Indiana Pastor Nathan Peternel could face up to six months of suspension amid the ongoing fallout from his son’s child sex abuse case and a finding of “unbecoming” behavior by Peternel himself, according to an official dispatch from the National Assemblies of God relayed to congregants at a closed-door meeting Sunday.

Peternel will have his license to preach suspended for three months and possibly longer, submit to supervision by another pastor and spend a year in counseling, per the agreement reached with the Indiana district of the Assemblies of God. Peternel also opted against appealing his suspension, according to a person familiar with the closed-door meeting Sunday.

In the letter, the General Council of the Assemblies of God deferred decisions on Peternel’s suspension to the Indiana district leaders. (In response to questions from 24sight News last week about Peternel’s status, a national Assemblies of God spokesperson also directed questions to the Indiana district.)

Confusion has reigned inside the powerful, yet secretive, Indiana church ever since Peternel’s son was arrested last October on four felony counts of owning and trafficking in child sexual abuse material. In their investigation, police also discovered the son with more than 50 pictures and videos of his parents naked or having sex, which spurred a separate investigation by the Assemblies of God.

The Pentecostal denomination bans pastors from owning or viewing pornography, but the homemade sex videos posed an interesting dilemma for state and national church leaders of whether videos inside the covenant of marriage constituted pornography — a first for the Assemblies of God and a question they ultimately punted on, choosing to find Peternel engaged in “conduct unbecoming of a pastor”.

Indiana’s avowed Christian nationalist lieutenant governor, Micah Beckwith, leads one of Life Church’s four campuses and argued Peternel was wrongly being victimized by Assemblies of God leaders, according to the person familiar with the meeting.

Beckwith, whose office is under a separate criminal investigation related to a deepfake porn and possible ghost employment, has vacillated between talking about the scandal and directing congregants not to talk about it, supporting Peternel after he admitted to making the sex videos and most recently saying Peternel did not make sex videos.

At the meeting Sunday, Beckwith urged congregants to target Assemblies of God leaders who he accused of failing in their handling of the Life Church scandal and Peternel investigation. At one point Beckwith stated the denomination leaders gagged Peternel, but Life Church board members interjected telling Beckwith he was wrong, according to the person with knowledge of the meeting.

Life Church’s interim lead pastor Mike Maleto, who is Peternel’s brother-in-law, did not return a request for comment for this story. Beckwith’s communications staff did not return a request for comment, nor did anyone else associated with the church when asked via its official media email address. Nathan Peternel did not attend Sunday’s de facto town hall, according to the person familiar with the meeting.

The monthslong scandal inside Life Church has seen a wave of families depart for other churches and three top pastors resign, amid anger at shifting explanations of what happened and who was responsible. One week after his son was sentenced to six years in prison, Peternel announced he would be stepping aside after the Assemblies of God investigation, but confusion about even that persisted until Sunday.

The latest flare-up in the Life Church scandal came after Law and Crime’s Jesse Weber published bodycam footage from the Sept. 10 search of the Peternels’ home, revealing that Peternel kept bringing his son to church and around children despite knowing he was suspected of owning child sexual abuse material. In the bodycam footage, Peternel also states that his son may have been molested by an older woman when he was younger.

Maleto originally announced they would answer questions about the bodycam footage at the meeting, writing in a message to congregants “we don’t want you hearing things secondhand or wondering what’s going on. You’re family, and you deserve to hear from us directly.”

But Maleto said Sunday they would not take questions on that topic, according to the person familiar with the meeting.

Despite the wave of departures and resignations, Sunday’s closed-door meeting of members from all four campuses, was well attended, according to the person familiar with the meeting.

The Noblesville campus, where Sunday’s meeting was held, has continued to be a hub of political activity since the arrest and sentencing of Jonathan Peternel. In February Beckwith and Turning Point USA hosted a State of the Union watch party with students at the church.

Since Jonathan Peternel’s arrest in October, former congregants and former members of Nathan Peternel’s youth groups have come forward with stories of Nathan Peternel regularly demanding they discuss sex with him. In a 2016 encounter, Peternel demanded to know how a 17-year-old girl and her fiancé pleasured themselves in the bedroom, something Peternel brushed aside in a private meeting last year but has yet to address publicly.

Beckwith and Peternel co-hosted a podcast entitled “Jesus, Sex and Politics” for four years, but stopped posting new episodes two days after the Peternels’ home was searched and their electronics seized by police. They also deleted two episodes of the podcast dealing with sex and sexual assault.

Throughout the closed-door meeting Sunday, congregants debated who should be held accountable for the mess inside the church, but there was no outright shouting or fighting during the meeting, the person familiar with the meeting said.

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🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series. My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Families flee embattled Life Church amid abuse reports, child porn arrest - 12/17/25

Indiana pastor Nathan Peternel regularly pried congregants about sex in pre-marital counseling - 12/22/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith presses church to stop talking about embattled pastor Peternel - 1/2/26

Pastors resign from Life Church - 1/7/26

Jonathan Peternel pleads guilty to four felony counts of child exploitation, abuse - 1/16/26

Do pastor’s sex videos constitute porn violation? - 1/30/26

Peternel gets 6 years in child sex abuse case - 2/13/26

Nathan Peternel stepping aside after investigation deems sex videos wrong - 2/22/26

Third pastor leaves Life Church, head pastor schedules emergency meeting about bodycam footage - 4/13/26

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

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A third top pastor at the powerful Life Church in Indiana left Sunday amid an ongoing scandal which has forced the lead pastor into a Pentecostal rehab program and his son sentenced to six years for trafficking in child sexual abuse material.

The latest bombshell to rock the church, which is led in part by Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, came after NewsNation and Law and Crime host Jesse Weber published police bodycamera footage from the search of lead pastor Nathan Peternel’s home, revealing among other things that he kept bringing his son around children in the church despite knowing what he was being investigated for.

On Sunday, Derek Lopez, lead pastor of one of Life Church’s four campuses, left the church. Lopez was a popular leader at the Fishers campus, who was hired away from nearby ITown Church (created by the grandson of famous televangelist Lester Sumrall). His departure marks the third resignation by top staff, Life church’s lead youth minister and the head of their Pendleton, Indiana campus both left in January.

Interim lead pastor Mike Maleto told congregants Sunday that they would host a “Life Church family meeting” this upcoming Sunday at 2:30 p.m. which will be open to “anyone”.

“As a board, we were just having the conversation, ‘How do we facilitate transparency?’ Because that’s what, it seems like the perception is it’s lacking, and we really don’t want that to be the case,” Maleto said in his Sunday sermon. “We don’t want you to feel like you’re only going to get information from the media.”

Maleto did not reply to text messages seeking comment sent over the course of the past three days. Lopez did not reply to a call and text seeking comment. And an email sent to the press account for Life Church was not returned, the same as all previous emails to that account seeking comment.

Maleto also announced Lopez’s departure and the meeting in a pair of emails sent to congregants which were obtained by 24sight News.

Ever since Jonathan Peternel was arrested October 23rd and charged with four felony counts related to trafficking in more than 200 videos showing pre-pubescent children being drugged, raped and tortured, decades of stories from inside the secretive church have poured forth.

Nathan Peternel, who employs Lt. Gov. Beckwith and his family as pastors at Life Church, himself is not facing any criminal charges or any known investigations. But has become the focus of as much if not more attention than his son since the October arrest.

Police reported they discovered more than 50 videos of Nathan and Christina Peternel having sex or naked on the confiscated cellphone of their son, Jonathan. Nathan Peternel struggled to explain why there were sex videos for months, ultimately accusing Jonathan Peternel of getting high and hacking into a family account.

Under the Assemblies of God bylaws, credentialed pastors can be removed for “moral terpitude” involving pornography. Following a monthslong investigation by the Indiana office of the Assemblies of God, Nathan Peternel was forced to enter a “restorative process” but allowed to maintain control of the church.

🚨 Catch my interview with veteran broadcaster Rob Kendall with key insights on the reporting process for this Life Church investigation and what we know about the criminal probe of the Indiana lieutenant governor’s office.🚨

Former congregants and youth group members have told 24sight News of Nathan Peternel over the years regularly pressuring children to tell him about if they were having sex and preaching to the entire congregation about his own sex with his wife.

Nathan Peternel has regularly refused to speak in public about the stories and his conduct (and he kicked this reporter out of the church on February 22nd when he held a private meeting to answer congregant questions.)

But the bodycam footage from the Sept. 10 search of the Peternel home features more than 2 hours of Nathan and Chrissy Peternel each talking at length with police about a number of items which had been hidden from congregants, in some cases for many years.

In one instance an officer asks Nathan Peternel if his son was sexually assaulted before. Nathan initially replies “Not to our knowledge”, but then tells the officer that Jonathan told them that he was once kissed on the mouth by an older woman in the church and that she may have touched him over his clothes, but that they didn’t learn until years later and Jonathan didn’t want to talk about it.

Nathan also tells the police their son was first exposed to pornography when he was 10 or 11. In a separate interview, Chrissy Peternel tells the police that Jonathan was once referred by school officials to the police after they found nude photos on his school laptop.

At the beginning of his talk with police, Nathan Peternel refers to a recent incident with the church in which he said police lied to staff and that he was advised by his lawyer, local powerbroker Ray Adler, to not speak with the police. He also references referrals to the state Department of Child services, but does not offer specifics.

Life Church rose to prominence over the past five years as Nathan Peternel and Micah Beckwith locked arms, merging politics with the church — including signing it up as an official Turning Point USA Faith church in 2022 — and ultimately using the church as a homebase of Beckwith’s successful 2024 run for lieutenant governor.

Beckwith still preaches on Sundays and said last year that he was supporting Nathan Peternel, but he has refused to answer questions about his church and the ongoing scandal.

The scandal inside Life Church landed just as the larger Assemblies of God denomination of pentecostals has been going through a widespread unearthing of decades-old sexual abuse allegations. A lengthy investigation by NBC News, “Pastors and Prey”, led to the arrest of popular pentecostal preacher Joseph Campbell recently.

And a prominent leader with the National Assemblies of God, Rod Loy, stepped aside in February amid accusations of sexual abuse.

Throughout their interviews with the police in September, Nathan and Chrissy Peternel regularly referenced their support of efforts to combat sex-trafficking and support for police who investigate sex crimes. The couple regularly mentioned their connections to the Assemblies of God affiliated Project Rescue and Chrissy Peternel noted that Nathan’s mother serves as the chaplain to the local police department regularly pastoring to police investigating sex crimes.

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🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series. My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Families flee embattled Life Church amid abuse reports, child porn arrest - 12/17/25

Indiana pastor Nathan Peternel regularly pried congregants about sex in pre-marital counseling - 12/22/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith presses church to stop talking about embattled pastor Peternel - 1/2/26

Pastors resign from Life Church - 1/7/26

Jonathan Peternel pleads guilty to four felony counts of child exploitation, abuse - 1/16/26

Do pastor’s sex videos constitute porn violation? - 1/30/26

Peternel gets 6 years in child sex abuse case - 2/13/26

Nathan Peternel stepping aside after investigation deems sex videos wrong - 2/22/26

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

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INDIANAPOLIS _ The lead pastor of the politically powerful Life Church, Nathan Peternel, announced Friday that he was stepping aside following an investigation which found that sex videos he and his wife made fell below the moral standards set by the Pentecostal Assemblies of God.

Peternel announced that his brother-in-law would take over leadership of the church, which employs Indiana’s lieutenant governor and his two brothers as top pastors, while he undergoes a “restorative process” required by the Indiana Assemblies of God.

His decision to step aside comes one week after an Indiana judge sentenced his son to six years in prison for the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material. As part of the investigation, police discovered his son in possession of more than 50 videos of his parents naked or having sex, something Nathan later stated was a result of his son getting high and hacking into a password protected account.

“After a careful and thorough review, the District Executive Presbytery concluded that certain personal behaviors related to my use and retention of private digital content involving my spouse fell short of the standards expected of a credentialed minister and were determined to be unbecoming of ministerial leadership,” Peternel wrote in his email obtained by 24sight News.

Peternel wrote he would step aside beginning March 1, he did not say how long the “restorative process” would last.

