The lead pastor of Calvary Church of Naperville—a megachurch in the Chicago suburbs with an attendance around 6,000— this week told his staff to keep secret news that an assistant pastor had tested positive for COVID-19. Calvary Lead Pastor Martyn Sloan also instructed his staff not to tell anyone that the assistant pastor’s wife and son, who’s also a pastor at the church, were having symptoms.
This is according to two emails leaked to me earlier this week by a staff member who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of losing his job.
Also, despite knowing that staff and volunteers had been exposed to the sick pastor and family members who live with him, Pastor Sloan continued to record online services with multiple staff, the sick pastor’s family members, and volunteers.
Pastor Sloan has since informed his church about the pastor with COVID-19, as well as another staff member who tested positive for coronavirus. However, Sloan did this only after I emailed him the leaked emails and pressed him about why he had not informed his church about the confirmed cases.
The pastor at Calvary who tested positive for COVID-19 is Pastor Angel Escamilla, assistant pastor of Calvary Español. Also showing symptoms is his wife, Becky Escamilla, and son, Michael Escamilla, an associate pastor at Calvary.
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The staff member with COVID-19 is a videographer who was required to attend recording sessions with the Escamillas and dozens of others.
On Tuesday of this week, church staff received an email from the Escamilla family, informing them that Angel Escamilla had tested positive for COVID-19 and pneumonia and was “seriously ill.” The email also said that Becky and Michael Escamilla “have had symptoms but are improving.”
The email added, “For our privacy and for the peace of mind of our church family, we and the leadership team ask that this news be kept in confidence within our staff.”[pullquote]”(W)e and the leadership team ask that this news be kept in confidence within our staff.”[/pullquote]
On Tuesday evening, Sloan sent a follow-up email to church staff through his executive assistant, Becky Lopez. In it, Sloan said, “If pressed for information (about the Escamillas’ health) you should confidently reply with the following: ‘Please understand that if I knew anything about anyone’s medical condition I would not be at liberty to speak’ and then stop talking.”
Recordings Continue Despite Known Exposure to Sick Pastors & Family
According to the anonymous staff member, Pastor Sloan first knew that Angel Escamilla was sick on March 15. Yet for nine days, Sloan continued recording and livestreaming services with members of Escamilla’s family and those who had been exposed to the Escamillas, both staff and volunteers.
Even on Tuesday evening, after learning that Angel Escamilla had tested positive for COVID-19 and that his son and wife were sick, Sloan required staff who had been in recent contact with the Escamillas to record a service, which included a volunteer.
I asked Sloan specifically about these charges in an email I sent to him at 12:50 p.m. on Friday. This was in response to an email from Sloan’s assistant, saying that Sloan would respond to emailed questions.
Sloan still has not responded to my questions. However, at 2:26 p.m. on Friday, Sloan sent an email to the congregation, informing them for the first time that Angel Escamilla and another staff member had tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the anonymous staff member, Angel Escamilla had attended Calvary’s weekend service on March 15, which was livestreamed online and included all staff pastors, several support staff, volunteers, and several church attenders. The staff member said Angel Escamilla left during the 9 a.m. service because he felt sick, but not before coming into close contact with about 10 pastors.
The staff member said that on March 17, Pastor Sloan required several staff to attend a recording session of a prayer service with Michael Escamilla and his wife, Lynelle Escamilla, who both live with Angel and Becky Escamilla. The staff member said that when several staff objected due to concerns about infection, Sloan asked them if they wanted to remain “essential,” because if not, that could change.[pullquote]The staff member said that when several staff objected due to concerns about infection, Sloan asked them if they wanted to remain “essential,” because if not, that could change.[/pullquote]
The videographer who taped the March 17 recording has now tested positive for COVID-19.
The service, which was posted online, also included about a dozen volunteers. (The anonymous staff member said that when the church failed to inform the volunteers of their likely exposure to someone with coronavirus, some staff told them.)
Recordings continued on March 21, 22, and 23 with various staff members and a volunteer percussionist.
On the evening of March 24, hours after learning about Angel Escamilla’s positive test result, the church recorded another online service. On the recording are three pastors who were present at the March 17 recording session with Michael and Lynelle Escamilla, as well as the volunteer percussionist. Also on the recording is Pastor Sloan, who, according to the volunteer, videotaped his sermon just prior to the service.
On March 25, Pastor Sloan, apparently undaunted by news of his sick pastors and other staff, posted a video to Facebook. In it, he announces that weekend services will livestream as before at 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Sunday.
Pastor Sloan Appears Lighthearted; Flies to Florida
Though Pastor Sloan had contact with the Escamillas, and others recently exposed to the Escamillas, Sloan and his son, Landon Sloan, took a flight to Tampa International Airport on March 25. The two then took a “transport” to Southeastern University, where they packed up everything in Landon’s dorm and drove home.
