Category: sexual abuse

Part ten of a series of articles.

I have fought back tears while hearing reports of sexual abuse, some of it happening for years. It is sickening to discover how older men manipulated and molested young girls and boys. It is enraging to hear how certain pastors have systematically covered up and not reported such cases. Hearing that minors who were molested were blamed by pastors or church members disgusts me. Watching current United Pentecostal Church members and friends of the perpetrators and pastors attempt to re-victimize people, call them liars, blame them in some way and claim wrong motives for telling what happened is maddening. It is mind boggling to see former UPCI minister Todd Ritchie state there is nothing wrong with a pedophile being a pastor and claiming persecution of the perpetrator because a survivor is speaking out. It is all heartbreaking, it is repulsive, it is infuriating, I struggle to find words adequate to describe it….and I am not a victim but simply someone hearing what has happened.

There are pastors who have sat on their thrones and helped to devastate the lives of countless people by instructing parents to not go to police, not provide professional counseling to survivors and in some cases they have made them confess before the church, as if they had anything to do with their assault. Fearing for their spiritual welfare, there are church members who hold these men in esteem and will not speak of what they have seen and heard, thus allowing the criminal behavior to continue. Pastors have allowed perpetrators to continue molesting an untold number of people due to handling situations ‘in house’ and failing to report cases to the authorities. At least one has made it appear that they took cases to police when they did no such thing.

Pastors have either hidden sexual abuse or sent people away without informing church members of what happened, so parents don’t know to check if their child(ren) may have also been a victim. Pastors have allowed some to obtain a UPCI license after having committed such a crime, or to retain one.

It is unbelievable, inexcusable, and reprehensible how some United Pentecostal Church ministers have handled instances of sexual abuse and infidelity. They have not only brought shame upon themselves and their loved ones, but also upon the churches, the organization, and even Christianity itself. It is no wonder that some walk away from a belief in God. These men should not hold the office of a pastor, nor should they be licensed by anyone, nor should they hold any church leadership position or be preaching. Their actions have proven themselves untrustworthy and unfit.

Those who were sexually abused in these churches need to file a police report. The Special Victims Units handle such cases. If the crime happened in Madison, Wisconsin, for example, the SVU has six detectives on staff or if it happened in Denver, the Major Crimes Division would investigate. Don’t be concerned with how long ago it occurred or if there are witnesses or evidence. It isn’t solely about whether or not they can prosecute, but there are other factors to be considered.

There may be the possibility of a civil suit against the perpetrator or the pastor/church. There are cases that involve the repeated deliberate cover up of sexual abuse by pastors. There may be other churches that have done so but are not yet openly known as people have not come forward. Recent history has shown that all it sometimes takes is one person to come forward and report their abuse and it gives other survivors the impetus to do likewise. Many times a person feels they are alone when there are actually others. That is how Debbie felt when she came forward but found there were many more from Calvary Gospel Church. Yet no one will know and things may never change if people remain silent and do not come forward.

Each case has its own unique factors as well as statute of limitations and those vary from state to state. If people do not file reports, then there is nothing on record. There is no chance that the authorities will go after these perpetrators, pastors and churches. There is no chance of helping other unknown survivors, nor potential future ones should they decide to report. Each reported case helps- even if your individual case can no longer be prosecuted.

In addition, you will have the satisfaction of trying to do something to put a stop to what has happened and may still be happening. You have a voice. Who knows who you could help by filing a report. It may be just what another woman or man needs in order to go forward with their case. If there has ever been a time in our country where people are paying attention to what all too many people have endured with sexual abuse and how it has been mishandled in churches, it is NOW.

In addition to filing a police report, if it was a currently licensed minister who abused you, or covered up sexual abuse, the United Pentecostal Church has a judicial procedure where a complaint may be filed against that minister. I encourage any of our readers who have personal knowledge of such wrongdoings to learn about the judicial procedure and seriously consider filing an official complaint if the minister yet holds license, no matter how long ago something happened.

