This post is connected to the article on the Kelsey Cook case, which was posted on Friday. While it is in part related to the case, it is being shared due to the strong public stand that this pastor made regarding sexual abuse. It deserves to be shared.
About three hours ago, Austin Hopper, the lead pastor at Downtown Church in Battle Creek, Michigan made this post. It is a United Pentecostal Church.
While no name was mentioned of the one who was convicted, it is former UPCI minister Kelsey Cook, who is also in Michigan. She is now in jail awaiting sentencing and is facing a minimum of 25 years behind bars. On Friday we made our initial post on the case.
It is refreshing to see Austin’s post as all too often we have covered cases where victims were not supported and abuses were covered up and not reported to police. In fact, after posting about the Cook case, I heard of two more where this happened, both UPCI related. There are ministers who show up in court proceedings, not in support of victims, but supporting accused perpetrators.
Austin has taken a firm stand against abuse and promised to protect people and not reputations. We wish every UPCI minister would take a firm stand like what was shared in his post- and not just take the stand, but follow through and truly set in place safeguards in the churches, immediately report to police cases of abuse or suspected abuse, and support victims, both privately and publicly. And for once I would love to see a bunch of UPCI ministers showing up in court and sitting on the side of victims. Not one of them showed in support of victims at the recent sentencing of former UPCI pastor Scott Huse in Wisconsin.
The Cook case is one where it had been reported that some people had allegedly been told the case was closed when that never happened. It had been alleged that she was showing up for UPCI gatherings as if she was not facing a very serious charge.
See also Part 3, with a second post from Austin Hopper.
The Kelsey Cook case is the fourth case so far in 2026 where former UPCI ministers were convicted of sexual charges. (Others: Dominic Foor, James Lawson, Scott Huse) Our hearts go out to all survivors and their families and may all who have been harmed find some justice in our legal system.
I originally posted about this on March 8, 2026 on our Facebook Page.
You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.
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