A message to my fellow Christians

December 10, 2005

In July of this year, I approached a staff member at Calvary Church to offer to negotiate between Vonderheide and Calvary Church. They were not interested in resolving the conflict at all.

While I have yet to write about the October 3, 2005 incident involving the Lancaster City police, you should know that the police arrested me based completely on the lies of Wendy Flanders. There was absolutely zero basis for any of her allegations and yet the police succumbed to her words.

Mathew 18 says that when we have a problem with another believer, that we are to go to them and try and resolve it. If that doesn't work, we are to bring someone with us to try and resolve the matter. In the Spirit of Mathew 18 I brought a witness and approached George Duff, the head elder of Calvary Church and asked him to come with me to talk to Wendy about her lies and false charges. He refused to go! In fact, the head of Calvary church told me that he was going to follow the lawyer's instructions instead of following the bible's instructions on conflict!

Next, I approached Wendy Flanders' Adult Bible Fellowship leader, Elmer Stoltfus. When I knocked on his door, Elmer gave me a friendly greeting and invited me into his kitchen. As soon as he found out that I wanted him to talk with Wendy about her lies and false charges, he yelled to leave his house and to never come back again! Ironically, I noticed on Calvary's website that Elmer is teaching his class - from the book of Mathew!

When the information that is in this story was discovered, a number of people attempted to talk to the leadership to get them to face the facts that Calvary Church has done wrong. The leadership at Calvary has refused to view it! A number of elders have resigned because they have investigated the claims found in http://TheCourtOfPublicOpinion.com .

To say that I am troubled to write this story is an understatement. I graduated from Lancaster Bible College and actually attended Calvary in the past so I am not exactly an "enemy" of the church. However, the actions of Calvary church has troubled me even more than writing a story about them. How can I remain silent while someone is being attacked and maligned by Christian people that should know better? While writing this story tonight, I telephoned someone on staff that I know. He remained adamant that Calvary has not done anything wrong. This man refused to view the information found in this story and yet he insisted that I didn't have the rest of the story. He also refused to give me this "other side"!

This issue has really made me think about the role the church should have in the various acrimonious actions going on around them - they should be peace makers! Instead of choosing sides in a custody fight, Calvary church should be encouraging parties to work at getting along and resolving the issues that divide. How can a church even think about reaching someone when they have taken the position of enemy against them?

It's my hope that the leadership acknowledges what the church or the staff did in the church's name and FIX the problem! Stop trying to spiritualize sin and start facing the facts.

Editor and Publisher

Ron Harper, Jr.