David Zima just wants to leave. 

The ruling elder at St. Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, and one-time “consigliere” of its pastor, Burk Parsons, says he is tired of controversy and conflict.  

Zima accepts that the 1,300-member congregation has rejected the accountability provided by the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) by pulling out of the denomination two months ago. He told The Roys Report (TRR) that as he sees it, Parsons now has complete, unchecked authority over the prominent Reformed church that theologian R. C. Sproul founded in 1997. 

So, he resigned.  

“I plan to seek membership in another PCA church,” Zima wrote in a Dec. 14 email to the church’s governing body, called a session, immediately after St. Andrew’s voted to leave the PCA. “Please remove my name from the roll of the church.” 

But two months later, his name remains on the rolls. Church leaders say he is not allowed to leave. 

The governing elders of St. Andrew’s have found Zima guilty of “contumacy,” or defiance of authority, and are pursuing additional charges in the congregation’s ecclesiastical court. 

“You remain subject to an ongoing judicial process,” session clerk Kevin Kennedy wrote Zima on Jan. 9. “To permit resignation mid-process would … potentially leave matters of sin and repentance unaddressed, to the detriment of all involved.” 

Some outsider observers, including three former members of St. Andrew’s, don’t see this as diligent shepherding or scrupulous concern for disciplinary procedures. They told TRR the refusal to release Zima is retribution, meant to punish him for perceived betrayal and to delegitimize his criticism of St. Andrew’s leadership. 

“The session needs a scapegoat to blame for the division,” said George Knevelbaard, who left the church a year ago because he was unhappy with what he saw as Parsons’ increasingly autobiographical preaching. “They’re trying to deflect their own incompetency and — I’ll use the word — corruption. They’re going to blame it on someone other than themselves. They’re going to blame David Zima.” 

No ‘escape hatch’ from membership 

A nearby PCA church, Northside Presbyterian in Melbourne, also looked at the outstanding charges against Zima and concluded they were trumped up. Northside’s leaders determined no discipline was warranted. 

The elders at Northside say that Zima is now a member in good standing in their congregation and under their pastoral care. The session has sent St. Andrew’s a letter asserting that St. Andrew’s has no more authority over Zima and should, from now on, leave him alone. 

“While churches enjoy broad liberty to govern their own members, that liberty does not extend to exercising coercive authority over members of other churches or officers in other denominations,” Northside elders wrote Jan. 9. 

Northside also warned St. Andrew’s leaders that Northside “will not permit interference with its own internal governance or with the exercise of conscience by (its) members.” 

The leaders of St. Andrew’s are not backing off.  

In a follow-up letter sent to Zima on Jan. 28, St. Andrew’s elders warned him there is no “escape hatch” to get out of church discipline. They told Zima that the now-independent Reformed church maintains both the spiritual and legal “right to determine your membership status,” regardless of Zima’s desire to resign. 

“They want to hold me captive,” Zima told TRR. “Spiritually imprisoned.” 

He previously defended Parsons 

Zima, a 61-year-old engineer, is surprised to find himself in this situation. Not too long ago, he told TRR, he was close enough to Parsons that they went hunting together. He recalled that Parsons, who loves The Godfather and other mafia movies, called him his “consigliere,” a trusted advisor and intermediary. 

In 2019, when Parsons faced formal accusations that he was unfit for ministry because he is harsh, unkind and domineering, Zima defended him in a PCA court. 

Zima was also an active member of St. Andrew’s for about 15 years and a busy elder. He was given responsibility for the spiritual care of about 150 people. He regularly taught Sunday school and served, at different times, on St. Andrew’s safety, facility, air conditioning-replacement, Good Samaritan and bylaws committees. 

There were, of course, occasional clashes, Zima said, along with disagreements, hurt feelings and apologies. There were places where people needed to grow.  

“Normal church stuff,” he told TRR.  

As Zima looks back, he thinks the start of all the division may have been an elders’ meeting in 2021. The session was looking at disciplining a member, Zima told TRR, and nine out of 10 thought that was the right thing to do. Zima alone disagreed. He worried the more formal process would make it harder for the man to repent. 

Since he was in the minority, Zima told the other elders he would abstain from the vote.  

Parsons wouldn’t accept that, Zima said, and insisted Zima vote with the group, making the decision unanimous.  

“He likes it when things are unanimous,” Zima said. “It seemed to offend him that I would disagree, and he just kept prodding me, ‘You know what you have to do,’ until I changed my vote.” 

Parsons did not respond to an email and a text message seeking comment. Other elders who were in the room at the time also did not respond to emails.  

Zima said he cried the night he changed his vote. He felt like he violated his conscience. The next day, he told the governing elders he’d made a mistake and asked their forgiveness for buckling under pressure to vote with them.  

“My vote wouldn’t have made a difference in the outcome, but it would have been true,” Zima told TRR. “I believe one dissent could be the Holy Spirit speaking to that group, and I’m so angry at myself for betraying that.” 

Zima said things were different after that. When he returned to elders’ meetings, it was like he was on trial. Parsons seemed wary, like he didn’t feel he could trust him, Zima told TRR.  

The rift would only grow wider.  

Zima heard complaints about Parsons 

The elder and the senior pastor were not perpetually at odds, though. When St. Andrew’s — founded as an independent church but with ministers ordained in the PCA — looked at joining the PCA as a church in 2023, both men supported it.  

Parsons argued at the time that committing to PCA polity would be critical to preserving the purity of the church.  

