture, in both tone and message, I would like to apologize for myself and other Christians…

1. I’m sorry that any of us ever referred to you as a “gay community.” Really, that’s not helpful. A “community” is a group of individuals that either live in the same place or share the same values. Sodomy (defined as unnatural and immoral sexual behavior) is not a value. Sodomy is a deviancy. Now, if you defined “community” as sharing interests and not values, then there could theoretically be a gay community because you hold unnatural and immoral sexual behavior as a common interest. However, to call you a “community” would legitimize this sin in a way that we don’t legitimize any other sin. For example, we don’t recognize “the thieving community” or the “the lying community” or “the bank-robbing community” or “the rapist community” or the “white collar criminal community.” If communities could be founded upon self-destructive behavior, those communities would be self-defeating, and a self-defeating community is no community at all. In fact, a truly “gay community” would be extinct within one generation. Your unnatural sexual deviancy leads to death; legitimate communities are self-populating and regenerative. It was a dumb term for Christians to start using, and I apologize for all of those who inadvertently give credence to the narrative that yours is a community and not a group of sinners who share in community-destroying behavior.

2. I’m sorry that Christians have made a habit of referring to you as LGBT or LGBTQ or by any other acronym or term, identifying you by your sin. First, it is unfair and unhelpful to identify you by your sin. This is actually discriminatory against you, because we don’t behave this way toward any other group of sinners. Adulterers don’t find their identity in adultery. Liars don’t find their identity in lying. Gluttons don’t find their identity in gluttony. We tend to view others as “people who happen to [fill in the blank with any number of sins].” We haven’t viewed you as people – first and foremost – who suffer from the sinful desire of sodomy. Now, you have self-identified as LGBT, because there is a unique tendency when it comes to homosexuality to let the sin consume you as a person, but we should not have participated in the unfortunate reality that your identity has become wrapped up in sinful behavior. If you thought of yourself as a person who suffers from homosexual desires, rather than as a homosexual, you might realize that you’re more than your specific sexual deviancy.
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3. I’m sorry that we’ve given you the impression that “self-identifying” is a thing. Yes, I know I’ve used the term to get a point across in this letter of apology. But, here’s the thing…you don’t get to “self-identify.” God gave you your identity. Bruce Jenner is not Caitlyn. That’s silly. He’s a guy who emasculated himself to look like a woman, adding breasts and makeup and tucking appendages. It’s a game of dress up, essentially. And if he were to remove his genitalia, he still wouldn’t be a woman. He’d be a man without his genitalia. Bruce Jenner will never have PMS. That’s because he’s not a woman. It’s really, really mean for Christians to be anything but straightforward with this reality. I’m convinced that Bruce Jenner doesn’t have people around him that loves [sic] him, or else they would tell him that he doesn’t look like a beautiful woman. He looks like the person that kids on the bus snicker at behind them, and dare one another to go up and touch. Christians, if we were loving, would say “Bless your heart, but you’re not a woman. You’re a man trying to look like a woman, but no one really thinks you’re accomplishing that so well. You are Bruce, and God made you to be Bruce, and you can never be Caitlyn.”
….

6. Finally, I apologize for all the professed Christians that you thought had convictions, only to find out that they were sniveling, driveling compromise machines. It probably surprised you how they changed their tune and their tone when the Supreme Court ruled. That’s especially tragic. It’s tragic, because I know that your conscience is cutting you. I know that even truth suppressed in unrighteousness hurts. It’s painful, I’m sure. You might even be on the look-out for conviction and resolve and truth, and while perhaps being glad to see the rainbow filter go on your professing-Christian Facebook friends’ profiles, you’re a little let down that there isn’t an unchanging reality out there somewhere. Down deep, you know that you need that. I’m sorry for all those who have professed Christ, but haven’t loved you (or Him) enough to dig their heels in and speak a truth that’s as helpful as it is inconvenient.

I sincerely hope you’ll forgive us for these shortcomings, and we strive to do better in the future.

You can read Hall’s non-apology letter here.

While Evangelicals fall all over themselves attempting to explain that Steven Anderson is some sort of lone homo-hater, Hall’s “apology” letter is a reminder that hatred of LGBT people can be found in EVERY Evangelical church. (Hall’s church, for example, is a Southern Baptist congregation that self-identifies as Reformed Baptist.) I am sure Hall is a proud as a peacock over his “apology” letter. Ha! Ha! Ha! No apology here, you sexual deviants. God’s still hates you, and since I, a properly circumcised Calvinist,  love what God loves and hate what God hates, I hate YOU! As Steven Anderson does, J.D. Hall and the Pen & Pulpit blog have a large following — including 2,373 likes on Facebook and 6,708 followers on Twitter. Hall and other Pulpit & Pen contributors also use a radio program, podcasts, frequent blog posts to promote their version of Evangelical Christianity. Evangelicals who now realize how their vitriol towards the LGBT community caused much harm need to own the fact that there are numerous Halls and Andersons within Evangelicalism (and the Southern Baptist Convention). Granted, many of these haters will never preach hateful sermons as Anderson does, or pen hurtful “apology” letters. Many Evangelicals are too “nice” to ever do such things, but don’t be deceived by their niceness. Behind closed doors, in the safety of their faggot-free churches and homes, these “nice” Evangelicals continue to rail against the letters of the rainbow, condemning LGBT people to hell.

Bruce Gerencser