Category: Oneness Pentecostal | Page 20

Melanie, A Minister’s Wife, Shares Her United Pentecostal Experience

Below is the experience of Melanie and Mark who were long-term members of the United Pentecostal Church. They pastored a church for years and Mark held several district positions during his time as a UPC minister. What happened to them isn’t just a one-time incident in the organization, as you will see from a second couple who recently shared a small part of their story. I saw Melanie’s story elsewhere and asked permission to share it here so that others would be able to see it and be helped and encouraged. (Some changes have been made.) The organization doesn’t just bite and devour some of its former members who were never licensed or didn’t hold positions, but they have also done so to their licensed ministers, people who have served the UPCI for years, some for decades.

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Mark was born and raised in the United Pentecostal Church. He is now 54. I left Catholicism and came in at 15 (37 years ago). After biting our (ever bleeding) tongues over hearing and seeing more than any one should hear or see as a Christian, much less as a minister in this organization … and further, after raising our children in this, we finally had enough and left about a year and a half ago. The only regret we have is that we didn’t have the courage to do it sooner.

We pastored for over 30 years in various capacities. Mark held many district positions. His most recent pastorate was for 18 years. When I stop here to say that Mark’s identity and livelihood was tied to the UPC, it is an understatement. His family goes back 4 generations. His great grandfather, grandfather, father, brothers, uncles and some cousins are all ministers. His family is well known and respected in the UPC. Most every member of his family, immediate and extended, are “in church”. As far as Mark’s livelihood goes, Mark worked at a building supply store, besides pastoring full time. Two thirds of our income was derived from the church. We depended on the church for our bread and butter. Mark had always felt it was important to earn his own paycheck from outside the church. We both felt it was important to interact with our small town community. However, to survive without the church income was somewhat impossible, or so we thought.

Now, my upbringing, on the other hand, was quite in contrast to Mark’s. My dad owned a bar and therefore, I was raised on the bar stool … the bartender’s daughter. Very well loved by him and quite protected by his bouncers and bartenders. However, I so desperately wanted to know and understand God, that I was willing to do what I needed to do, so as to “prove” it to Him. In reality, it really ended up that I was proving it to those who were telling me what to do. I truly came into this innocently but with a deep desire to learn about and love God. It wasn’t even a year after we were married when I began to see and question things that didn’t add up. But I buried those questions in an effort not to alarm Mark. Not knowing he had the same questions and concerns. During our 33+ years of marriage, we have seen and experienced more junk in the UPC than I care to mention! But as you also know, we were all taught to bury those concerns or questions and to trust in those who have rule over us, to carry on blindly, to focus on “God and His word,” or what they said was God’s word.

We have 3 children, 19, 21 and 29 years of age. We denied our children (and ourselves) so much life and fun in the attempt to do the “right thing”. I am deeply grieved when I think on it. Thankfully, our three children still love and serve God. They are strong in their faith in Him. They also love and are very loyal to family. We were always very open with them, encouraged discussion and also taught them to question and think for themselves. As a result of our deep discussions, our children each formulated their own beliefs and guidelines which, of course (no surprise), were very different than UPC and in some ways different than ours. We are ok with that. We want them to make their own decisions, just as we wanted to make our own. All 3 of our children and son-in-law chose to stay and help our efforts until we left. They all basically said the same thing but at separate times, when they each came to us on their own. They said since we all felt the same concerning the standards, or should I say legalism, they wanted to help us see this thing through and if we couldn’t see it through together, then they wanted us to all leave together rather than fragment off at separate times. We are so thankful for their moral support! Our children have made us feel so honored and loved. They are such blessings to us!!!

Over the years, we had always tried to do our best and comply with the all the rules in an effort to be pleasing to both God and man, with emphasis on “man”. We hoped we could make a difference in helping the 35+ congregation to see another way, to understand what God’s grace was really all about and to allow them to make their own choices without any interference from us. Sometimes we thought we were making progress. How wrong we were, and on so many counts! In spite of constant looks of judgement and gossip, we truly did love them and so continued at our post. It was a heavy load. We were depressed, bound and always stressed. All of us! I won’t go into the fact that our family had to do nearly everything in the church. That’s another long heart wrenching story.

We finally left after our church board was insisting that I quit my new job as an EMT. I had gone back to school, became an EMT and had been working on the ambulance corp for a year and a half before they found out I was wearing a uniform! …. more specifically pants and only while on duty. A double standard, we know. But, we knew that there might be some of the congregation that might accept my wearing them on the job only and then as a result, we might have an open door in the future to discuss the falseness in their long held beliefs. I know it was probably a futile effort, but we loved the people and so much wanted to open their eyes to God’s understanding, grace and freedom.

Let me point out here, that during Mark’s ministry, he never once preached standards. Mainly because he couldn’t bring himself to preach things he questioned. He always allowed people to make their own choices. However, when it was time for us to experience that same liberty, we were denied it … and with extreme anger judgement, I might add! The church turned on us, so ardently, that many fabricated rumors circulating concern our marriage and children! The shunning was so pronounced, it was as though all the good things and sacrifices we made over 18 years as pastor at this church, were negated from this one act! Of course I was to blame for leading my family astray. The woman is always at fault … Of course they say that because they can “see” the “sinfulness”. Mark was reduced to a non-thinking man that could only follow his wife! And our adult children and son-in-law, well it wasn’t their fault, they had no choice but to follow when the mother fails. When in fact, it was all of us choosing to think for ourselves and make our own decisions!

Anyway, there were so many major controlling and insulting issues over the years (too many to count) that should have made us walk away many years ago, but this was the final straw. I was only wanting to help by ministering to the practical needs of my neighbors and surrounding communities. I guess only “sinner” EMT women can minister in this way. None of the church folks would refuse help from a “sinner” EMT woman if she showed up. Anyway, I could rant on and on over the “should haves and could haves” but the simple fact is, we finally did it. We resigned and all left the same night. It was the best decision we ever made. It’s sad to say, but no one from the district has tried to contact us to see how we are. Mark even tried to ask to meet with some of the district board to discuss his concerns and differences before he made the decision to leave…. no bites. It’s painful and hurts deeply to realize their acceptance or approval of us was predicated upon our compliance. In spite of Mark’s good standing throughout all his life in the UPC, no one thought him important enough to check on on him and his family, or even throw him a lifeline. The hateful way we were treated over the couple months before we chose to resign, is more than I can write here. The shunning by the ladies alone was heart wrenching and painful. I became an outcast. No one would speak to me at service, for the most part I was ignored. There is so much more I could add, but I’ll stop now.

I still sometimes have to vent as things surface, but to dwell on them and continue to be angry about them is not something I want to subject myself to. To do so (to me) would make me feel and appear to God as though I am unthankful for His deliverance from this bondage of legalism. Besides, it really only hurts me and not those that have hurt me. The hardships, the lies, the loss of our good UPC standing, the loss of a lifetime network of friends and family, the pain of rejection, the public shaming that I have experienced (verbally in very public places) and the shunning cannot be compared to the the grace, the freedom, the happiness and the joy we now experience in God! Our good financial name has not suffered in the least. God provided ways for us to earn a living that we had not foreseen and would not have foreseen, had we not taken that leap of faith. My income as an EMT doubled since last year and Mark received an increase as well as the opportunity to work overtime every week. We don’t have much but we have enough to pay the bills and we are much happier and at peace. God has provided what we needed. We will never again allow ourselves to be dependent on any church for any amount of income. We are much happier not feeling obliged to the church in any way and earning our own way.

