PALMETTO (FL)
ChurchLeaders.com [Wheaton, IL]
June 24, 2024
By Dale Chamberlain
A Florida pastor was arrested and charged with four counts of possession of child pornography on Friday (June 21). Jonathan Elwing, now-formerly of Palm View First Baptist Church in Palmetto, Florida, resigned from the church before being taken into custody.
Elwing was arrested after an investigation revealed that he allegedly used cryptocurrency to purchase child sex abuse material. Law enforcement executed a search warrant on Friday at the church and Elwing’s home and found child sex abuse material on Elwing’s phone.
In response to the shocking news, Larry Bianchi, the chair of Palm View’s deacon board, told WWSB that “the people of the church are the church.”
“The pastor may be the front man, he may be the leader of the church—and we need a new one,” Bianchi said. “But Palm View Baptist Church will go on because of the strength of the congregation.”
The congregation is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
The church also appears on Founders Ministries’ list of “gospel-preaching, Christ-exalting” churches. Led by Florida SBC Pastor Tom Ascol, Founders is “committed to encouraging the recovery of the gospel and the biblical reformation of local churches.”
Notably, Ascol has expressed suspicion regarding the SBC’s sexual abuse reforms, which Southern Baptists overwhelmingly voted to adopt. Ascol has cited the cost of reforms relative to what he believes to be their effectiveness, as well as his concern for false allegations, in his arguments against reform.
“The Houston Chronicle report on sex abuse in the SBC found that, over a 20 year period, for every 125,000 Southern Baptists, 124,999 were never convicted of any sex crimes,” Ascol said in a social media post on April 16. “Interesting study in narrative constructions.”
In an email to ChurchLeaders, Ascol said, “I am deeply grieved to read about Jonathan Elwing’s arrest and the charges filed against him.”
“Pornography is wicked and a scourge on our nation. It should be outlawed at every level of our society. Child pornography is a compounded wickedness because it necessarily involves the abuse of the most vulnerable among us,” he continued. “Those who engage in it should be punished to the full extent of the law.”
Per Founders Ministries’ website, churches that appear on its recommended list of “healthy, biblically-grounded” churches “are listed voluntarily, and Founders Ministries is not able to evaluate and endorse each church individually.”
“We are a ministry that provides various resources to help churches and church leaders that are designed to help in the recovery of the gospel and the biblical reformation of local congregations,” Ascol said. “One of those resources is a ‘church search’ function on our website. Church leaders can list their churches after providing basic information about their confession of faith and basic values.”
Ascol said that Palm View First Baptist Church has been removed from the list, and Founders Ministries encourages “others to join with us in praying for the congregation as they seeking to respond biblically to this tragic situation.”
Although Southern Baptist delegates, called messengers, voted to establish a database of pastors, denominational leaders, ministry employees, and volunteers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse during the denomination’s 2022 meeting, the website still has not been created.
The task force assigned the duty of creating the database was dissolved at the conclusion of this year’s SBC meeting, and responsibility for completing the task has been given to the SBC’s Executive Committee.
Elwing had also been a member of the Florida chapter of the Conservative Baptist Network (CBN), a group of Southern Baptists that formed in 2020 to fight what it sees as “liberal drift” in the SBC.
The CBN has likewise at times downplayed the need for abuse reform in the SBC. In a January 2023 report of grievances with SBC leadership, the group said that “sexual misconduct, abuse, and/or violence should be grieved, and justice should be served in all cases, but Southern Baptists have experienced notably fewer instances of abuse than concurrent organizations.”
In a statement following Elwing’s arrest, CBN Director Dr. Timothy Pigg said, “Upon learning of this news, [Elwing] was immediately removed from the Network.”
“I ask that you pray for the Palm View Baptist Church and Jonathan’s family,” Pigg added.
In a social media post on Feb. 23, 2023, Elwing himself expressed his belief that the creation of an abuser database would “be the end of the SBC.”
Elwing is being held at the Manatee County Jail without bond.
ChurchLeaders has reached out to Palm View First Baptist Church and will update this article in the event of a reply. This article has been updated to include Pastor Tom Ascol’s comments.