If a complaint is not filed, you can pretty much be guaranteed that the UPCI will not address the matter. If a complaint is filed, there’s a chance that some type of action will be taken, even if it falls below what you would want done. In other words, if you know of wrongdoing by a minister and you choose to not file an official complaint, do not expect to see any action taken against that minister.

In 2024 significant changes were made to this procedure and child sexual abuse complaints will now be handled differently than other complaints. Individual districts in the UPCI will no longer handle these. To learn all the details about the judicial procedure, go here.

Speak up- for yourself and for others. There is power in numbers- let your voice be heard. People may have been silent in your assault and there may have been little to no help and you may have been shamed. Yet you have a powerful voice which has yet to be heard and that may make it easier for another survivor and perhaps help them to receive justice in our legal system, even if you cannot. People are watching and listening.

Will your voice be among those that shatter the silence surrounding sexual abuse and the United Pentecostal Church?

March 20, 2024 Note: I added information about the UPCI’s judicial procedure and checked links.

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

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Part nine of a series of articles.

(Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by a survivor. There have been no convictions as the case mentioned here was not reported to the police and to my knowledge, the alleged perpetrator has not admitted guilt.)

This article covers information about Steven Dahl and his alleged molestation of at least two children in the 1980s as well as allegations of failure to report instances of child sexual abuse by pastor John W. Grant, of Calvary Gospel United Pentecostal Church in Madison, Wisconsin. You will need to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for additional details.

For the purpose of ministerial membership in the United Pentecostal Church International or for ministering in a United Pentecostal Church International church, immoral conduct shall be defined as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, incest, and/or any other sexual acts determined by the District Board to be perverted or immoral (Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19:9; I Corinthians 6:9; Romans 1:24-28). – UPCI Manual

In my previous article, I asked four questions that cannot be ignored, tip-toed around or rationalized away and which need to be addressed by the Wisconsin District of the UPCI. I also shared that, “for years United Pentecostal ministers and pastors have been speaking for Steven Dahl at the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church in Oconto.” Before giving the names of various UPCI ministers who have spoken there, let’s take a closer look at Steven J. Dahl. Some has been shared in earlier articles.

Steven Dahl was born February 10, 1952 and grew up in Cambridge, WI. His grandparents came to America from Norway. His mother was Catholic and his father was Lutheran, which is how he was raised and baptized as a baby. He worked at a Pontiac garage in his teens, followed later by Ford and Chevy garages. He also worked for many years as a marketing representative selling church directories for Olan Mills and then as a consultant for Lifetouch Church Directories (they purchased Mills).  When he was just 14, his father died at age 51 in 1967, with his mom being 81 at her death in the late 1990s.

Prior to his involvement with the United Pentecostal Church, he “was married, divorced, and went bankrupt by age 22.”  Claiming an angel appeared to him the night before, on a Friday night in mid March 1981 at 11:30 pm he spoke in tongues for 45 minutes at his home in Madison, in front of two friends. On March 17th he was baptized at Calvary Gospel Church in Madison, Wisconsin. John W. Grant was the pastor, an ordained minister of the United Pentecostal Church. Steve claims to have been delivered of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs when he spoke in tongues on March 14.

He soon married Debra, seven years younger than him, in July 1981. The same year, or possibly in the spring of 1982, Debbie alleges that Steven Dahl started repeatedly sexually molesting her when she was eleven years old. Debbie reported this to pastor John W. Grant when she was 12, either in 1982 or 1983. Around the same time, Steve was caught in bed with Alice, his wife’s 15 year old sister. It appears that Grant may have sent Steve out of state for an unknown period of time, though in 1984 he was living in Appleton. None of this was reported to the police.

On March 26, 1985 Debra filed for divorce and on April 17, 1986, at age 34, Steve and Alice Marie eloped in Las Vegas, Nevada, just a few months after Alice turned 18. Steve and Alice have remained married and have four grown children. As a child, Debbie and Alice had been friends and pen pals, but this started changing when Alice moved in with Steve and his ex-wife back in the early 80s.