Our family is so much closer and so much happier than we have ever been. No more tension and scrutiny in our home. No more attempting to make sure we are complying to what others think. No more dread of and/or arguing on Sunday mornings and evenings. We look forward to Sunday mornings and going to a free thinking church. We all made our own decisions as to where we wanted to attend after taking a break. And to our surprise, we all ended up at the same church (a community minded Church of God, that does not subscribe to organized religion) and we still gather for Sunday dinner at our house every week. And no evening service! We have time for rest and family. Imagine that! Wow, what freedom! … What peace! What joy! It brings Mark and I so much joy to watch our children and their families live life freely. We have acquired a daughter-in-law and a grandson since we left. What a comfort to know our grandchildren will not be tainted by the UPC’s destructiveness and control.

We are free to love God and love our neighbors as we read it and see it in His word. We no longer serve other men’s convictions. We are free to apply the Scriptures to our lives and work out our own salvation as His word states we are to do. We are FREE at last! Best decision EVER! We are so happy, I smile and have tears of joy when thinking about it …. which is often, indeed. We are truly happy at last. BEST decision EVER!

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Note from Lois: Some may be interested in also watching two videos with Esther and Brian Henry, former United Pentecostal Church missionaries to Papua New Guinea. They were also pastors at a UPCI church in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin District of the UPCI and the District Superintendent at that time treated them very poorly. We also have a five part series about people where various people share about being harmed in the United Pentecostal Church.

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Children Raised Under Spiritual Abuse III

In my career as a social worker, we have case studies that we use to examine a person’s life story in order to assess and evaluate how to best help the individual. When we are sharing with other professionals, we give the individual client a made up name in order to protect their privacy.

I have chosen this method to introduce to you some people I have known who have shared with me their stories of being raised in a spiritually abusive environment. Because of being raised in such a climate, many of these individuals still have parents or other family members who are in these groups, and therefore do not want to be identified in a public blog, due to the very difficult task of trying to maintain family relations with loved ones who are still in the group. I have honored their need for confidentiality.

Grace was born into the spiritually abusive environment she now believes to be a cult. Her father was a United Pentecostal Church ordained minister, and both grandfathers were also ordained in the same organization. Grace’s parents were evangelists, traveling around and preaching almost every night of the week for different churches in the United States. This was many years ago and Grace’s parents traveled by auto, staying in the homes of the pastors for which they preached.

During this time period, Grace was approximately two months old when her father decided one day that her screaming was “anger”, and that she was “throwing a tantrum.” He spanked her infant legs with his hand, a couple of swats to make it sting and begin teaching her early that “anger is a sin.” At her next doctor’s appointment, it was discovered that her mother, who’d been trying to breastfeed her, was not making enough milk, and the cries were cries of hunger and tummy discomfort. Grace is unclear about her parent’s feelings in this regard, simply stating that they recorded it in her baby book with a “ha, ha” beside the date of her “first spanking,” even after they knew about the hunger.

Grace says her parents did love her and did not intend to be cruel, but the toxic environment was one both of them had been raised in, and they were simply doing what they thought was right at the time, based on their intense devotion to the God they’d been taught to believe was a demanding God of judgement.

Grace describes how her parents bragged for many years to their saints and to her and her siblings that they knew how to “train a child” to “behave in the house of God,” because they had trained her at nine months of age to “sit on the front row” during song service, alone with no adult. “If you got up or turned around, one of us would come off the platform (her mom was playing an instrument and her dad was leading service) and spank you, then sit you back down. You learned quickly. We know even babies can be trained.” Grace says their reasoning for this was that they were “home missionaries” starting a church and did not have a trustworthy adult yet converted to help watch her during service.

Grace says that some of her earliest memories were related to church. She says she can strongly relate to a title of a pop song that recently became popular, called “Sit Still Look Pretty,” because that was what she was told to do often as a little girl. She remembers wearing ruffled dresses with itchy tulle slips under them, squirming because she was uncomfortable in those clothes as they irritated her skin, but she would often be reprimanded for moving or swatted on the leg if she could not sit still.

She remembers her grandmother being reprimanded from the pulpit by her father, during one of his sermons, because the grandmother was drawing pictures for her to keep her entertained during the long sermons that were completely beyond her ability to understand.

Grace remembers taking candy from a Sunday School room at about age five and then, when her mother found out, she told Grace that it was stealing, it was a sin, and she would be lost for taking candy like that. She was led in a prayer of repentance and sent to apologize to the Sunday School Teacher. She still remembers the heavy sense of guilt, though she really didn’t know it was stealing when she did it.

From age five, when her sense of sin was awakened by the “stealing” event, Grace describes how she would “seek the Holy Ghost” every service, going down to the altar and kneeling there as long as she could stand it to pray and ask for the experience of speaking in tongues. This went on every service for three years, until she finally received the experience at the age of eight. She remembers being baptized “in Jesus’ name” not long before that, and how “I really did feel very clean and light inside,” but wonders if it was the baptism itself or the belief in what it was doing (taking away her sins).

Grace recalls a time around nine years of age when “we were having a shouting service” and she and a friend around the same age fell out on the floor and rolled back and forth “because we had heard them preach about holy rollers being really spiritual”. Adults stopped them from continuing, but she remembers being confused about why they would lift up such a thing verbally, but yet stop the girls from actually doing it. She remembers a mixture of shame and confusion about the incident.

Out of 12 years of education, Grace says only two and a half years were in a public school. “Three years were our own church school, and the rest of the time I was home-schooled.” She says she did not learn some of the things that are normal for school aged young people to learn. “I never learned anything about Greek mythology, and even the philosophers were barely mentioned in the context of Paul’s visit there.” She relates that her education was very poor in mathematics, and that she distinctly remembers her father slapping her when she couldn’t figure out how to do a math problem. She remembers a lot of yelling at her as well, when it came to learning math.

Grace describes herself as a “very shy, timid teenager, easily brought to tears.” She says that, because of the environment, she was highly sensitive and full of shame and guilt that was largely misplaced.

“The church rules…you never questioned them”. She learned as a toddler that pants, cut hair, and makeup were sins for women and she would point out people she saw wearing these things and ask her mother “Is that lady Catholic?” She apparently equated sinfulness with the Catholic religion, as is so often done over UPC pulpits.

No jewelry of any kind was allowed, and strict rules governed the sleeve length and dress length of her clothing. “We stopped wearing short sleeves when I was about ten,” she remembers. No slits of any length were ever allowed in skirts, and sleeves were required to be below the elbow. Hems were below the knee “sitting, standing or kneeling.” She said her long uncut hair was at one time to her ankles, “but we were not allowed to wear our hair down if we were going to be on the platform. It was considered stringy and unkempt.” She remembers that, when going around family members who were not in the group, her parents would make sure she braided her hair or wore it in a bun so that “we will be a good testimony to the family.” Somehow, even though her hair was praised and glorified throughout her lifetime, Grace knew that it looked “like a hippy” when it was down and obviously untrimmed.

