Category: United Pentecostal Church | Page 19

United Pentecostal Pastor Roy Grant And A Funeral

Last night I heard about a funeral conducted at Calvary Gospel Church of Madison, Wisconsin during their normal evening service time on September 25, 2019. While there was a pop-up announcement on their website and a mention on their church Facebook page, it has been shared there was no sign seen at the church to warn any possible visitors that service was cancelled and a funeral was being held.

I have written extensively about this United Pentecostal Church and the sexual abuse that has occurred there for decades. John Grant and his son, Roy Grant, are the pastors. There is so much more concerning them and this church that will be covered in the future, by myself as well as others. For this article I will mostly let the event speak for itself and share minimal commentary.

I’ve never in my entire life seen or heard something so insane!

A woman who attended the funeral left very angry and upset at what she witnessed from Roy Grant. I am sharing, with her permission, a portion of what she wrote. It is sad and disturbing that someone would do this at a funeral and equally bothersome that no one attempted to stop it, but instead most in attendance appeared to be supportive. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me as I watched John Grant receive a standing ovation from members after a local reporter covered some of the cases of child sexual abuse which occurred during his time as pastor and went unreported by him. Below are the woman’s thoughts on what happened.

“I am so pissed! I just came from a friend’s funeral at my former church. What started out as a lovely memorial service for a wonderful person took a sharp left turn down weird street when the pastor tried to raise him from the dead! I kid you not. You can’t make this stuff up! He asked God to show that he is sovereign by having my friend ‘pass back over into the land of the living.’ Then he paused and said ‘I told God I’d give him a minute’. Then there was a moment of silence. Near the end he said ‘or just knock.’ . . . The atmosphere was super weird and uncomfortable. To make matters worse, some guy spoke up and said ‘when 2 or more agree…I agree with you, pastor.’ Soon other people from around the standing-room only sanctuary were saying ‘I agree.’ Finally the pastor said ‘Whoever agrees, please stand.’ Everyone except a handful of people stood up. . . Then he closed the service like nothing happened!”

This man was brought back to life once before (thru medical intervention-not like at a prayer service or anything). But it was kind of like they expected him to be brought back again and couldn’t just let him Rest In Peace.

I went to the website where they stream the services live to see if they had done this for the funeral and they had. Anyone may go there to watch for themselves, though the September 25, 2019 broadcast will only be temporarily available. This portion of the service starts around the 1:02:35 mark and ends at 1:09:24. Below is my transcription of what Roy Grant said and in the brackets are what was happening.

“So here today, in front of all of these witnesses, on the behalf of a promise made to a friend. Somewhere between the line of insanity and faith, I don’t know. But I humbly call out before God, with faith believing, make this most humble request. In the name of our precious Lord and Jesus, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I ask for Jeff [last name omitted], a mighty man of valor, to arise from the state that he is in and cross back over that barrier into the land of the living. [Short period of silence] I promised the Lord I would go a minute of silence. And since we can’t see our brother, just knock bro. All you gotta do is knock. [longer period of silence]

“I believe God is trying to say something to us here tonight. [brief silence] As I said earlier, that God is a sovereign God. I neither give life and it’s not my job to take a life. But I no less believe today, now, than I did at 5 o’clock, 6 o’clock, a week ago, a month ago. I’ve never done anything like this before in my life. It’s been a long week since Brother Jeff passed. I’m sure it’s been long for the family. I don’t mean to embarrass anyone. I don’t mean to make light of anything. I still b… [he cuts off his word and then there is brief silence]

“Let’s just do this. If you agree, let’s just stand and lift our hands toward heaven. [people stand and raise their hands] You see, this isn’t putting me on the spot. I’m not the one being put on the spot, it’s God. Lord, I pray that your hand would be upon us this day. God, we are exercising our faith, we’ve never experienced anything ever like this. I’ve never done anything like this. I’ve never been here before. We’ve got your word says where two or three agree. Praise God, praise God, praise God. [walks down to casket that is in front of the pulpit] Even now Lord Jesus, God, I pray God over this casket. God I pray, Lord I don’t know how all this works [he laughs], but I know you’ve done it before. I know you’ve done it before. In Jesus name we pray, Lord Jesus. Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. Praise God, praise God. Praise God. [walks back to pulpit]

