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On March 23, 2019, another former member of Calvary Gospel United Pentecostal Church (CGC) in Madison, Wisconsin came forward and started to publicly share her story of child sexual abuse in a United Pentecostal (UPC/UPCI) church. Like Debbie McNulty, she was a pre-teen when her abuse began and when her pastor, John Wesley Grant found out, he did not report it to the police either time. Now in July 2020, her alleged perpetrator is being charged with two counts of sexual assault from when she was a minor.  After almost a year of investigation, a criminal complaint was filed against the perpetrator on July 15, 2020. The house of cards at Calvary Gospel is continuing to fall.

So I was unlucky enough to catch the eye of one of my Sunday School teachers, who also helped out as a youth leader. …In the eyes of Calvary Gospel Church, my predator was a great young man, a burgeoning minister. He was also 17 years older than me. …I was 12 the first time he sexually assaulted me. …This went on for years until we had full intercourse when I was 14. He was 31. – Rebecca, former member of Calvary Gospel Church

(Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by the survivor. There have been no convictions as of yet and to my knowledge, the alleged perpetrator has not openly admitted guilt.) This is Part 36 of an ongoing series and the eleventh one pertaining to this particular affiliated United Pentecostal Church (see links at the end). I will be writing more than one article on this case and in this installment, I wish to focus on the fact that this man was able to become licensed by the United Pentecostal Church, despite John Grant’s awareness of his alleged sexual assaults.

Rebecca Martin-Byrd started sharing her story more openly after her youngest daughter turned 18, as prior to then she wanted to shield her from the things that she experienced. Rebecca was one of several people interviewed by Katelyn Ferral for a story on the decades of unreported child sexual abuse at Calvary Gospel Church. Stolen Childhoods was released August 7, 2019 by the Cap Times. Later the same day, she and Debbie McNulty spoke in support of legislation proposed by Wisconsin lawmakers to remove the statute of limitations, as well as the clergy privilege loophole regarding reporting. That same day Rebecca also met with detectives and reported the repeated sexual abuse she endured for years at the hand of Glen Alan Uselmann, starting when she was a pre-teen. She met with them several times after this and detectives interviewed other people, including UPCI minister John Wesley Grant.

There are two reasons that Uselmann should never have been considered for licensing. It is extremely disturbing that John Grant, a minister who had been licensed for decades and served as a District Superintendent for many years, would allow this man to be so active in the church, including preaching, and then go on to allow him to be licensed. In order for a person to be considered for licensing by the UPCI, their pastor must sign the application. Without the endorsement of the pastor, their license will not be considered.

Inasmuch as the ministry is the highest office on earth, no person shall be eligible as a minister if after having been baptized in Jesus’ name and having received the gift of the Holy Ghost said person has been divorced for any cause save fornication or adultery on the part of the one from whom he or she has been divorced, and has remarried; or after having been baptized in Jesus’ name and having received the gift of the Holy Ghost said person has married a person who has been divorced for any cause save fornication or adultery on the part of the one from who he or she has been divorced. Further, if fornication or adultery is claimed as the grounds of divorce, sufficient evidence other than his or her own personal testimony must be presented to the District Board. – UPCI Manual, Article VII, Section 8

Prior to being licensed, Glen Alan Uselmann spoke numerous times at Calvary Gospel Church from at least 2010 through 2014, as well as for years afterward, according to their website. (See screen shot one and two.) He was also involved in the church in other ways, such as teaching Sunday School.

Glen Uselmann was licensed by the United Pentecostal Church when his alleged past actions should have disqualified him according to what has been clearly outlined in their  Manual, which is released every year. First, he had been divorced and remarried when he applied for license in 2013 and the divorce was filed under irreconcilable differences (see above quote from the UPCI Manual). At no time during the divorce did he claim Rebecca had been unfaithful. Second, because of the alleged sexual crimes, he was disqualified from ever holding license or preaching in a United Pentecostal church (see quote below from the UPCI Manual).

1. 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).
2. Any minister affiliated with our organization proven guilty of adultery or fornication, or committing any other immoral offense, shall forfeit his or her papers immediately. Immoral offense shall include sexual molestation of minors. – UPCI Manual, Article VII, Section 9

Uselmann first appeared in the 2015 UPCI Directory with a local license, the lowest level of licensing and he never attained a higher level. This is usually reflective of him receiving license in 2014 as the directories are issued in January of each year, however in the Oct/Dec 2013 edition of the UPCI’s Forward magazine for ministers, he was listed as receiving license between July and October 2013 (screen shot). Either Roy or John Grant would have needed to sign his license application. At this time, John E. Putnam was the Wisconsin District Superintendent.