Grace calls herself a “girly-girl” because she always loved beautiful things, but says that she had to confine it to lace and flowers for most of her life because most pretty things were forbidden–such as jewelry, makeup, nail polish, etcetera.

Grace describes hearing many sermons about women staying in their place, but mostly from her father’s associates, not from him. She says this is probably likely to the fact that his mother was also a preacher when he was a child. However, submission was a topic that was preached in great doses, especially submission to one’s husband and primarily to the pastor.

Grace ends our interview by relating that she feels the most harmful part of being raised in this environment was the fact that the parents controlled the children to such a degree, and then her parents used the pastoral role to control her even further. “The pastor could tell you to do anything, even if the Bible didn’t say do it. You had to do it because the pastor said and if you didn’t you were going to hell, because the pastor was God’s man and you had to obey him as if he was God.” Grace says that, where parental boundaries fell short, her father was adept at “pulling the pastor card” in order to control her.

“I finally left his church when, as an adult in my thirties, I was told I had to have his permission to have people over to my house and he was in control of the guest list.” This was in his role as her pastor, not her father.

Grace’s story is only one of many that I hope to introduce you to over the next few posts. An entire life from babyhood into middle adulthood can hardly be summed up in this short article, but I have tried to include some of the most powerful stories that Grace shared about what it was like to grow up in this environment, virtually brainwashed by the isolation and involvement in such a group.

(To be continued)

Children Raised Under Spiritual Abuse
Children Raised Under Spiritual Abuse II
Children Raised Under Spiritual Abuse III
Children Raised Under Spiritual Abuse IV
Children Raised Under Spiritual Abuse V

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Jason Hubacek UPCI Sexual Abuse Case: Complaint To Kevin Prince

This is part eighteen in a series of articles. You may want to first read this one as it covers the very basics of this case as well as part two as it looks at the church guidelines regarding children, as well as questions about them, and includes two court documents. This pertains to the recent sentencing of pedophile Jason Charles Hubacek of Beaumont Texas, who had been a member of at least two affiliated United Pentecostal Churches: Abundant Life Sanctuary in Groves, Texas and The Anchor of Beaumont in Beaumont, previously known as the First United Pentecostal Church of Beaumont and New Life Tabernacle. Some background on the latter may be found in the first article. He was at the Anchor for a short period and taught Sunday School there. (Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by people with whom I have been in contact, who are well acquainted with this situation.)

We may never know how many victims there are as it’s clear Hubacek didn’t care if a child was an infant yet in diapers, someone who would be incapable of comprehending or articulating what was done to them by a pedophile. A most frightening aspect is that for around ten years Jason C. Hubacek was permitted to work with children at these two churches, allowing him to come in contact with an untold number of children. (As mentioned in the first article, he also was involved in events at other churches.) It is my opinion that part of that fault lies with the first judge that handled the case years ago when Jason was first publicly accused of molesting children and the other part lies with Abundant Life Sanctuary for only going by a judge in a divorce case proceeding and dismissing these accusations when allowing him to work with children in various capacities, even after several people allegedly approached them through the years with serious concerns. His activity in the church should have been strictly limited to adults, erring on the side of caution, considering the severity of the sexual abuse accusations.

This article has minimal commentary and will mainly focus on two letters from a former member of Abundant Life Sanctuary who dated Hubacek in between his two marriages. She alleges that herself, a sister and her husband, as well as others, did bring their concerns about Jason Hubacek to the attention of David and/or Sandra Myer after the original divorce court case. At least one of those happened in early 2012 and two others in 2015. The church, in its September 19, 2018 letter to members, denied any such thing saying, “We never once received an accusation of sexual misconduct against Jason from anyone in the church or anyone whose child attended our church.” Image link for page 1, page 2 of the letter.

Between the asterisks is a certified letter sent to Kevin L. Prince, the current Texas District Superintendent. It was received and signed for on October 9, 2018 [proof of receipt from the USPS] and the sender has never heard anything back from him as of the writing of this article. [Note: At the time, she was unaware of the requirements needed in order to file an official complaint with the UPCI, such as the need for at least two signatures of witnesses.] According to Article V, Section 2 of the judicial procedure of the United Pentecostal Church, Kevin Prince should have sent a response immediately requesting additional information from the sender. “Upon the receipt of a complaint that does not have the required information (see Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 2)[screen shot], the District Superintendent shall inform the signatories of the need of further appropriate information to meet the requirements.” Once all required information is received, the Superintendent has thirty days to “appoint two (2) ordained ministers of the district to serve with him as the investigative committee.” Should a complaint be dismissed, they must “notify the accused minister and the persons who initiated the complaint.” Instead, all this woman has heard was silence from the Texas District of the UPCI. [screen shot of Article V from 2018 UPCI Manual: page one, page two]

The letter to Kevin Prince was later brought to the attention of David Bernard, General Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church, in a recent exchange on his Facebook profile. This discussion is how I initially heard about the case. On the evening of November 11, 2018, Bernard responded to this woman, “I will find out what you are talking about, since the social media posts are so confusing. Again, I don’t do business over social media, for this very reason.” [screen shot of part of the discussion] To date she has not heard from Bernard. [Note added the afternoon of November 20 Very interesting development- since this article went live around 1am today, the quote in it that I shared from David Bernard has been removed from his profile. Also the woman who wrote the letter to the TX District Superintendent has been banned from Bernard’s profile. Additional conversations in the same discussion have also been removed, including ones about Bobby Hart still being licensed. (That is a totally different case.) Does this mean that Bernard will no longer be looking into the letter she sent? Why would you ban someone who is concerned about the welfare of children who have been around a pedophile?]

The personal information of the sender has been removed from the letter to Prince as has the last name of one individual mentioned. Below it you will find her letter to Judge Stevens that is referenced in the letter to Kevin Prince. It contains numerous thoughts regarding Hubacek as well as statements that concerns were reported to David and Sandra Myer. [May 29, 2024 Edit: David Myer passed away on September 10, 2020.]

More may be written about Jason Hubacek’s case in the future.

June 14, 2019 Note: On May 10, 2019, Kevin L. Prince stepped down as the District Superintendent. Jeffery P. “JP” Story, an ordained UPC minister, has taken his place. As of the date that Prince stepped down, he never responded to Carrie.

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October 3, 2018
Kevin Prince
Texas District Superintendent – UPCI
4109 S 1st St.
Lufkin, TX 75901

Dear Mr. Prince,
I am writing to you due to a grave concern I am trying to get someone to address.

I am a former member of Abundant Life Sanctuary in Groves, Tx pastored by David and Sandra Myer and Jason Myer.

On September 17, 2018 one of their Sunday School Teachers, Van driver and Usher, Jason Charles Hubacek, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for 3 counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault and 4 counts of indecency with a child. These children were his three daughters that he abused while a member of ALS.

