11/07/2023
I can no longer stay silent about the way Frank and I were treated at St. John’s Lutheran Church of Essex. The church leadership, led by church president Robin Emrick, and Interim Pastor David Petr, treated Frank and me like we were the vicious enemies of the church after Frank made a formal proposal to remove the anti-LGBT+ provisions of Church Bylaws, in accordance with church constitution provisions.
Following Frank submitting the proposal, at a church council meeting, a member of the church council proposed addressing the congregation with information for the voting with lies in that the council had voted on an alternative proposal which they had not done.I confronted a lie (not a person).
I called the lies out and they then tried to say I was harassing the person that wrote the proposal when all I did was say the proposal was a lie.
“Pastor” David Petr., an unordained interim pastor at he church, did not like that I said that the specific by-laws were based on bad theology. In a Council meeting jumped out of his chair and came up to me in a physically threatening manner and stuck his finger three inches from my face (Frank was sitting directly behind me)to intimidate me because he didn’t like that I was truthful that these bylaws where based on bad theology. Absolutely no one at the counsel meeting said anything. The president, Robin Emrick, implied it was no big deal.
I reported David’s actions to Synod Bishop Bill Gohl. He did nothing and basically blew me off and said it was a local church issue.
After all of this, the church president removed us under false pretenses without factual reason from leadership from the Cub Scout Pack we founded and brought there. This was based on information from two leaders who were never at meetings.
It was in retaliation from the two leaders and the church president who was angry that Frank filed the proposal and that I reported the pastor to the bishop.
The church president lied to the parents about us without us being present and never justified this to us. We know this from two parents present at the meeting.
They never notified us of the vote on the proposal amendments to the by-laws. They made it unbearable for us to remain there after all that happened.
David Petr is a candidate for ordination. His actions at the meeting are not acceptable for a candidate for ordination or future minister. Showing anger to a council and/or church member is inexcusable and he is not fit to be ordained. I find it hard to believe that the bishop has no authority over a church council president and it’s council when it slanders church members, such as the church president did to me and Frank with the Cub Scout parents. There has to be a way for a bishop to discipline the leadership of a church who violate the teachings of Christ.
Robin Emrick, David Petr and Bill Gohl are not fit to serve in the leadership of Christian Church. The Council of St. John’s Essex should be dissolved for their actions and non-actions.
All of this has rattled my faith in organized churches. I’ve attended church all my life. I’ve been churches where congregations humbly worship God and serve people in the community in need following Christ’s command to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. Church leaders seem to be more interested in keeping their political positions within the congregation.While I will NEVER lose my Christian Faith, it will take a while before I will participate in a organized church congregation.