Calvary Gospel Church, located at 5301 Commercial Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin, became an affiliated UPCI church in 2016. For many years prior to this, Calvary Gospel Church was not legally affiliated with the organization. [Every church whose pastor holds license in the UPCI is considered a United Pentecostal church. In this, there are affiliated and non-affiliated churches. In the former, there is a legally binding agreement between the local church and the organization.] John W. Grant, an ordained UPCI minister, became pastor of CGC in 1972. By 1982 he also held the position of the Wisconsin District Superintendent and remained in that position through part of 1999 when John E. Putnam was elected. Putnam was replaced by James Booker in March 2018. Grant has since retained the position of Honorary Presbyter in the District and Honorary General Presbyter on the national level. During November 2014, he was inducted into the United Pentecostal Church’s Order of the Faith. In early 2013, John Grant brought his son, Roy Howard Grant, in as a co-pastor and the following year elevated himself to the position of bishop. On the weekend of February 28, 2015, Roy was officially installed as the senior pastor. John Grant has remained active in Calvary Gospel Church the entire time through the writing of this article.

Here is the heart of my allegation against John Wesley Grant and Uselmann’s license. In the criminal complaint against Glen Uselmann, it was noted that when Rebecca was 12-13 years old, she wrote letters to a pen pal about what was happening and then that girl’s sister gave the letters to John  Grant. It is alleged that Grant brought Rebecca and her parents into his office and warned Rebecca that if she talked about this, it could ruin Uselmann’s life and damage the church.

In addition, on February 26, 2020, detectives interviewed John Grant about his knowledge of Uselmann’s sexual assaults. He claimed to have first heard about it when Rebecca and Glen had been married for 12-13 years and Rebecca had confided to one of the other church pastors. [Note: This time frame given by him is incorrect as the marriage ended in 2006.] Grant claimed he met with Uselmann after this and that Glen made it seem like it happened one time and admitted to Grant that they had sex before they were married.

Rebecca and Glen married in 1995, so 12-13 years later would have been in 2007-2008, many years before Uselmann was granted license with the United Pentecostal Church in 2013. Grant was well versed in the UPCI Manual since he was a District Superintendent and was supposed to uphold their teachings and regulations. Yet, knowing that Uselmann had divorced and remarried on grounds other than sexual infidelity, and knowing that Uselmann allegedly admitted to sexual activity before he married Rebecca, he did absolutely nothing to prevent this man from receiving license. This is inexcusable and yet another reason why the UPCI needs to do something about this minister and Calvary Gospel Church. There is no way that headquarters is not aware of the many allegations against Grant and CGC and yet they remain silent.

Glen Uselmann retained his license with the United Pentecostal Church from 2013 through part of 2019. It appears that at some point after the Cap Times article, he either had his license revoked or he relinquished it himself. He no longer is listed in the 2020 edition of the UPCI Directory.

In my next installment, I will be covering the criminal charges against him.

December 9, 2021 Update: A jury trial is set to start on July 11, 2022 and continue through July 15, 2022.

May 1, 2022 Edit: A jury status hearing is set for June 27, 2022, with jury selection on July 11. The trial is set for July 12- 15, 2022.

Articles:
Charges filed in sexual assault case linked to Madison’s Calvary Gospel Church– July 21, 2020 Capital Times
Columbus man charged with sexually assaulting child while working as Madison church youth minister – July 22, 2020 WKOW
‘My initial reaction was absolute shock:’ Madison woman affirmed after her alleged, childhood abuser charged with sex assault – July 23, 2020 WKOW (video)
Man charged for sexually assaulting girl at Calvary Gospel Church in Madison – July 23, 2020 WMTV NBC15 (video)
Criminal complaint alleges former youth pastor sexually assaulted girl for several years – July 23, 2020 WISC
Former Youth Minister At Columbus Church Charged With Child Sexual Assault – July 23, 2020 Seehafer News
Probable cause found in sex assault case against Columbus man – August 6, 2020 WKOW

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

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Douglas Stauffer’s actions beg the question, “Why did it not matter that Matt was able to present Stauffer with documented proof from the Zambian embassy website?” And why was it insignificant that our family was set to land near the country’s capital on election day, a time that would likely be a major climax during the ongoing political unrest? I believe our troubles were merely another opportunity for Stauffer’s own pomp and circumstance, beginning with Stauffer’s disagreement about Matt using his internship as his survey trip, and then continuing into what I believe was Stauffer’s utmost desire for acknowledge and power.

