Category: sexual abuse

This is part 30 of an ongoing series dealing with sexual abuse and the United Pentecostal Church. Back in late May, I wrote about the criminal charges against Dexter Lee Hensley for child sexual abuse involving more than one victim. The assaults are alleged to have occurred during the period of January 2012 through December 2015 and at least some, if not all, happened at the Jasper Apostolic Church (listed as Apostolic UPC, Inc. in the United Pentecostal Church Directory and located at 231 Hillside Drive in Jasper, Indiana) where the pastor is Howard Wayne Geck. The church operates  Jasper Christian Academy, a small school located at the church.

Howard Geck, born July 27, 1956, also pastors New Life United Pentecostal Church (104 W. 3rd Avenue in Huntingburg), an affiliated UPCI church.

The previous pastor of the Jasper church was Judith C. Branam, who appears to have been the pastor when the alleged assaults occurred. Branam founded the Jasper Apostolic UPC and the Jasper Christian Academy. Howard Geck, who married Branam’s daughter, Kim, became the pastor in 2016 according to UPCI Directories. It is unknown whether Branam was ever aware of these or any other possible allegations against Hensley.

Howard Geck was pastor when the guardian of the girls reported the abuse to him at some point in 2017.  On May 20, 2019, the guardian of the victims “confirmed that about two (2) years ago, she was made aware of the inappropriate touching and that she reported the abuse to the church pastor, Brother Geck.” Dexter Hensley was a member of the church. She went on to say that she and Pastor Geck met with Hensley and “that the issue was taken care of.”

Pastor Howard Geck never informed the police or Child Protective Services of the abuse, even though everyone in the state of Indiana is a mandated reporter. Too many of these pastors have the mistaken notion that they are somehow qualified to investigate and handle sexual assault cases. Instead of reporting them, they choose to handle them ‘in house’ and this is exactly what appears to have happened in this instance.

On June 26, 2019, United Pentecostal pastor Howard Wayne Geck was charged in Dubois Circuit Court with a Class B misdemeanor, 31-33-22-1(a), for failing to report this case of sexual assault after he learned of it. This is case number 19C01-1906-CM-000628. Due to the seriousness of failing to report, as it gives opportunity for perpetrators to continue to harm others and brings no justice for victims, you would think that the penalty for this would be at least somewhat severe, especially when it involves a minister. Apparently that is not the case.

Probable cause was found and an initial hearing was scheduled for July 23, 2019, which was later waived. A pretrial conference was then scheduled for August 13. It was cancelled because on July 30, 2019, a pretrial diversion agreement was filed and all Howard Geck had to do was pay the court $454.00.

This was a case where, in my opinion, there was no doubt that Geck had been notified of the abuse two years prior and he chose to not report. Have there been any other cases where he has acted similarly but they have not come to light? Since the penalty was so little, will he or others choose to do so again in the future?

Why did the United Pentecostal Church not step in and revoke his license or at the very least remove him from any positions in the organization? Yet, this isn’t a total surprise as when two UPC ministers in California were convicted in the 1990s of failure to report, they retained their licenses and positions and one even later moved up in the organization and is now a District Superintendent. (I speak of Arthur Hodges and George Nobbs.) Their case even brought about change in California state law.

Nothing happened to Colorado pastor Dannie Hood, who chose not to report or testify in the case of Jessie Klockenbrink (though he legally was permitted to do so by claiming the loophole of clergy privilege).

They appear to have done nothing about the numerous child sexual abuse allegations surrounding Calvary Gospel Church in Madison, Wisconsin that goes back decades, despite our numerous articles, as well as those by several others, including the Capital Times. We’ve written about other allegations involving churches and ministers where men still retain their licenses.

I have heard from more than one source that at the past General Conference this September,  the UPCI adopted a position paper about ministers and reporting such cases, though it has yet to be released to the general public. Will action truly be taken against any of their ministers, no matter their status, their Apostolic pedigree, or how much money they give, if they fail to report sexual abuse to police or have committed sexual crimes themselves?

Is David Bernard, the current General Superintendent, going to do what is right and thoroughly investigate all these cases and remove ministers from their ranks who fail to report, as well as those who have committed sexual assault that may not have been reported to police and prosecuted? David Bernard is an attorney, and while he may not have ever dealt with such cases as a lawyer, I believe he does understand the seriousness of this issue. While I am in disagreement with the UPCI on many things, I personally believe that Bernard has helped the organization and has made some positive changes as they are in a much better situation now than before he became their leader. He has also made some brief statements about sexual abuse and the need to report and support victims. This issue is one that he absolutely must address and do so publicly in order that all those attending UPCI churches are made aware of what the UPCI expects their ministers to do when it comes to sexual abuse and the consequences that must consistently happen to ministers who fail to do what is right.

As to Dexter Hensley, on November 18, 2019, a change of plea hearing was scheduled for December 17. Hensley had originally entered a plea of not guilty. It would appear that a plea agreement may have been reached. A new court date of January 27, 2020 is scheduled for acceptance of his plea and sentencing.