“I’m not going to belabor, we’re not going to beg, we’re not going to plead. I did write two alternate sermons. I chose the first one because it required faith. Required laying it all out there. And I wrote two endings. You could say, well why did you write two endings? Because I wanted to give God an opportunity if he chose to be sovereign. You see, the Scripture tells us we shall not all sleep. We sang the song, ‘when we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that would be.'” [he then goes back to talking about the deceased]

Audio only version – Since the video will only be available a short time, I have added a link to the audio only version, which was edited by them as it is shorter than what was live broadcast. The time stamp is different for this as it starts at the 46:22 mark and ends at the 53:09 mark.

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1960 United Pentecostal Resolution Against A Catholic As President

We do not believe that a member of the Roman Catholic Church can be loyal to his church and faithfully carry out the demands of the Constitution. – 1960 United Pentecostal Church resolution

Each year at the annual General Conference of the United Pentecostal Church, their ministers are afforded the opportunity to present resolutions that are voted upon by the licensed ministers who are present. Members of UPC churches never vote on these and most are unaware of what is presented and passed or denied. There are resolutions that are submitted yearly, though not all make it through the resolution committee and to the floor of the General Conference. Some are passed, others are tabled and some are voted down. It appears that back in 1960, resolutions didn’t first need to be submitted to a committee for review.

There has been a sustained drive on the part of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy to weaken and eventually destroy the bulwark of American Liberty- separation of church and state- by demanding special favors from the government and financial aide for church-controlled schools. – 1960 United Pentecostal Church resolution

In the September 1960 edition of the Pentecostal Herald, the official magazine of the United Pentecostal Church (now called Pentecostal Life), there was an editorial viewpoint titled A Catholic President. (screenshots: page 1, page 2) It took up just over 1.5 pages. It started by stating, “It would be completely inharmonious with every avowed purpose of the Pentecostal Herald to use its pages for ‘playing politics.’ But when danger threatens from any source, it is the inescapable duty of all who sense that danger to sound the warning. When this peril presents itself through political maneuvers, and when those imperiled have no recourse other than the ballot, it is not ‘playing politics’ to lay truth before them, so that they may be fully informed when they vote.”

It then went on to republish an article by Evangelist C. William Fisher. That article shared how when Roman Catholic members were elected to various political positions, the Catholic church pressed for certain things from the government. It mentioned that our Constitution could be changed or reinterpreted by the Supreme Court. It ended with, “Who among us would have more influence toward instituting a change in the constitution than the president of the United States? In view of this threat to our religious liberty, would it not be the height of folly to lend our aid in electing a Catholic president?” The UPC was, without a doubt, telling people to not vote for John F. Kennedy, the democratic candidate who was running against Richard Nixon.

In another article in the the same issue, it was briefly mentioned how there was some persecution against their followers in Columbia by the Catholic church. You will later see why I mention this. Then in the October 1960 issue, there was an article written by Charles H. Karr. Are We Anti-Catholic? (screenshots: page 1, page 2) was full of fear mongering regarding what could happen if a Catholic became president, worried about clericalism of the Catholic Church and amending or re-interpreting the Constitution.

Membership in the Catholic church, “disqualifies any man from holding any office in a Democratic country.” – Murray E. Burr, United Pentecostal Minister

The 36th General Conference of the United Pentecostal Church was held in Dallas, Texas from September 30 to October 5, 1960. (As they were not formed until 1945, their counting of these conferences could be misleading to some unfamiliar with the organization.) At the time, Arthur T. Morgan was the General Superintendent, who was elected to that position in 1951 and died while presiding over a General Board meeting in Oklahoma in 1967.