Internship Disillusionment

During the Tuesday night meeting of the King James Conference in 2018, the one dealing with my Facebook post in reaction to Stauffer’s carnal message, Matt and I finally had the opportunity to question Stauffer about his deceitfulness during the current meeting with Pastor Andrew Ray. As it turns out, Douglas Stauffer, a retired CPA and a man with two supposed PhD’s, disagreed with Matt accomplishing his internship for his degree while going on a strongly desired, and almost essential, survey trip, rather than making two separate trips. Not only had Matt been eagerly looking forward to using his internship as his survey trip since he was a freshman in college, and had even started the process as a New Testament Church Pioneer in 2001, but by 2016, he was married with two children, working full-time, needed to request the time off from work, and had a two-week minimum requirement from the college for the internship. We finally understood why Stauffer had always encouraged Matt to first go to a country or people group that was closer and more financially feasible to visit for his internship before taking his survey trip to the country God had laid on Matt’s hearts for years.

We accepted Stauffer’s strong disagreement with our family’s future ministerial plans, but we also recognized that he overstepped the bounds of individual soul liberty by purposefully attempting to prevent a trip that had nothing to do with him. More importantly, however, Stauffer overstepped at a time when my family’s life was potentially in danger, and we believe it all had to do with Stauffer’s pride.

All for Another Win

In June of 2016, just before the meeting with Pastor Andrew Ray, Stauffer participated in “The Great Rapture Debate” in Colorado as part of his evangelistic work, but upon returning to Antioch Baptist Church, Stauffer carried himself as a man overly proud of his accomplishments, believing himself to have succeeded against a pastor in proving a pre-tribulation rapture. I believe Stauffer took the opportunity to make my family’s trial into a power-play to pamper his own pride. Maybe he truly cared about my family’s safety and about us seeking after God’s will, but why else would Stauffer be unwilling to admit the fallacies of presenting my husband as an incompetent, ignorant fool, even after Matt showed him proof of the contrary? We concluded that Stauffer’s actions were merely his attempts toward another victory on his personal scoreboard after “The Great Rapture Debate,” rather than to aide us on our journey.

Preparation or Power

Truly, Stauffer could argue that he was trying to prepare us for the missionary field considering that he did eventually confess that he evaluated a missionary’s potential success by how he handled discouragement, seemingly Stauffer’s discouragement specifically. Possibly, in whatever goodness Stauffer was capable of, his actions were meant as a test of endurance. Were this the case, however, I never realized painting a future missionary as reckless and irresponsible when their family’s life was at stake was the Biblical method of measuring one’s ability to successfully make it to and stay on the mission field! During the meeting of 2016, Stauffer had even gone so far as to suggest that if God truly wanted us to go on our survey trip in 2016, and that it was not simply Matt’s half-baked plan, God would work out the financial situation we had requested assistance with. Ironically, God provided through a lost man, and Stauffer essentially had to eat crow as he handed us a check from the church AFTER everything came together!

The Conclusion of the Matter

In reality, I believe Stauffer attempted to stand in the stead of God in our lives by questioning my husband using his mission’s degree internship as his survey trip and portraying the mission’s trip as a decision made outside of God’s will. I believe he presented our situation in whatever light he felt was necessary to be the most beneficial to Douglas Stauffer, as shown throughout the meeting and in the days to follow when Stauffer never admitted he was wrong and never apologized for his deceptiveness. Moving forward, we thanked the Lord for the safety in the multitude of counselors, which did NOT include Douglas Stauffer. We thanked the Lord for their encouragement and advice to change the dates/location for the trip, and we determined that our initial hesitations about Stauffer barely scraped the surface of the destruction he probably left behind. But, oh, how different things may have been had we heeded our hesitations in seeking Stauffer’s “wisdom” in the first place!

Thankfully, though, we never had another run-in with Stauffer until his messages in 2018 about the people who left, but by that point, we knew he was a Diotrephes and could not be trusted. Though we were still floored by his confidence to throw out darts behind the pulpit, what surprised us the most was when we heard Pastor Andrew Ray agree with his statements and say, “Amen!” Had Stauffer influenced him that much? Could it be he was just severely wounded and trying to heal? Instead of admitting the truth, we concluded that Stauffer had likely had some influence on Pastor Ray, but he and his family were just severely wounded and hurting. We knew our pastor’s heart! Unfortunately, we had NO idea what Pastor Ray was actually doing behind the scenes until some of it slowly came to light despite our desires to support and trust our pastor.