According to Dahl, these “mistakes” cost him his chance at being licensed in the UPCI. In December 2013 [screenshot] he wrote, “But that did not stop the call of God in my life from being fulfilled. I have had a lot of men disappoint me, and try to stop me from being a preacher, but God kept setting me up to minister.” Prior to him attending the Neenah church, he preached in nursing homes and while at the Neenah church he preached in three different prisons (being told not to return to two) for six years. He was asked to preach at a Methodist camp where he was almost thrown out when they realized he was Oneness Pentecostal. By 1986 or 1987 he started attending Christian Life Center in Neenah, a UPCI church. He occasionally preached there “when no one else was available.”

While a member of the Neenah church, for four years starting in April 1995 [screenshot], Dahl would make the 70 mile drive to Oconto, a city he hated and claims has a “bad spirit over it.” Starting in February 1998, meetings were being held rent free in the former VFW Hall at 821 Superior Ave in Oconto, Wisconsin. Around 1999, he purchased a home about four miles from the church. At some point the church had a split. In the time from 1995 to 2013, Steve claims to have baptized over 60 people, using a cow tank in the beginning. On June 6, 2014, the company that owned the building gave it to the church, after first putting on a new roof and adding a steeple and a cross. It is not a 501(c)(3) church.

The Pentecostal Lighthouse Church was a daughter work of Christian Life Center (now CrossPoint Church & then later Hope City Church), when John J. Bridges was pastor. Though unsure if it was such from its inception, we know that Bridges was supportive of it and advised Dahl. It was also listed in at least three years of directories that the Wisconsin District issued from 2006-2008, naming Steven Dahl as the pastor, even though Dahl did not hold license, was never eligible to hold license, and according to UPCI rules, should not have been ministering in their churches. (Screenshots of these are found in Part 1.)

In December 2013 Dahl shared that he was glad the church had become independent, that he had changed a lot of the ways he used to believe and did not wish to place “grievous burdens” on people. It appears it may have been over the UPCI standards teachings. As far back as November 4, 2012, Dahl stated that the church was not UPCI. It ceased to be listed as the daughter work of Christian Life Center in 2014 and probably prior. (I have not seen the issues from 2009-2013.)

[Video: Rachael Denhollander describing credible allegations of sexual abuse coverup in the network of Sovereign Grace Churches, and in the Evangelical community at large.]

Besides it being incredulous that John J. Bridges and the Wisconsin District allowed Steven J. Dahl to pastor a daughter work of the Neenah church, numerous United Pentecostal Church ministers and pastors have spoken at the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church. Even more socialize with him on Facebook and in person. UPC minister Mark Willhoite, who Dahl considers a mentor, believes that Dahl is a good man and preaches as well as Lee Stoneking, because he considers him anointed.

Below are the names of fourteen known ministers who have spoken for Dahl, as well as two who have allowed him to speak at their UPCI church. How could so many either have not known of his past or ignored it? When an ex-UPCI minister in Michigan can be shunned and spoken vehemently against by his former pastor, because he left and no longer believed all the standards, how can so many ministers embrace someone who has committed adultery more than once and is an alleged pedophile?

This is little Debbie, at the age in which she alleges that Steven J. Dahl started repeatedly molesting her. How do you think this appears to her when she sees how these men have welcomed Dahl with open arms, when she was treated by some at Calvary Gospel Church as if she had done something wrong? This is not a “mistake” and it is not just a matter of “adultery.” It is not normal for someone unhappy in their marriage to turn to young children and sexually molest them.

Besides having spoken at the Neenah church, Dahl has preached at the Pentecostal Apostolic Church of Peshtigo where Dale Welch was pastor (January 2012 screenshot) and at Apostolic Worship Center in Antigo/Bryant/Elton, where Ward Rehbein (another mentor to Dahl) is pastor (March 2011). (Welch passed away on July 20, 2019.)

