Dana Cummings returned from trip final month and located a collection of cryptic emails from Everlasting Church, the Fort Mill church that her household attended.
The church was writing a couple of assembly to debate the previous of lead minister Don Logan.
“I realized something must be very wrong,” she mentioned. “My husband jokingly made the comment, ‘Is he a sex offender?’”
One Google search gave her the reply. Mrs. Cummings discovered her lead pastor on the record of registered intercourse offenders in York County, with the web site itemizing his offense as a 1997 conviction in Indiana for sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old lady.
Now, Cory and Dana Cummings and their 4 kids are looking for a brand new church and warning the general public that Everlasting Church has not been clear sufficient about Pastor Don’s previous.
For his or her half, the church elders indicated that they’re conscious of his previous. They declined to talk on the file prior to now 5 days or make the pastor accessible, asking for extra time to offer an interview. However in emails to members, they addressed the rumors which have circulated on-line and among the many congregation.
A church e-mail mentioned Pastor Don lately shared a message “about how the Lord interrupted his life during a season of sinfulness many years ago and how God used that time to capture his heart and transform him.”
A household assembly was held June 9 on the church to recap, and members had been warned the content material was for a mature viewers. In a follow-up e-mail on June 21, members had been informed the revelations about Pastor Don’s previous had resulted in actual challenges.
“Since we entered this season, our church has undergone a discernment period which has involved prayer, quiet reflection, consulting Scripture, open dialogue as a church family, processing as individuals and in groups, and discussion among elders, pastors, and staff,” a church e-mail mentioned. “This discernment is ongoing.”
Final Sunday, Pastor Don remained on the pulpit.
In the meantime, it seems the sexual historical past of Pastor Don could have come to mild in Could via a put up on thewartburgwatch.com web site. The location made a prolonged put up concerning the Fort Mill church and spelled out how Pastor Don was a youth pastor at Grace Neighborhood Church in Noblesville, Indiana, on the time of his sexual misconduct.
“It is also of note that he was a missionary to Guatemala (Mission Frontier) before being a youth pastor,” the positioning says.
The web site additionally quotes a letter from Everlasting Church Elder Mark Sivak, which says, “Since this event 27 years ago, Don has taken careful steps to safeguard himself including disclosure with elders and pastors on staff and never meeting privately with a female. Others, including his wife, have confirmed all of this as well.”
Nonetheless, it’s been an excessive amount of for the Cummings. The Lancaster County household had solely been members of the church for lower than a 12 months, however Pastor Don has led the church for 10 years. Mrs. Cummings mentioned she had heard the pastor point out how he discovered God when he was in a jail cell. She had assumed it was a DUI or faculty antics.
“But it certainly wasn’t sexual misconduct with a minor of 14,” Mrs. Cummings mentioned.
She mentioned she was informed her pastor served three years of a six-year sentence.
“Apparently the elders of the church knew about this – some to more of an extent than others and have various responses such as he is above reproach now, he talked about his past in sermons, … we need to forgive him like God wants us to, what he did wasn’t that bad, etc etc. It’s clear that they have no intention on removing him as lead pastor.”
Everlasting Church has grown from assembly on the YMCA at Baxter Village to opening their very own new constructing on O’Henry Highway just a few years in the past. The church started in 2003 as a fourth service of Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Rock Hill, in accordance with the church web site. In 2004, Everlasting moved into the Fort Mill space assembly within the Tega Cay YMCA.
A little bit over a 12 months later in November 2005, the church moved into the Fort Mill-Baxter YMCA upon its opening. Then, in 2009, Everlasting left the PCA denomination and have become a nondenominational church. They’re led by elected elders and performance as an impartial, reformed church. In 2015, Pastor Don Logan was known as to steer Everlasting Church.
Mrs. Cummings mentioned the church has expanded its youth program, even providing an in a single day camp for teenagers in the summertime.
“I wonder if Don is invited to that? I think of the movie night at the church where he invited all the kids to come sit on stage with him,” she mentioned. “This information has been concealed by the church.”
The Cummings had simply gone via a membership class to affix the church. 4 weeks into the category, and nothing was talked about concerning the pastor being a registered intercourse offender, they mentioned.
After the intercourse crime got here to mild and started circulating throughout the church, Mrs. Cummings emailed the employees and informed them her emotions. She questioned whether or not Pastor Don can be allowed to proceed peaching whereas the church mentioned it. She mentioned they didn’t reply her.
“And he was back up preaching the next Sunday,” she mentioned. “He’s just preaching like nothing has happened and he is not going to address it.”
“I feel like people who walk in that door and make the decision to be a member and give your time and money and effort need to know who is preaching to them. He is wonderful preacher,” she mentioned. “But it really takes away all the credibility when I feel like this past is being hidden with the understanding that only the right people know.”
Mr. Cummings mentioned he was making ready to take over and be a youth group chief for 8-12th graders when the revelation got here out. Issues have now modified for him.
“For me, I don’t feel like it’s the best environment for my family,” Mr. Cummings mentioned. “I just like transparency.”
As an alternative of listening to the pastor element what occurred in sermons and the way he overcame it, the church is declining to speak about it and hoping nobody else does both, Mr. Cummings mentioned.
“I have met plenty of people who had a past, but you knew about it, they preached about it, very openly, and therefore not ashamed of it,” he mentioned. “As a result of we’re all human.
“I think you should have access to the lead pastor of your church. But he preaches on Sunday and then disappears into the mist.”
Associated
“Well bless their hearts.”