“We need to have that accountability,” Parsons explained on a 2023 podcast. “I made it very clear to our people in preaching. I said, they need to be in a position to be able to take me to court. And they need to be in a position to bring charges against me and bring charges against our elders.”  

But then criticisms of Parsons, who has admitted to his congregation that he’s “not naturally gentle” and doesn’t enjoy being a pastor, started going to PCA authorities. 

Zima, in his role as elder, was telling people who were unhappy with Parsons how the Presbyterian structure worked and what their options were. When George Knevelbaard grew concerned that Parsons’ sermons were no longer gospel-centered, for example, he went to Zima. 

“David was an outstanding elder,” Knevelbaard, who now belongs to a PCA church in Orlando, told TRR. “He had the deepest Presbyterian background of any of the elders and that made him very responsible and responsive to concerns.”[Text Wrapping Break] 

Wil Thornhill had a similar experience. He moved to central Florida in 2019 specifically to attend St. Andrew’s, but after a few years started to have concerns about the church’s financial transparency. Thornhill had a financial background, he told TRR, and when he looked at the church budget, he couldn’t tell where all the money was going. 

Thornhill sought Zima’s advice. Then he went and asked for the church’s accounting records, including an end-of-the-year balance sheet, which the bylaws say are available to members.  

Church leaders wouldn’t give him the information, Thornhill told TRR. So, he appealed to the PCA, filing a complaint with the Presbytery of Central Florida in April 2025.  

Now that St. Andrew’s is no longer part of the denomination, that case is closed. Thornhill left St. Andrew’s last summer. 

“I still think the teaching there is excellent,” said Thornhill, who has also joined a PCA church in Orlando. “But I felt like the session was concealing things. They weren’t honest. … And I know for a fact they wanted to scapegoat David Zima.”  

Charge of gossip 

On Jan. 27, 2025, the session charged Zima with gossiping, which the church considers a violation of the Ninth Commandment’s prohibition against bearing false witness. The session met and found a “credible presumption of guilt” on Jan. 30.  

An expert in PCA polity who has never attended St. Andrew’s told TRR the case seemed rushed and overly aggressive.  

Speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is involved in other disciplinary cases in the PCA, the expert said the speed raises questions about the legitimacy of the process. 

“When you see quick church discipline, you worry about the weaponization of the Book of Church Order,” he said. “There should typically be a very long process, shepherding someone before you get to this. From the outside, it looked like St. Andrew’s was moving very fast.” 

Church leaders did not respond to TRR’s request for comment. But in a Jan. 28 letter to Zima, the session insisted that elders followed appropriate procedures. According to the letter, the church leaders acted with patience, diligence and “careful attention to due process and accountability.” 

Bob Mattes, an elder at Northside Presbyterian who signed on as Zima’s defense counsel in church court, told TRR that when he first looked at the case, he was shocked at the lack of evidence. Most of the charges did not have the necessary number of witnesses, and the witnesses that St. Andrew’s did have were not very convincing, he said 

“These were alleged personal conversations — I’m not sure they really happened — and they’re not specific about the time or place,” Mattes said. “I was ordained an elder in 1986. I think this is one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen.” 

Mattes moved to have the case dismissed. Then in December, St. Andrew’s voted to leave the PCA. According to Mattes, that action voids the indictment. The church effectively abandoned the case against Zima, he said.  

The PCA’s Book of Common Order says that indictments are brought in “the name of the Presbyterian Church of America.” But if St. Andrew’s is not in the PCA, its elders cannot charge anyone in the name of the PCA.  

“They’d have to start over,” Mattes said. “But David is no longer part of St. Andrew’s, so it’s no longer internal church business. They don’t have any jurisdiction.” 

First Amendment question 

Churches have the right to discipline members, but only if they’re members voluntarily, Mattes said. He pointed to a 1989 court case in Oklahoma. The judges in that case found the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom ended when a woman resigned church membership, even though the church said its theology did not allow resignation. 

Mattes said that if St. Andrew’s continues its case against Zima, that could be grounds for a lawsuit. 

St. Andrew’s governing elders say that is incorrect. The session’s Jan. 28 letter argues that the First Amendment protects the church’s right to “determine questions of membership status, the applicability of church discipline, and the resolution of internal disputes.” 

Sheryl Stiemann, who left St. Andrew’s in 2018 and has publicly accused Parsons of harsh leadership, noted the church has let most people resign membership when they want. The leadership is hanging on to Zima, she said, to punish him.  

“They were offended when he stopped going along,” Stiemann told TRR. “David never gossiped. Even if he did, I don’t see why it’s so damnable. They just want to go after him.” 

Zima just wants out. 

St. Andrew’s has given him until Feb. 5 to schedule a disciplinary meeting with the session. He doesn’t plan to respond. He already sent a letter on Jan. 22 asking the church to stop harassing him.  

“I deny your jurisdiction over me,” Zima wrote. “Please respect my legal right to disassociate from (St. Andrew’s) and worship at my new church.” 

Zima said there is a small part of him, though, that still holds out hope for some kind of reconciliation with the old church.  

“I love Burk Parsons,” Zima told TRR. “I would argue I love Burk Parsons more than the men who were silent. … I hope he can know the great blessing of repentance. I hope the Holy Spirit guides him.” 

Daniel Silliman is senior reporter/editor at The Roys Report. He began his two decades in journalism covering crime in Atlanta and has since led major investigations into abuse and misconduct in Christian contexts. Daniel and his wife live in Johnson City, Tennessee.