The following ministers are those known to have spoken at the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church. It should be evident that the inclusion of these names is by no means an indication that they were aware of the accusations against Dahl at the time. Mark Crowley (July 2010; March 2011; December 2014), Lee Endris (October 2017), George Hurt (January 2011), Mark Harris (May 2012; April 2014; December 2014; January 2017, May 2018), Joe Martinez (July 2010), Jimmy Ogle (December 2009), Phil Bridges (October 2010), Felix Crowder (January 2011; January 2013), Michael Papp (May 2014), Ward Rehbein (July 2012; October 2013, April 2019), Mark Showalter (March 2013), Dale Welch (December 2010), Ellery Campsall (August & September 2014, December 2018), Timothy Duffy (May 2018), and Robert Childress (May 2011; December 2016, January 2017). (Campsall was not UPC licensed at the time of this post, but was campus pastor at Life Point Church in Hortonville, an extension of Apostolic Truth Church in Appleton, an affiliated UPCI church. He did later become licensed and now is pastor of the Wauwatosa Tabernacle of Praise.)

As Christians who preach the inherent worth of people made in God’s image, we must take credible claims of abuse and mishandling seriously and require an independent investigation of the organization before supporting. If these claims are true and we have supported something that damages God’s children so much, that is grievous beyond what I can express, and we are responsible for that support and the damage that ensues thereafter, both to the victims we harm by failing to hear their cries, and to the victims that follow.
And if these claims are proven false, will we not all rejoice that God’s truth came out through humility and accountability, exactly as we teach it will?
And if you were leading an organization with such widespread claims of mishandling sexual and domestic violence, would not your love for God, and those under your care, motivate you to seek the truth yourself, to find out if errors have been made? Would not LOVE require this? – Rachael Denhollander

There are voices crying out, saying there is something very wrong here.

Known as ‘The Rev,’ Steve Dahl runs The Rev Oconto Car Club Facebook Group (started September 28, 2021). He organizes Car N Tunes events in Wisconsin and at the annual Oconto Fly-In Car & Tractor Show (he also runs or helps run that Facebook Page, which started February 16, 2018), where he has served as emcee and DJ at the event for thirteen years. The next Fly-In date is September 21, 2024.

March 10, 2024 Note: Screenshots and some pictures have been added to this post, links have been checked, and some revisions were made.

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

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Part eight of a series of articles.

(Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by a survivor. There have been no convictions as the case mentioned here was not reported to the police and to my knowledge, the alleged perpetrator has not admitted guilt.)

This article covers information about Steven Dahl and his alleged molestation of at least two children in the 1980s as well as allegations of failure to report instances of child sexual abuse by pastor John W. Grant, of Calvary Gospel United Pentecostal Church in Madison, Wisconsin. You will need to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for additional details.

A preacher may fall into sin, be forgiven by God, be restored to the church, and even be restored to many areas of service, but this does not automatically entitle him to his former position of leadership. He must once again meet the qualifications of being blameless, having a good report, and so on. This takes much time, and in some cases total restoration may never be possible. …Moreover, some sins-such as child molestation, incest, and rape-may indicate deep personality problems that would permanently disqualify someone from many leadership positions. – David Bernard, January-March 1988 Forward

In a previous article, I shared about the relationship between the United Pentecostal Church and the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church in Oconto, Wisconsin, a Oneness Pentecostal church where Steven J. Dahl is the founder and pastor. It is something I stumbled across while doing research for my articles. The relationship between Dahl and the UPCI should never have occurred according to their Manual. It causes us to ask questions that cannot be ignored, tip-toed around or rationalized away. (The two screen shots below are from the 2018 UPCI Manual. The rules mentioned were also in place in the 1990s.)

