BishopAccountability.org
	Accused Man’s Role at Church Limited By Ed Runyan Youngstown Vindicator October 7, 2010 http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/oct/07/accused-man8217s-role-at-church-limited/?newswatch The pastor of Chestnut Ridge Church of God says a man accused of sexually assaulting a girl 30 years ago has done little more than sing in the choir since the church investigated him in 2007. Robert McFarland, senior pastor at the Hubbard Township church, said James D. Peace of Scott Street in Newton Falls was a part-time, paid choir director with the Chestnut Ridge church from 2001 until 2007. A 2007 church investigation determined that Peace had committed “ethical or moral failure” with regard to Melissa Irons, 44, many years earlier. Since then, Peace’s role with the Chestnut Ridge church changed to volunteer activities, and he has “no authority as pastor,” McFarland said. Irons filed a lawsuit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, seeking damages against the Chestnut Ridge church, the Newton Falls Church of God, Peace and various church leaders. In the lawsuit, Irons said the sexual abuse occurred from 1971 to 1982, when she was 16 years old. Peace was a youth minister at Newton Falls Church of God when the abuse occurred, she said. Multiple attempts to reach Peace by telephone have been unsuccessful. She said in the lawsuit that the defendants failed to live up to promises allegedly made to her that Peace would be prevented from serving in ministerial roles in the future. However, Arnold Edmondson, senior pastor at the Newton Falls Church of God, who has been at the church the past eight years, said his records suggest Peace was never anything more than a Sunday school teacher there. Edmondson said he doesn’t believe Peace has regularly attended the church over the past eight years, and he doesn’t believe there is anything his church can do to control Peace’s actions in the years after he left the Newton Falls church. In the lawsuit, Irons said she and her mother reported the abuse to the Newton Falls church in 1982, and the church promised to “take care of the situation” as long as she kept her allegations quiet. Irons said she brought the issue up to church leaders in 2007 because she was told Peace may have sexually abused or attempted to sexually abuse another person and was again serving as a minister. The Northeast Ohio Board of Pastor and Church Relations issued Irons a letter in 2007, saying Peace’s license to serve as minister in the Church of God had been revoked. McFarland said the Chestnut Ridge church, like all churches, has a mission to “redeem and restore all people,” not prevent them from participating in worship services. Contact: runyan@vindy.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.