Articles:
Pastor charged with failing to report child molestation
Pastor charged with failure to report
Dubois Co. pastor arrested after failing to report alleged child abuse – Includes video
Jasper Pastor Charged With Failing to Report Child Sexual Abuse Cases

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

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I have written extensively about Debbie McNulty’s childhood sexual abuse by alleged perpetrator Steven J. Dahl while she was a member of Calvary Gospel Church, a United Pentecostal Church in Madison, Wisconsin, where John W. Grant was the pastor. (He now calls himself a bishop.) There are others from CGC who were allegedly abused by various men in the church. Below is a list of the articles that will give extensive details about this case:

A UPC Church Responds To Sexual Abuse
A Pastor Who Should Not Have Been Part 1
A Pastor Who Should Not Have Been Part 2
A Pastor Who Should Not Have Been Part 3
UPCI Ministers Embrace Alleged Pedophile Part 1
UPCI Ministers Embrace Alleged Pedophile Part 2
One Woman Remembers Steven Dahl’s UPCI Connection
A Day Of Reckoning For Calvary Gospel Church

In September 2019 a two hour podcast interview with Debbie was released by a group where normally “atheist and agnostic Ex-Christians share their stories of deconversion.” While she considers herself neo-pagan, they made an exception in Debbie’s case and included her story in one of their podcasts. There are many who have experienced spiritual abuse who have walked away from Christianity and with what Debbie endured, it is no surprise that she is not a Christian. We previously shared this interview on social media but I want to provide some additional information about what is covered so that potential listeners will have a better idea of what is included and so that some, who may not have two hours to listen, might be able to skip to a section that interests them.

In the first 55 minutes, Debbie shares about herself concerning her past and when she started questioning the teachings of her former church as well as the Bible. Some may not like the discussion about the Bible, but don’t allow that to stop you from hearing her story. Debbie had a childhood that she describes as “marinated in fear” and speaks about her complex PTSD after years of watching films like A Thief In The Night and hearing sermon after sermon about the rapture, end-times and people being left behind. She was very involved at Calvary Gospel Church, was a student in the church operated school that was held in their basement and was also a Bible quiz captain. (Bible quizzing is very popular in some United Pentecostal churches.) At home, things were often difficult and troublesome as they were poor and her parents divorced after her dad committed adultery. She later found herself in an abusive marriage while attending a Baptist church. She was in her early 20s when she was questioning the Bible and felt that the book of Genesis fell apart upon examination, which lead her to reject it all.

At about the 55 minute mark she begins speaking about her childhood sexual abuse and Steven Dahl, now of Oconto, Wisconsin and pastor of the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church, which meets in the old VFW building that was donated to the church. Debbie shows how she was groomed as an 11 year old and how he would complain to her about his marriage (he hadn’t been married long when Debbie’s abuse began) and how his wife wouldn’t have sex while fasting. During their first time together, he held her hand and then asked for a kiss, which she gave him on the nose. He allegedly responded that it wasn’t the type of kiss he wanted. Over time things escalated. Debbie felt responsible for the sexual abuse she endured when she was eleven and twelve years old. She shares that at twelve he unsuccessfully attempted to have intercourse with her.

Debbie was working with a 19-year-old at a church popcorn wagon when one day she suddenly blurted out what was happening. The teen asked questions of her and then told a minister and his wife from Calvary Gospel Church, whom she was living with, and they told her to tell Debbie that if she didn’t inform the pastor, that they would. Debbie had to make an appointment with pastor John W. Grant in order to tell him what was being done to her. Grant never spoke to her about it again after this meeting. A few days later is when Debbie received a phone call from Steven Dahl, saying he was leaving town and that it wasn’t her fault. At the next church service, she found out about him being caught in bed with his wife’s minor sister, Alice. They later married soon after Alice turned 18.

McNulty goes on to talk about the #churchtoo movement and mentioned that she hadn’t seen any United Pentecostal related stories. She started feeling that she had to tell her story, including the names of those involved and the church. At about the 1:22 mark she mentions my website and how she discovered she was not alone and that girls she had once babysat for had also been sexually abused. She became angry, sad and frustrated. All of this lead to her starting a private CGC support group on Facebook that started with about eight people and at the time of the interview had grown to 25 members.

At the 1:28 mark they speak about the Assembly bills in Wisconsin that hope to change the laws regarding child sexual abuse and remove the clergy privilege loophole that enables ministers to fail to report. Debbie spoke about how she and some others met with members of the Assembly and told them their stories of abuse. This meeting lead to a visit with the Madison police chief as well as to some investigative stories published by the Capital Times and written by Katelyn Ferral. On August 7, 2019, Debbie McNulty and another childhood sexual abuse survivor from Calvary Gospel Church, Rebecca Martin Byrd, both spoke at the press meeting that announced the Assembly bills. They were subsequently interviewed by some media outlets. At the 1:49 mark the interviewer is asking Debbie various questions and they speak about how Dahl had removed things from the Internet and how her husband confronted Dahl on his Facebook profile. She shared how Steven Dahl admits to adultery, but not that it allegedly happened due to sexually assaulting minors.

Debbie’s story is important and should be heard and known by others. Calvary Gospel Church has an alarming number of child sexual abuse survivors going back decades and these need to be investigated. No church should be permitted to enable, cover-up, turn a bind eye to, or fail to report instances of sexual abuse, especially those which happen to minor children. The United Pentecostal Church has many more instances of sexual abuse than their leaders and members realize or will admit to. While the organization is pretty small in North America, (Bernard stated in the January 2020 issue of Pentecostal Life that their North American churches only have an attendance of about 600,000 people and an estimated constituency of 800,000 as of August 2019.) these accounts of sexual abuse are just as alarming as those of the Catholic or Baptist churches.

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.

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

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