A.L. Clanton, the editor of the Herald, was quoted as saying that the 250,000 membership of the United Pentecostal Church were “very much opposed to a Catholic president.” (Longview News Journal, September 30, 1960) It was pretty presumptuous of him to speak for the entire membership of the UPCI as it is doubtful that every member was opposed. I am certain that the UPCI did not poll all of their members. Even before the conference convened, Clanton was quoted as saying it was “almost certain” that a resolution opposing a Catholic for president would be brought up and passed. (Lubbock-Avalanche Journal, September 30, 1960) This news was reported in several states including Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.

My only objection would be — my only limit to that would be that if somebody said regardless of Senator Kennedy’s position, regardless of how much evidence he’s given that what he says he means, I still wouldn’t vote for him because he is a member of that church. I would consider that unreasonable. – Senator John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1960

Clanton was correct in that a resolution was submitted and overwhelmingly passed by the ministers. Interestingly, I found no mention of the resolution in the Pentecostal Herald, though it may have been included in their minister’s only publication. Perhaps they held off on potentially writing about it until the November election. UPC minister Murray E. Burr was one of the authors. Interestingly, when he later ran for the highest office of the General Superintendent in the Tulsa, Oklahoma General Conference and lost, he started a new stricter Oneness Pentecostal organization called the Apostolic Ministers Fellowship. It had problematic beginnings as described here by one of the ministers.

On October 5, 1960, the Abilene Reporter-News stated that after the anti-Catholic resolution passed, those in attendance “roared approval.” There were about 1000 ministers in attendance at the closing session, almost all of which supported it. There were some who did not, who felt the organization should not be involved in politics. Needless to say, John F. Kennedy was elected and all those predictions of doom regarding the Catholic Church and the Constitution did not come to pass.

It was reported that in discussing the proposed resolution, some at the conference shared how the Catholic Church had been persecuting Pentecostal missionaries in South America and Columbia was mentioned. On April 19, 1952, The Boston Globe ran a short story stating that the Evangelical Confederation of Columbia, which consisted of 17 different Protestant groups, had claimed there had been 23 different attacks of persecution in eight Columbia provinces since February 15, 1952. Prior to this 30 months of persecution were claimed. Many Protestant homes had been burned or confiscated. Bibles were destroyed and other material taken and some radio programs were banned. UPC minister William Drost claimed he had been threatened during a sermon by three well-dressed individuals. Police were said to have been involved in much of this.

We cannot stand on the graves of our martyrs in countries where the Roman Catholic church dominates and not be concerned. – 1960 United Pentecostal General Conference

Prior to the passing of the resolution, on September 12, 1960, John F. Kennedy delivered a speech at the Rice Hotel before the Greater Houston Ministerial association, a group of Protestant ministers, where he addressed the issue of his religion. He started by emphasizing that there were much greater issues involved in the election than the religious one. After his speech there was a question and answer period. The entire event may be watched in the video shared below.

That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of presidency in which I believe — a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group, nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a president whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation, or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.

I would not look with favor upon a president working to subvert the First Amendment’s guarantees of religious liberty. Nor would our system of checks and balances permit him to do so. And neither do I look with favor upon those who would work to subvert Article VI of the Constitution by requiring a religious test — even by indirection — for it. – Senator John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1960

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United Pentecostal Youth Pastor Darrel Wayne Coffman: Sexual Misconduct With A Minor

This is Part 27 of an ongoing series on sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church. I have started to cover a few cases on which I don’t have as much detailed information as I have on some others. When/if I have more details, I will either update these articles or write a new one with the additional information.

Darrel Wayne Coffman was born July 28, 1981 and at the time of his crimes he was single and helping in numerous ways at his father’s church. He was also a self-taught graphic artist, doing work for his church and some other UPCI/Apostolic churches, both before and after his arrest. The church website, which is no longer in operation, stated, “Darrel leads in worship, teaches, leads in Superchurch ministry and also plays the drums and trumpet.” According to the website, Darrel remained in these positions for years after his arrest and conviction. I don’t believe that is accurate due to his sentence and it is possible that the church never bothered to change that page on their website.