I formerly dated Jason Hubacek for a brief period of 4 months and witnessed things that caused me concern. He had unrestricted and unsupervised access to children even after these pastors were told he was a pedophile by his ex-wife and members of her family. Jason’s ex-wife was the first person that tried to talk to them about what all he had done to their girls. She was a member of Abundant Life Sanctuary at that time. Another member of ALS, also the uncle of the children and David Myer’s close friend, Freddie [last name removed], spoke with David Myer concerning the allegations the children were making.

Please check on the children of this church. These pastors protected a pedophile for over ten years. He confessed to the Myers and they allegedly paid his bail even after they knew the details of his crimes and appeared with him in court when his own family would not. Amidst the backlash of their congregation finding out what this monster did to children they personally knew, his own children, the pastors recently gave a written statement (attached) which included that they were never told of any concerns of sexual misconduct regarding this member. I did come to them. My sister did come to them. My brother in law did come to them, all on separate occasions regarding different matters of sexual misconduct over a period of two years. There are also other outside believers who attend church elsewhere that came to them with concerns.

The statement that the Myers made had no reference to remorse, compassion or apologies to the victims and their family. It did not address the all too real fact that pedophiles abuse many children over a span of many years before being brought to justice. I understand they feel the strong need to protect themselves and my only intention is for someone to please check on the children that Jason Hubacek supervised and picked up on the bus Ministry, especially the ones he drove home in his personal truck with no other adults present. I personally witnessed him doing so.

I provided a similar statement to this one to the District Attorney who then presented it to Judge Stevens who determined Jason Hubacek’s sentence. The judge specifically stated that he had received statements from church people in defense of this pedophile and that he was not going to consider them for even a moment. I cannot shake the urgency that someone needs to check on all the children this man interacted with and very possibly groomed and/or harmed. Please do not ignore this crucial and devastating issue.

Sincerely,
Carrie Loftin Mena

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This is the letter sent to the district attorney that was to be forwarded to Judge Stevens prior to Hubacek being sentenced. It has been more heavily edited due to the personal information shared.

It is my concern and suspicion that more children have been affected by Jason Hubacek.

He had free unrestricted access to children for 10+ years at Abundant Life Sanctuary church in Groves, Tx. The pastors, David and Sandra Myer, attended court with him when he was initially accused of sexual abuse of his toddler daughters. After he was acquitted, they allowed him to serve in the capacities of sunday school teacher, church van driver and church usher. There were no cameras in the church so no way of monitoring any areas. The Sunday school classroom was also next to the kitchen which had a secluded pantry/closet in the back that the children could go in and get snacks, presenting many opportunities for him to be alone with a child if he chose. He was often taking kids home in his personal vehicle by himself with no other adult present. I personally witnessed these occasions. The church had a policy that if picking up/dropping off SS kids in the church van, there had to be two adults present. As an usher, he was instructed to follow children out if they left out of the auditorium alone, just to monitor and make sure they were not playing and ensure they returned to service promptly. This would have also given him many opportunities to be alone with children.

A friend of mine told me last week that when her son was baptized at church in 2016, Jason Hubacek is the one who was with him alone to supervise him changing into a baptismal robe. The boy was ten years old.

My connection and background:

I briefly dated Jason in 2010…met him July 4th, 2010 at the Abundant Life Sanctuary church in Groves, Tx at a 4th of July celebration.

I have a degree in Social Work, but am not a licensed social worker. I worked with Workforce Solutions in Port Arthur as a case manager with our Non-Custodial Parent jobs program, serving as a resource partner at Jefferson County Courthouse with the Child Support Office. I worked for 13 years in Social Services before becoming a stay home mom in 2014.

Shortly after I started dating Jason in 2010, my older sister had concerns about me getting him close to our 2 year old niece because of the prior allegations with his daughters….He and I were at my other sisters house and I sent out a picture of him laying on the loveseat with my niece on top of him…there was a bit of a family disagreement over this and so I told Jason all about it.

His demeanor immediately changed and he seemed desperate to convince me it was a lie….he also slowly started distancing himself from me and we were broke up by the beginning of December 2010, but he made sure to still be super nice to me as if to stay in my good graces.

My sister and her husband had known him since 2007 and did break off the relationship he had formed with them and my niece but Jason still pursued my niece….any time he was near her at church or in Sunday school he made a point of teasing her and making her laugh just to keep a steady contact and rapport with her. He would watch her from across the church building….and even though my brother in law would give him dirty looks, he would still try to talk to my niece. My family and I stopped going to Abundant Life Sanctuary for 3.5 years.

When my niece got older, my sister and her family returned to ALS and my niece understood to stay away from Jason and never be alone with him. Jason still tried to speak to her every chance he got so my sister and her husband went to Pastor Myer and asked that they tell Jason to leave her alone. One specific occasion occurred where Jason thought [name of niece removed] was alone in the hallway at church and he tried to walk with her and my brother in law appeared from behind, took Jason by surprise and stopped him and told him to his face to stay away from his daughter.

Jason once told me about a kid named [name of minor boy removed] from his Sunday school class. A boy about 9 years old who would come to church on the church van. [Name of minor boy removed] stopped coming to Sunday school for a whole year and they later found out it was because he had been sexually abused. When he finally was convinced to come back again on the church van he was still withdrawn at church. This would have been around years 2009-2010. [Note: It has since been confirmed that Hubacek was not the molester in this case.]

[Name of minor girl removed] is [name of minor boy removed]’s sister and she was very attached to Jason. Always hugging him, getting candy from his pockets, always around him. When she created a Facebook page and sent him a friend request he made sure to tell me she had sent him the friend request. She was probably about 11 years old then but her Facebook picture was a bit risqué.

There was a weird occurrence with a friend of his who was also a youth pastor at another church.

Jason and I saw his friend, [male name removed] and his family along with other church members on a Sunday night at Mazzio’s pizza place in Port Arthur, Tx. Jason spent the whole time playing with [male name removed]’s little girls (approx 4 and 5 yrs old). He later told me that after dropping me off, he stopped by [male name removed]’s house because the girls had wanted candy and he didn’t have any in his pockets but then he found some in his truck so he stopped by to give it to them even though it was past 10pm. [Male name removed] wouldn’t let him in the house….said the girls were already in bed. [Male name removed] was also his co-worker at Johnson Controls.

Another weird occurrence that I include because Jason has one sibling, [female name removed], who he is very close to. She and her husband and toddler twins lived in close proximity to Jason in Beaumont when he lived with his parents. They were always at one another’s homes, at least weekly, and the toddlers (a boy and a girl) were very close to Jason.

Jason’s niece- [name of minor girl removed]. Her parents are [female name removed] and [male name removed].

[Name of minor girl removed] was in daycare in 2011 and [female parent’s name removed] told me that the little girl had a favorite hooded jacket that she loved. It was summer time and the lil girl would insist on wearing it to school, refuse to take it off, wore it around the house, with it zipped up and the hood over her head and face and just play like that. If anyone tried to take it off she screamed and cried and fought them. [Name removed] would have to force it off her for bath time and the lil girl would be sweated down, hair wet from wearing it.