In this series I share my thoughts and opinions concerning these ministers and the events which led to my departure. Click here to continue reading: “Blindsided: TBD: Pastor Ray” (this was never posted) or click on the link below.

For a list of the complete series, click here.

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It’s been some time since I last shared an experience here. With a crazy work schedule and issues involving my kids, it’s been busy for me of late. Tonight I was in a discussion about prophecies made that were never fulfilled. It brought back some really painful memories.

In 2011, I was invited to a United Pentecostal Church Men’s Conference for the Maryland/DC District in Arnold, Maryland. For a good part of the afternoon I had a good visit with different people from congregations in the area I never met before. We got to hear a couple of men speak. One was drawn out and sounded more like a prosperity gospel preacher (think Robert Tilton or a toned down Kenneth Copeland). His name I don’t remember. The next speaker was a man I now wish would have kept his fool mouth shut.

Doug Klinedinst is a major player in the UPCI. He is active in international evangelism for the organization. After delivering his sermon, Doug called us all to the front of the church where we began to pray and he started to prophesy over people. He looked directly at me and said, “I never met you before but the Lord showed me you have a storm going in your life. Brother, that storm is coming to an end!” In good faith I rejoiced and even spoke in tongues, believing the marital problems I had along with stuff I dealt with at work was going to be resolved.

That ‘prophecy’ was anything but true. In fact, the storm got worse not better. First, in December 2011 I was laid off. I found work a few weeks later but was making less than half what I earned at my previous employer. The marital issues became a royal mess. Finally, in 2013 I was kicked out of the UPCI church I attended in Essex, Maryland. That congregation is still around but is no longer affiliated with the UPCI.

I would later write a lengthy and detailed correspondence to Doug explaining what happened and asked for an apology to own up for his actions. To this day he never answered me.

Do I still believe in spiritual gifts? Yes I do! Am I going to be so quick to file down the altar to be prophesied over? No way!

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**Names/locations marked with an asterisk (*) have been changed for the privacy of individuals and their families**

Before continuing further with the meeting, I would like to present the email that Matt sent to Pastor Andrew Ray himself about Doug Stauffer’s actions that evening, considering that Matt was the one in the meeting while I was either in the nursery or outside with the children.

Email from Matthew Olds to Pastor Andrew Ray
Date: June 29, 2016 at 4:14 PM

Dear Pastor,

    After our meeting I realized how important it is that you know as many of the details of our trip as is possible due to you being the one who will decide to take it before the men of the church or not. I would also like to take the time to apologize for being so defensive during the meeting. As you may remember, Brother Stauffer mentioned telling me I did not do my homework and that “It was not very nice to say.” He had told me that just before meeting with you and I had just finished informing him otherwise. So when he mentioned it and didn’t tell the rest of the facts it left me defensive. I am sorry for my attitude while I was in there. I also feel that Brother Stauffer attempted to mislead you to believe that the missionaries I am conversing with are not from America, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. I do not know if he was attempting to cast more doubt upon their counsel in where I found safety or if he is just genuinely  being cautious, but I feel it is best to have you as thoroughly informed as possible. The missionaries I have been corresponding with are [The Dickens*]. They are missionaries specifically to the deaf in [Zambian city*] and they actually run a school for the deaf there. I learned about them my freshman year in college and have been keeping up with their prayer letter ever since. I have also been conversing with Brother Smith*. They minister in [Zambian city*] which is where we desire our flight to land. He tells me that the [Zambian city] is an open door for deaf workers. I have also been in contact with the Simmons* from a town [a certain distance from*] Lusaka. The latter two families Brother Colvis helped me find. They are all American missionaries, and [they*] have all suggested that I postpone the trip or at least change the destination to [Zambian city]. If the dates were kept the same, the additional costs would still be present even though it only involves a different destination. 

    The following is a concise timeline of all that has transpired as well as to our reasoning of it. None of it excuses the fact that we didn’t seek the Lord on the timing, but hopefully this will shed some additional light on the subject:

    As you know my wife, and I have been desiring to take our survey trip for quite some time now. To be honest, the desire to see the field that God has for us grows stronger with each passing moment. In the early part of February I began reaching out to missionaries that I actually knew, but there were no responses. I don’t know if the Prince of the Power of the Air was snatching them up, or if they were just being sent to their spam boxes. It is beyond me. At the same time, Crown has been pressuring me to take my internship, which is doubling as my survey trip. They are threatening to give me a failing grade and making me pay for the class/ opportunity again if it is not taken care of by the Fall.  This is mostly due to their becoming accredited and having to run things differently from how it was done before. Prior to their becoming accredited, the college had me pay for the class and told me to take it when it was possible. We have since then spoken to the college about what the previous counselor had said and he said that I could take it whenever the Lord allowed. As much of a blessing as that last part was and is, there is still an underlying pressure to get it done and I do want to do right by the college as well as the Lord.