Darrel Coffman was a youth pastor, but not a licensed minister, at his father’s affiliated United Pentecostal Church, Promiseland Apostolic Church at 115 S. 6th Street in West Terre Haute, Indiana. The victim and his family also attended the church. It was originally called Whitcomb Heights Apostolic Church. Kenneth W. Coffman was the pastor for decades and remained the pastor through either late December 2016 or early January 2017. He now attends the Brazil United Pentecostal Church in Indiana, where he sometimes preaches. His late father-in-law, Wayne H. Hamilton, was the previous pastor for 28 years. On December 9, 2016 Kenneth announced he was leaving and wrote in part, “To my son, Darrel and daughter, Dayna (& Austin) Keller, your input in our pastorship was over the top wonderful! You often sacrificed your time, gave your energy and resources and shared your parents for the sake of others. What a wonderful blessing you’ve been and continue to be to us!” The new pastor, Ryan Thomas, was announced in mid December 2016. The church is now called Highland-Church, though it wasn’t listed in the UPCI Directory under that name or pastor until 2019.

The investigation began on September 12, 2011. It was not the victim who turned him in to authorities and the victim believed the age of consent was 16. The two would use their computers to video chat with one another. It was reported that Darrel Coffman performed or submitted to sexual acts with a 15-year-old male in both his home and car during the period of February through June 4, 2011. This happened before or after various church events as Coffman would sometimes drive him. Coffman would have been 29, just shy of 30 years old, during this time period and the victim would have been 14 and 15 as his birthday was in March.

Darrel Wayne Coffman was stopped by police on his way to work and arrested on October 13, 2011. In Vigo County his bail was set at $35,000 and was stipulated as cash only. His charge of 35-42-4-9(a)(1) is a Class B felony of sexual misconduct with a minor, specifically when “A person at least twenty-one (21) years of age who, with a child at least fourteen (14) years of age but less than sixteen (16) years of age, performs or submits to sexual intercourse or other sexual conduct.” By October 26, the court allowed real estate to be used for the bond and his mother posted a $35,000 property bond on that date. He was ordered to surrender his passport, was not permitted to leave the county or to go to his parent’s home, had to stay away from school property by his residence and was prohibited from contacting the victim and his family. In mid June 2012, the court removed the prohibition of visiting his parent’s home.

My family will always be affected by this. – The victim’s mother at sentencing

In early January 2012, the state filed an initial proposed plea agreement. Darrel Coffman’s attorney more than once requested mental health records of the victim. The court granted these and on September 21, 2012 there were strict stipulations placed upon them. By November 19, 2012, a signed plea agreement was filed. Then on December 3, a motion was filed for a change of plea and sentencing hearing. A guilty plea was entered on January 15, 2013 and on January 23 a plea agreement was entered and he was pronounced guilty of the crime.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison, with six years as an in-home detention at his aunt’s home in Indianapolis, which is in Marion County. Two years were suspended. He was prohibited from any contact with the victim and was credited with 14 days of jail time previously served. Coffman’s defense attorney presented a mental health expert who testified that they felt he didn’t have a propensity to crime and wasn’t likely to offend in the future. The expert believed at least part of the reason for Coffman’s crime was due to tension between his sexuality and the religious and moral standards he held.

Coffman apologized to the victim and their family and while the victim’s mother had concerns that he could do the same to other children, she stated she forgave him. Under the plea agreement, Judge John Roach could have sentenced Coffman to ten years. He pointed out that Darrel Coffman betrayed the trust of the family and made it clear that due to the victim’s age, he could not consent to sexual activity. Coffman was ordered to register as a sex offender through January 15, 2023. In addition, he paid $171.00 in court costs and a $1.00 fine.

