The case involving the arrest of the pastor of St. Elmo Seventh-day Adventist Church continues to stir conflicting accounts within the congregation. On August 14, the pastor was taken into custody and charged with three counts of witness intimidation. Witnesses had told deputies that church members lost responsibilities and were escorted from the property after cooperating with law enforcement in an investigation involving a registered sex offender who allegedly volunteered in the presence of minors without proper clearance.
Since the arrest, new claims have emerged. In an email forwarded to Adventist Today this week, a church elder stated that the individuals at the center of the dispute were not demoted or removed from their positions for working with authorities. According to this account, they had voluntarily resigned from church offices prior to the arrest of the registered offender. The resignation, the elder wrote, stemmed from disagreements with the pastor and members of the church board. He added that their later cooperation with police flowed from those disagreements and described it as an act motivated by personal conflict.
This narrative directly contradicts earlier statements reported by the local news, where witnesses said they were removed from positions and escorted from the property because of their cooperation. The contrast underscores how deeply divided the congregation has become, with both sides offering starkly different interpretations of the same events.
At present, the charges against the pastor remain pending, and the legal system—not competing narratives—will ultimately determine what constitutes intimidation under Alabama law. What is clear is that the dispute at St. Elmo is no longer confined to the question of policy about known offenders in ministry roles. It has widened into a conflict over trust, credibility, and the fragile bonds that hold a church community together.