After reading my last post about the unreported sexual abuse of several minor boys involving a former Youth Pastor at a United Pentecostal Church in Colorado, one person shared with me the following:
I came to this church right after this youth pastor left. No one said anything even to this day. Yes, this person still is a pastor and is friends with former members of this church. I met them once at the church in May 2000 and by at least in September 2000 they were gone and new youth pastors were in. Something happened with him as well, and he left and became a pastor in California for awhile and he is currently a UPCI minister in another state.
The history of youth pastors is true and the list continues on. What I witnessed there was that most sins went unannounced and were swept under the rug. It’s not only sexual abuse at this church, but emotional/verbal abuse from the senior pastor’s wife and the present pastor’s wife.
This is part 35 of a series of articles and part four involving a United Pentecostal Church in Colorado that allegedly failed to report cases of child sexual abuse. (Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by more than one individual. There have been no convictions as the cases mentioned were not reported to the police at the time and to my knowledge, the alleged perpetrator has not admitted guilt.)
In the last article, it was shared how the United Pentecostal Church has had a long-standing rule that any minister who has committed sexual sins/crimes is to forfeit their ministerial license. This is nothing new and is printed every January in their yearly Manual which is distributed to every licensed minister. District officials are supposed to uphold this rule. If a minister is suspected of sexual wrongdoing, it should be reported to their District and the officials should investigate, abiding by their Judicial Procedures. The District has the authority to rescind their license if charges are proven guilty, whether it be a sin or criminal act. Any licensed minister should be well aware that any sexual crime, or suspected sexual crime, is to be reported to the police.
It is reprehensible that this doesn’t always occur in the United Pentecostal Church and there are men licensed today who should not hold license based upon the UPCI stand against sexual sins/crimes. Unfortunately, if a case even reaches a District Board and isn’t covered up or handled ‘in house’ by individual pastors, District Superintendents are granted some wiggle room in following UPCI written policies. I don’t know how many cases I have heard over the years where the son, or other relative, of a UPCI minister has been sexually immoral and yet gone on to be granted license. Written policies have no real meaning when things like this happen. They are empty words and quite hurtful to victims and their families.
Last fall, at the UPCI’s annual General Conference, almost two years after I started this series about sexual abuse and five years after our first individual article, the General Board adopted a new position paper regarding Abuse and Sexual Misconduct. While we applaud them for making a more detailed stand, we are also hesitant in believing it will make a difference. Actions always speak louder than words. If they are now committed to doing what is right, they need to look into the cases we, and others, have already documented and remove the licenses of ministers who are guilty. In addition, we believe that they should also revoke the licenses of those ministers who fail to report any alleged or known instances of child sexual abuse to the proper authorities. It is my firm opinion that any minister who handles instances of sexual abuse ‘in house’ is negligent, irresponsible and unethical and should the perpetrator assault anyone in the future because they chose to not report it to police, that they are partly to blame. Thankfully, one man who had been licensed in Wisconsin, who never should have been considered to be a minister, either had his license revoked or he turned it in sometime last year. (You may want to read what I previously wrote about this position paper and what I feel the organization needs to do in my coverage of UPCI pastor Howard Wayne Geck failing to report child sexual abuse committed by Dexter Hensley.)
I have a collection of UPCI Directories, which are released in January of each year and the following information comes from them. Unfortunately, I only have some of the 1980s and 1990s. I believe the licensed Youth Pastor I wrote about in the last article might first appear in the 1988 and 1989 editions under his first name instead of how he was later listed by his middle name. He is noted as holding a general license in 1988 in a Northwestern state, followed by Colorado in 1989. There is no listing for him in the 1987 or 1981 editions. (I do not have Directories from 1982-1986 or 1993-1998.) Starting in 1990, he is seen listed by his middle name and is likewise seen in 1992 and 1993. By the 1999 edition or before, he is no longer listed, but is seen once again in the 2000 Directory, still in Colorado with a general license. The 2001 Directory is the last one showing him as being in Colorado. It is important to understand that because these directories were compiled near the end of the previous year, they are more reflective of the year prior to their publication. Because of this, it shows that he was in Colorado for at least some of 2000 but could have left the state prior to 2001. According to one witness quoted above, he was no longer the Youth Pastor by at least September 2000. He continued to hold license until either 2010 or 2011. He was not listed in the 2012 edition.
Let’s look at what happens in a case like this, when a licensed minister, who had also been the Colorado District Youth Secretary and then the District Youth President the following year, is alleged to have sexually abused multiple minor boys. Instead of taking appropriate action, where he should have been made to forfeit his license and been reported to the police, he is permitted to retain his UPCI license for at least ten more years.
- He gets to move to an unsuspecting state in the north Midwest followed by another in the Gulf Coast.
- By 2003, he rises from a general license to being an ordained minister in the UPCI. This is their highest level of licensing. (To learn about the levels of licensing see this article.)
- By 2004, or possibly 2003, he establishes a new non-affiliated UPCI church in New Jersey. (Any church whose pastor is licensed by the UPCI is considered a UPCI church. They can go a step further and have a legal affiliation with the organization. He did not.)
- By 2006, he gets elected to serve as a District Presbyter, a position he holds until 2009 or 2010. He and the church are last seen in the 2011 edition, which could mean he was still UPC that year or may have left the prior year.
- As of the writing of this article in June 2020, he is yet a pastor, approximately two decades after leaving Colorado. Are there other victims? How many could there be over a twenty year period and three states?
Now read what another former member of this church shared with me near the beginning of last November. It has been edited to remove names and the edits are in brackets.
I was a member of [a UPCI church in] Denver, Colorado. A few years ago there was a church break up and chaos. Many old members were told they were going Hell by the Bishop and Pastor [last name removed] as well as [the pastor’s wife], who was the cause of much chaos and lies. I left the church awhile after the 1st break up. There have been three as of today. We left due to a cover up of several young boys being sexually abused. It was covered up and the Youth Pastor was then asked to leave. During that time [the pastor’s wife] never spoke to us, but continued to tell people to stay away from us, don’t talk to them. Even a few months ago one of her entourage told a good friend she wasn’t to speak to me… it’s been almost two years. But she continues… Last night I attended a District event with friends where [the Bishop’s wife] was speaking. She had [the pastor’s wife] and [her granddaughter] testify. They both quoted this scripture, Psalms 119:165. When the event ended [the pastor’s wife] grabbed me by the arm. I thought she was going to be genuine and talk BUT… I hugged her and told her we need to talk. She then turned vicious, angry and pointed a finger and said, “If you ever speak of my father, the man of God he is, or ruin his integrity you will pay! You will pay! Stay away from my people!” Really her people, in my mind, her cult. Her daughter [who testified] came in and chimed in Psalm 119:165, “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” Really. Really. As we stood in the church. I am so furious upset and last night [was] my breaking point of [these leaders and this church]!! The ABUSE, ACCUSATIONS, THREATS OF GOING TO HELL has to STOP !!!
[Because there may be other sexual abuse victims from Colorado reading this, some may wish to review this PDF document, which covers the law, statutes of limitations and potential sentences and was valid as of at least 2015. In 2020 Colorado officials have been working on eliminating the statute of limitation for civil lawsuits for sexual abuse crimes. The bill was postponed in June 2020. You may also wish to read this article of why it is important to report possible cases of sexual assault. Never assume a pastor has reported child sexual abuse, especially in a state like Colorado where children are not fully protected by the law due to clergy privilege.]
You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.