It appears that in July 2015, he purchased a home in Indianapolis. On December 31, 2015, the court granted a request for probation to be transferred to Marion County. On January 5, 2018 he was released from probation.

Facebook Discussion

On WTHI’s Facebook page, there was a discussion back in 2011 when they reported the news story. I am going to share some quotes with minimal commentary. There were several people from Promiseland who were posting in support of Coffman and while they stated were praying for him, only one of them shared they were praying for the victim. I well remember the mindset. You rally around and support the pastor and believe whatever the pastor or other leaders claim.

If this were not the pastor’s son, but had been some other church member, would they have been so quick to show support and disbelieve his guilt? If this had been a former member, would they have stated the same things? One woman, who saw the victim as causing trouble, in part wrote, “but like i said i have been going to that church for years and Darrel Coffman is not a child molestor i dont believe he done it and i wont let anyone convince me other wise this man has done nothing wrong and i hope the teen that is sturring up this lie comes foward with the truth soon.” Allow me to remind everyone that according to court records, the teen was not the one who reported Coffman.

One woman stated in part, “Also, instead of people judging Darrel, why don’t you pray for him and his family. It is a very difficult time for him and the family. Judge not lest ye be judged. He that is without sin, cast the first stone. No sin is above any other sin. So, even if he did do this, the fact that people are judging him is a sin in itself for the Bible even says not to judge. Your sin is the same as any sin, if you are judging. . . . I too know the Coffman family and Darrel VERY well. They are good Godly people that love God with everything that is in them. If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all. . . . I just want people to understand that Darrel is not some monster. He has a heart of gold.” What this person is doing is called sin leveling:

Sin-leveling is the teaching that we have all sinned and all sins are the same. But this is not true. Thinking about having sex with someone not your spouse is not the same as committing adultery. They are related to one another, but they are not the same sin. Nor do they have the same consequences, which is the key point. But it sounds good, because all of us carry some shame around with us. It is easy to see our own faults and think that we would want people to overlook our mistakes. But abuse is not a mistake. Abuse pours acid on the soul of another human. God reveals great wrath about those who abuse “one of the least of these”. He says it would be better if a millstone were hung around their necks. (source)

One male member wrote that Jesus was able to forgive all sin and if you were without sin, then cast the first stone. A woman who obviously didn’t understand the law, and that people of a certain age cannot legally consent to sexual activity, wrote in part, “I too know Darrel Coffman. I also know his family. They are awesome God fearing people. I love Darrel and my prayers go out to him. I do not know whether he committed the crime he is accused of or not. What I do know is he is NOT a pervert. The ‘victim’ as you call him said himself it was consensual. He is old enough to know right from wrong, just as Darrell is. I am not condoning his actions, if he in fact did do this, But I am saying he did not act alone.” People should remember that Coffman was 29, just shy of 30, and the boy was 14, just turned 15.

Another woman wrote, “Darrel is a kind and wonderful young man. His ultra-strict religious environment could NEVER allow him to just BE true to himself…….a SELF that IS a beautiful person. It’s SO sad the media has gotten ahold of this story and put their ‘spin’ on it. My prayers are with ya, Darrel. I know the kind of person you are…not who the news has made you out to be.”

Articles:

Terre Haute youth pastor accused of sexual misconduct with teen – October 13, 2011
Police arrest former youth pastor on alleged sexual misconduct charge – October 14, 2011
Ex-youth pastor to hire attorney in sexual misconduct case – October 15, 2011
Former Youth Pastor Arrested on Sex Charge – October 16, 2011
Former youth pastor sentenced – January 15, 2013
Coffman gets 6 years of home detention – January 16, 2013

Indiana Sex offender registry (partial screenshot)

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

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United Pentecostal Minister Tony Wayne Sasnett: Sexual Abuse Conviction

This is Part 26 of an ongoing series on sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church. I have started to cover a few cases on which I don’t have as much detailed information as I have on some others. When/if I have more details, I will either update these articles or write a new one with the additional information.

