3rd pastor leaves Life Church, head pastor schedules emergency meeting about bodycam footage
The embattled church led in part by Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith has cut services, lost families since head pastor's son sentenced to six years for child sexual abuse
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.
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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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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:
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
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
I’ve had a personal and professional respect for Pastor Mike Maleto over the years, but I find him to disingenuous and obtuse to say, “‘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.” How about Mike, Micah, Nathan, Life Church, and AOG leadership actually *be* transparent instead of just talking about being transparent. They have all avoided open communication with church members and have been stonewalling media inquiries. Where is the open, honest, transparent, remorseful, and repentant spirit that should be exhibited by church leadership?
The Diddling Deacanus strikes again!