“In the short term, I will focus fully on this season of restoration. In the long term, the plan is for me to remain the Lead Pastor of Life Church as I walk through and complete the restorative process,” Peternel wrote. “Chrissy and I are approaching this season with humility and expectancy. When this restorative process is complete, I look forward to returning with renewed vision and a refreshed heart to continue leading Life Church forward as we pursue our mission and the vision of reaching beyond what we currently see.”

He said he would address questions during the church’s annual meeting Sunday during a 90-minute session.

Peternel did not return a request for comment Friday evening. Peternel’s brother-in-law, Mike Maleto, the lead pastor of the church’s Eagle Creek campus, did not return a request for comment Friday.

An official with the Assemblies of God declined comment for this story.

It was not immediately clear if Peternel’s license had been suspended following the results of the state Assemblies of God investigation, but the restoration process is generally reserved for Pentecostal ministers who have been removed as leaders of their church. Peternel, in his email, said he would be retaining his leadership position, the state Assemblies of God did not issue a statement.

The Assemblies of God recommends a series of bed and breakfasts and retreat centers across the nation as part of its restoration process for pastors, according to its website. Another powerful Pentecostal figure, Rod Loy of Arkansas, recently was reprimanded by the national Assemblies of God amid accusations he sexually abused a former congregant for two decades beginning when she turned 16 years old, according to The Birmingham News. (Loy has denied the charges.)

Despite agreeing to step aside, Loy promptly returned to the stage of his Arkansas mega-church this week, according to the church’s YouTube channel.

In an extensive investigation, NBC News reported on years of abuse by prominent pastor Joseph Campbell, resulting in his arrest last month on charges he sexually abused two girls.

Peternel is not facing any criminal charges or known criminal investigations and has been circumspect in his limited public statements regarding the sex videos of him and his wife. But former Life Church members have reported an environment of regular harassment, control and profligate discussions of sex — sometimes in front of the entire congregation — over his almost three decades as a pastor.

Peternel rocketed to prominence in Republican circles in recent years helping to run one of his top pastors, Micah Beckwith, for lieutenant governor of Indiana. Beckwith and his team have refused repeated requests for comment regarding Peternel and his son, but in sermons last year the state’s second-in-command said he was standing by Peternel and chastised congregants for asking questions.

Former congregants have described Peternel regularly demanding that they, as minors, tell him about the sex they were having, talked at length about his own sexual relations with his wife, preached about the “pleasures” of sex from the pulpit and, in one closed-door meeting in 2016 demanded a 17-year-old girl describe how she orgasms.

Peternel and Beckwith previously toured the country with Charlie Kirk and his Turning Point USAministries operation and regularly recorded a podcast titled “Jesus, Sex and Politics.”

Since his son’s arrest and the discovery of his sex videos, congregants have fled the church in droves and two pastors announced their resignations. Angry former congregants have expressed frustration at the secrecy from Peternel, concerns that his son was around their children while under investigation for child pornography and refused to heed their concerns when confronted directly.

“Nathan and Life Church leadership need come completely clean on what Nathan knew about his son and when, and why Jonathan was apparently allowed back into Life Church where little children were present after the search of Nathan’s home and confiscation of devices,” veteran Indianapolis conservative talkshow host Rob Kendall said Friday.

Kendall left Life Church last year after his wife was baptized there by Beckwith and called for Peternel’s resignation last month after Peternel’s son pleaded guilty on child pornography charges.

“Nathan also needs to provide a clear explanation why his son was in possession of a massive collection of sex videos of Nathan and his wife, and how the church is ensuring no images or videos of children who attend the church were obtained by Jonathan,” Kendall said. “This issue demands full, public transparency, and thus far Nathan and Life Church have refused to provide it.”

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series. My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Families flee embattled Life Church amid abuse reports, child porn arrest - 12/17/25

Indiana pastor Nathan Peternel regularly pried congregants about sex in pre-marital counseling - 12/22/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith presses church to stop talking about embattled pastor Peternel - 1/2/26

Pastors resign from Life Church - 1/7/26

Jonathan Peternel pleads guilty to four felony counts of child exploitation, abuse - 1/16/26

Do pastor’s sex videos constitute porn violation? - 1/30/26

Peternel gets six years in child sex abuse case - 2/13/26

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

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ANDERSON, Ind. _ Jonathan Peternel was sentenced Friday to six years for possessing and distributing gruesome videos of child rape and torture.

The son of politically plugged in pastor Nathan Peternel and longtime church member read an apology in Madison County Court saying that he was ashamed of his sin, committed himself to Jesus Christ and would give money to an anti-sex trafficking nonprofit.

“I hate my sin that I’ve committed and I want to apologize to anyone who has fallen victim to this. I also want to apologize to my family, my friends and my church family for the stress and embarrassment I’ve caused you,” Jonathan Peternel read from a statement. “Last, to my mom and my dad, I’m sorry I put you through this humiliating situation you have been dishonored and your names have been dragged through the mud.”

Circuit Court Judge Mark Dudley said that while it has not the worst crime he has seen, Jonathan Peternel’s possession and trafficking of child sexual abuse material “affects what other people do, which helps them exploit minors.”

Dudley read through the list of factors he weighed, from aggravating and mitigating factors to mandatory sentencing guidelines in the four felony charges Jonathan Peternel pled guilty to before announcing the sentence.

Weighing Jonathan Peternel’s apology, Dudley explained that the 24-year-old member of Life Church was clearly a smart man and had character, but that he had to consider both rehabilitation and accountability in the sentencing in the case of more than 200 videos discovered on Jonathan Peternel’s phone which showed young children being drugged, raped and tortured.

The judge said that Jonathan’s possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material on June 5 last year and again on September 10, when his electronics were seized as part of the investigation, along with being under the influence of drugs suggested that he only stopped the criminal behavior when he was caught.

“I can’t say with assurance that you won’t commit another crime because with your background you knew it was wrong the very first time you did it, but you continued to do it until you got caught”, Dudley said.

The Jonathan Peternel case has rocked the Pentecostal Life Church in Central Indiana where Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith works as a lead pastor of one of its four campuses and the church has served as a political staging grounds in recent years.

Beckwith has worked closely with Peternel, his boss at the church, since the two launched Beckwith’s political career from the church more than five years ago. And Beckwith has repeatedly said he stands by Nathan Peternel, urging congregants not to ask questions about the criminal case or Nathan’s own conduct.

But Beckwith, who has recently championed efforts to crack down on child sexual abuse material in the Indiana statehouse, did not appear in court Friday in support of the expansive Peternel family which packed the audience. Beckwith and his staff did not return a request for comment Friday.

Nathan Peternel did not return a request for comment Friday or a phone call. Nathan, along with his wife Christina and much of the larger Peternel family packed the seating in the small courtroom Friday, leaving en masse as Jonathan Peternel was walked by the sheriff from the courtroom.

Jonathan Peternel’s arrest on October 23rd touched off the scandal which has rocked Life Church, but it has been the discovery by police that Jonathan had more than 50 videos of his parents naked or having sex, reports of Nathan Peternel repeatedly demanding minors tell him about their sexual activity and efforts to stymie questions from congregants which have spurred a wave of departures, including two top pastors and dozens of families.

Nathan Peternel has admitted that he and his wife filmed themselves having sex and accused Jonathan of getting high and hacking into their password protected account. 24sight News reported last month that an official with the Indiana Assemblies of God had been investigating Nathan Peternel’s conduct, which could potentially result in a revocation of his credentials for possessing pornography.

When Jonathan Peternel was given a public defender in November, he had spent two weeks in jail with nobody paying the $2,500 needed to release him and sitting alone, like a ghost, at the defense table, with none of his family in the audience.

Last month, when Jonathan Peternel changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on all four felony counts, he kept his head bowed as his father, Nathan Peternel, looked on with his chin jutted forward from the front row of the audience.

Friday, before he was sentenced, Jonathan walked into the court the other prisoners now walking with ease with his hands and feet cuffed and chained and sitting up straight. He spoke louder than in previous appearances as he read his apology and said he would commit himself to fighting child sexual abuse and trafficking.

Judge Dudley called said that Jonathan’s crimes were not the most heinous he had seen in his courtroom and also dismissed as an aggravating factor a juvenile incident from Jonathan’s past and, as mitigating factors he noted that Jonathan did not have a history of delinquency and had shown remorse in the courtroom.

But Dudley said that in addition to rehabilitation, court sentences must deal with accountability, which was why he gave Jonathan Peternel under the plea agreement reached last month.

“You have a strong personality and you have a lot of support,” Dudley said, “Prepare yourself for when you get out to do good.”

Jonathan Peternel will be transferred to a state prison where he will serve a maximum of four years, then two years on probation and have to register as a lifetime sex offender.

Peternel’s family walked out of the courtroom Friday solemnly as the sheriff walked him back to detention.

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series. My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Families flee embattled Life Church amid abuse reports, child porn arrest - 12/17/25

Indiana pastor Nathan Peternel regularly pried congregants about sex in pre-marital counseling - 12/22/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith presses church to stop talking about embattled pastor Peternel - 1/2/26

Pastors resign from Life Church - 1/7/26

Jonathan Peternel pleads guilty to four felony counts of child exploitation, abuse - 1/16/26

Do pastor’s sex videos constitute porn violation? - 1/30/26

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

Share

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The Indiana office of the Assemblies of God has been investigating Life Church lead pastor Nathan Peternel amid the fallout from the arrest of his son on child sex abuse charges and the discovery of sex videos Peternel made with his wife, according to two people familiar with the probe.

Peternel’s 24-year-old son Jonathan pled guilty this month to four felonies related to his owning and distribution of gruesome videos showing children being raped and tortured. During their investigation, police also discovered that Jonathan had more than 50 videos on his phone of his parents naked or having sex.

In the months since the discovery of the Peternel sex videos, former congregants have come forward with stories of abuse and demands from Nathan Peternel himself that minors tell him about their sexual relationships, something one former member of his “Stormfront” youth group deemed clearly “grooming” behavior.

The scandal has rocked the Life Church network of four modestly sized campuses, dwarfed by other megachurches in the area, but still packing significant political power having successfully run one of their top pastors for office as Indiana’s lieutenant governor in 2024.

Nathan Peternel and his employee, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, have struggled for months to stop current and former congregants from talking about the criminal case, the sex videos and Peternel’s own regular fixation on preaching about sex before the entire congregation. Two of the churches top pastors joined dozens of families, recently, announcing their departures amid the fallout.

Now, Nathan Peternel’s license to pastor through the Assemblies of God could be revoked if the state’s Assemblies of God credentialing committee determines he made a “moral transgression involving pornography” by making the videos of him and his wife having sex.

Nathan Peternel did not respond to a request for comment for this story. An email sent to Life Church’s media contact was not returned either. The Indiana Assemblies of God, including the pastor conducting the investigation, did not respond to requests for comment.

Peternel has apologized for having the videos and accused his son of hacking in to a password protected account to obtain them. Behind the scenes, former congregants of Life Church say Peternel has accused his wife of being a “Jezebel spirit” who pushed him to make the sex videos.

In close to three decades of pastoring in Indiana, Nathan Peternel has argued regularly for the need for the church to teach sex education from the pulpit in lieu of children learning it through pornography or outside the church. And much of what Peternel included in his official pre-marital counseling materials regarding sex references longstanding Christian sex therapist and marital stability works published by long-running Christian publisher Zondervan.

But former congregants have regularly complained of Nathan Peternel refusing to acknowledge their concerns when they came to him saying they felt uncomfortable with his regular preaching about sex. And after a 2016 incident in which he demanded a 17-year-old girl describe her sexual activity in graphic detail, other leaders in the church reprimanded Nathan Peternel.

The Assemblies of God has been of the fastest growing denominations at a time when most churchgoers and even the churches themselves have been breaking away from formal denominations. The Pentecostal denomination’s focus on speaking in tongues, expressing the presence of the Holy Spirit physically and strict patriarchal rules have meshed in recent years with conservative online influencers and a dramatic shift in Silicon Valley from the far left to the far right.

But the Assemblies of God has also struggled recently with national pastors speaking out in protest over the national office’s handling of decades of sexual abuse reports, detailed at length in a blockbuster NBC News investigation.

Nathan Peternel and Beckwith carved a name for themselves in politics recently accusing LGBTQ+ activists of being “groomers” and fighting to hide books in public libraries which they deemed obscene.

But at the same time, Peternel himself preached in church to his entire congregation, including children, about what he said were God’s rules for sex and the types of sex married couples could have.

