Life Church, Indiana updates
Two new interviews and some reporting nuggets from my latest Indiana trip
Hi, friends, sending along an update and a few observations from my most recent reporting trip to Indiana for the “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation of Nathan Peternel, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith and the scandal roiling Indiana’s Life Church.
Reporting on the overall investigation continues apace, and when there is another full-length story, you can find it here at 24sight News, of course. And the full investigation to date is available here.
I have yet to hear Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith or Nathan Peternel respond in public to numerous stories from former congregants detailing, at length. Open door, here, Lt. Gov. and Nathan, it’s important to hear your side of the story. You have my cell number, call or reply any time.
So I had a chance to walk through the latest in the Life Church investigation in two(!) interviews recently.
Last week I sat down with my old friend and Indiana statehouse colleague Abdul-Hakim Shabazz for a lengthy update on the investigation, which included a few news nuggets I revealed for the first time — including the answer to why the lieutenant governor won’t leave this church amid all the scandal. (Answer: he and his family are earning a living from the church.)
Listen to the whole interview here at IndyPolitics.
And on Monday I caught up with SiriusXM’s own Julie Mason, who knows well the bridge between statehouses nationwide and Washington. I keyed in the broader national audience on the latest (powerful Christian nationalist church, lead pastor’s son in jail for CSAM and caught w/ videos of parents having sex, allegations of abuse and grooming, routine preaching of sex from the pulpit … all the things which make this one of the most astounding stories I’ve covered in 25 years of reporting.)
And we also get into the Bayh family dynasty toward the end, and the brilliance of Mike Gravel ads. (Now you know.)
Catch my interview on SiriusXM 124 POTUS with Julie Mason here (The Julie Mason Show is live! Monday - Friday, 3p - 6p ET.)
And, as I note, I can’t do this without your help. To everyone who has donated, who has bought a paid subscription, has sent a little when they can, Thank You! Everything you do helps keep the lights on at my place, pays for gas and food on my fairly regular reporting trips to Indiana and more. And helps me keep this reporting free and available to the public, because it’s important.
Of the many interesting things I’ve learned in this reporting is how much it costs and the amount of prep work needed to contact prisoners in the Indiana jails. We’re now going on two jails here (Madison County for the initial Peternel court case, and now New Castle Correctional Facility for Jonathan Peternel’s six-year sentence.)
As a relative outsider to all this, it is amazing how much the prisons charge through the various messaging vendors for things as simple as one text message.
If you have some experience with this, would be very curious to hear your thoughts.
Ok, TLo out. More as the investigation continues.
🚨🚨 Friends, I’m crowdsourcing this investigative series.
My reporting is having an impact, but I need your support. Since I started on this way back in October, multiple top pastors have resigned from the church, other national news outlets have begun paying attention and more stories of alleged abuse are coming into the light.
My deepest thanks to all who have helped so far.
Please contribute at PayPal or Venmo or via my GoFundMe page or with a paid subscription here on Substack.🚨🚨
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.