This is revealed in a Facebook live video Sloan posted on March 26 while driving back from Florida with his son Landon Sloan. In the video, Sloan appears lighthearted and jokingly asks for prayer because he’s having to endure listening to country music.
The video is one of several Facebook live videos Sloan posted on the 26th. I asked Sloan about the appropriateness of the videos in the email I sent on Friday, March 27. All the Facebook live videos were deleted soon afterwards.
My first email to Sloan was on Thursday evening at 6:38 p.m. This email included the leaked emails about keeping the news about Angel Escamilla’s COVID-19 diagnosis quiet, and requested a call back. Sloan did not answer the email.
However, at 6:53 p.m., Sloan sent an email to “All Staff” through his assistant Becky Lopez, telling staff not to visit the church campus next week. Sloan added, “The care and concern for you and your family is a high priority.”
On Friday, March 27, at 9:19 a.m., I sent Sloan another email with additional questions. I also informed Sloan that I was aware that a videographer had recently tested positive for COVID-19.
At 11:45 a.m. on Friday, Sarah Dawes, associate executive director of communications at Calvary, sent an email to 33 church staff members, informing them that the videographer had tested positive for COVID-19. She added, “You are on this email because (videographer) traced his steps to a point of contact with you in the week prior to his symptoms.”
On Friday evening, Pastor Sloan posted a video to Facebook, urging church to pray for Angel Escamilla’s healing.
Today around noon, Calvary posted a FB message, encouraging people to tune in for weekend services online, noting that Pastor Sloan will be preaching on the book of Psalms.
UPDATE: On Monday, March 30, Pastor Angel Escamilla, who was 68, went to be with the Lord. On Facebook, Calvary Español posted: “Our Pastor Angel fought the good battle and his career is over. Today he was greeted in heaven ‘Well done good and faithful servant Enter into the presence of your Lord…’ Angel has passed into eternity, and is where we all want to be one day… in the eternal presence with God.”
UPDATE 2: Received this email from Kevin Sur, external affairs officer for Dupage Co. Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management , on April 1 at 5:28 p.m.: “The DuPage County Health Department Medical Officer Dr. Rashmi Chugh has attempted to reach the Calvary Church of Naperville but has not heard back from them. At this time, we are still reaching out to them.”
UPDATE 3: Calvary Naperville now is requiring staff, contractors, and volunteers to sign a waiver, releasing the church of responsibility if they get sick or die. To read new story, click here.
Below are the emails sent to Calvary Naperville staff on Tuesday:
Below is the email Pastor Sloan sent to his congregation about 90 minutes after my email. Included was an excerpt of the email from the Escamilla Family:
English 
Spanish 
168 Responses
Calvary Chapel desperation to re-start their Concert type Church back up ASAP.
It’s not a Calvary Chapel Church! It’s Assembly of God Church!
That’s the name of the church which belongs to the AG denomination
So shameful! You cannot trust anyone if you cannot trust a pastor.
This is such a naively misguided claim. Trust is earned on an individual basis via evidence, it’s not an inherent quality of a person’s title or their occupation.
That’ logic has worked really well for the Catholics.
Despite the destruction that so many priests and pastors have caused I still don’t judge them to all be horrendous pedophiles and non-tax paying money grubbing thieves only out to line their own pockets while letting their parishioners suffer. Oh wait, I do.
I smell the love of money.
So grateful for Julie, for forcing this pastor to reveal exposure to a deadly virus. What a shame that she had to do it.
By all means, stay out of the grocery stores or anywhere else because you are being exposed & you aren’t even aware!
Julie, what’s your purpose here? Do you want the pastor fired?
I volunteer. Both my husband and I have stayed away from all stores for at least 2 weeks. We order our groceries to be delivered, same with our prescription medications. It’s ironic that you don’t think people are actually doing this. Yes, yes, we are. We consider it an absolute imperative unless someone’s job is “essential” (doctor, nurse, police, firefighters, grocery store worker, pharmacy worker, etc. – not church!)
So you are saying that your life is worth more than that of your shopper? Well done!
That takes a high level of callousness AND a low level of self awareness to make the post you just did.
Excuse me while I go vomit… ???? brb ????
Lord, have mercy and help is all during this global crisis in Jesus name, amen,
This is beyond belief! What callous, heartless, and deadly actions by a so-called man of god. Jesus said by their fruit you will know them. Come quickly, Lord!
Unbelievable, so many pastors that don’t put Jesus Christ first, but their love of a god called money.
While I am glad that Pastor Sloan informed his congregation about the illness after he was caught trying to suppress the news, I wish he had said he was sorry for not telling them earlier and for exposing his staff.