Since the scandal broke, Nathan Peternel and Beckwith have yet to publish any new episodes of the “Jesus, Sex and Politics” podcast and deleted a pair of episodes dealing with child sex abuse and sex trafficking and a discussion of sex with their wives.

Jonathan Peternel is set to face sentencing in his child sexual abuse case on February 13th. Nathan Peternel has scheduled Life Church’s annual business meeting, in which congregants can raise concerns, for February 22, according to the church’s website.

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series. My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Families flee embattled Life Church amid abuse reports, child porn arrest - 12/17/25

Indiana pastor Nathan Peternel regularly pried congregants about sex in pre-marital counseling - 12/22/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith presses church to stop talking about embattled pastor Peternel - 1/2/26

Pastors resign from Life Church - 1/7/26

Jonathan Peternel pleads guilty to four felony counts of child exploitation, abuse - 1/16/26

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

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ANDERSON, Ind. _ Jonathan Peternel, the son of a powerful Indiana pastor, changed his plea Friday to guilty on four felony counts related to more than 200 videos of gruesome child rape and torture found on his phone last year.

The son of Life Church’s lead pastor who had initially pleaded not guilty to the child exploitation and abuse charges will now face sentencing next month in a criminal case which has rocked the Pentecostal church of Indiana’s lieutenant governor for months now.

Life Church lead pastor Nathan Peternel, his wife Christina and a large gathering of Peternel family and top church members packed into the small Madison County courtroom Friday morning to await Jonathan Peternel’s hearing.

Jonathan Peternel looked briefly at his father and mother, seated in the front row of the courtroom, as he walked in with other inmates before looking away. As the court worked through a standard retinue of criminal cases Friday morning, Nathan Peternel jutted his jaw out a bit and tilted his head back while Jonathan, his son, sometimes scanned the room or kept his head down.

Two months prior, Jonathan Peternel sat alone in court, with none of his family present as the judge asked him why nobody had paid the $2,500 needed for his release. Now, on a cold, snowy morning, Jonathan Peternel sat at the defense table with his public defender as the prosecutor read through the gruesome details of the videos of child rape and torture found on his phone. Speaking in a much lower tone, almost muttering, the prosecutor read through the four counts.

As the circuit judge read through each felony count, one count of child exploitation and three counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, Jonathan Peternel bowed his head and replied “Guilty” each time.

Asked by 24sight News after the hearing how he felt, Nathan Peternel said “Very broken-hearted for every party involved, it’s a very sad situation.“

“There will be a story I’ll share at some point that will lead to that, I’m just not able to share it at this time,” he said when asked how Jonathan Peternel ended up in court.

Jonathan’s arrest last October has touched off a larger scandal in the church where Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith is employed as one of its top pastors. Since his arrest, former youth group members and congregants have stepped forward with reports of Nathan Peternel regularly demanding they tell him about their sex lives, regularly talking about his own sex life and at times urging congregants to make homemade pornography of them and their spouses.

While it did not come up during Friday’s hearing, people inside the closed-off Life Church have pushed for months to find out why Jonathan Peternel was also found with more than 50 videos of his parents having sex or naked. Nathan Peternel accused his son of being high and hacking into a password protected account, but behind the scenes has also accused his wife of forcing him to film themselves having sex.

Reports of Nathan Peternel’s behavior with teens, his congregations and changing stories about his son and the sex videos have led to a steady stream of departures from the four-campus Pentecostal church which just a year ago was hosting major Republican politicians and hundreds of congregants celebrating in placing one of their own second-in-line to the governor.

Two of the church’s top pastors submitted their resignations shortly after the New Year.

Beckwith and Peternel have tried unsuccessfully for months now to stop congregants from asking questions. The pair used to co-host a podcast, “Jesus, Sex and Politics”, but haven’t made any new episodes since shortly after police searched the Peternels’ home. They also deleted two episodes of the show, including an episode focused on fighting child abuse and sex trafficking.

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series. My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Families flee embattled Life Church amid abuse reports, child porn arrest - 12/17/25

Indiana pastor Nathan Peternel regularly pried congregants about sex in pre-marital counseling - 12/22/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith presses church to stop talking about embattled pastor Peternel - 1/2/26

Pastors resign from Life Church - 1/7/26

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

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The head of Life Church Indiana’s youth ministry and the pastor of one of its four campuses have resigned amid growing reports of abuse and a criminal case rocking the politically plugged in church, according to an announcement obtained by 24sight News Wednesday.

Pastors Tina Pavy and Ross Steele are leaving, marking the first departures from inside a very tight-knit circle in Life Church. Church leader Nathan Peternel and Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, who leads one of the church’s other campuses, have tried to for months to get congregants to stop talking about the arrest of Peternel’s son and Peternel’s own behavior with minors.

The email announcing their departure did not reference the Peternel son’s criminal case or reports of abuse, only saying that Steele would be leaving to start his own church and Pavy was leaving after 16 years of pastoring.

“We celebrate both Pastor Ross and Pastor Tina and joyfully send them with our love, prayers and blessings as they step into what God has next,” reads the announcement sent Wednesday afternoon, signed by the “Life Church Leadership Team”.

Members of Life Church’s leadership and staff met all day Tuesday for their regular staff meeting. Beckwith, who presides over the Indiana state Senate as part of his state job, could be seen engulfed in his cellphone Tuesday afternoon as lawmakers debated measures in the state capital.

Peternel, as he has for more than two months now, did not return a request for comment Wednesday. An email sent to the church’s public relations address was not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon.

Peternel’s son is facing seven felony charges stating that he owned and distributed child sexual abuse material. But the discovery on the son’s cellphone of more than 50 videos or pictures of Peternel and his wife having sex or naked has caused almost more uproar at the Pentecostal church.

Peternel at first declined to explain why their son had the videos, then weeks later accused his son of getting high and hacking into a password protected account. Peternel has preached regularly about sex for decades and told members of his youth groups over the years that if they avoid pornography and abstain from pre-marital sex they can film themselves after they’re married.

In 2016, during a closed-door pre-marital counseling session, Peternel demanded that a 17-year-old girl and her fiancé tell him how they had sex in explicit detail. The young couple complained to the church and the national Assemblies of God. A decade later Paige, whose full name is being withheld, filed a police report with the Fishers, Indiana police.

Members of Peternel’s first youth group started in the late ‘90s, which he named “Stormfront” over protests that it shared a name with a neo-Nazi group, have recounted Peternel demanding he tell them about how they had sex and talking extensively with them about his own sex with his wife.

Peternel and Beckwith have worked closely together for more than five years, co-hosting a podcast named “Jesus, Sex and Politics” and campaigning for office in large part on promises to fight LGBTQ+ activists and public libraries they have accused of “grooming” children. The two haven’t recorded a new podcast since a few days after Peternel’s house was searched by police, and have deleted two episodes of the show, including one dealing with child abuse and sex trafficking.

Pavy and Steele’s departures come as dozens of families have left the influential Indiana church in the last two months.

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series. My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Families flee embattled Life Church amid abuse reports, child porn arrest - 12/17/25

Indiana pastor Nathan Peternel regularly pried congregants about sex in pre-marital counseling - 12/22/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith presses church to stop talking about embattled pastor Peternel - 1/2/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

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In case you need to catch up on the “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation into Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s church and its lead pastor, Nathan Peternel, here’s a full listing of my coverage in chronological order starting from the arrest of Jonathan Peternel on October 23rd.

Please share widely and help get the word out and if you attend or have attended Life Church or anywhere else Nathan Peternel was a pastor, please get in touch. (And a big, big thank you to everyone I’ve been talking with for more than two months now. Honored to report your stories!)

Jonathan Peternel arrested on seven felony counts related to owning and distributing child sexual assault material - October 23

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal

50 videos and photos of Jonathan’s parents, Nathan and Christina, discovered on son’s cellphone

Nathan Peternel was with Jonathan when police searched his house on September 10 - October 24

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case

Nathan Peternel says that videos of him and wife may have been mistake, preaches about the prodigal son, in first comments since son’s arrest

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

***

Nathan Peternel demanded 17-year-old pregnant teen and fiance discuss sex with him in graphic detail during closed-door “pre-marital counseling” session in 2016

Peternel regularly preached to full congregation, including minors, about sex he had with his wife

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

***

Jonathan Peternel, unable to post $2,500 needed for release gets public defender in case. His parents are not in court for son’s appearance.

Church staff says Nathan Peternel has his own lawyer, does not explain why. Turns out its local political powerbroker Ray Adler

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

***

Peternel named his first youth group in late ‘90s “Stormfront” over protests about sharing name w/ neo-Nazi group. Punished a youth group member by spraying Cheez Whiz up nose. Regularly demanded minors talk about sex with him and wife in “small group” settings at his apartment. Every February was “Sex Month” where that’s all they talked about. Talked about an assault on his wife and the sex he and his wife had.

Looking back on it, one former youth group member said Peternel was clearly “grooming” them.

When they re-connected in 2025, they called themselves the “Survivors of Stormfront”

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

***

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith and head of Indiana Assemblies of God tell congregation to stop asking question, cite Jesus walking on water

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

***

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Families flee embattled Life Church amid abuse reports, child porn arrest - 12/17/25

Indiana pastor Nathan Peternel regularly pried congregants about sex in pre-marital counseling - 12/22/25

***

This post will be updated regularly with new items as I publish them and important moments from stories flagged to keep it easy to follow.

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series. My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support while I’m uncovering all this. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

Also catch up on my earlier investigation of Indiana lieutenant governor’s staff and deepfake porn video in office:

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

Follow 24sight News on: YouTube | Bluesky | TikTok | X | Substack

Share

Subscribe now

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series. My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support while I’m uncovering all this. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

Indiana’s embattled Christian nationalist lieutenant governor wrapped 2025 preaching to his shrinking congregation that they should stop talking about the church abuse scandal during a lengthy sermon featuring vintage footage of boxers and an airing of grievances.

He then opened 2026 by tailing a former congregant on Facebook and telling her husband any criticism should be said to his face, the latest in his effort to stall discussion of Life Church lead pastor Nathan Peternel’s abuse and the criminal case of Peternel’s son.

“Glad your wife is still listening to my sermons,” Beckwith wrote in a text message obtained by 24sight News. “But if she has a problem she should come say it to me.”

Beckwith is set to return to the statehouse next week as lawmakers return to wrap their 2026 session, following the bruising defeat of a White House-led effort to eliminate the last two Democratic-held congressional seats in Indiana.

In addition to the church abuse scandal which has rocked his job as pastor, Beckwith and his office also remain under criminal investigation for a deepfake porn video of a lawmaker’s wife viewed by his staff in the office and possible violations of Indiana’s “ghost employment” law meant to bar workers and politicians from campaigning using state resources.

Beckwith stopped replying to 24sight News last August after the scoop on his staff watching the deepfake porn in his office. (In a call with 24sight News at the time, Beckwith said he was certain the deepfake porn never happened and also said that if any evidence was found those staffers would be fired.)

Since then, Beckwith seems to have blocked 24sight News’ cellphone. Beckwith’s communications staffers have said they can’t talk about what Beckwith does in his other job as pastor.

A 24sight News post to Facebook earlier this week noted that this story was coming and opened the door to comment from Beckwith, in the comments on the post former congregants bemoaned Beckwith’s behavior and the demise of Life Church.

“Sadly, the church has drifted so far from seeking, hearing and obeying the Lord in this situation,” wrote one former congregant in reply to Jan Hendricks, which spurred Beckwith to text Hendricks’ husband. Beckwith seems to have been relayed the message by one of his staffers who watched the deepfake porn, his general counsel Devin Norrick, who also serves on the board of director for the embattled Life Church.

Since starting as a Pentecostal pastor decades ago, Peternel has regularly discussed sex with minors and preached to his entire congregation, including children, about the “pleasures” of engaging in intercourse. In one instance reported by 24sight News, Peternel assaulted a 17-year-old girl and her fiancé in a closed-door “pre-marital counseling session” demanding that they describe their intimate relations with each other, including what body parts they use and other graphic details.

Peternel’s son was arrested in October of seven felony counts of owning and distributing child sexual abuse material. Police also found on the son’s cellphone, more than 50 videos of Peternel and his wife naked or having sex. Since then Peternel has accused his son of getting high and hacking into a file drive to obtain the videos. But he has not fully explained why as lead pastor of a politically powerful church he and his wife were filming themselves.

