Do pastor's sex videos constitute porn violation?
Indiana Assemblies of God investigating Nathan Peternel after sex videos discovered in son's criminal case
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.
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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
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
Just wow. "Peternel has accused his wife of being a 'Jezebel spirit' who pushed him to make the sex videos."
A website replies to the question, "What is a Jezebel Spirit?"
"It characterizes anyone who acts in the same manner as Jezebel did, engaging in immorality, idolatry, false teaching, and unrepentant sin."
I sure hope Nathan did not say that about his wife, or anyone for that matter, but he needs to speak up and respond to such things if they're false, which he hasn't.
My friend made me a Jezebel Spirit shirt when Micah used the phrase last year. It’s one of my favorites.