At present time, there is a story floating around that what actually precipitated Jason’s confession in 2017 is an incident happened at his then current church in Beaumont, the Anchor church. It involves an incriminating photo on his phone which his wife, [name removed], took to their pastor and that’s when Jason supposedly confessed. Jason was asked not to return back to the church and [name removed] divorced him. He went to his ex-wife [name removed] to also confess to her and he went to his former church, the above mentioned Abundant Life Sanctuary to also make some sort of confession to that pastor. Regarding what or who, I do not know. After that is when he confessed to Detective Hudson.

It is my hope that any and all such information will help to provide Judge Stevens with all the information he needs in order to render the maximum sentence for Jason Hubacek on September 10.

Thank you for your assistance and service to the community.

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

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Jason Hubacek TX UPCI Sexual Abuse Case: Church Policies

This is part seventeen in a series of articles. You may want to first read this article as it covers the very basics of this case. (Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by people with whom I have been in contact, who are well acquainted with this situation.) I apologize for the length of this article but it cannot be properly covered with a few paragraphs.

Since the initial article on this case, I have been able to obtain one of Jason Hubacek’s November 1, 2017 indictments (I believe the three are the same except with respect to the date the assaults occurred and who was assaulted.), as well as the Probable Cause Affidavit made by Detective John Hudson, who investigated the case. Should you wish to view them, please be forewarned that they are disturbing and may be triggering, especially the Probable Cause Affidavit. Image links for Indictment, Probable Cause 1, Probable Cause 2

In the first article, the pastor’s letter to the members of Abundant Life Sanctuary (an affiliated United Pentecostal Church in Groves, Texas) about Jason Charles Hubacek was shared. Included with this letter were the church policies and procedures regarding children that were adopted in mid December 2011. The church gave itself 90 days to implement them and 120 days to complete the initial screening process and background checks. Essentially, it didn’t go into full effect until sometime in 2012. It has been alleged that, “many of the church members are NOT happy about the letter the Myers gave to them” and “wonder why Hubacek was given so much access when they knew what he was accused of.”

If you will recall from the first article, Jason was very active at Abundant Life Sanctuary for years prior to the start of these policies, yet after they were aware of serious allegations against him by his first wife. David and Jason Myer, pastors of the church, as well as Sandra Myer, were aware of accusations of child sexual abuse against Jason since around 2007-2008. [May 29, 2024 Edit: David Myer passed away on September 10, 2020.] Because of this, it is no wonder if there are indeed members who are questioning their allowing Hubacek to work so closely with children.

Child protection guidelines are needed in ALL churches. I personally know that at my former United Pentecostal Church in NJ, background checks were never done on the adults who worked with the church children. (I was there from 1981 through 1993.) You trusted people simply because they were members of the church, were water baptized, spoke in tongues and appeared to follow the holiness standards. I worked with children there in different capacities over the years and never once was a background check done, nor was I ever instructed on what to do if I suspected any form of child abuse. One person has shared with me that they sometimes worked with the children at Abundant Life Sanctuary and was never given instructions for handling child abuse cases, nor were they asked by the church to sign a release for a criminal background check (as will be seen in the church papers). She recalls teaching children’s church on a Wednesday night with another person and she believes that happened close to the same time she made the decision to stop attending. This would have been during the first quarter of 2012. Another person who left Abundant Life Sanctuary four years later recalled a few of the staff went to the Garth House for training one time in either late 2011 or early 2012. After that they don’t recall having additional training.

Child Abuse is a particularly sensitive area. Of course, the church should do its utmost to protect children. Failing to protect children can cause lasting harm to them as well as adverse publicity and great legal liability. Generally, ministers don’t have a right to privileged communications when child abuse is involved. Many states require ministers, teachers, counselors, or the general public to report cases of suspected or confessed child abuse. There can be both criminal and civil liability for failure to do so. Of course, there is an even greater ethical obligation to prevent ongoing and future harm, which generally means the abuser must be held accountable by proper authorities. Church leaders should know the law of their state, including what to report and to whom they should report. – David Bernard, Spiritual Leadership in the Twenty-first Century

Guidelines and procedure policies are only good insofar as they are adhered to. David Bernard, General Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church, wrote in his book Spiritual Leadership in the Twenty-first Century, “When a church adopts a policy it must make sure to follow that policy. If it doesn’t, it will be judged for failing to do what it knew was right.” There are aspects of this church’s policy that I find problematic. Let’s briefly look at the law in Texas regarding reporting child abuse.

Requirements to report child abuse in Texas is not limited to teachers or health care professionals as may be found in some places. Everyone in Texas is required to report, even individuals whose personal communications would be considered privileged. Sec. 261.101 (a) states, “A person having cause to believe that a child’s physical or mental health or welfare has been adversely affected by abuse or neglect by any person shall immediately make a report as provided by this subchapter.” Immediately reporting, to me, does not mean one runs around attempting to first contact a senior pastor or then a pastor as this church demands. Certain professionals are permitted up to 48 hours to report and they “may not delegate to or rely on another person to make the report.” This “includes teachers, nurses, doctors, day-care employees, employees of a clinic or health care facility that provides reproductive services, juvenile probation officers, and juvenile detention or correctional officers.”

Texas law further stipulates where one is to make the report. Sec. 261.103 states in part that these are to be reported to “(1) any local or state law enforcement agency; (2) the department; [NOTE: Department means the Department of Family and Protective Services.] or (3) the state agency that operates, licenses, certifies, or registers the facility in which the alleged abuse or neglect occurred.” It is important to note that it says nothing about reporting to the pastor, contrary to what the church guidelines state, though there may be times where that would be needful after it was first reported to the proper authorities.

Church leadership does not have the authority to supersede these laws, nor should they instruct people to do otherwise. Unfortunately, in the same book noted above, David Bernard shares, “Church policy should instruct workers to report problems to their superior, who will in turn ensure the fulfillment of legal and ethical obligations.” I believe this is a mistake as there have been a number of cases through the years where people have gone to a UPCI pastor/minister and it has not been reported to the authorities. If you leave it to a minister to report, you may never know if the case was reported, that is unless you later follow up on it yourself. I would strongly advise anyone to first report it themselves to the proper authorities stipulated in the law and then, should you feel the need to do so, report it to a church.

The church David Bernard used to pastor before he became the General Superintendent was in Austin, Texas. Similar instructions as that of Abundant Life Sanctuary are found in their 2009 edition of their church manual (page 30): “If a staff member obtains information regarding suspected, alleged, or confessed child abuse, he or she shall immediately notify the pastor, who is to ascertain and fulfill all legal requirements. Church attendees and workers shall likewise report to the pastor any case of suspected child abuse or other suspicious behavior. This includes psychological or physical symptoms of abuse that may have occurred elsewhere. In all cases, the matter shall be kept in confidence pending an analysis of the situation and appropriate action. Any statements to the church, the public, or the media must be coordinated through the pastor.”