Peternel regularly discussed having sex with his wife in front of the congregation and other X-rated topics like where they could buy sex toys.

Peternel and Beckwith have yet to discuss the extensive preaching about sex at Life Church, but since the arrest of Peternel’s son they have deleted two episodes of their podcast “Jesus, Sex and Politics,” including one in which they spoke with experts on fighting child sex abuse.

In his lengthy sermon last Sunday, Beckwith preached that Ephesians 4:29 means, “If it ain’t nice, then keep your mouth shut.”

Beckwith spoke extensively about the human tongue, talking about its color related to health, saying it couldn’t possibly have been created by evolution, number of muscles in the tongue, tongue related idioms and other trivia before launching into a series of tongue twisters.

He then said that Ephesians 4:29 tells that people should not use “foul or abusive language”, and chastised the Noblesville campus of Life Church, “I have seen more gossip and slander come out of this campus than any of our other campuses.”

Beckwith then asked the congregants, including the church’s lawyer, a local powerbroker, to let off some steam at the end of the year by throwing fuzzy snowballs at each other.

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Families flee embattled Life Church amid abuse reports, child porn arrest - 12/17/25

Indiana pastor Nathan Peternel regularly pried congregants about sex in pre-marital counseling - 12/22/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

Follow 24sight News on: YouTube | Bluesky | TikTok | X | Substack

Share

Subscribe now

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series. My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support while I’m uncovering all this. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

The head of Indiana’s powerful Life Church regularly requested congregants tell him privately about their intimate sexual relationships before getting married, according to documents obtained by 24sight News.

Nathan Peternel demanded congregants in pre-marital counseling sessions say how nervous they were about consummating their marriage on the wedding night on a scale of 1 - 10, if they discussed sex with their parents in a way that was “dirty” or “sparse”, if they and their fiance “had behaved improperly toward each other”, and if they “had sexual relations with another person.”

The newest revelation comes as families have continued fleeing the powerful Indiana church, where Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith leads one of its four campuses. On Sunday, Beckwith announced during his sermon that Christmas Eve services were canceled.

“This year we wanted to give you a chance to kind of go and be with your family,” Beckwith said.

Peternel has faced calls to resign from inside the secretive Pentecostal church for weeks since his son was arrested on seven felony counts of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material and also found with more than 50 videos of his parents naked or having sex.

Reports of abuse by Peternel, including demanding that minors tell him about their sexual relationships, have further spurred families to call for his resignation or leave altogether. In secretly recorded audio obtained by 24sight News, Peternel claimed he cannot be removed by his church board.

Peternel did not return a request for comment for this story and has refused to respond to requests for comment for two months now. Beckwith and the head of Indiana’s state Assemblies of God, which includes Life Church as an affiliate, previously told congregants to stop talking about the scandal and asking questions.

Peternel has headed Life Church for more than a decade, but the church has risen to prominence since he hired Beckwith and helped run his successful campaign for Indiana lieutenant governor, becoming a hub of political activity and regularly hosting events with the state’s top Republicans.

Beckwith, who is employed by the taxpayers of Indiana and Peternel, has declined to answer questions about Peternel’s conduct, but said two weeks ago he was sticking with Peternel at Life Church.

Peternel has said that he wrote his senior paper in Bible college on the need to teach sex education in church, part of a movement to fight the “satanic” perversion of sex in popular culture that some pastors have railed against for decades.

But since taking the lead of his first youth group in the late ‘90s, which he gave the same name as a neo-Nazi group out of Florida, Peternel has regularly pressured children under his supervision to describe intimate relationships in graphic detail and regularly talked about his own intimate relationships with his wife.

The videos of Peternel and his wife having sex discovered on their son’s cellphone shocked many outside the church, but current and former congregants who have spoken with 24sight News said they were unsurprised given Peternel’s insistence on preaching about sex regularly from the pulpit over their objections.

The pre-marital worksheets Peternel gave to couples looking to get married covered a range of topics from improving communication to managing household finances, but also included a section titled “Intimacy” with a subhead stating “Shouldn’t this part be easy?”

Over the course of nine questions, Peternel pried into their private lives.

“Did you ever discuss sex with your parents?” read one question. The follow-up read, “If so, how was the topic related? (e.g. fearful, duty, dirty, in detail, sparse facts)”

Another question asked if it was “OK for Christian couples to plan when they will have children”.

Peternel also asked, “Do you believe that certain sexual acts are immoral in marriage?”

Peternel also included a list of recommended books compiled of self-help marriage books published by the nation’s largest Christian right publishing house in Michigan, ranging from better communication and the stages of marriage to more graphic books detailing “Erogenous Zones”, “Sensuous Massage” and “Making Love with Clothes On” authored by a Christian right sex therapist.

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Families flee embattled Life Church amid abuse reports, child porn arrest - 12/17/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

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24sight’s full coverage of the Peternel church scandal linked at end of story

Indiana’s powerful Life Church is bleeding families as lead pastor Nathan Peternel and his employee and friend, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, continue trying to tamp down the fallout from reports of verbal sexual assault and a child pornography arrest.

Families who have left the church since Peternel’s son was arrested on seven felony counts of owning and trafficking in child sexual abuse material and reports of Peternel demanding minors tell him graphic details of their intimate relationships have estimated at least 100 congregants have left the church’s largest campus, which is led by Beckwith.

Peternel and his staff, including his family, have been aggressively trying to stop families from leaving the church.

For weeks, congregants demanded to know why Peternel’s son had more than 50 videos of his parents naked or having sex on his cellphone. In a message two Sundays ago, Peternel accused his son of getting high and hacking into his account, and said it was a mistake for him and his wife to film themselves. But behind the scenes, Peternel has been giving varying answers of who was responsible for filming the videos.

Beckwith, like Peternel, has not commented on the reports from 24sight News that Peternel has regularly demanded minors talk about sex with him and that he repeatedly discussed with children his own intimate relations with his wife.

Peternel did not return a request for comment for this story, and has refused to respond to any requests for comment from 24sight News for two months now.

The cascade of stories of abuse from Peternel’s decades-long rise to power have pushed Peternel and his team into damage control, while refusing to respond to reports. Peternel’s staff has been pressuring congregants with questions to come in and meet with him privately, while Peternel and other pastors have been aggressively going after families who leave the church pressuring them to return.

In one meeting recently, Peternel explained that the reason he demanded a 17-year-old girl and her fiancé tell him how they have sex was because he wanted to tell the fiancé to make sure his private parts were clean while intimate, according to an account of the meeting provided to 24sight News.

Meanwhile, Peternel’s staff have deleted some of the most disturbing content produced by Peternel and Beckwith. In an online discussion, one of Nathan’s top deputies in the church admitted to deleting graphic podcasts, but later deleted her admission that she deleted the podcasts, according to people familiar with the discussion.

At the end of November, the head of the church’s youth ministry sent an urgent message requesting that all volunteers go through mandatory reporter training for spotting child abuse, according to a person familiar with the missive.

It’s been a rapid decline for the Pentecostal church plugged directly into state government.

A few years ago, Peternel and Life Church were forging a close relationship with the nonprofit created by the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and his wife to fight child abuse and sex trafficking, kNot Today, hosting a high-dollar fundraiser for the group at Indianapolis mega-mansion, the Lucas Estate, and featuring the group’s president in a video interview.

In a statement to 24sight News, kNot Today stated that it does not partner with Life Church or any other religious organization and said it could not comment on any active investigations, but expressed its support the child crimes task force whose investigation led to the charges against Peternel’s son.

Beckwith, for his part, has asked congregants not to ask any questions and accused “demonic enemies” of attacking Peternel.

“When you’re bold and you’re, you stand for truth, you’re going to be attacked, and you’ll be attacked by the demonic enemies,” Beckwith said in a message two Sundays ago. “Lord, we make mistakes. We trip up. There are things we could do better, Lord. And I just thank you for Nathan’s heart. Just to say, hey, if there’s anything there that I’ve owned or that I’ve done, I own it, Lord, but we know Your grace is sufficient for us, and so Lord, we pray right now for Nathan’s family.

A local Republican powerbroker, Ray Adler, whose law firm represents Life Church and provides the official general counsel for the lieutenant governor’s office, said he could not comment on any goings on of Peternel or the church.

In his first court appearance, Peternel’s son said he would be represented by one of Adler’s lawyers, who is himself facing a separate criminal investigation for watching a deepfake porn of a state lawmaker’s wife in the lieutenant governor’s office. But that lawyer, Devin Norrick, told 24sight News that nobody from the Adler law firm would be representing Peternel’s son.

Peternel’s son was granted a public defender by the court last month.

This past Sunday, Lt. Gov. Beckwith announced at Life Church’s largest campus they had canceled their 9 a.m. service because of snow, but still hosted the 11 a.m. service. During the service Beckwith preached that he was fighting “wokeness” and communism. Afterward, Beckwith’s brother, who is also a pastor at the church, announced that an additional service at Life Church’s Eagle Creek location had been canceled.

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series so I can focus my time reporting it out and uncovering what’s been happening at Life Church. A lot of powerful people don’t want these stories to come out. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Peternel says son hacked sex videos of him and wife while high - 12/7/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

Follow 24sight News on: YouTube | Bluesky | TikTok | X | Substack

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Nathan Peternel, the head of the politically powerful Life Church in Indiana, told congregants Sunday that he and his wife made videos of them having sex, but that his son, who was arrested in October on child sex abuse material charges, hacked into his account and downloaded the videos, according to an audio recording obtained by 24sight News.

Peternel said his son was high when he stole the videos of his parents having sex, which were discovered by police while they were searching electronic devices for child sex abuse material.

The arrest of Peternel’s son on October 23rd and reports of abuse by Nathan Peternel himself over the past quarter century have embroiled the church, where Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith is employed as one of its top pastors, in scandal. Sunday marked the first time since October 26th that Peternel has talked about the sex videos of him and his wife, but he did not address reports from 24sight News that he routinely pressured minors to tell him intimate details about their intimate relations.

“Within the covenant of our marriage, my wife and I created private, intimate photos and videos,” Peternel said in church Sunday. “Although those files were password protected, they were hacked. And they were hacked from a device without our consent, without our knowledge, and that was done by our son, who was high at the time.”

Peternel said that the videos have all been deleted and said he will continue leading the church, this after weeks of consternation behind the scenes and his friend and partner, Lt. Gov. Beckwith, stepping in periodically and telling churchgoers to stop asking questions.

“My prayer is that this would not be something that divides us, but actually something that, in the end, is strengthening us,” Peternel said Sunday. “Although all pastors are still human, I want you to know I’m grieved by this situation. I have to own my mistake. I have to take responsibility for my life.”

Peternel did not return a request for comment for this story.

Peternel has refused repeated requests from 24sight News to talk, going on six weeks now. His church staff have refused repeated requests for comment, at one point saying that the person who handled media requests was named “No Comment.” One of Peternel’s top deputies in the church told 24sight News that he had hired a lawyer for himself (while his son received a public defender) but refused to give the name of the lawyer.

In the weeks since Peternel’s son was arrested, the scandal has emerged on the national stage with a viral video from top true crime podcaster Ashley Flowers, creator of Crime Junkie, a report in The Indianapolis Star, and a steady stream social media debate, including many former congregants saying they are glad to see more people leaving the abusive environment created by Peternel.

The scandal in Beckwith’s church is hitting just as he, as the formal leader of Indiana’s state Senate, has taken center stage pushing for a White House led effort to eliminate the last two Democratic-held seats in the state’s Congressional delegation. The state Senate is scheduled to debate the matter this week in Indianapolis.

Peternel, in his brief address Sunday, did not talk about specific reports of abuse by him, but broadly stated that some things were true, some were false and some were taken out of context.

People who were in Peternel’s first youth group more than 25 years ago, told 24sight News that he would regularly ask them about them and other children for details about how they had sex, and would regularly tell them in meetings at his apartment about how he had sex with his wife and about an incident that happened to her in college.

Peternel himself confirmed one story of hazing a teen in the group, which he had named “Stormfront” despite protests that it bore the same name as a neo-Nazi group from Florida, by spraying Cheez Whiz up the teen’s nose in separate audio obtained by 24sight News. In the same audio, Peternel also accused a former camper who requested an apology from Peternel of being drunk when he made the request, despite having no way of knowing the former group member’s disposition at the time.