In the United Pentecostal Church, if a minister is guilty of an immoral sexual act, they must forfeit their license and one who has committed such is not to minister in a UPC church. How then did an adulterer, who is an alleged pedophile, pastor the daughter work of a United Pentecostal church in Neenah, Wisconsin? John J. Bridges was pastor of Christian Life Center (now CrossPoint Church– then later Hope City Church), the parent church. [screenshot from a 2006 Wisconsin District directory]

In the United Pentecostal Church, new churches are only to be started with the written consent of the District Board. How then was the daughter work of Christian Life Center approved by the Wisconsin District when Steven Dahl, not licensed by the UPCI, was to be the pastor? Since the District included his name and home address in their directories, it wasn’t like Bridges bypassed this requirement and secretly had a daughter work. [screenshot from a 2007 Wisconsin District directory]

If the Oconto church started in 1995 [screenshot] when Dahl has stated, John W. Grant was serving as the Wisconsin District Superintendent. How then did the District approve the daughter work of Christian Life Center when Grant allegedly had direct knowledge of instances of child sexual abuse? He was the pastor at Calvary Gospel United Pentecostal Church in Madison, where Steven Dahl had been a member during the time when the alleged abuse took place. [screenshot from a 2008 Wisconsin District directory] If it started in 1995 but somehow didn’t become a daughter work of the Neenah church until the 2000s, John Putnam would have been the District Superintendent. Considering the seriousness of the allegations, it would be a dereliction of duty for John W. Grant to not have shared about Dahl with John Putnam or John Bridges. Since Steven Dahl’s name was included in at least three years of Wisconsin District Directories, District officials, as well as any other Wisconsin licensed minister, had to know that he was being used as a pastor. [Note: James Booker became the new District Superintendent in March 2018.]

Not only did Steven J. Dahl get to pastor the United Pentecostal daughter work in Oconto, but an eyewitness has shared with me that he was seen attending the Wisconsin District Conference meeting held at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, where these have been held for years. [screenshot] This was at the minister meetings and happened around 2005-2007. He was present in at least one of these, possibly more. John Putnam was the District Superintendent then (and still was as of 2018). Why was Steven Dahl allowed to attend meetings for UPCI licensed ministers when he neither held license, nor was he ever going to be eligible to obtain one?

If the above isn’t enough to cause astonishment, for years United Pentecostal ministers and pastors have been speaking for Steven Dahl at the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church in Oconto. Dahl has spoken in at least one of their churches. A list of some of these men will be covered in Part 2. It is very clear to me that, year after year, the Wisconsin District of the UPCI and many of its ministers have embraced Steven Dahl as one of their own, something they would have been prohibited from doing according to the UPCI Manual had his alleged sexual sins occurred while holding license. I shared in a previous article, “When their ministers will shun former members because they left the organization or no longer hold to their teachings on standards, I find this disturbing and perplexing.”

So how does the above look to many of us who have left UPCI churches? It reeks like the stench of rotting fish. Many of us were suddenly shunned once we exited their buildings and we had not committed adultery, nor acts of child sexual abuse. I asked Debbie, who alleges that Steven Dahl repeatedly molested her while a member of Calvary Gospel Church, to write about how this has affected her.

Just like when I was a child they prefer the child abuser over the abused child. As I and others have tried to speak out and tell our stories we are scoffed at and declared to be liars by some who don’t even know us or the details of our stories. The church has gone out of its way to be friendly with Steve. They are friends with him on social media and they visit one another’s churches. Just like when the abuse happened he seems to be accepted and I am denied. They did not report his actions at the time and he was taken in by another UPC church. He was eventually put in charge of a daughter work and now it is like nothing ever happened. He does not hold a UPCI license but that doesn’t seem to matter much to them. Meanwhile, when I speak my truth they do not want to hear it. My story is automatically met with denial, disbelief, and scorn. There is no willingness to even entertain the idea that I might be telling the truth. Steve is enjoying a fair amount of support on his page. People are offering him prayers and verbal encouragement as he goes through this difficult trial. Not one person who is still in the church has reached out to me. …Watching how well Steve has been received and how much the church wants to deny all of this has hurt me. When I see people I used to respect, like former Sunday School teachers being friends with Steve online that is pretty hard to witness. – Debbie, former member of Calvary Gospel Church

Will any answers to these questions be forthcoming? Time will tell. I plan to continue writing. Meanwhile, a growing number of people find this to be very upsetting and inexcusable. If you presently are part of the Wisconsin District of the United Pentecostal Church, you should hold these people accountable and press for an investigation.

