By Anelia K. Dimitrova
Waverly Newspapers
August 4, 2011
http://communitynewspapergroup.com/articles/2011/08/04/waverly_newspapers/news/doc4e3aa9672df71851003345.txt
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| Dennis Lee Brown |
The Grundy Center pastor who is charged with sexual abuse in the third degree for allegedly having sex with a Waverly minor has been stripped of his ecclesiastical credentials.
Two district executives from the Church of the Brethren, a Protestant church, met with Dennis Lee Brown, 66, at the Bremer County Jail, where Brown is being held on a $50,000 bond.
Tim Button-Harrison, the district executive of the Northern Plains District, and Barbara Lewczak, chair of the Ministry Commission for the Northern Plains District, visited with Brown and, based on their conversation with him, recommended that his ordination be revoked, said Mary Jo Flory?“Steury, the executive director of the Church of the Brethren Ministry Office.
“When the two engaged him (Brown) in conversation of pastoral care and concern for him and for all that had been affected, he indicated a willingness and a desire to relinquish his credentials,” Flory-Steury said. “We felt it was important to take care of this quickly.”
On July 29, the Northern Plains District Board terminated Brown’s ordination, Flory-Steury said.
Brown had been serving as the interim and then the permanent pastor at Ivester Church in Grundy County since 2006.
Waverly police officers executed a search warrant on his property at 23480 E. Ave. in Grundy County on July 8, after a 15-year-old victim came forward. The pastor met the victim over the Internet, according to police records. He then traveled to Waverly in May, records show, where he had an encounter with the victim. Police say Brown confessed to the encounter.
Brown entered a plea of not guilty and demanded his right to a speedy trial, his attorney, Kevin Engels, of Cedar Falls, confirms.
Read more in the 8/4 Waverly Democrat.
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