A 27-year-old Indiana woman named Paige recounted Peternel pressuring her fiancé and her, when she was 17 years old, in a closed-door “pre-marital counseling” session, to tell him in graphic detail about what body parts they used on each other and specific techniques during intercourse. Paige (whose last name is being withheld at her request) and her fiancé reported the incident to other pastors at Life Church at the time. The other pastors chastised Peternel for meeting with a minor in private without another adult supervisor around and not listing the meeting on their shared schedule, a person familiar with the incident told 24sight News.

Paige recently reported the incident to the local police. In Indiana, every adult — including clergy — is considered a “mandatory reporter” and must report any child abuse or face criminal charges.

Former congregants of Peternel’s Life Church have regularly described being deeply disturbed by Peternel preaching about sex and intercourse to the entire congregation, including children, and their anger at taking their concerns directly to Peternel and other church staff only to have those concerns dismissed.

But Peternel, in private, has told congregants that he can’t be fired by the board of directors at Life Church. It’s unclear if Peternel is entirely correct in this assertion.

Peternel’s son, meanwhile, remains in jail in Madison County, Indiana, unable to find the $2,500 needed for pre-trial release and left to be represented by a public defender. (The top lawyer for Lt. Gov. Beckwith, who Peternel’s son initially said would be representing him — even as that lawyer is facing his own, separate criminal investigation for watching a deepfake porn of a lawmaker’s wife — has said his law firm will not work with Peternel’s son.)

Nathan Peternel told the congregation Sunday that he has not abandoned his son and continues to pray for him.

If you would like to get in touch to discuss what is happening in Life Church or have a news tip, please email: tom@24sight.news.

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series so I can focus my time reporting it out and uncovering what’s been happening at Life Church. A lot of powerful people don’t want these stories to come out. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Peternel says he can’t be fired by church board - 11/19/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

Follow 24sight News on: YouTube | Bluesky | TikTok | X | Substack

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The head of one of Indiana’s most powerful Pentecostal churches has regularly told members of his church he can’t be fired by the board overseeing him at Life Church, but did reveal how he could potentially be removed in an audio recording obtained by 24sight News.

“I hire and fire pastors, so all employees work for me. The board doesn’t do that. So the board can’t fire someone, right?” Peternel says in the recording, referring to Life Church’s board of directors. His comment mirrors the same proclamation of almost absolute power inside the church he has told other congregants in recent years, former churchgoers told 24sight News.

But Peternel also says in the audio that the Indiana Assemblies of God or the church’s members voting in one of their annual business meetings could possibly remove him as lead pastor of Life Church.

“There is a way that if I like started doing crazy stuff, that like our district officials could hold me accountable to that. There’s a way that, you know, through our business meetings and whatnot if somebody thought that I was running the church into the ground that I could be voted out of the church,” Peternel says in the recording. “Like there is a there is a way that can happen within our system of government.”

Peternel, a top adviser to Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, who also employs Beckwith as one of his pastors, has avoided public comment for weeks as scandal has grown around his politically powerful church. Peternel did not return requests for comment for this story, as he has avoided for previous stories. A church staff member said she would pass along 24sight News’ request for comment to either Peternel or his top assistant, Maria Davis, who the staff member said are the only two people who can comment on church matters.

Peternel’s son was arrested four weeks ago on four felony counts of owning and distributing child pornography. Police also discovered more than 50 pictures or videos of Peternel and his wife having sex on their son’s cellphone.

Peternel’s lone statement since the arrest on October 23rd, in a brief appearance at his Fishers, Indiana church, centered on him retelling Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son and also saying it may have been unwise to have videos of him and his wife having sex.

Since then, Peternel hired a lawyer for himself, but his son has stayed in prison unable to find the $2,500 needed for release and was only recently appointed a public defender.

Peterenel’s son initially said that a lawyer for Lt. Gov. Beckwith, who is himself under investigation in a separate criminal probe after watching a deepfake porn of a lawmaker’s wife, would be representing him. But that lawyer, Devin Norrick, told 24sight News his law firm would not represent Peternel’s son.

In the weeks since his son’s arrest, stories of Peternel’s abuse in church have poured forth from survivors coming forward to tell their stories of Peternel pressuring them as children to discuss their sex lives with him.

When Peternel was starting out as a youth pastor in the late ‘90s, he named his first youth “Stormfront”, over the protestations of church leaders who noted it was the same name as a Florida neo-Nazi group.

Former members of the youth group recently reconnected as adults and formed a group called “Survivors of Stormfront”. They told 24sight News that Peternel regularly asked them and other children about their sex lives, and talked about how he had sex with his wife. He also told the children, sometimes in “small group” meetings at his apartment, about an incident that happened to his wife in college, which he said she was responsible for.

Peternel also assaulted a teen boy at the time, holding him down and spraying Cheez Whiz in his hair and up his nose, in retaliation for the boy hazing other members of “Stormfront” youth group.

In the audio recently obtained by 24sight News, Peternel recounted assaulting the teen with Cheez Whiz but did not mention his discussions of sex with children under his supervision.

In 2016, during a closed-door “pre-marital counseling” session, Peternel pressured a 17-year-old girl and her 19-year-old fiancé to tell him the graphic details of how they had sex and what body parts they used. After the incident was reported to the church, other pastors told Peternel he had violated their rules by not telling others he would be having the session and not having another adult present.

The young couple also reported the incident to The Assemblies of God national headquarters in Missouri but received no response. Last month the now-27-year-old woman reported the incident to the Fishers Police Department, where Peternel’s main church is located.

In the weeks since his son’s arrest and since 24sight News began publishing the accounts of survivors, other former churchgoers have been talking behind the scenes about a culture of abuse and no accountability for Peternel’s actions

Neither Peternel nor anyone else from the church have answered weeks of requests for comment from 24sight News, as questions have continued to bubble up in public.

But Lt. Gov. Beckwith, who works for Peternel in addition to his job as second-in-command to the governor, addressed the scandal for the first time last Sunday in a sermon telling congregants not to ask questions and not to listen to “the enemy.”

A request for clarification on what exactly the lieutenant governor meant in his sermon was deflected by his spokesman to the church, which has refused to answer requests for comment.

During the same service last Sunday, Superintendent of the Indiana Assemblies of God Chad McAtee, who oversees Peternel’s four churches, told the tale of Jesus walking on water and the questions of his apostles to argue that Life Church congregants should not ask questions about what Peternel has been doing.

In the audio, recorded this year, Peternel also said that he had signed Life Church up to be a member of the Association of Related Churches (ARC), and said he had unilateral power to make that decision.

Peternel’s Life Church does not show its ARC membership on its website, but ARC does list Life Church’s four campuses as part of its network.

ARC is a large national network of churches in which churches pay mandatory fees to be members of the network, but like many other religious institutions, has also been beset by financial and sex abuse scandals, according to religious news site The Roys Report.

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series so I can focus my time reporting it out and uncovering what’s been happening at Life Church. A lot of powerful people don’t want these stories to come out. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

*** If you have a news tip or would like to get in touch, you can find me on Facebook, reply to this email or send an email to tom@24sight.news ***

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports - 11/17/2025

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

Follow 24sight News on: YouTube | Bluesky | TikTok | X | Substack

Share

Subscribe now

Indiana’s second-in-command to the governor and the head of the state’s largest Pentecostal denomination told the congregants of one of the state’s largest and most powerful Pentecostal churches to ignore weeks of reports of sex abuse and a criminal case, in a pair of back-to-back sermons Sunday.

The head of Indiana’s Life Church, Nathan Peternel, pressured teenagers to talk about their sex lives with him and regularly talked about his sex life with them, over the past three decades, according to a series of reports from 24sight News. Survivors of the abuse began telling their stories three weeks ago, after Peternel’s 24-year-old son was arrested on four felony counts of owning and distributing child pornography. Police also discovered more than 50 videos of Peternel and his wife having sex or naked on their son’s cellphone.

The growing scandal has rocked the church that doubles as Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s political operation for weeks now. Peternel has refused to answer repeated requests for an interview with 24sight News or answer detailed questions. Church staff working for Peternel have said that Peternel has retained a lawyer, but refused to provide the name of the lawyer.

But Beckwith, who serves as the head pastor of Peternel’s Noblesville campus and the state superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Chad McAtee, appeared to address the revelations of abuse for the first time Sunday by telling churchgoers that “the enemy” is spreading “lies.”

Beckwith, through a state spokesperson, declined an interview request. The same state spokesman also said any questions about the lieutenant governor’s sermons should be directed to the church. A voicemail left at the Noblesville church Beckwith leads was not returned Monday.

McAtee told the congregation that Peternel is a “man of integrity” and preached the story of Jesus walking on water, in which his apostles question him, and said that weathering a storm is like rowing in a boat with people rowing in different directions: churchgoers should stop asking questions and listen to their leaders.

“Someone has to lead,” McAtee said. “We can’t gossip, we can’t complain.”

Beckwith is facing his own criminal investigation for staff who watched a deepfake porn of a state lawmaker’s wife in his office and possible “ghost employment” — being paid for not doing work, or running a political campaign with state resources. Beckwith has repeatedly said a 24-hour investigation he conducted found no evidence

Calls for comment to the Indiana Assemblies of God district office and the National Assemblies of God headquarters were not immediately returned Monday.

One Indiana woman, Paige, told 24sight News that when she was 17 years old, Peternel demanded she and her 19-year-old fiancé tell him about their sex lives in graphic detail. After the incident was reported to other Life Church pastors, they confronted Peternel and chastised him for hiding a marital counseling session from them and being alone with an underage teen without other adult supervision, one former church member familiar with the incident told 24sight News.

Multiple members of Peternel’s first youth group, which he named “Stormfront” despite protests that it clearly bore the same name as a neo-Nazi group from Florida, described regular meetings with Peternel in the late ‘90s and early ’00s in which he would pressure them and children to discuss who they were having sex with. They also recounted Peternel regularly talking about having sex with his wife and about an incident that happened to her in college which, he said, was because she had dressed too promiscuously.

Life Church catapulted to prominence in 2020 during the pandemic when Peternel hired Beckwith, who had just lost a race for Congress, to lead its Noblesville campus. Since then, Beckwith and Peternel built it into a hub of political activity, regularly hosting campaign events there and using the church as headquarters for Beckwith’s successful run for lieutenant governor last year.

The church saw a massive influx of new attendees during the pandemic lockdowns from activists angry at then-Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s lockdown orders and Covid-vaccine requirements. Beckwith used the church to approved thousands of vaccine waivers under the state’s religious exemption waiver.

But in the years since, many of those new churchgoers have left, often expressing surprising at having discovered that Life Church was a Pentecostal church — often associated with extreme religious dogma and a very intensive focus on church members’ private lives.

Beckwith seemed to address that surprise among some Sunday.

“If you didn’t know this, we are an Assemblies of God church” Beckwith said Sunday. “We’re not crazy, we’re passionate. We call ourselves responsible Pentecostals.”

🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series so I can focus my time reporting it out and uncovering what’s been happening at Life Church. A lot of powerful people don’t want these stories to come out. Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

*** If you have a news tip or would like to get in touch, you can find me on Facebook, reply to this email or send an email to tom@24sight.news ***

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

The Survivors of Stormfront: Nathan Peternel’s discussions with teens about sex, youth group hazing culture, scarred a generation who left Indiana church decades ago - 11/13/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

Follow 24sight News on: YouTube | Bluesky | TikTok | X | Substack

Share

Subscribe now

*** Reporter’s note: This story is written in a narrative style. Much of the attribution is cited here at the start for ease of reading. Some former members of Nathan Peternel’s youth group, like Candy Watson, said they wanted their full name used in the story to help others come forward with their own stories of what happened with them and Peternel. Others asked only for their first name to be used. And additional former Life Church members spoke on the condition their names not be attached to this story. 24sight News independently verified the former youth group and church members’ stories as part of the reporting process for this story. Nathan Peternel, as he has done for previous stories in this series, refused to respond to multiple requests for an interview to discuss the specific pieces of this story. Peternel has retained a lawyer, according one member of his church staff, but neither Peternel nor his staff have provided the name of the lawyer or a separate press contact. ***

INDIANAPOLIS _ Nathan Peternel’s rise to the top of a powerful Indiana church, plugged directly in to state government, started in the late ‘90s because Pastor Tim had computer problems.

