A Pastor Who Should Not Have Been Part 2

Part five of a series of articles.

As I’ve written elsewhere, ‘if you are interacting with a sex offender who is admitting he or she has harmed someone, and you feel yourself being pulled to feel sorry for this person instead of, or more than, the victim, it is probable that an experienced victim-stancer is manipulating you.’

Many well-intentioned people feel sympathy for an offender and advocate for them with the victim and/or the victim’s loved ones. They remind victims that their abusers are created in God’s image no matter what harm they have done. For the victims and their loved ones, this is a bizarre, surreal, and wounding experience because it echoes and reinforces the grooming of the abuser. – Maureen Farrell Garcia

(Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by survivors. There have been no convictions as the cases mentioned here were not reported to the police at the time and to my knowledge, the alleged perpetrators have not admitted guilt.)

This article covers information about Steven Dahl and his alleged molestation of at least two children in the 1980s as well as allegations of failure to report instances of child sexual abuse by pastor John W. Grant, of Calvary Gospel United Pentecostal Church in Madison, Wisconsin. Please see Part 1 for background details.

In Part 1 I wrote, “It is troubling to me regarding the origins of the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church” and as promised, this article will cover information about Steven Joseph Dahl’s church in Oconto, Wisconsin. To briefly summarize previous information, Steve Dahl’s marriage to Debra ended after he was discovered in bed with Debra’s fifteen year old sister and when pastor John Wesley Grant of Calvary Gospel Church (CGC) in Madison, Wisconsin was informed by a twelve year old girl that Dahl had been repeatedly sexually molesting her since she was eleven. After Debra filed for divorce in 1985, when Steve was 34 years old, he married her 18 year old sister on April 17, 1986 in Clark County, Nevada.

After he was found out, Steve phoned Debbie, who he had been sexually molesting, to let her know he was going away and that it wasn’t her fault. He possibly went to Nevada, though in 1984 he was living in Appleton. Debbie recalls that when she was 15, he showed up at the UPCI church camp in Wisconsin.

In doing research, I noticed a former slogan that the Wisconsin District of the United Pentecostal Church once used: “A District With Direction.” In my opinion, the District has apparently been going in a wrong direction for years when it comes to sexual issues and failure to report abuse, especially at CGC. Since this story broke, numerous people have been coming forward with allegations of other instances where United Pentecostal ministers have failed to report sexual abuse, in addition to situations which involve Calvary Gospel Church. It has been shared with me that there is a currently licensed minister in the state who allegedly covered up multiple situations of sexual assault committed by his son.

Just as the church has authority to examine and approve ministerial candidates, so it has authority to remove someone from a ministerial position if he no longer meets God’s requirements. Actually the person disqualifies himself by his actions, and the church simply recognizes this fact. Solomon permanently removed Abiathar from the high priesthood, a hereditary role explicitly ordained by God, because of his rebellion (I Kings 2:26-27). – David Bernard, January-March 1988 Forward

It is my understanding that the rules of the United Pentecostal Church prohibit a person from becoming or remaining a minister when they have committed sexual sins (adultery, fornication, child molestation, incest, rape, etc.). As David Bernard, the General Superintendent, wrote in their ministerial magazine in 1988, “A preacher may fall into sin, be forgiven by God, be restored to the church, and even be restored to many areas of service, but this does not automatically entitle him to his former position of leadership. …Moreover, some sins-such as child molestation, incest, and rape-may indicate deep personality problems that would permanently disqualify someone from many leadership positions.”

Yet despite all of this, a United Pentecostal church allowed Steven Dahl to pastor their daughter work AFTER he had committed sexual sins. Though Dahl did not hold license in the organization, he never should have been permitted to lead any UPCI church or daughter church as a pastor, as his own actions disqualified him.

Yet not only did this happen, but it appears that numerous licensed ministers have been, and still are, in fellowship with Steven Dahl, even commenting on his Facebook posts over the years. When their ministers will shun former members because they left the organization or no longer hold to their teachings on standards, I find this disturbing and perplexing. I know of a situation in Michigan where a licensed minister left the UPCI and wrote a book about their teaching on women’s hair needing to be uncut. He had not committed adultery, nor had he molested children, he still held to their main teachings on salvation and yet his former UPCI pastor, Robert Henson, badmouthed him and tried to cause him problems.