On page 44 under Sunday School it also states, “Children’s workers shall report to the pastor any case of suspected child abuse, sexual misconduct, or other suspicious behavior. This includes psychological or physical symptoms of abuse that may have occurred elsewhere. In all cases, the matter shall be kept in confidence pending an analysis of the situation and appropriate action. As a matter of policy, the church (a) will fulfill all legal requirements in this area and (b) will not allow those who have sexually abused minors to work in any position involving supervision of or ministry to children or youth.” On pages 102-103 you will find the application form they use for those who wish to work with children.

Sec. 261.109 gives the penalties for failure to report, which is a Class A Misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment of up to one year and/or a fine of up to $4,000. Class A is the most serious of the three misdemeanor charges. Texas law quite broadly defines child abuse and neglect, so if there is any possible indication that this is happening to a child, you need to report it.

One aspect of the law in Texas is that reporting the incident to your supervisor or manager is insufficient if you are a professional. You will see where the guidelines of Abundant Life Sanctuary instruct their employees and volunteers to report child abuse to the senior pastor, or in his absence, the pastor. Reporting to authorities is solely left in the hands of the pastor. With such policies, what happens if a pastor disbelieves a report or doesn’t want negative church publicity? What if it involves one of their family members, will they be inclined to turn them in or will they attempt to handle it ‘in house?’ What happens when it is someone who gives large amounts of money to the church or plays an integral role in helping?

This church also states in its policy that, “All inquiries or requests for information from the media, attorneys or any other parties shall be referred to the official spokesperson [NOTE: senior pastor]. No person other than the official spokesperson is to release any information regarding any alleged incident of child abuse without the express approval of the official spokesperson.” In other words, the church goes on lock down and everything involving an accusation or incident is left in the hands of the senior pastor.

Sec. 261.106 (a) stipulates that, “A person acting in good faith who reports or assists in the investigation of a report of alleged child abuse or neglect or who testifies or otherwise participates in a judicial proceeding arising from a report, petition, or investigation of alleged child abuse or neglect is immune from civil or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed.” If you are a member of any church in Texas that attempts to silence you regarding helping authorities in their investigation of child abuse, please understand that you are protected under the law. You should be cooperating with any investigation. No church or pastor should attempt to silence you. A subpoena shouldn’t need to be issued in order for you to cooperate. If you know something that might help, go to the authorities and do not be concerned with what any pastor might say or demand.

For those interested, this is an official PDF document from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services that covers the basics of how it works when you report a case of suspected child abuse. It would be good for all those in Texas to read.

Portions of the church guidelines are between the asterisks below, with images of the complete documents included in links afterward. There will be additional articles about this case as there are many concerns and questions and much more to cover. It should be noted that a minister, not pastor Johnathan Green, at The Anchor of Beaumont was the one who reported Jason Hubacek to Child Protective Services and it was not someone from Abundant Life Sanctuary. Here are some questions regarding Abundant Life Sanctuary and their procedures:

Has the church completely, and without failing on any point, followed their guidelines starting in 2012?
Were any guidelines in place prior to 2012 and were they faithfully followed?
At the beginning of every year, do all employees and volunteers working with minor children really receive training? (It is alleged this didn’t happen in the first quarter of 2012 and may have only happened once between 2012 and 2016.)
Does the church have on file any documented reports where the senior pastor reported suspected child abuse to the proper authorities?
Has the Texas District Superintendent received any reports from David Myer since 2012? (That would have been Danny Russo in 2011-2012 and Kevin Prince from 2013 through 2018.)
What about the allegations that numerous people did go to the pastors after 2007 with concerns about Jason Hubacek?
It is clearly stated in the guidelines that, “those who have a history of inappropriate conduct with children will not be employed and shall not volunteer service in any church-sponsored activity or program for minors.” Why then was Hubacek allowed to do so as this part of the guidelines is not speaking of criminal convictions?
If an adult is not to be alone with children, how did anyone allegedly witness Jason Hubacek alone with a child on several occasions from mid 2010 to early 2012?
Who is ultimately responsible for insuring these guidelines are adhered to and strictly followed? It has been alleged that the only members on the Pastoral Committee (mentioned in the church documents) are the members of the pastoral family. So if indeed these guidelines have not been followed, the total and complete responsibility would fall on David and Jason Myer and their family members, who may or may not comprise this committee.

The church must treat all allegations seriously and not dismiss them out of hand. The church should also show compassion and offer assistance to victims and their families, perhaps arranging for professional counseling. The worst thing it can do is to ignore, blame, or attack the victim. – David Bernard, Spiritual Leadership in the Twenty-first Century

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Child Protection Guidelines
adopted by
Abundant Life Sanctuary, Inc.
December 13, 2011

1. All adults and youth, both employed and volunteer, who work with minors must be screened and undergo a criminal background check prior to beginning work. All persons who work with minors must undergo a Screening Process. The steps and checklist to be used in the Screening Process are labeled “Appendix A”.

2. Adults who have been convicted of either sexual or physical abuse of children/youth or those who have a history of inappropriate conduct with children will not be employed and shall not volunteer service in any church-sponsored activity or program for minors.

3. Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse need and will receive the love and acceptance of our church family.

4. Employees and volunteers who work with children and youth shall observe the “two-person rule” or the “window in door policy”at ALL times. The “two-person rule” requires that employees, volunteers, and supervisors shall make every reasonable effort to avoid situations where an employed or volunteer worker is alone with children or youth without a partner. The “window in door policy” requires a window in the door of all rooms where there are children and youth.

5. All employees and volunteers working with children and youth are required to be members or active constituents of Abundant Life Sanctuary, Inc. for a minimum of six months before they begin their work or to have transferred their membership from another United Pentecostal Church with that pastor’s recommendations.

6. Our guidelines and procedures for reporting suspected incidents of abuse, or any behavior, which seems abusive or inappropriate are labeled “Appendix B”. Our guidelines and procedures for responding to reported incidents of abuse are labeled “Appendix C”.

IMPLEMENTATION:

These guidelines and procedures will be implemented within ninety (90) days of their adoption, with the completion of the initial screening process and background checks within one hundred twenty (120) days of adoption.

The Pastoral Committee will have the responsibility to implement and enforce these guidelines and procedures, including the training of employees and volunteers, maintaining confidential records, and implementing the screening process.

(NOTE: This is followed by Appendix A, which is a checklist of steps to be completed before a person is permitted to work with the children.)

Appendix B
Abundant Life Sanctuary, Inc.
Child Protection Guidelines
Reporting Procedures

The law requires a person to immediately report suspected and reported child abuse to the authorities and, in organizations such as Abundant Life Sanctuary, Inc., to the appropriate individual in charge. A person who fails to do so can be prosecuted for a Class B misdemeanor or, in extreme circumstances, may be subject to civil liability for money damages. Therefore, all employees and volunteers at Abundant Life Sanctuary, Inc. must adhere to the following procedures:

1. In the event of suspected, reported, or discovered child abuse or violation of the Child Protection Guidelines of Abundant Life Sanctuary Inc., the employee or volunteer shall immediately notify the Senior Pastor or, in the absence of the senior pastor, the pastor. In the event of suspected, reported or discovered child abuse or neglect, the senior pastor or pastor will also immediately make a report to the local child protection service or law enforcement agency (Groves Police- 409.962.0244).

