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J.D. Hall Removed from Church for ‘Failure to Demonstrate Repentance’

By Julie Roys
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J.D. Hall preaches during a Sunday service on December 19, 2021 at Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney, Montana. (Video screengrab) 

Pastor and polemics blogger, Jordan “J.D.” Hall, has been removed from membership at his church for “failure to demonstrate repentance for sins,” a recent statement by his church says. Those sins include alleged violence against his wife and one of their children and drug addiction, the statement said.

The announcement by the church formerly pastored by Hall—Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney, Montana—was published yesterday at the church’s website.

“Our petition to the Lord has been and continues to be that Jordan will humbly take responsibility for his actions, cease his attempts at undermining the integrity of the people he sinned against, and commit himself fully to whatever is necessary to rebuild trust among those that he has deceived and abused,” the statement says. “Please join us in prayerful hope that Jordan will be humbled through this final act of discipline and will ultimately be restored to fellowship with the Body of Christ.”

The announcement comes just weeks after Fellowship Baptist disqualified Hall from ministry for dependency on the prescription drug Xanax (alprazolam). The church made no mention at the time—on June 27—of any charges of domestic violence against Hall, also the founder of Protestia (formerly Pulpit-&Pen).

Since then, however, Servus Christi Ministries has published a Sidney Police Department report, revealing allegations that Hall tried to strangle a family member and assaulted someone with a “knife/cutting instrument.” The report was dated June 23, 2022, and stated that the alleged incident occurred on June 5, 2022. The next day, Servus Christi published another police report, alleging that Hall had embezzled more than $10,000 from Fellowship Baptist Church.

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Last week, The Christian Post (CP) published an account by an elder at Fellowship Baptist Church, Caleb Snodgrass, confirming both the domestic violence and embezzlement charges against Hall.

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J.D. Hall (Video screengrab)

According to Snodgrass, Hall’s wife, Mandy, told the church on June 5 that Hall had physically abused her and her son and that she had kicked Hall out of the home. Snodgrass told CP that church leaders then took Hall to the church to live and did not allow him to return home.

Snodgrass also confirmed that on June 23, the church reported the allegations of abuse and embezzlement to police.

In Fellowship Baptist’s recent statement, the church said it has received “a steady barrage of harassment and accusations” regarding its handling of Hall’s situation and sought to “clear-up some misconceptions.”

The church confirmed that it received allegations “of spousal abuse and abuse of a minor child within the Hall family.” However, the statement adds that Hall’s wife “explicitly stated that she did not want us to report it.”

After investigating Montana mandatory reporting laws, the church decided to share the information with authorities, the statement says. But church leaders decided not to make the allegations public to “protect the victims of the alleged abuse from public scrutiny,” it adds.

“At no point were any of our decisions regarding public comment . . . informed by a desire to cover-up sins or to preserve (Hall’s) public persona,” the church said. “Our main concern was the welfare of our local church, the Hall family, and Jordan’s soul, while making our best attempt at handling the situation with integrity to the Scriptures.”

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Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney, Montana (Courtesy Photo)

Church leaders add in their statement that they were not aware of Hall’s drug addiction until June 5. Some in the church saw “warning signs” prior to that time, leaders said. But they say those concerns “were either dismissed . . . or kept silent for fear of stirring conflict.”

The statement says that on June 5, Hall arrived at church severely fatigued and disoriented. “After a lengthy interrogation, Jordan reluctantly admitted that it was Xanax that was causing his intoxication,” the statement says.

Church leaders then visited Hall’s home the evening of the 5th, but the statement claims that the “incident” on June 5 was not domestic abuse.

“We believe that abuse did occur,” the statement adds, “but were adjudicating the matter as an accusation against Jordan through church discipline and in conjunction with the appropriate authorities.”

The recent statement by Fellowship Baptist does not mention the embezzlement allegation against Hall.

The Roys Report reached out to Fellowship Baptist for comment. The church responded, “We do not yet have a public statement regarding alleged embezzlement due to an ongoing investigation.”

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26 Responses

  1. “ . . . a steady barrage of harassment and accusations.” Hmm, where have we encountered that before?

  2. What a mess…

    Usually where there is lots of such smoke – there is a big smoldering fire….count on it!

    A men walking with God – caring for his family – will have the exact OPPOSITE of such representations.

    The deceit and hate and anger manifested through this individual were simply his own ego – that he, as so many evangelicals, try to wrap in religion to justify their corruption and immorality. And it keeps on keeping on….