For those who wish to hear him, this is a video interview with car enthusiast Steven Dahl, who has owned over 175 cars in his lifetime. [The video has since been made private.] Here’s one he made on September 16, 2023 and another from the same day, that he streamed live on his The Rev Oconto Car Facebook Group he operates. You can find several more of his live videos there. He’s very active in old car shows, such as the Cars N Tunes events which have been held several times a year at Shake A Burger in Oconto (he plays the tunes there and at the annual Oconto Fly-In, Car & Tractor Show, where he has served as emcee and DJ at the event for thirteen years). He used to have some YouTube videos of his preaching, but they have been removed.

March 12, 2024 Note: Some pictures have been added to this post, links have been checked, and some revisions were made.

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

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Part seven of a series of articles.

As previously shared, I personally have known four people from the United Pentecostal Church who have been convicted of sexually related crimes. In Part 2 of this series, I shared about two cases, where one man held license. These are the other two.

Some of us were gathered for a ladies prayer meeting that night at the church when the phone rang. Answering, I recognized the voice as one of the older male members. He was married and had children. George asked to speak to Rebecca (not her real name), one of the young church girls. Her mother happened to be there and she shared he had been calling Rebecca at home.

He didn’t hold any position in the church or organization. I believe it was prior to this when he tried to cause trouble for a good friend of mine who worked where he did at Lenox China. The false accusation didn’t work, but the pastor called her into the office to question her about what was said.

It was revealed that he had been spending time with some young girls. Rebecca’s parents were concerned and put a stop to future contact. I don’t know details of what happened at the time, nor what happened later at his arrest on an unrelated event. In July 1993 he was sentenced to prison on sexual charges and was a registered sex offender until his death in February 2018.

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There was a United Pentecostal minister who married a woman from my church. Tom and his family lived in northern New Jersey. He came to God while serving a prior prison sentence in Louisiana and upon release quickly became active and licensed in the UPC in the 1980s, even being featured in one of their publications, Freedomline (Spirit of Freedom Ministries).

He was licensed by the UPCI since at least 1985. (He is seen in the 1986 UPCI Directory with a local license. I don’t have the previous three years.) He eventually became a pastor in Westwood after assisting at a small storefront church in Riverdale. The church was a rented building.

As of at least 1988, he had returned to criminal activity and that year he also became a volunteer chaplain at the Bergen County jail. In March of 1990 while a pastor, he was arrested on some charges and there was also a prior charge of a sexual nature.

He claimed he did not commit the sexual assault of the 15 year old minor but was found guilty of sexual assault, criminal restraint and making terroristic threats. In October 1992 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, with having to serve half that time before possibly being eligible for parole.

The woman later recanted her testimony in an affidavit, after receiving a letter from Tom’s wife, which included pictures of their two children, but then she recanted this. She claimed to have been harassed.

In 2006 Tom’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus was dismissed with prejudice.

I don’t know if Tom was ever released from prison prior to his death in February 2013 after a battle with cancer.

At the time, very few in my church knew details of what happened, including myself. Back then, there wasn’t the easy access to news reports from other areas. I’d never heard that he had been accused of sexual assault in this case, nor did I know of his prior sexual related convictions, such as the rape of a 14 year old, or details of all his previous charges. In the article he wrote for Freedomline, no assault was mentioned. Tom had a criminal history going back to the 1970s when he was a military policeman at an Air Force base in Louisiana.

My former church was probably what one would consider a medium size in the United Pentecostal organization. Many people came and went through the years. Both prior to my joining and while I was a member, there were numerous situations of sexual activity outside of marriage with some resulting in pregnancies, along with cases of adultery. A close friend once confided that she had been raped by a male member, who at one point had been living at the church, but I don’t believe charges were filed.

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

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