Part eight of a series of articles.
(Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by a survivor. There have been no convictions as the case mentioned here was not reported to the police and to my knowledge, the alleged perpetrator has 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. You will need to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for additional details.
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. He must once again meet the qualifications of being blameless, having a good report, and so on. This takes much time, and in some cases total restoration may never be possible. …Moreover, some sins-such as child molestation, incest, and rape-may indicate deep personality problems that would permanently disqualify someone from many leadership positions. – David Bernard, January-March 1988 Forward
In a previous article, I shared about the relationship between the United Pentecostal Church and the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church in Oconto, Wisconsin, a Oneness Pentecostal church where Steven J. Dahl is the founder and pastor. It is something I stumbled across while doing research for my articles. The relationship between Dahl and the UPCI should never have occurred according to their Manual. It causes us to ask questions that cannot be ignored, tip-toed around or rationalized away. (The two screen shots below are from the 2018 UPCI Manual. The rules mentioned were also in place in the 1990s.)
In the United Pentecostal Church, if a minister is guilty of an immoral sexual act, they must forfeit their license and one who has committed such is not to minister in a UPC church. How then did an adulterer, who is an alleged pedophile, pastor the daughter work of a United Pentecostal church in Neenah, Wisconsin? John J. Bridges was pastor of Christian Life Center (now CrossPoint Church– then later Hope City Church), the parent church. [screenshot from a 2006 Wisconsin District directory]
In the United Pentecostal Church, new churches are only to be started with the written consent of the District Board. How then was the daughter work of Christian Life Center approved by the Wisconsin District when Steven Dahl, not licensed by the UPCI, was to be the pastor? Since the District included his name and home address in their directories, it wasn’t like Bridges bypassed this requirement and secretly had a daughter work. [screenshot from a 2007 Wisconsin District directory]
If the Oconto church started in 1995 [screenshot] when Dahl has stated, John W. Grant was serving as the Wisconsin District Superintendent. How then did the District approve the daughter work of Christian Life Center when Grant allegedly had direct knowledge of instances of child sexual abuse? He was the pastor at Calvary Gospel United Pentecostal Church in Madison, where Steven Dahl had been a member during the time when the alleged abuse took place. [screenshot from a 2008 Wisconsin District directory] If it started in 1995 but somehow didn’t become a daughter work of the Neenah church until the 2000s, John Putnam would have been the District Superintendent. Considering the seriousness of the allegations, it would be a dereliction of duty for John W. Grant to not have shared about Dahl with John Putnam or John Bridges. Since Steven Dahl’s name was included in at least three years of Wisconsin District Directories, District officials, as well as any other Wisconsin licensed minister, had to know that he was being used as a pastor. [Note: James Booker became the new District Superintendent in March 2018.]
Not only did Steven J. Dahl get to pastor the United Pentecostal daughter work in Oconto, but an eyewitness has shared with me that he was seen attending the Wisconsin District Conference meeting held at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, where these have been held for years. [screenshot] This was at the minister meetings and happened around 2005-2007. He was present in at least one of these, possibly more. John Putnam was the District Superintendent then (and still was as of 2018). Why was Steven Dahl allowed to attend meetings for UPCI licensed ministers when he neither held license, nor was he ever going to be eligible to obtain one?
If the above isn’t enough to cause astonishment, for years United Pentecostal ministers and pastors have been speaking for Steven Dahl at the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church in Oconto. Dahl has spoken in at least one of their churches. A list of some of these men will be covered in Part 2. It is very clear to me that, year after year, the Wisconsin District of the UPCI and many of its ministers have embraced Steven Dahl as one of their own, something they would have been prohibited from doing according to the UPCI Manual had his alleged sexual sins occurred while holding license. I shared in a previous article, “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.”
So how does the above look to many of us who have left UPCI churches? It reeks like the stench of rotting fish. Many of us were suddenly shunned once we exited their buildings and we had not committed adultery, nor acts of child sexual abuse. I asked Debbie, who alleges that Steven Dahl repeatedly molested her while a member of Calvary Gospel Church, to write about how this has affected her.
Just like when I was a child they prefer the child abuser over the abused child. As I and others have tried to speak out and tell our stories we are scoffed at and declared to be liars by some who don’t even know us or the details of our stories. The church has gone out of its way to be friendly with Steve. They are friends with him on social media and they visit one another’s churches. Just like when the abuse happened he seems to be accepted and I am denied. They did not report his actions at the time and he was taken in by another UPC church. He was eventually put in charge of a daughter work and now it is like nothing ever happened. He does not hold a UPCI license but that doesn’t seem to matter much to them. Meanwhile, when I speak my truth they do not want to hear it. My story is automatically met with denial, disbelief, and scorn. There is no willingness to even entertain the idea that I might be telling the truth. Steve is enjoying a fair amount of support on his page. People are offering him prayers and verbal encouragement as he goes through this difficult trial. Not one person who is still in the church has reached out to me. …Watching how well Steve has been received and how much the church wants to deny all of this has hurt me. When I see people I used to respect, like former Sunday School teachers being friends with Steve online that is pretty hard to witness. – Debbie, former member of Calvary Gospel Church
Will any answers to these questions be forthcoming? Time will tell. I plan to continue writing. Meanwhile, a growing number of people find this to be very upsetting and inexcusable. If you presently are part of the Wisconsin District of the United Pentecostal Church, you should hold these people accountable and press for an investigation.
For those who wish to hear him, this is a video interview with car enthusiast Steven Dahl, who has owned over 175 cars in his lifetime. [The video has since been made private.] Here’s one he made on September 16, 2023 and another from the same day, that he streamed live on his The Rev Oconto Car Facebook Group he operates. You can find several more of his live videos there. He’s very active in old car shows, such as the Cars N Tunes events which have been held several times a year at Shake A Burger in Oconto (he plays the tunes there and at the annual Oconto Fly-In, Car & Tractor Show, where he has served as emcee and DJ at the event for thirteen years). He used to have some YouTube videos of his preaching, but they have been removed.
March 12, 2024 Note: 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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