Pastor Tim was the senior pastor at Eagle Creek Assembly of God in Indianapolis, a small Pentecostal church serving a diverse area comprised largely of working class residents. One day his desktop computer in the church froze, so he asked for help. Shortly after that, Pastor Tim was fired.

He’d been looking at porn on the church computer.

Not long before, Eagle Creek’s leadership had recruited Nathan, a native of just outside Pittsburgh, who recently graduated college and was “filled with the spirit”. Nathan and his soon-to-be wife, moved to a small apartment in Indianapolis not far from the church.

The new youth pastor at Eagle Creek brought enthusiasm to the previously sleepy church, including boldness in teaching the Pentecostals’ push to sway teens to abstinence with the promise of more a fulfilling intimate life after they were married.

He also made many church families deeply uncomfortable.

More than 25 years later, the former youth group members and others who left the church one by one say it’s finally time for Peternel to be held accountable.

***

Three weeks ago, Nathan Peternel’s 24-year-old son, Jonathan, was arrested at Nathan’s Pendleton, Indiana home on four felony charges of owning and distributing more than 200 videos and pictures of gruesome child sex abuse material. Police retrieved multiple cellphones, laptops and tablets from the Peternel family home, but did not specify who all the electronics belonged to — Nathan, mom, or Jonathan. With the exception of one cellphone, owned by the son, where they found more than 50 videos of Nathan and his wife having sex or naked.

Nathan, a top adviser, friend and employer of the state’s Christian right lieutenant governor, Micah Beckwith, who preaches at one Nathan’s four campuses of the Life Church, quickly hired a lawyer … for himself.

As he returned to church just a few days after his son’s arrest, Nathan appeared to weep from the pulpit as he relayed the parable of the prodigal son, whose great sin was squandering his father’s inheritance in a far off land in a life of sin, but was nonetheless welcomed home to great food and luxury when he returned broken and repentant.

Nathan also said that perhaps having videos of him and his wife having sex was unwise, but something to be discussed later. He did not say who filmed the videos or how they ended up on his son’s phone.

His son, Jonathan, stayed in the Madison County Indiana Detention Center for two weeks, with no one paying the $2,500 needed for release before trial. Jonathan had said that the church’s main lawyer, Devin Norrick, who is himself being investigated by the Indianapolis prosecutor for a separate incident involving the viewing of a deepfake porn video of a state lawmaker’s wife, would be representing him. But neither Norrick, nor any other lawyer was hired to represent the 24-year-old defendant.

Last Friday, Jonathan sat catatonic in the Madison County Courthouse, answering questions from the county judge, before he was assigned a public defender. His parents did not attend the hearing.

On Sunday, Nathan returned to preaching and said nothing of the matter.

Former Life Church members who have confronted Nathan at various times over more than a quarter century say Nathan’s response to his son’s arrest is the same response they received when they confronted him about his behavior.

***

Shortly after Nathan started at Eagle Creek in the late ‘90s, one of the parents asked him if he understood the implications of his new name for the church youth group: “Stormfront.”

Perhaps Nathan, being still somewhat young himself, did not know that was the name of a neo-Nazi group out of West Palm Beach started just a few years earlier by a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, which pushed for violence as it tried to place White protestants above all other races, religions and creeds.

Nathan laughed and said that if anyone made the mistake of thinking a youth group was a neo-Nazi operation that said more about their ignorance than his passion for God. When the church board asked him to explain why he stuck with the name, Nathan said he was winning it back for Jesus.

His passion was strong, his energy infectious and his ability to woo new families to the church remarkable. Nathan was also very persuasive.

The number of “Stormfront” youth group members grew to anywhere from 30-40 teens, and Nathan introduced new tactics to help them bond and form a tight-knit group. Standards like mandatory ultimate frisbee at church, were met with more edgy fare to keep things interesting. Eating challenges (snorting a Pixie Stix, eating a mouthful of bananas and washing it down with a warm 2-liter of Sprite) sometimes got out of hand, with vomiting and in one case a trip to the hospital for respiratory problems.

Nathan also introduced human contact challenges to help “break the ice”. One teen would call out an object, then they would heap themselves into a “Twister” style jumble to look like the object. A human “car” got 10 teens stacked on top of each other looking mostly like a car. One group member recalled refusing, “I didn’t want people’s crotches in my face.”

The larger group met on Wednesdays, and “small group” of just four or five teens with one of the pastors were on Sunday evenings.

Small group was where he liked to have discussions with the teens about sex.

***

Shortly after Jonathan’s arrest last month, a young woman recounted on YouTube her own experience with Nathan Peternel in January 2016. Alone in his office with then-17-year-old Paige and her 19-year-old fiancé, the 39-year-old Nathan pressured them to describe in graphic detail how they had sex, what techniques they liked, and whether they watched porn together.

After the young couple reported Nathan’s behavior to Life Church, other pastors chastised him for not sharing the full schedule of “pre-marital counseling” sessions and for not having another adult around.

In another YouTube video reported by Paige, she reviewed Nathan’s podcasts with Lt. Gov. Beckwith, on their “Jesus, Sex and Politics” show.

Shortly after the son Jonathan’s arrest last month, they deleted a December 2021 episode in which they interviewed an expert on combatting child sex trafficking. Not long after that they also deleted an episode in which they interviewed their wives about sex.

The two pastors seemed to have a fierce fascination with sex, talking about it in on their show a lot.

In the episodes reviewed by Paige, Nathan and Micah laughed about the graphic stories of the Old Testament. The two angels sent to investigate Sodom and Gomorrah who were promptly met with, as they put it, threats of “gang rape”. The tale of King David’s soldiers killing and then circumcising 200 Philistines, which they said would make a great graphic novel in their forthcoming merch store.

Peternel and Beckwith seemed to be mirroring the edgy podcast culture on the right, led by people like Charlie Kirk, a wave of conservative influencers and comedians turned pundits who pushed a no-holds-barred approach to public debate.

But the two haven’t published any new episodes since two days after police searched the Peternels’ house in September.

Which was stranger, because for as long as former longtime churchgoers could remember, Nathan had been preaching to the congregants about the pleasures he had having sex with his wife, telling families and children of his great pleasure and the pleasure they could have if they waited until wedlock. They could even record video of themselves having sex, former churchgoers recalled Nathan telling them.

***

In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, with a presidential sex scandal and increasingly edgy pop culture permeating teens’ lives, Christian fundamentalists of all stripes embraced the “purity” movement as a rebranding of the biblical demand of abstinence before marriage.

Among Pentecostals, that included a push to start talking candidly with their teen church members about sex — why they should wait, and the incredible rewards for them if they did wait.

Once a week Nathan would have “small group”, with just four or five of the teens, they’d come over to the apartment he shared with with his wife not far from church.

He picked his favorite teens for this more personal setting.

Nathan wanted to know who was having sex with who. He wanted to know what types of sex they were having. He seemed ignorant of first, second, third base and asked them to describe what that meant. And he would talk about the sex he was having, a lot.

“He would go into what it felt like and things that you have to do when how nothing is off the table in the marriage bed,” a former member of the youth group recalled. “And keep in mind the ages of these kids were between 12, and at that point, I think the oldest was about 16 or 17, mainly boys.”

“It was, it was. When I say it was a lot, it was a lot,” the former member said.

And sometimes he would have his new wife tell them of an event that happened to her in college, and how she shouldn’t have been wearing such promiscuous clothes.

His new wife, the group members said, always looked incredibly uncomfortable talking about it as they sat in their apartment.

But Nathan was insistent.

Every February, for the youth group was called “Sex Month”, every small group that month was dedicated to only talking about sex. A lot of the parents told their children to skip going that month.

***

After news of Jonathan Peternel’s arrest burned through Indiana social media circles, the former members of Nathan’s first youth group began finding each other online and sharing their stories, many for the first time.

Two decades ago, at overnight camp at Lake Placid, about 30 minutes north of Muncie, Indiana, two of the older teen boys from “Stormfront” dragged a younger camper, Jon, from his sleeping bag out into the dark. They attempted to yank down his pants and underwear, but he kicked them off, ran back to his sleeping bag and hid in there, sleepless, the rest of the night.

The next day, he reported the incident to Nathan.

For more than 20 years, he believed Nathan never dealt with his assailants, even after his mother pressed the case with Nathan. Being older and having moved on from that and other incidents at Life Church, he reached out to Nathan seeking some closure.

Nathan replied in a message, saying he didn’t remember the assault, but that God loved Jon and he loved Jon and he really missed Jon after he left. Then he said that one of assailants had been harassing another teen and, knowing the assailant’s mother well, he felt ok administering punishment.

Nathan said that he held down the assailant, told him to stop harassing other campers, then spread Cheez Whiz through his hair and sprayed it up his nose.

For Candy Watson and her twin sister, teens at the time in the group, the big red flag went up after Nathan told a group of children, some as young as 12, that the incident that happened to his wife in college had been her fault. Candy and her sister talked to her mother who was a longtime volunteer and leader in the church.

Candy’s mother had tried to counsel the then-20-something Nathan to be more considerate, because he was new to leading. But after this, she told both her children, Candy recalled, they didn’t have to attend Nathan’s “small group” meetings anymore.

“There were a lot of inappropriate conversations,” Candy said, looking back on it now as a mother of a 19-year-old.

When teens were in the church van with Nathan en route to an event or a mission trip, she said, “if Nathan’s in the van, there are absolutely going to be inappropriate sexual conversations going on. What he and his wife do, and this, and this, and this. I’m like, ‘Hey, really, that’s between you and your wife. I’m pretty sure you don’t have consent from your wife to talk to anybody about that.”

For the members of “Stormfront”, the talk was around them constantly.

“It was a whole normalized pattern of, like, now as an adult, it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s totally grooming,’” Candy said. “So it seems normal, right? And then you grow up, and go away from the cultist BS.”

Another former member who asked not to be named said that when Nathan’s son was discovered with videos of his parents having sex, it sadly wasn’t surprising. After all, he had grown up in this environment.

“You don’t have that natural sort of ick factor when it comes to thinking of your parents having sex, because they’re talking about it all the time,” said the other former “Stormfront” member.

Candy’s final talk with Nathan was two decades ago, after someone else at the church told Nathan she had been over at her 18-year-old boyfriend’s apartment the previous weekend having sex. Nathan confronted Candy and demanded to know why she was having sex with her boyfriend.

She had been packing with her boyfriend as he was about to move for a job. They hadn’t gotten intimate.

Not that it was Nathan’s business what she was doing.

***

Two decades later, it all seemed so obvious.

But at the time, how could a group of teenagers have had any idea.

Looking back on it, after leaving Indy, spreading across the country, going through therapy, moving on, growing up. Looking back now, as parents, with their own children the same age they were. Looking back and telling the stories again, talking to each other for the first time about all the things that Nathan demanded from them in their private conversations, all the times he said they could never share what they talked about with anyone else.

Why would any pastor need them to talk about their sex lives, or hear about his? Why did they need to vomit to be part of his group, or feel ok rubbing against each other in awkward positions.

Nathan had been testing them. Nathan was grooming them.

Looking back on it, they wanted it all to stop, finally.

So they reassembled as a new group, “Survivors of Stormfront”.

🚨🚨 Please help me cover my bills so I can report and investigate this story further, I’ve spoken with many former churchgoers who (bravely) are telling their stories. Your support made this story and more possible. You can contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

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The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

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ANDERSON, Ind. _ Jonathan Wesley Peternel, the son of one of the state’s most politically plugged in pastors, sat alone at the defense table in a weathered county courtroom last Friday, as he accepted a public defender as his counsel as he faces four felony counts of child exploitation and trafficking in child sex abuse material.

Peternel sat upright as the Madison County judge asked him basic questions, but his voice was low, monotone, almost non-existent as he struggled through the otherwise perfunctory criminal hearing.

Dressed in a green and white striped inmate’s jumpsuit, with his hands and feet both handcuffed behind him, Peternel walked awkwardly toward the defense table, stumbling occasionally over the chains. The other inmates of the county jail, older Black men, younger white men with tattoos across their necks and face, did not seem to struggle walking.

Family and friends of other criminal defendants sat in the old chairs, with their orange, brown and yellow fabric seats and the worn-out wood of the armrests peaking through where the polyurethane had chipped away over the decades.