Tony Wayne Sasnett was born June 27, 1976 and at the time of his crimes he was married with three school-aged children. He was a project manager at Allied Communications and this is where he was arrested. Since at least September 2013, Tony Wayne Sasnett was the home Bible study director at Greater Faith Apostolic Church located at 3412 Clays Mill Road in Lexington, Kentucky. William J. McGraw has been the pastor for decades. While the church quickly removed the information about him from their website, it is archived in Wayback as seen by this screenshot. He preached at the Greater Faith Apostolic Church at least as far back as 2010 (screenshot).

Sasnett first appears in the 2013 edition of the UPCI Directory, indicating that he obtained his local license in 2012. (Directories are issued in January of each year and are more reflective of the prior year.) The license was granted by the Kentucky District of the UPCI when Scott Marshall was the District Superintendent and William J. McGraw was a Presbyter. As of the writing of this article, Marshall yet holds this position but McGraw does not. Sasnett last appears in the 2016 Directory, which is the year of his arrest. He was the Section E leader for the Kentucky District’s North American Missions Team (screenshot and PDF file).

On February 11, 2016, Tony Wayne Sasnett was arrested at his place of employment. On February 12, he was officially charged with one count of the prohibited use of an electronic communication system, one count of sexual abuse and five counts of third degree rape of a 16 year old girl, who he met at church. In Kentucky third degree rape, a class D felony, in part occurs when the perpetrator is ten or more years older than a person who is sixteen or seventeen years old. All the crimes happened when she was 16. The sexual abuse charge came from an incident that happened in August 2015 that didn’t involve intercourse. Then in a parking lot in October, he initiated sex by telling her, “I’m in charge now,” and that’s when he first raped her. At a preliminary hearing on February 23, one of the rape charges was dropped when it was realized it happened in Jessamine County and not Fayette County. He was being held in jail on a $17,500 bond, which was reduced to $10,000 and he was forbidden the use of any electronic communication system. At the time he plead not guilty. The judge sent the case to a grand jury to review the charges to determine if there was enough evidence to send it to trial. As a part-time employee at Greater Faith Apostolic Church, he was fired after his arrest.

According to news reports (source), on February 23 Detective Tyler Smith testified that Sasnett met the girl when she was ten and threatened her that she would be banned from mission trips and wouldn’t be able to attend the church if she told anyone what was happening. Smith testified that Sasnett “escalated the relationship with the victim from a joke about a massage to sex in parked cars and in Sasnett’s home.” He had sex with her five times and on her phone she had sexually explicit text messages and a nude photo request from him. His victim repeatedly tried to end his contact with her, even asking him in a text message, “I don’t understand why you want to have sex with me because I’m a 16-year-old girl and you have a wife at home.” Part of what was involved in this case is that Sasnett, being a minister and leader in the church, was in a position of trust with the victim. That makes his crimes more serious and usually the punishment is more severe. Any person who holds such a position and sexually abuses someone attending the church is abusing their position of trust. Though his attorney fought the charge, the judge ruled that Sasnett was in a position of trust.

On December 7, 2016, Tony Wayne Sasnett either was convicted, or made a plea agreement (I assume the latter), under Kentucky Revised Statute 510.155, a class D felony which is the “unlawful use of electronic means originating or received within the Commonwealth to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited activities” and 510.110 [1], another class D felony, which is sexual abuse in the first degree. He was sentenced to one year for the electronic charge and five years for sexual abuse and it appears they are running concurrently. Sasnett is presently incarcerated at the Northpoint Training Center, a medium security prison on Walter Reed Road in Burgin, Kentucky. His expected release date is February 6, 2021. Due to the serious nature of the charges, they do not allow for parole. This is case 16CR303 in Fayette County.

May 13, 2022 update: Tony Sasnett was released from prison in early February 2021. He quickly moved back to Oklahoma. He is a lifetime registered sex offender and lives in Oklahoma. See here.