(Note: They then give some potential physical and behavioral signs of molestation.)

2. Reports shall be documented in writing with the date of the report, the time of the report, the telephone number to which the report was made, the name of the recipient of the report, and a brief synopsis of the report. If at all possible, all oral reporting will be done in the presence of a recorded witness.

3. All church employees and volunteers working with minor children will receive training at the beginning of each church administrative year regarding the signs of child abuse, including child sexual abuse, and the steps to report any and all suspected child abuse.

*Adapted from Child Abuse: Governing Law and Legislation by I. Sloan (1983)

Appendix C
Abundant Life Sanctuary
Child Protection Guidelines
Response Procedures

1. The official spokesperson for Abundant Life Sanctuary, Inc. shall be the senior pastor, or in the absence of the senior pastor, the pastor. All inquiries or requests for information from the media, attorneys or any other parties shall be referred to the official spokesperson. No person other than the official spokesperson is to release any information regarding any alleged incident of child abuse without the express approval of the official spokesperson.

2. The official spokesperson shall immediately report any alleged incident of child abuse to the appropriate local Child Protection Services agency of the county or law enforcement authorities, our insurance carrier, and the District Superintendent.

3. The care and safety of the victim is our first priority. We will not confront the accused without the approval of Child Protection Services or law enforcement authorities.

4. We will not prejudge any person accused, but we will take any allegation of child abuse seriously and will reach out in Christian love and support to the victim and the victims family, extending whatever pastoral care resources are needed. We will fully cooperate with any authorities investigating an allegation of child abuse.

5. We will treat the accused with dignity and respect. If the accused is a church worker, that person shall be temporarily relieved of his or her duties until the investigation is finished and the person cleared by the authorities. If the accused is a paid employee of our church, his or her income will be maintained, until allegations are cleared by authorities or until criminal charges are filed.

6. All communication by the official spokesperson to the media, congregation, and public will protect the privacy and confidentiality of all involved.

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Jason Hubacek: Texas United Pentecostal Sexual Abuse Case

This is part sixteen in a series of articles. (Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by people with whom I have been in contact, who are well acquainted with this situation.)

I don’t normally release an article at this juncture before I have finished investigating. Because this is a recent case and this man worked for years having free access to young children in at least two United Pentecostal churches in Texas, besides times when he would visit other churches for events (such as being a monitor in the boys dormitory at the Texas youth camps in Lufkin and hosting lock-ins at area churches which consists of parents dropping off their children and they spend all night at church doing various activities), I feel compelled to share some limited initial information so parents will be informed and can check to be sure this man has not sexually harmed their children. Anyone whose child has come into contact with him needs to take this very seriously. He did not hold license in the UPCI.

On November 1, 2017, Jason Charles Hubacek of Beaumont, Texas was indicted on four counts of indecency with a child and three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. The offense dates appear to be 2003, 2004 and 2007 and it was his three daughters from his first marriage (see image of dates). He pleaded guilty on August 6, 2018 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on September 17, 2018. He will be eligible for parole in ten. He has been transferred from Jefferson County jail to the TDCJ Holliday facility since then. According to 12NewsNow, Assistant District Attorney Kim Pipkin stated, “This has been a very frustrating case for me as a prosecutor because of a unique legal issue that prevented us from giving the defendant the sentence that I felt he deserved. I felt he deserved life in prison.”

Jason Hubacek had a previous criminal history where he was charged in Bryan, Texas with the burglary of a building in the very early 90s. I believe he graduated from West Brook High School in 1992 and then received a certificate of completion in 2004 for Air Conditioning & Refrigeration from Lamar State College-Port Arthur. He was an adjunct (part-time) instructor for Lamar State College during the years of 2010-2017. This ended when he was indicted.

Jason Hubacek was born on December 15, 1973. He was a member of Abundant Life Sanctuary in Groves, Texas for at least ten years and was very involved, often working with young children. While there he drove the church van that would pick up children, was an usher where he sometimes went out of a service with a child when they left the sanctuary without a parent, and taught Sunday School. It is alleged there were times he was alone with children.

Around when he married his second wife on November 19, 2016, he joined up with the Anchor of Beaumont church where she was a member. He appears to have been there from around late 2016 until sometime in 2017 when he went to the Calvary Apostolic Church in Starks, Louisiana after he confessed.

He was a longtime employee of Johnson Controls (screenshot) and provided Abundant Life Sanctuary with free HVAC services and also did freelance work for church members. I believe he has also lived in Groves, Nederland and Port Arthur.

Below you will find the transcript of a letter that the pastor of Abundant Life Sanctuary issued to its members after Jason Hubacek was sentenced. All members received a packet with this letter as well as the church’s policies and procedures. The latter will be discussed in a subsequent article, but note that the policies were not adopted until 2011 and allegations were first known about Jason in 2007 due to a different court case. In addition to the sexual abuse, there are other aspects of this case that are extremely troublesome and there are many layers to the story.

It has been shared with me that besides this church telling people not to speak or write about what happened, it is alleged that the Anchor of Beaumont also went on shut down and staff members there were uncooperative with the detective assigned to the case. If there isn’t anything to hide, people should be free to speak about it, especially with law enforcement. Churches should want those who commit crimes of sexual abuse to be reported and prosecuted and they absolutely should not ever allow any such person to be around children. If a church properly handles sexual abuse issues, they shouldn’t worry about any publicity a case brings as they can point to the fact that they did what should be done. People will see that they reported and understand that these horrible events do occur despite having safeguards in place. What they won’t understand is when a church doesn’t report, ignores accusations, covers up such cases, or tries to handle them ‘in house.’

It has been alleged that Jason Hubacek’s second wife discovered something that lead to her confronting Jason and that ended up in him confessing to assaulting his three daughters years ago. It has been shared with me that Jason confessed to someone on the ministerial staff of the Anchor of Beaumont and they called CPS. Johnathan Green then sent Jason to the Myers and they sent him to Groves Police Department. Despite what is written in the letter below from Abundant Life Sanctuary, I have been in touch with more than one individual who has alleged that they did indeed go to David (plus his wife Sandra was in attendance on at least two occasions) and Jason Myer with concerns about Hubacek and did so more than once.

As mentioned in the letter, there was a previous court case where the judge told Hubacek’s first wife that she would be charged if sexual assault accusations against Jason were brought up again. [What I have heard about this initial case and how it allegedly was handled by a judge is not good if it is true. It doesn’t go along with the church statement that the judge was so convinced the charges were false.] The church letter is between the asterisks and following it I share additional information about the churches Jason attended. The Anchor of Beaumont has a past history of sexual abuse charges and cover up while another man was the pastor and there is an allegation of another sexual abuse incident which allegedly caused a church split prior to Johnathan Green becoming the pastor.

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STATEMENT FROM THE PASTOR TO THE CHURCH

Because there have been many accusations of us handling a situation, involving Jason Hubacek, we feel the need to make a statement to the church family.

We have and always will take any accusation of sexual misconduct and child abuse very seriously. We have required background checks of all volunteers and paid employees, of the church that work with children and youth in any way, for many years. We have a Child protection guidelines that was adopted in 2011 that we will share with all of you.