I will donate AGAIN so FEARLESS Christian journalism like yours Mrs. Julie Roy’s- may continue.
STANDING with you.
Julie, Thanks again in exposing another Christian organization that wants to keep the CV-19 under wrap. Also kudos to the Calvary Chapel- Naperville staff who had the courage to share two emails to you. It seems secular companies are more concern in the health and safety of its employees than the church. Who makes a sick employee come to work to affect other staff and volunteers? Who forces his staff to attend a RECORDED prayer service (Matthew 6:5-8?) with the hint of job loss for non-attendance? (JMac’s Leadership School of Bullying and Intimidation) I hope for Heaven’s sake (pun intended), that Pastor Angel recovers fully; the secular media will have a field day.
My heart sank when I saw the photo. My husband and I were very much part of the Calvary Naperville family and I served for years under the former lead Pastor Randal Ross, a man of exemplary character. And we knew Michael Escamilla fairly well. He was a kind and caring pastor under Randal Ross. This angered me to read what has become of Calvary with this new lead pastor Sloane. This level of deceptiveness and crafty manipulation is egregious. Sloan has a serious lack of character and a clear disregard for others. He should resign immediately.
Never mind treating your neighbour the way you would want to be treated. Is your neighbor’s life is in danger? Never mind; The show must go on;
To the staff member fearful of losing their job, you couldn’t lose it. It probably would have been illegal for them to fire you because of that. Im pretty sure it is illegal that they didn’t report this. Yes, there are privacy concerns. But you need to let people that were around you know. And to not risk it to others. Even non-believers know this.
Is there a spiritual virus going around Churches that’s worse than the physical one?
Wise Up
That’s odd, I already say something on line yesterday where one of the pastors said he had the virus.
Keith
Julie, is this the same Assemblies of God church which used to be called Calvary Temple, whose founder and senior pastor was Robert Schmidgall? If so, I do NOT believe he would have ever stooped to such levels. I was a member of what was then known as Calvary Temple for a number of years and it was a light shining in the darkness of that area. It was in the early years of my coming to the Lord and I thank God for the solid preaching of Pastor Schmidgall. If this is indeed the same church, I’m in shock! It sounds like the church in Louisiana that held services even though the local authorities told them not too. They had over 1,000 people meeting in close quarters. What is wrong with the Body of Christ, or those who call themselves Christ followers? As believers we are called to be lights in the dark world, but God has also put the governing authorities over us which we should obey – unless they explicitly go against God’s Word. How many more of these so-called churches – mega or not – are out there lying to the people coming to them for encouragement, hope, and the solid teaching of God’s Word? Body of Christ WAKE UP! Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ at Calvary Church in Naperville, that the LORD would speak to them about what He wants them to do to protect themselves and their families. And pray for those infected with COVID-19 that the Lord would heal them.
My heart is crying…..
Or maybe instead of having to heal them all, the lord could just not infect them with the virus in the first place?? Or better yet, maybe the lord could’ve just not bothered with the virus at all?
I wish I could say I was surprised, but this sort of crime (yes, attempted murder and reckless endangerment is a crime) is typical of the newest denomination, the First Covidian Church of Cash.
Actually Calvary Temple didn’t host a physical service on Sunday, March 15th as your article says. The building was closed that Sunday. That service was prerecorded days before.
Praying that we as Christians don’t bicker but rather pray for those that need healing!!
You’re misinterpreting what I wrote, although I probably could have been more clear. Calvary’s service on March 15 was online only, but there were pastors and staff at the recording of the services. And, according to my source, several people showed up who didn’t get the memo that the church was closed and were allowed to stay. Also, if you listen to the actual sermon on the recording, it’s clear that the recording took place over the weekend. Pastor Sloan talks about how crazy the past 36 hours have been and how on Friday, he both closed on his house and cancelled the physical service.
A megalomaniac and his mega-church? This just speaks volumes of arrogance mixed with a total disregard for anyone else other than the megalomaniac “pastor.” This sounds like the way a pure devil would run an operation, not someone actually representing the real Jesus Christ. May this “church” go completely bankrupt for the good of the lemmings, I mean sheep trapped inside. If someone in this church dies soon from the virus, I think it is all over for them. No wonder God thinks His 501c3’s smell like a skunk…
You have to be out of your mind to attend church now during the pandemic. You have to be out of discernment to attend church with pastor looking like a thug.
What?
Read again please….
Looking like a thug. While I don’t agree with any of this looking like a thug IS NOT part of the problem because there was nothing wrong with the way he looked. Are you saying that because he is Hispanic because if you are then you are RACIST and a way bigger problem then COVID19 will ever bye.