Sermons by Tony Sasnett:
(5-13-22 Edit: These links are no longer valid)
May 12, 2010
September 28, 2011
January 12, 2013

Articles:
Lexington Church Employee Arrested, Charged With Rape – February 12, 2016
Lexington Bible study director charged with five counts of rape – February 12, 2016
Lexington church worker charged with rape – February 12, 2016
Man with ties to church in Lexington accused of rape – February 13, 2016
Detective: Church worker used his position to pressure 16-year-old into sex – February 23, 2016
Former Bible Study Director In Court On Rape Charges – February 23, 2016
Case against former Lexington preacher moves forward – February 23, 2016

Kentucky Online Offender Lookup (and for when that link is no longer valid go here and here.)

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

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United Pentecostal Minister Michael Rodney Jones: Caught Capturing Nude Images of A Minister’s Wife & Daughter

This is Part 25 of an ongoing series on sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church. I am going to start covering a few cases on which I don’t have as much detailed information as I have on some of the prior cases I’ve covered. When/if I have more details, I will either update these articles or write a new one with the additional information.

Michael Rodney Jones was born on November 19, 1970 and at the time of these events he was married with four young children; three girls and a boy. He came from a broken home and started drug use at an early age and later became addicted to marijuana and cocaine. In his mid-20s, he made his way to the Salvation Army’s adult rehabilitation program where he began his recovery and later ended up at an an affiliated UPCI church called Norfolk Apostolic Church, where for decades Michael Blankenship has been the pastor. He became a licensed minister. The church is located at 3131 Azalea Garden Road in Norfolk, Virginia. At the time when he was interviewed by The Virginian-Pilot in 2007, he had allegedly been clean for ten years and was very involved at the church. His older brother Marcus, now deceased, had been the pastor over the church outreach to the Lawrenceville jail.

Michael Rodney Jones first appears in the 2005 edition of the UPCI Directory, indicating that he first obtained his local license in 2004. (Directories are issued in January of each year and are more reflective of the prior year.) The license was granted by the Virginia District of the UPCI when Jack Cunningham was the District Superintendent and Michael Blankenship was the District Secretary. As of the writing of this article, Jack Cunningham and Michael Blankenship yet hold these positions and still did in 2024. In 2006 he received a general license, as is reflected in the 2007 UPCI Directory. He is last seen in the 2015 Directory with a general license, which was the year of his arrest. During the entire time he held license, he was part of the Virginia District of the UPCI. He was an associate pastor, youth pastor, musical director and worship leader at the Norfolk Apostolic Church. (This PDF flow chart shows since at least January 2014, Michael Rodney Jones was an associate pastor at Norfolk Apostolic Church.) Jones had also been the director of the Alcohol Chemical Treatment Series program at the church, though I am unsure if he still was at the time of his arrest. The following crimes were committed while he held general license.

As soon as I can start to take responsibility for what I am then I can start to change,” he said. “You have to have a vision for your life and for what you want your life to be. – Michael Rodney Jones, 2007 interview

On December 3, 2014, Michael Rodney Jones entered the home of a fellow associate pastor in his early 50s and installed a camera in the bathroom. With this he captured nude images of the man’s wife and 19-year-old daughter. After four months of secret surveillance, on April 8, 2015, he again entered the home, this time placing one or two cameras in the daughter’s bedroom, facing them toward her bed. Video surveillance at the home caught him entering through the back door and police were notified by the owner that day. According to news reports, Jones was fired from his positions at the Norfolk Apostolic Church on April 9, 2015.