Peternel’s father, a top adviser and employer of Indiana’s firebrand lieutenant governor, and mother, who Peternel was discovered to have more than 50 videos of them having sex or naked, did not attend the hearing.

The courtroom looked as weathered as the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, which at one time was a manufacturing hub booming with well-paying middle class jobs and bustling streets

Peternel stood out in the room, with no tattoos and a sturdy build. But he looked and sounded glazed over, as if his body was strong but his soul was somewhere else.

The county judge ticked through a list of basic questions, growing increasingly quizzical as he read through the details in Peternel’s case file from the bench.

Would this Devin Norrick be representing him? No.

Did he have a defense lawyer? No.

Did he want a public defender? No.

His bond only required $2,500 to get out, was he indigent? Did he work? He was 24 years old, what jobs did he have? Two days as a private contractor, some time at a Buffalo Wild Wings.

How did he survive? How did he eat? He lived at home with parents, and then he lived for awhile at his grandparents house, before he was arrested.

The judge motioned to one of the lawyers from a town criminal defense firm which doubles as public defender’s office, “He’s on your list.”

Facing the likelihood of a lengthy jail sentence, if not life in prison, for being found with more than 200 videos of gruesome child sex abuse material, the young Peternel looked distinctly alone.

Peternel’s arrest more than two weeks ago cracked open a long-seclusive Pentecostal church which helped catapult the state’s rambunctious lieutenant governor, Micah Beckwith, from local gadfly to second-in-line to the governor, with eyes set on perhaps bigger prizes down the road.

Peternel’s father, the lead pastor of the Life Church and employer, podcast co-host and close friend of Beckwith, had been largely absent from the church he built over almost two decades, since his son’s arrest.

Even though he is not in jail or facing criminal charges, it’s Peternel’s 48-year-old father who has retained a lawyer and carefully navigated the continuing fallout with new stories emerging of his conduct as pastor.

A few days after his son’s arrest last month, Nathan Peternel addressed a nagging question tucked within the criminal affidavit: police discovered more than 50 videos and pictures of Nathan and his wife either having sex or naked, on his son’s phone.

Since then, former churchgoers have been talking with 24sight News, sharing stories of Nathan Peternel talking about his own sex life at length — in private groups, in front of his entire congregation. Last Thursday, 24sight News published an interview with a 27-year-old Indiana woman named Paige who attended a marital counseling session with Nathan Peternel a decade ago in which he pressured her, when she was 17, and her then-fiance, who was 19, to discuss in graphic detail how they were intimate.

Paige also recalled being disgusted when she attended services at the time and Nathan Peternel, who was 39 years old then, preached to his congregation (including children) in detail about the sex he would have with his wife.

Nathan Peternel has regularly refused to respond to 24sight News’ requests for comment and church staff have refused to answer questions or provide comment. Nathan Peternel has retained a lawyer, per church staff, but they have declined to say who that lawyer is.

Beckwith, who is facing his own criminal investigation into conduct in his statehouse office, has not talked publicly about his best friend, Nathan Peternel, but he has preached to his congregation that the criminal probe is the work of the devil.

Since his son’s arrest, Beckwith and Peternel seem to have stopped posting new podcasts. Shortly after the arrest, they deleted a Dec. 2021 episode of the podcast in which they interviewed an expert on combatting child sex trafficking.

More recently, they deleted another episode of their podcast, from February 4, 2023, titled “Let’s Talk About S.E.X. Baby: An Interview With the Wives.” The episode’s teaser promises, “Micah and Nathan invite the two best looking guests they've ever had into the JSP studios to talk about one of the most fascinating gifts God has given humanity… SEX.”

In other episodes of their show reviewed on the YouTube channel “Truth.Fortitude.Justice.”, Nathan Peternel and Beckwith laughed at length about sections of the Bible detailing sexual content. In an episode on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, aired on June 6, 2023, at the same time Beckwith was running for lieutenant governor and pushing his local library to hide books which discuss sex, the two pastors laughed about the section in which two angels called to investigate the cities are threatened with rape.

“Please don’t rape the men who are at my door,” Nathan Peternel says, paraphrasing Lot in the tale.

In another episode the two pastors laughed about the Biblical tale of David killing and circumcising 200 Philistines, and said maybe they should make the Bible’s stories of sex and private parts into a graphic novel they could sell at the “Jesus, Sex and Politics” merch store.

On Sunday, Nathan Peternel returned to preach in person at the Noblesville campus of Life Church, which is typically Beckwith’s home church. He did not discuss the arrest of his son or concerns raised about how he talks about sex with churchgoers. Instead, Nathan Peternel preached the gospel of John 11:38, the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

🚨🚨 Please help me cover my bills so I can report and investigate this story further, I’ve spoken with many former churchgoers who (bravely) are telling their stories. Your support got my car tuned up so I could drive out to Indiana. You can contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

*** If you have a news tip or would like to get in touch, you can find me on Facebook, reply to this email or send an email to tom@24sight.news ***

The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

Follow 24sight News on: YouTube | Bluesky | TikTok | X | Substack

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*** Advisory: This story contains sensitive subjects. 24sight News verified the identity of the woman and her story, but is only publishing her first name at her request. Her fiancé at the time is not being named in this story.

My full interview with Paige is available here on YouTube, but is age-restricted given the sensitive nature of this story.

Indiana pastor Nathan Peternel pressured a 17-year-old girl and her fiancé to discuss in detail how they had sex, what they enjoyed and asked about their specific body parts in a private meeting at his suburban Indianapolis church a decade ago, said Paige, who is now a grown mother of two, in an interview 24sight News.

Paige and her fiancé went to Peternel’s church in the winter of 2015-2016, after Paige got pregnant and they decided they wanted to get married. They had an initial meeting with “Pastor Nathan” as he was known to members of the church and its youth group, and returned about a week later for their first formal session in January 2016, said Paige, who is now 27 years old.

Peternel greeted them after-hours at the Life Church in Fishers, Indiana, in a small office building adjacent to the main church, she said. Peternel’s office door was open, no one else was at the church, and the young couple walked in, and Peternel closed the door behind them, she said.

Peternel, who was 39 years old at the time, said the first session would deal with establishing trust.

“We talked about trust, and then seemed like we were wrapping things up. And then he told us not to leave because he had a few more questions for us, and he started asking us sexually explicit questions,” Paige told 24sight News.

Peternel asked in graphic detail about their body parts and what they did with each other, she said.

When Paige’s fiancé refused to answer his questions, Peternel began pressuring him, “Be a man! Be a man!”, she said.

“Pastor Nathan repeatedly told him to ‘Be a man’ until he answered the question, like he said it like three or four times, fairly aggressively. He wasn’t yelling at him, but he did have some aggression in his voice, and it was like, after he got that answer from him, he proceeded to ask us more questions about toys and pornography and what we think is okay and if we do those things,” Paige said.

“So it ended up very uncomfortably, and it didn’t really set in until after the fact how messed up it was. So we decided just not to, not to go back,” she said.

“I wish I could go back and say something, but I just felt so much pressure to answer his questions,” Paige said.

Paige and her fiance left after that meeting shocked.

Paige’s fiancé at the time did not want to speak on the record for this story.

Peternel, the lead pastor of Life Church in Indiana, has become the center of attention in the days and weeks since his son was arrested at their home on four felony charges of owning and distributing child sex abuse material. His son was also found to have more than 50 videos and pictures of Peternel and his wife, Christina, either naked or having sex, according to court records.

A few days after his son was arrested, Peternel delivered a sermon about the prodigal son, told his church he would be stepping away for a bit and said that having intimate videos of him and his wife may have been unwise, according to a recording of his sermon obtained by 24sight News.

Peternel has retained a lawyer, a church member told 24sight News, but has refused repeated requests to talk about the case.

Peternel did not respond to a text message with details of this story Wednesday, or an email with details of the incident sent Thursday morning. A text to one of the lawyers who regularly works with Life Church also went unanswered Thursday.

On Wednesday afternoon, a woman named Rebecca answered the phone at Life Church in Fishers and refused to put 24sight News in touch with Nathan. Rebecca said that Life Church had someone handling press requests for them, but when asked who that was replied, “No comment.”

When 24sight News replied that it was necessary professionally and ethically for Nathan and the church to hear the details of what was being reported, Rebecca replied it was her “First Amendment right” not to hear about it.

“You’re just going to have to accept a no comment,” Rebecca said, and then hung up the phone.

After other pastors at the church were alerted about the incident in 2017, they reprimanded Peternel for violating their rules which require sharing the schedule of marital counseling sessions with other pastors and being alone in the church with an underage churchgoer and no other adult around, according to a person familiar with the Life Church response to the incident.

As of Tuesday, his son was still being held in an Indiana jail with no lawyer and no one having paid the $2,500 needed to release him before his criminal trial.

The arrest has rocked the politically connected church which forms the base of Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s political operation and office staff. Beckwith, who is close friends with Peternel and employed by Peternel as a pastor at one of his four churches, in addition working fulltime as lieutenant governor, previously said through a spokesperson that he was unaware of the criminal allegations against Peternel’s son.

In a sermon last Sunday, Beckwith addressed a separate criminal investigation of his office regarding a deepfake porn viewed by his staff and possible ghost employment, but did not say anything about the arrest of Peternel’s son.

Peternel and Beckwith have forged a close bond since Peternel hired him in 2021, co-hosting a podcast called “Jesus, Sex and Politics”, which they brand as confronting hard truths — including a now deleted episode in which they interviewed an expert on child sex trafficking and abuse — and traveling the nation with Charlie Kirk’s campus pastor movement.

The criminal charges against Peternel’s son, and emerging stories about Peternel’s own behavior, come as national attention has been heavily focused on the story of Jeffrey Epstein and the survivors of his years of abuse, with repeated calls for the White House to release all the files on its years of Epstein investigations and a posthumous memoir recently published by one of Epstein’s survivors, Virginia Giuffre.

It also strikes at a persistent political war in Indiana and around the nation in which Peternel, Beckwith and hard right crusaders from Jack Posobiec to “Q” of “Qanon”, built careers fighting against what they said were “groomers” and shadowy elites who were abusing and exploiting young children.

Just a few years before Peternel’s son was arrested, Beckwith and other members of his political team from Peternel’s Life Church, were packing library board meetings wearing shirts which read “Stop Grooming”.

Paige, who was 17 when she started attending a handful of Peternel’s services, said she was compelled to speak out again about his behavior because of the news about his son.

Paige recently detailed her story anonymously in a YouTube video which burned its way through Indiana and Christian social media circles. She said she wants others who may have experienced this to know they are not alone.

Paige first detailed the incident with Peternel in a handwritten note and a contemporaneous email she sent to herself in August 2017. She told 24sight News she also reported the incident at that time to other leaders in Peternel’s church and to the Assemblies of God headquarters in Springfield Missouri, Life Church, but never received a response.

After Paige read about Jonathan Peternel with videos of his father, Nathan, and mother having sex on his cellphone, she said it reminded her of her experience at Peternel’s church.

Paige’s fiance was a regular attendee at the church at the time and his family suggested they may be able to marry easily there. She attended a few services at the time and said she was surprised to hear Peternel preaching in detail about having sex with his wife and the sex toys they used in front of a congregation of families and children.

“I did witness him say one time that, ‘You know, a lot of people say that after you get married, you don’t have fun in the bedroom anymore more. Well, me and my wife, we have a lot of sex, and we use toys, and we’re, let me just say I’m a satisfied man,’” Paige said. “And I thought that was really strange.”

Paige said she reported the marital counseling incident to Fishers, Indiana police recently.

🚨🚨 Please help me cover my bills so I can report this story further, I have more people I am speaking with who have similar stories to Paige’s. You can contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page.🚨🚨

*** If you have a news tip or would like to get in touch, you can find me on Facebook, reply to this email or send an email to tom@24sight.news ***

Recent Indiana coverage:

Indiana child sex abuse case coverage:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

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Pastor Nathan Peternel, a top adviser to Indiana’s lieutenant governor whose son was arrested last week on child sex abuse material charges, delivered a tearful plea to one of his four congregations, in an audio recording of his speech obtained by 24sight News.

In his speech last Sunday, the close adviser to Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith condemned child sex trafficking, called for justice and delivered a brief sermon from Luke 15, citing the parable of the prodigal son, in relation to his own son.

