The former interim leader of Life Church in Indiana and brother-in-law of lead pastor Nathan Peternel derided the powerful church’s leadership as being more focused on worldly gain than God’s word, in a blistering message emailed to church members.
Pastor Mike Maleto told church leaders that the Pentecostal church, led in part by Indiana’s Christian nationalist lieutenant governor, Micah Beckwith, had barred Jesus from entering the church through a critical lack of faith and blinding ambition, according to a copy of the message emailed recently to church members and obtained by 24sight News.
“There have been moments in this season where I sensed Jesus standing ready to move, ready to heal, ready to restore and the avenue wasn’t open to Him. Not because he lacks power. Because selfish ambition and even good ambition that hasn’t been surrendered has become a blockade among those of us called to lead,” Maleto wrote in his warning to other Life Church leaders.
Maleto and his wife, Peternel’s sister, quit the church in June.
“There is too much uncrucified flesh among us, and I include myself in that,” Maleto wrote, using a term which broadly refers to Christians seeking worldly desires and ambition instead of surrendering to Christ.
The Central Indiana network of four Assemblies of God churches has struggled for almost a year now, following a rolling scandal which started with the arrest of Peternel’s son last October on child sexual abuse charges.
Peternel’s son was sentenced to six years in prison in February and Peternel himself was suspended and sent to Pentecostal rehab following an internal investigation which focused in part on whether homemade sex videos he made violated the Assemblies ban on pastors having pornography.
Beckwith who has used the church as a launchpad and headquarters for his nascent political operation scored a round of national headlines preaching last month preaching to “hate properly” and seeking the firing of Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White. Lt. Gov. Beckwith, whose official duties include promoting tourism and agriculture, has also called a local high school marching band “demonic” and continues a media tour of the state.
Maleto does not name Peternel or Lt. Gov. Beckwith directly, but church sources familiar with the email read it to clearly be referring to his own brother-in-law, Peternel, and likely Beckwith as well.
The Maleto email was provided and confirmed to 24sight News by multiple sources.
Maleto did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Peternel did not return a request for comment, nor did Lt. Gov. Beckwith. And Beckwith’s state communications staffers again did not reply to a request for comment.
Read the full “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation here.
Peternel retook the reins of the church on July 5, saying he had been “broken” like a horse and humbled by God, but top leaders within the church have continued resigning. People familiar with the internal workings of Life Church have described an atmosphere of angst and malaise which has swamped the church since Peternel’s return.
Former Life Church board member and accountant Bill Parker resigned when Peternel returned. And longtime staff member Rebecca Marlow and her husband Mark announced their departure in a Facebook post last month.
“Over time, (Rebecca Marlow) experienced patterns of lies, manipulation, shame, and guilt — patterns Scripture repeatedly warns against. I also witnessed leadership behavior that was dishonest, insincere, and driven by protecting image and reputation rather than truth, accountability, or the well-being of the people under their care,” Mark Marlow wrote in a Facebook post on August 27. “That is not biblical leadership, and I will not pretend otherwise.”
They join Maleto and Peternel’s sister, a trio of top pastors and dozens of families who have left the church since January. But other Life Church leaders have pressed ahead with business plans in the works for years, including one board member relocating his alternative medical practice to a Life Church building last month and the Life Church coffeeshop re-branding itself as “The Anchor Cafe”.
Former members of Peternel’s youth groups, which he named “Stormfront”, have said that Peternel regularly demanded the children tell him about their sexual activities and also described his own sexual activity with his wife. Former congregants have also described not thinking much of Peternel’s preaching about his sexual relations from the pulpit because it seemed such a normal part of Peternel’s repertoire.
Peternel has repeatedly declined to respond to the reports and has repeatedly said he is the victim of outside “enemies”. Lt. Gov. Beckwith has also declined to address specific incidents, but has said broadly he stands with Peternel against unnamed enemies.
But Maleto, in his parting warning to the church, said it was not forces outside the church tearing the tight-knit group apart.
“Jesus is here. He is willing. But the avenues are blocked not by the enemy outside, but by unsurrendered places inside the leadership,” Maleto wrote. “James names it: where envy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice. That isn’t a church under attack. It’s a church under its own weight.”
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