Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son's child porn charges in Sunday video
The head of Life Church, Nathan Peternel, told congregants said video discovered of him and wife having sex may not have been wise, per person who saw video
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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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Wow I didn’t know some of Beckwith’s staff came from Life church…
Maybe mike johnson can hook 'im up with his porn alert app.