Peternel also addressed the discovery of more than 50 pictures and videos of him and his wife having sex or naked that police found on their son’s phone.

“In the affidavit from Madison County Court references over 50 private photos and videos of my wife and me in intimate settings. And though what occurs within marriage is not sinful, some may see that as otherwise and reflecting poor choices on our part and we hear you and we appreciate it,” Peternel said in his appearance last Sunday.

Peternel, who retained a lawyer after his son was arrested, delivered the message in person to one of the four campuses of Life Church in Indiana, according to a person familiar with his appearance. A second person familiar with Peternel’s speech confirmed its authenticity to 24sight News.

“We immediately contacted the church board (inaudible) we convened an emergency board meeting, the board has been briefed on the emergency situation,” Peternel said in his Sunday message, which is being published for the first time by 24sight News.

Peternel’s Life Church regularly livestreams its services and posts videos of its services to its website and YouTube channel, but last Sunday one of Peternel’s deputies announced on Facebook they had technical problems and could not post his message online.

Peternel did not return requests for comment. A lawyer associated with the church did not return requests for comment. Requests to identify anyone who would speak with the press or provide the contact information for Peternel’s lawyer also went unanswered Thursday and Friday. In addition to previous requests for comment which went unanswered.

A spokesperson for Beckwith said last week that the lieutenant governor, who has been beating the drum recently in favor drawing a new Congressional map in Indiana, was unaware of the criminal charges against his adviser and friend’s son until it was reported last week.

Nathan Peternel’s son, Jonathan Peternel, was arrested last Thursday on four felony charges of possessing and distributing videos of children being raped and tortured. Police also recovered videos of his father, Nathan, and mother having sex. It’s unclear who made the videos or how they ended up on the son Jonathan’s, phone.

The arrest has rocked a church community at the center of Indiana politics which could also play a big role in the state’s upcoming redistricting battle pushed for by President Donald Trump. Beckwith, who recruited almost all of his top staff from Life Church, has been lobbying relentlessly for the new White House maps and could be the tie-breaking vote in his role as the state Senate president.

Jonathan Peternel was still being held in Madison County, Indiana jail Thursday, no one had posted the $25,000 bond for him to be released, and no lawyer had been entered as his defense yet, according to an official with the Madison County Prosecutor’s office.

Jonathan Peternel initially said in court that another member of the church, the lawyer for Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith who is himself embroiled in a separate deepfake porn scandal at the statehouse. But that lawyer, Devin Norrick, told 24sight News last week his law firm would not be representing Jonathan Peternel.

Nathan Peternel announced last Sunday, in a video message played before one of his congregations, that he would be stepping back from leading church for a bit as his family coped with the arrest of their son.

Beckwith and Nathan Peternel have co-hosted a podcast titled “Jesus, Sex and Politics” for four years, since Nathan Peternel hired him to lead the Noblesville campus of Life Church. The most recent episode of the show is from Sept. 12, two days after Nathan and Jonathan Peternel let a police office into their Pendleton home to conduct a search warrant and were advised of the child sex abuse investigation into Jonathan Peternel.

A December 10, 2021 episode of Beckwith and Nathan Peternel’s podcast, in which they interviewed an expert on human sex trafficking, was taken down from the show’s page recently.

*** If you have a news tip or would like to get in touch, you can find me on Facebook, reply to this email or send an email to tom@24sight.news ***

Recent Indiana coverage:

Indiana child sex abuse case coverage:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

Subscribe to the 24sight News YouTube HERE.

*** Important Update! *** I had to pull back from the daily noon shows to work on projects which pay the bills here. (The show takes a lot of work to plan, produce, perform, edit, post, etc.) Tom LoBianco Reports is dialing back to a couple times a week. This also gives me more time to report important stories like what’s happening in the church family which effectively catapulted Indiana’s lieutenant governor, Micah Beckwith, on to the national stage. (More coming on that front.)

If you wanna chat, looking for someone to chat Indiana redistricting, or more, just reply to this email or hit me at tom@24sight.news.

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There’s a powerful spirit at work, quietly driving the decisions of Indiana Republicans who are reticent about redrawing their Congressional map all the sudden to give President Donald Trump some extra protection in the Midterms, according to some online pundits.

It’s not the sour poll numbers, showing Hoosiers of all ideologies opposing the political power play. But it does have a shock-white visage, enough to scare the most stalwart Trump loyalist this Halloween: Mike Pence.

“Is former Indiana Governor Mike Pence trying to get revenge on the MAGA movement that he backstabbed on J6 and telling Rodric Bray (n)ot to redistrict? Hmmm. That’s what we’re hearing!” wrote Rogan O’Handley, a 40-year-old former lawyer turned Trump social media influencer, last Wednesday on X.com.

A top staffer to Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, who could be a tie-breaking vote as the head of the Senate, screenshotted the post and put it on Facebook calling Pence a “disciple of Satan!”

Which is the opposite of what Donald Trump predicted on January 6th, five years ago, when he told Pence on the phone he would go down in history as a “wimp”, according to important new reporting by veteran newsman Jonathan Karl in his book out tomorrow, “Retribution”.

Indiana’s governor, Mike Braun, announced Monday that he would call state lawmakers back to the capital next Monday to begin work on a surprise redo of the state’s Congressional maps that President Trump has been pushing for for months now.

It’s the latest step in the White House’s broad push to engineer new maps in Republican-led states, from Texas to Missouri and beyond, in an effort to stave off expected wins by Democrats — and subsequent impeachments and nonstop investigations into the last nine months in American history.

It’s touched off a national arms race, where law allows, with plenty of Democrat-led states attempting their own redrawn maps, from California to possibly Virginia.

But Indiana’s dominant state Republicans — they control 67 of 100 seats in the state House and 40 of 50 seats state Senate — have been rebuffing the effort for months.

Interviews and exchanges with longtime Indiana operatives across the spectrum Monday revealed a sense that redistricting is far from guaranteed and could even be a move by Braun simply to assuage the White House. But statehouse veterans also cautioned that reticence and handwringing often foreshadows decisive wins, and a new Indiana map that attempts to eliminate one or both Democratic-held U.S. House seats could easily be approved.

Nobody tracking the redistricting fight, however, raised Pence as a deciding factor.

So is the former vice president, governor and longtime House member a veritable LBJ-style master of Indiana’s state senate?

Pence was never good at whipping votes when he was governor, and even less so now that he has one foot out the door of Republican politics, with second stint in academia.

The real reticence, and why the Trump White House has had to spend so much time twisting arms in Indiana — dispatching Vice President J.D. Vance two times in person, inviting them to the White House and having Trump hop on the phone recently with state senators — is because the idea is broadly unpopular and Democrats, independents and even some big name Hoosier Republicans have easily outflanked the White House in their public campaign against redistricting.

Writing in his longtime column in The Washington Post last week, former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels tore apart the arguments in favor of redistricting, hitting back against “puffed-up White House apparatchik’s” threats and said it was on Indiana’s elected officials to “lead in climbing out of the mudhole.”

“Hoosiers have said they don’t want redistricting. Indiana Republican lawmakers have said they don’t want redistricting—until the Trump administration bullied them into it,” U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, an Indianapolis Democrat, who could become a target next week, told 24sight News Monday. “I have faith in the leaders who have chosen not to succumb to these blatant political threats and encourage them to stay strong—it’s more important to have a pat on the back from your constituents than a pat on the head from a lame duck president.”

And Republican supporters of the effort have said they need to do more work to change public opinion and pitch the case that redistricting is needed to stop Democrats from exacting revenge on Trump and his administration if they win the House, and possibly the Senate, next November.

The White House and Republicans in favor of redistricting should retake the narrative from Democrats, independents and Republicans who oppose the effort, longtime Indiana Republican Tony Samuel told 24sight News.

“You can’t be intimidated, you’ve got the numbers (of voters) and the message,” said Samuel, who co-chaired Trump’s 2016 campaign in Indiana. “You do have a strong political message and you can make a strong policy argument and you can’t be intimidated by the junk the Democrats have got.”

For now, Trump’s online army has revived a boogeyman. An old scur of the dominant Trump wing of the Republican Party. Albeit one who wouldn’t hurt a fly, it seems, even if it perched on his head for what felt like a lifetime.

That could just be the theater of it all, but Trump’s online army has also been posting personal contact information for lawmakers — possibly in violation of Indiana law which makes it a felony to threaten harm and post their personal contact information.

Over the weekend, longtime Indiana Republican Mike Murphy said he received an unsolicited request online to pressure state senators on the Trump-requested map with a list of state senators’ personal cell phone numbers.

Murphy, a former state representative, recalled being stalked and threatened regularly by an activist years ago who was angry that state lawmakers would not mandate that HIV results be made public.

“I lived with that, for more than a year, so I’m particularly sensitive to what can happen when issues get embedded in a crazy person’s mind,” Murphy said Monday. On Monday afternoon, Murphy posted a photo on Facebook of the state’s intimidation statute.

— contributed to this report.

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Recent Indiana coverage:

Indiana child sex abuse case coverage:

Pastor’s son arrested on child sex abuse charges plans to hire lawyer embroiled in deepfake porn scandal - 10/23/25

Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25

Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25

Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:

Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25

Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25

BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25

Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25

Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25

Subscribe to the 24sight News YouTube HERE.

*** Important Update! *** I had to pull back from the daily noon shows to work on projects which pay the bills here. (The show takes a lot of work to plan, produce, perform, edit, post, etc.) Tom LoBianco Reports is dialing back to a couple times a week. This also gives me more time to report important stories like what’s happening in the church family which effectively catapulted Indiana’s lieutenant governor, Micah Beckwith, on to the national stage. (More coming on that front.)

If you wanna chat, looking for someone to chat Indiana redistricting, or more, just reply to this email or hit me at tom@24sight.news.

Follow 24sight News on: YouTube | Bluesky | TikTok | X | Substack

Share

Support independent journalism. No breaking or bending; neither billionaires, nor bribes. Just the facts. Upgrade now.

Subscribe now

Life Church lead pastor Nathan Peternel, whose son was arrested last Thursday on four felony charges of trafficking in child sex abuse material, told congregants of his church in a brief video message Sunday that he was taking some time off to be with family, according to a person in attendance.

Standing by his wife Chrissy in the video, Nathan Peternel cried and said they were disappointed in their “adult son”, they care about the victims of sex trafficking and abuse, and they prayed that Jonathan Peternel would turn his life around, the person who saw their video message said.

The elder Peternel made a glancing reference to videos and pictures of him and his wife having sex, which were recovered by police from Jonathan Peternel’s phone, saying that it was not sinful to have consensual sex, but it may not have been wise to have it recorded, according to the person who, along with other congregants, watched the video message from Nathan Peternel as it played in church Sunday morning.

Life Church, which normally live-streams its services on its website and YouTube site instead, Sunday, repeatedly played a service from March.

When 24sight News called the Noblesville, Indiana campus of Life Church to request a copy, the woman who answered said all requests would have to be directed to Nathan Peternel’s lawyer. She hung up the phone when asked who Nathan Peternel’s lawyer is.

Calls to the church’s three other campuses in suburban Indianapolis seeking a copy of the video were not returned Sunday.

In a Facebook post, the husband of Beckwith’s chief of staff, a fellow church member, directed congregants who missed the services in person to seek a copy of the video by Nathan Peternel by calling the church.

“Today was focused on the events over the last several days,” wrote Stuart Ellis, who is married to Beckwith’s chief of staff, on Facebook.

Jonathan Peternel was arrested last week after an investigation launched by a local child sex crimes task force discovered he had been sharing videos of children being raped and tortured via Snapchat, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by 24sight News.

Nathan Peternel is one of Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s close friends and top political advisers. Much of the staff in Beckwith’s state office were hired from Peternel’s Life Church, where Beckwith is the lead pastor of its Noblesville, Indiana campus.

Nathan Peternel first learned of the allegations his son trafficked in child pornography six weeks ago, according to the affidavit, but only today formally addressed the arrest of his son. Beckwith did not learn of the child porn investigation until Thursday, when the news of the arrest was made public, a spokesman told 24sight News Friday.

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Tune every weekday here on Substack and YouTube at Noon ET or catch the replay at 8p ET at Political Voices Network. If you have someone you’d like to see on the show or for booking or business inquiries, email: tom@24sight.news.

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