  3. At this point, there shouldn’t be any more questions or anyone putting up a defense in regards to the behavior of J.D. His internal/external problems were called out years ago by many. But because folks hoisted him up to be their golden calf, they were largely ignored. Now, he has escalated once again into more dangerous waters by harming the very people by nature he swore to protect. This guy needs SERIOUS help and not more people making excuses or try to hide his behavior. I hope his wife gets a restraining order or something else I fear this could get even worse. :/ He needs a wake up call and fast!

  4. This is an example where one sin begets other sins. I would like to know if he had started on drugs, then needing money had to embezzle from the church, then erratic behavior with his wife and kids would have followed.

  5. I believe Revelation 2 is appropriate here. People like JD focus so much on the battle that they forget who is most important. Contending for the faith is biblical, doing it apart from Jesus is not:
    2 ‘(D)I know your deeds and your labor and [b]perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people, and you have (E)put those who call themselves (F)apostles to the test, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have [c]perseverance and have endured (G)on account of My name, and have not become weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have (H)left your first love. 5 Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and (I)repent, and (J)do the [d]deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and I will remove your (K)lampstand from its place—unless you repent. 6 But you have this, that you hate the deeds of the (L)Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

    1. fyi – from article linked directly in the above article on this site as a source – “When Hall’s wife publicly rebuked the church on their Facebook page for lying about helping to support her, they promptly deleted her comment and restricted further commenting.

      Although I’ve referred to Revelation 2 in a similar manner as you have, at this point, the continued airing of the same sins by the same group of people in that church (half the congregation or less), to a man who has already been disciplined and removed, is now just sin by that church — they mentioned it june, they publicly removed him, mentioned it three weeks later, filed a police report over the wishes of the family about what didn’t see, then made that public and gave an interview, than removed him again a week later. The first removal is enough, deleting posts by the wife calling them liars and continued vindictiveness is sin. Noah drunk and nude didn’t make Ham any less a sinner by pointing it out and harping about it. Maybe Ham even had a similar motive – position?

      The verses that came in mind for me was Revelation 13:10, “he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword”, and if you do not like Hall, you could think he left behind a snake pit – because that place supported him the whole time and is not acting right, and 1 Corinthians 5:1, because even pagans are usually less vindictive over those they’ve been loyal to and breakups.

  6. Nice church building. It has a lovely air of humility and gentleness. I suggest a porch roof over the entry doors: it’s always good to have a transitional space at an entry. The carpark also needs a little work: at least an edging/kerb around the parking area would lend an appearance of care and good order. A paved pathway to the entry door, and after some fund-raising paved and marked car parking area.

    1. Have you considered that for a number of people in that tiny community, that “nice church building” likely serves as a reminder of spiritual abuse?

      I think they have bigger problems right now than how to raise funds to dress it up nicer.

      1. Agreed, Mark. Undue focus and concern for public appearances seems to be, in part, what got them into the place they are now with J.D. Hall’s antics.

  7. This is such a tragedy. For years this man’s public ministry was full of red flags and people reveled in his anger and cruelty.

  8. >>Snodgrass also confirmed that on June 23, the church reported the allegations of abuse and embezzlement to >>police.

    Unless filed by a victim witnessed, it’s hearsay. In this case, it’s hearsay released by some members of that church at the same time as the released the embezzlement claim – and all sources for the story go right back to the same people, including only one interviewee – who has a personal financial reason to report it.

    In fact all the stories all come from the continued claims of same group when you trace back – including this latest — like they want to generate news. This, fyi, is not a group I would ever want to associate with. Even pagans, to borrow a biblical phrasing, act better as far as former loyalty and restraint go.

    >>The church confirmed that it received allegations “of spousal abuse and abuse of a minor child within the Hall >>famil.” However, the statement adds that Hall’s wife “explicitly stated that she did not want us to report it.”

    What this article leaves out is the same group of members – one article estimated only half of the previous church even attending, is that the wife was saying church members were lying on their facebook page, and they deleted her posts and banned her (and mentioned in one of the links sourced in this article).

    While the few headlines (christian post), looked sensational by themselves, they weren’t police reports filed by anyone who actually saw it, and three weeks later – and in my opinion, to buff up the 10,000 missing funds claim.

    It doesn’t look good in context, and I wouldn’t have anything to do with a group that has acted that way in public.

    1. “Unless filed by a victim witnessed, it’s hearsay.”

      Once they became aware of probable physical abuse of a minor the remaining church elders (clergy) were required by Montana law to report to the state dept. of Health and Human Services.

      https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0410/chapter_0030/part_0020/section_0010/0410-0030-0020-0010.html

      The police report contains (redacted) witness statements. I don’t know if these are eyewitnesses or statements about what was reported to the church.

      In either case it does not matter. They were following the law.