Accusations were made against Jason in a divorce proceeding 10 years ago. We sat hours in court to find out if these were true or false. The judge was so convinced these charges were false that he said if any more accusations were made against Jason, by those accusing him, that they themselves would be charged.

We never once received an accusation of sexual misconduct against Jason from anyone in the church or anyone whose child attended our church. His background check is on file in the office with no sexual misconduct history.

Two years ago Jason left our church when he married Brandi and went to the Anchor in Beaumont. About a year ago, he came to me and confessed that he had had some evil desires and done some things to his 3 girls when they were babies and had confessed to his pastor, Jonathan Green, to the police, and to Heather, the mother of his girls. He was very repentant and sorry for what he had done and wanted to make sure he was right with God by taking responsibility for his actions.

He began attending church in Starks, LA with Bro. Shields as his pastor, but would come to me and ask for prayer and guidance during this past year. We discussed these sessions with Bro. Shields and was assured that Jason was very sincere in his remorse and wanted to serve God and make things right. He faithfully attended Bro. Shields church for the past year, making sure he was not involved with children in any way.

His parents were very distraught over all of this and asked us to help Jason through this process he was going through. We have prayed with him and them. We went to court with Jason to simply be a friend to him, as we would with anyone trying to come back from a sinful past. We do not approve of his actions, but feel it is a pastor’s job to help anyone trying to repent and make restitution for their past sin. We are here to help people go to Heaven. God’s blood covers all sin. It is what the church is founded upon.

If you have any concerns that are relevant to this situation, please write them on paper, sign your name, date them and give them to me. If you would like to discuss anything further, please feel free to make an appointment to speak privately about it to us. We would ask that you not make any comments on Facebook or remarks to the press about the situation. God has set this church in the city of Groves to be a lighthouse and a place for souls to be saved. We must not get distracted by circumstances or comments other people want to make to try to destroy our influence. This is God’s church and it is a privilege to be a part of it. We love each of you and expect to have an overflowing revival, in the very near future. God bless each of you.

September 19, 2018

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The church in Groves, Texas, where Jason Hubacek spent many years closely working with children, is Abundant Life Sanctuary and the pastors are David Noel Myer (senior pastor) and Jason David Myer (pastor), both ordained ministers in the United Pentecostal Church. It is located at 2301 West Parkway Street and has a legal affiliation with the UPCI. (The UPCI has affiliated and non-affiliated churches.) David Myer has been the pastor since March of 1974 and previously was a pastor in Montgomery, LA. In 2007 the church moved to its present location from 6225 Terrell Street and in 2011, his son Jason was elected as pastor. Jason Meyer also served as the youth pastor from 1998 until 2014. [May 29, 2024 Edit: David Myer passed away on September 10, 2020.]

The church in Starks, Louisiana is Calvary Apostolic Church and the pastor is Jeremy Shields, who also founded the church in 1993. It is located at 4270 LA-12, and is at the corner of State Highway 109. It is an independent church and Shields is not licensed with the UPCI.

The Anchor of Beaumont used to be called the First United Pentecostal Church of Beaumont as well as New Life Tabernacle and the current pastor is Johnathan Green, also an ordained UPCI minister. It is located at 6655 Highway 105 in Beaumont, Texas and also has a legal affiliation with the UPCI. This church has previously been in the news on more than one occasion and I will briefly summarize years of events.

In February 2012 the church filed a lawsuit against Lamb Law Firm, Kip Lamb, Leigh Parker and Lonnie Charles Treadway, the former pastor. In 2008, Treadway (known as Buck) had requested the firm hold in a trust fund the insurance money that the church had received due to damages caused to its property by Hurricane Rita. He wanted to protect the money from a lawsuit that was pending against the church and himself. In 2009, the money was gone and Lamb pleaded guilty in 2013 to misuse of the funds and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He spent the 1.2 million dollars without the knowledge or consent of the church. The lawsuit remained in the news through 2017 as part of it, regarding Leigh Parker, went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. You can find numerous news reports and legal findings about this situation online.

Lonnie Treadway had hired the Lamb Law Firm to defend him and the church in a sexual harassment lawsuit. There are things about that case which are very disturbing as Lonnie’s own granddaughters were victims. Judy Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Treadway married Jeffrey Alan Klem in 2000 and they are still married as of the writing of this article. He is a cardiologist and Buck’s son-in-law. Klem started molesting one of Treadway’s granddaughters when she was eleven in 2001. [This reminds me of Debbie McNulty’s case as Steven J. Dahl allegedly started molesting her around the same age and shortly after he had married.] She wasn’t the only victim over the years and when reported to Treadway, it is said that he called his granddaughter and others “liars and whores.” At least two of Klem’s victims turned to self-mutilation in trying to cope. Sadly one, Ashlyn Treadway, died in a car wreck in 2012.

In August 2006, parents filed a civil suit against Jeffrey Klem and Lonnie Treadway and accused the pastor of covering up Klem’s pedophilia. It was said the assaults happened from 2001 through 2006. This is why Treadway asked the Lamb Law Firm to hide the insurance money. When I first heard of these cases years ago and how Lamb spent all the money instead of keeping it safe from any judgment in a lawsuit, I thought at the time it was fitting, though at the same time sad for the members who had nothing to do with it.

In December 2006 when Klem was 44, he was charged in Jefferson County with three separate cases of indecency with a child. In a plea bargain in August 2007, Klem pleaded guilty to three counts of injury to a child and avoided having to register as a sex offender and was able to retain his medical license. Judge John Stevens presided on that case. Klem received ten years deferred probation and was ordered to pay a $6,000 fine and I believe he spent six months in prison, only over the weekends.

In July 2007, he was indicted in Harris County on two counts of indecency with a child. He pleaded guilty in 2009 under another agreement where he did not have to register as a sex offender. He received five years deferred adjudication on each charge of injury to a child. He was ordered to write letters of apology to the two victims. Prior to that, in January 2008, he claimed his guilty plea in Jefferson County was made involuntarily and unknowingly as he believed the deal meant that Harris County would honor the same and they did not. The court denied his writ of habeas corpus and he appealed. The Ninth District Court of Appeals found the original judgment was correct and he lost the appeal in 2008.

Jeffrey Klem settled the civil suit in 2010 after the jury selection process had started. Judge Gary Sanderson presided over that case. Treadway and the church settled in June 2009. Lonnie Charles ‘Buck’ Treadway never lost his UPC license and still retains it in 2018, though to my knowledge he no longer is a pastor. [May 27, 2024 Edit: The same holds true for 2024.] He continues to be welcomed with open arms to speak in various UPCI churches.

Jeffrey Alan Klem still practices medicine in Texas as of 2018. In 2009, the Texas Medical Board, “put him on 15 years of probation and ordered him to have no contact with patients younger than 21. He also must have a chaperone when treating older patients, work in a practice with at least one other doctor, get psychiatric care, take a “professional boundaries course” and pay a $5,000 fine.” The probation expires in 2024. How immensely sad it is to think that because he was not required to register as a sex offender that people may not be protecting their children.

More may be written about Jason Hubacek’s case in the future.

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

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