On April 17th, 2015, Michael Rodney Jones was arrested. He was charged with burglary under Virginia code 18.2-92, which is a class 6 felony. It is a charge for breaking and entering with the intent to commit a misdemeanor. He was also charged twice under Virginia code 18.2-386.1, a class 1 misdemeanor. This is the charge is when a person “knowingly and intentionally create(s) any videographic or still image” of a “nonconsenting person if that person is totally nude, clad in undergarments, or in a state of undress so as to expose the genitals, pubic area, buttocks or female breast.” If the person being photographed is under the age of 18, it would be a class 6 felony. These are Norfolk Circuit Court Criminal cases CR15001264-00, CR15001264-01 and CR15001264-02. In addition he was charged under Virginia code 18.2-89, a class 3 felony, which was later amended to 18.2-92. This is case CR15001265-00. The church had given Jones an Apple Macbook laptop and this was seized during the execution of a search warrant on his home.

I do want to point out it’s not the ministry that failed, it’s a man that failed. – Pastor Michael Blankenship, 2015 interview

Soon after being charged with these crimes, Michael Rodney Jones entered a plea of guilty on July 9, 2015. On January 22, 2016, he was sentenced to “ten years for two counts of burglary and 24 months for two counts of taking nude video without consent of the subject. Norfolk Circuit Court Judge Joseph Migliozzi suspended the 10-year felony sentence.” (source) For the two felony counts, Jones was placed on supervised probation that was to start the day of his sentencing and last three years. On September 20, 2018 he requested an early release from probation that was granted on the 24th. It appears he was charged court costs of $1,378.00 as well as $2,400.00 for restitution. He didn’t pay much of a price for what he did in violating the privacy of these two women.

His actions cause one to wonder how long activity like this had been going on. Did he do, or attempt to do, the same or similar to others? What a horrible invasion of someone’s privacy. What would have been his next act, had he not been caught after installing the other camera? Something like this isn’t a spur of the moment event. It took careful planning and it happened twice. He now gets to go on his merry way, while these women will forever remember what was done to them.

The week that Jones was arrested, pastor Michael Blankenship was supposed to be on vacation, but that was cancelled due to what happened. He shared in a sermon on April 12 that it turned out to be one of the worst weeks in his life. Near the end he stated, “But your brothers’ failure, or your sisters’ failure, is not a license for you to fail. It should be a warning that should rattle you to your core and cause you to come to this altar and find God and say, ‘God, I wanna talk about my cup, not his cup or her cup. It’s my cup I wanna deal with.’ The Spirit of the Lord is sending, and has sent, a purifying fire on Norfolk Apostolic Church and he is uncovering sin and is cleaning things up. I doubt that it is done because I think there’s a number of things that are very contrary. But the good news is, it’s not the enemy’s fire, it’s the Lord’s fire.” When he started to address 1 Timothy 5:20-21, the video goes silent as he most likely directly addressed what had been happening. The message is cut short due to this. Then on April 15, 2015 he preached on betrayal and processing hurts.

Added April 10, 2020:
In a similar situation at another Oneness Pentecostal Church in Silsbee, Texas, on March 4, 2020 21-year-old Noah Quillen was arrested. It is alleged that he set up cameras in at least two homes of members of the First Pentecostal Church where Homer Looper is pastor. Quillen has been charged with burglary of a habitation, possession to promote child pornography and invasive visual recording. It was shared that one of the homeowners discovered a camera and called the office of Sheriff Mark Davis. For more details, see this news report.

June 4, 2022 Edit: A follow up on Michael Rodney Jones being used in leadership positions at another UPCI church is found here.

Articles:
Norfolk man converts from addict to minister and drug counselor – October 17, 2007 (old article on Jones and his work with addicts through the church)
Former Norfolk pastor accused of spying on young woman via hidden surveillance camera – May 6, 2015 (includes video)
Ex-Norfolk pastor sentenced for taking nude videos of woman, teen – January 25, 2016
Ex-Norfolk pastor sentenced for sneaking into house, taking nude video – January 25, 2016
Ex-Norfolk pastor sentenced for taking nude videos of woman, teen – January 25, 2016 (June 4, 2022 edit: Link is no longer available and is excluded from Wayback.)

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

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