Christian Life Center, located at 670 North Green Bay Road in Neenah, Wisconsin, while under the long-term pastorate of ordained minister John J. Bridges, [profile later removed and then reinstated] encouraged and supported Steven Dahl as the pastor of their daughter work in Oconto. (Christian Life Center years back was called Twin Cities United Pentecostal Church and is presently CrossPoint Church (then later Hope City Church), with Philip Bridges, John Bridges son, being the pastor since 2011.)

I am unaware of how long this affiliation with Dahl lasted, though it did go on for more than a decade. The Facebook Page for Pentecostal Lighthouse Church 821 Superior Ave in Oconto, Wisconsin, located just under four miles from Dahl’s home, states it was founded on April 11, 1995, though the church did not have property at that time. [screenshot – There is an unofficial Facebook Page for Steve’s church. On February 21, 2018 Steve removed the church Facebook Page.]

The website shows a picture [screenshot] of what appears to be men and women who were working on some construction. As previously shared, the website domain name was purchased on October 1, 2011 (in March 2012 he was referring people to it). While Facebook stated it “is an independant Apostolic One God, Acts 2:38 church,” the about us section of the website claimed, “We are not isolated or independent, we are part of a very large and growing movement of churches” and mentions the United Pentecostal Church.

My thoughts are that when Philip Bridges took over as pastor of Christian Life Center, something may have changed though it could have occurred prior.

Way back in 1995 when the Oconto church started, John Bridges was supportive of it. It appears that sometime in 2006, the Wisconsin District starting listing all the daughter works of churches. The January 30, 2007 issue clearly shows under the Neenah listing that they had a daughter church: “Daughter Work Oconto Pentecostal Lighthouse  Pastor: Steven Dahl   Phone: 920-834-xxxx    Daughter Work Address: xxxx Young Rd., Oconto, WI 54153.” A February 2006 version of the list does not mention it, but no daughter works at all are included, but by April 7, 2006 it is listed. A 2014 version under Philip Bridges does not mention it. [It should be noted that the address given in the District listing for the Oconto church is not a church, but rather is the multi-acre home address of Dahl. Many times churches are started in the homes of ministers.]

We must ask how could this have happened? Besides failing to report Steve Dahl to the police when notified of repeated accounts of sexual assault, did John W. Grant also fail to inform fellow United Pentecostal ministers and pastors? He was the District Superintendent by the time he heard from Debbie. Was he unaware that John Bridges had allowed Steve Dahl to pastor a daughter work for more than a decade? Since this information was distributed by the Wisconsin District, I cannot see that as a possibility. Did he fail to inform him after learning of the daughter work? Or was pastor John Bridges aware of Dahl’s past and chose to use him regardless of the fact that doing so would be against the rules of the United Pentecostal Church? Did all the ministers in Wisconsin turn a blind eye to what was happening or were they left in the dark regarding his past? Either way, the situation is troubling as to the United Pentecostal Church connection with Steven J. Dahl.

I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. – 1 Corinthians 5:9-11

Since many people do not reveal that they have been assaulted, we may never know the full extent of sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church. From what I have been hearing, the Wisconsin District has a problem. Calvary Gospel Church in Madison has a problem. Yet when a pastor does nothing when his own son tells him he was molested, as John Grant allegedly did, it is my opinion that it wouldn’t matter much to him upon hearing it happened to others, even eleven year old Debbie. How extremely sad.

You can see Roy Grant and Calvary Gospel Church, as well as John Putnam in the above video posted on October 8, 2017 by the United Pentecostal Church.

Known as ‘The Rev,’ Steve Dahl runs The Rev Oconto Car Club Facebook Group (started September 28, 2021). He organizes Car N Tunes events in Wisconsin and at the annual Oconto Fly-In Car & Tractor Show (he also runs or helps run that Facebook Page, which started February 16, 2018), where he has served as emcee and DJ at the event for thirteen years. The next Fly-In date is September 21, 2024.

March 11, 2024 Note: Screenshots and some pictures have been added to this post, links have been checked, and some revisions were made.

You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.

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