We went ahead and purchased the tickets for later in the cool dry season so that the cost of the tickets would be lower, but still avoid the time when the mosquitoes would become worse. This was in March that we did this. We bought the insurance for them thinking it would cover emergency situations, so that we could change them if need be, but it turns out that it does not include civil unrest, only a documented medical emergency or death in the family. In the middle of May, missionaries began responding to me only to tell that they were on furlough. This was very disheartening. Finally a missionary said that they could host us only to change their mind two weeks later. At the end of May the Lord opened up the doors and several missionaries began saying that they would host us! This is a great blessing, but they are also asking that we postpone the flight anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks due to our flight being scheduled to land in Lusaka, the capitol, on the day of the elections. During the time of the purchase, there was no mention of this on the Embassy website. Now that the elections are a little over a month away, the website is filled with it. We do feel it would be best and that the Lord is leading for us to postpone the trip until September as well as change to destination to [Zambian city*]. This works out well because the missionary families live there and it is [several hours in a direction away from*] the capitol, away from the majority of the developing civil unrest. 

To make these changes, it will cost us $200/ person. (there are four of us.) plus the difference of the cost of the tickets which is currently about $400 per person. There are also the penalty fees that the airlines will not release the costs of until the changes are made. Thankfully the Lord has provided for a large portion of this within the last few days although the funds will not be available until July 1st. We are still seeking the Lord’s face and asking for wisdom in how best to spend it. 

In His Grip,

Matt Olds

In this series I share my thoughts and opinions concerning these ministers and the events which led to my departure. Click here to continue reading: “Blindsided: Douglas Stauffer’s Motives Revealed” or click on the link below.

For a list of the complete series, click here.

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**Names marked with an asterisk (*) have been changed for the privacy of individuals and their families**

Over the last several months of planning before the meeting between Pastor Andrew Ray, Douglas Stauffer, and Matthew Olds (Matt), we had asked Stauffer a few questions about his experiences, per the direction of our pastor, but we had never been significantly interested in Stauffer’s counsel. We answered his questions graciously every step of the way, including about the time we were waiting for responses from the missionaries, and we attempted to glean the meat off the bones from any advice he provided, but we never could have expected what we believe was a direct result of not exalting and depending on Stauffer’s knowledge. Stauffer essentially turned around and twisted the minuscule amount of information he had acquired from Matt about our trip and attempted to use it against us. This became blatantly obvious when Stauffer expressed his disagreement in the meeting about our family staying with a Zambian national, a decision that was never even on the table of possibilities! But who were we planning to stay with in Africa?

The Truth

During the winter and spring, as we were searching for possible missionaries to stay with who could show us the field while in Zambia, we had already had several in mind. The first was a sweet, elderly couple, the Johnsons*, who had established a deaf school where the children stayed throughout the school year. The second was the Desalegns*, a well-known missionary family that several Crown students had been approved to stay with during our time at Bible college. At Temple Baptist Church, where we went to Crown College, Matt and I had both had the privilege of getting to know the missionary to Ethiopia, who with his compassionate wife, had taken Brother Desalegn* and several other children in at an orphanage, and taught them about the saving grace of Jesus Christ!

Brother Desalegn* later graduated from Crown College of the Bible, and was sent out as a missionary, and became well-renowned for his work with the deaf in Zambia, Africa. When we had a chance to finally meet Brother Desalegn at the college one year, he had welcomed us to come visit and see the work that the Lord had been doing. Unfortunately, we were never able to make contact with Brother Desalegn*, but the Lord still blessed, connecting us with another sweet missionary family that had been in Zambia for nearly twenty years. And just to show God’s power and grace, we learned that that family lived within an hours’ travel of the Johnsons*!

These decisions had already been made before the meeting with Pastor Ray, Matt, and Stauffer, but had Stauffer merely asked for clarification- a truth he did not appear interested in- we would have readily explained that we were not planning on staying with a random, Zambian national, as Doug Stauffer had insinuated to Pastor Ray. Instead, Stauffer continued to present his viewpoints as reality, no matter the amount of explanation Matt provided in the meeting.

In this series I share my thoughts and opinions concerning these ministers and the events which led to my departure. Click here to continue reading: “Blindsided: Matthew Olds’ Email to Pastor Andrew Ray” or click on the link below.

For a list of the complete series, click here.

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