      1. It’s hearsay. That is what the legal term means – something that you didn’t personal see, but heard supposedly from someone else. You can’t cross examine that. You can’t prove that. It’s putting words in someone else mouth at best.

        Another thing happened – the church in their statement is now claiming the june 5th incident was not when the claimed domestic abuse occurred, but they believe it occurred (not saw).

        Articles made it sound like family members who saw it and were victimized reported it on June 5th, and it’s not true, because they got it from those church members who didn’t see it (the articles reported used hearsay facts that were made to look like eyewitnesses).

        Now the group says they believed it occurred, but it didn’t happen on June 5th but sometime. It happened sometime, we heard, from some family members. But not Hall’s wife, because she was banned by them when she called them liars.

        1. Max, did you read the Montana law as linked above? Mandated reporters do not have to be eyewitnesses.

          “41-3-201. Reports. (1) When the professionals and officials listed in subsection (2) know or have reasonable cause to suspect, as a result of information they receive in their professional or official capacity, that a child is abused or neglected by anyone regardless of whether the person suspected of causing the abuse or neglect is a parent or other person responsible for the child’s welfare, they shall report the matter promptly to the department of public health and human services.”

          The law demands that it be reported. The church was following Montana law.

          Also, if you saw the police report, it is obvious that there were witnesses listed. Their names have been redacted however.

        2. Max Kennedy,

          This is more than hearsay. Something awful happened. The wife called the police. Yes, many abuse victims later retract their initial reports or decline to press charges. That is how the cycle of domestic violence works.

          J.D. Hall is a wicked tare, and that’s all there is to it.

          1. The wife did not call the police, There is no police report of it in any articles – and there would be if it happened. It didn’t occur June 5th. It’s implied it’s two different incidents that some church members heard sometime. None of the church members saw any of this. The claim that there was “abuse of prescribed medicine” came from the same members – and they aren’t doctors and can’t determine whether medicine is being used as prescribed (which is always limited amounts). The member reporting it financially benefited from it. The hearsay allegations were reported the same day as their embezzlement claim – it had nothing to do with the conscience or legal requirements – which are not applicable – it was an excuse to do something wrong, and that was why the same members banned the wife from posting when she said they were liars.

            I greatly object to a set of multiple articles, whose only facts are coming from allegations of small 4? member group, and being made to appear other than are. Anyone can file a suspicious activity report – and even try to absolve themselves from it being untrue by claiming it was required.

  9. From what I understand, neither JD nor his wife are being submissive to church discipline. I’m NOT blaming JD’s wife – seems like she’s a bystander in this situation. However, my understanding is that she is standing between the church and her husband. JD needs to submit to his church’s discipline and his wife needs to be upfront about what has occurred behind closed doors. I think the church has proved it wants to help all parties involved.

    1. If the wife hasn’t “been upfront” about what happened, then none of the 4 members of the inner counsel has anything to witness – it’s false witness. I suppose you mean when the wife called them liars she was being uppity for contradicting. That is abusive.

      As far as I can see, the members involved may have just tried to file a false prescription abuse claim (they aren’t doctors), a multiple domestic abuse claim (they didn’t see it and have already contradicted the story) and potentially false embezzlement claim (while as near as I can tell, taking jd hall’s interest away in protestia, Montana daily, the church he built up, and getting new salary doing it.

      That may not be going on, but considering stories are contradicting, and way of the world, and they can be seen as untrustworthy, these stories ought to have been verified with all facts instead one group as a source. With Hall leading, mentoring church, you can think both are no good, or only the group is no good from these stories, but both views lead to same thing – that group is no good, whether because Hall raised it that way, or they became it.

      1. Max Kennedy,

        Stop trying to whitewash a hero of yours.

        It is overwhelmingly common for abuse victims to later retract, recant, not go forward with their initial accusations. Do you know how the abuse mentality works? The victim comes to blame her- or himself, assume they overreacted, feel guilty, not want to break up their marriage or family. Do you really expect a woman in an extremely patriarchal church environment, married to a thug, to have the confidence to follow through with charges?

  10. Holy cow. I legitimately had this one wrong. I truly thought this was a brother who was under severe temptation and attack due to his unique calling. Now it appears Hall is merely another abusive piece of garbage.

    I apologize for being so off on this one. I know that doesn’t mean much but here it is without qualification.

    1. JD went after the same enemies you did, the “enemy of my enemy is my friend’ and you were willfully blinded. PERIOD. Despite the fact that many conservatives (politically and theologically) were warning about JD for years.

      1. Charles Martel, Mark Gunderson,

        I’m failing to see the need to pile on me when I already said I was flat out wrong.

          1. Mark Gunderson,

            Nobody who raises their hand to a woman or child deserves to be free.

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