Shame on you, Julie Roys, for reckless reporting. You chose to publish before securing Sloane’s interview or official statement regarding your allegations that are clearly based on assumptions & speculations. There is no indication that you even attempted to talk with other Calvary staff members as witnesses either. In the spirit of speculation, seems like you are offended that Sloane didn’t reply to you with priority & immediacy.
Pastor Sloane is not obligated to reply to you on your timeline. As you mention in your article, he is the lead pastor of 6000+ congregants. The nation is in crisis, people are scared, being laid off, sick, dying & trying to cope, including the Calvary Church congregants. There is no doubt that Pastor Marty Sloane is extremely busy tending to his flock as well as his family. Come on, Ms. Roys!
Moreover, as a proclaimed Christian both you and the anonymous staff member should have first relied on the plumbline of scripture. Christ Himself commanded, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”
Matthew 18:15-17 ESV
Both the conduct of the anonymous Calvary staff member and you are not above reproach. Your disobedience in how you handled matters within the Church is grievous. Your willingness to publish without firstly abiding in the word of Christ alongside your boldness to accuse a Pastor & create a stumbling block for other Christians to trip over is fearsome. Ms. Roy’s, you’ve crossed the line here. You are not judge and jury. Let Church court prevail not kangaroo court. Lord, have mercy!
Dia,
You incorrectly assume that Sloan was the only Calvary employee I reached out to. I also sent emails to Becky Lopez whose husband Alberto Lopez, a pastor at Calvary. I also called the Escamilla family for comment. And I sent Facebook messages to other employees at Calvary, who did not respond. I also since have given my email to Sarah Dawes, associate executive director of communications at Calvary.
I’m quite sure many on staff knew full well that I was asking questions and in possession of the leaked emails. The church decided not to comment or respond to my detailed questions. If I waited to publish until every organization or individual caught in questionable activity talked to me, I would rarely publish anything. I refuse to give wrongdoers veto power over my stories.
As for Pastor Sloan owing me a comment . . . It’s true that he doesn’t owe me anything. However, as the pastor of a church of 6,000, and a public figure within a populous suburb, he does owe the public answers concerning matters of public health. And as a journalist, it’s my job to report on matters of public interest and that’s precisely what I was doing.
And as for Matthew 18, I encourage you to read the article below. Matthew 18 applies to personal offenses, not to people in positions of power who need to be held accountable. The verses for those situations are 1 Timothy 5:20 (“But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.) and Ephesians 5:11 (“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”).
https://julieroys.com/3-ways-wrongly-apply-matthew-18/
Great response, Julie. It never ceases to amaze me the lengths some will go to protect an institution or a leader, how angry they will get if you question them or simply report the truth about what they are doing. It seems so very opposite of what Jesus did.
Here’s some background on Pastor Marty Sloan that may help add context to this story. Marty’s very poor decision making with regard to this COVID-19 coverup appears to only be the tip of the bad pastor iceberg for the good people of Naperville.
Marty was the Head Pastor at Harvest Time Tabernacle in Ft Smith, AR up through December 2019. He’s only been at Calvary Church of Naperville since January. He was hired through Vanderbloeman, a high-end, prestige recruiting firm used by megachurches. Sutton Turner, the man who personally TRIPLED Mark Driscoll’s salary and put together the false Global Giving campaign at Mars Hill, is Vanderbloeman’s Chief Operating officer, so we are not talking about a firm hobbled by any pesky integrity or ethics. Sticking it to the tithers so that Executive Pastors can live large is what Vanderbloeman’s COO knows best. Calvary Church Naperville just finished paying hefty fees to hire Marty. Perhaps CCN’s hiring committee and flock should have done more homework.
Marty teaches the worst form of the Prosperity Gospel, ie, that if you give anything less than 10% of your gross pay directly to your home church you are STEALING from God and bringing curses down upon you. Offerings only start AFTER that 10% is in the bank and your blessings and increases in life are tied directly to the amount of your giving. This teaching is both biblically false and particularly cruel to flock members who struggle financially, such as those who are chronically/terminally ill, single parents or those living on fixed incomes. As the Head Pastor, Marty published no Annual Report for Harvest Time.
Marty’s financial abusiveness is really no surprise when you consider that his top “Overseer” at Harvest Time was Willie George, aka “Gospel Bill”, the hoakie Okie televangelist scam artist known for launching Blaine Bartel’s notorious career and for running the giant kid’s camp, Dry Gulch, which is infamous for covering up their child sexual assaults. Gospel Bill used to have Kenneth Copeland on his show as the character “Sheriff Wichita Slim”. Are you sensing a pattern here? What are the odds that a guy like Willie is ever going to see a problem with anything Marty does? Willie is located in Oklahoma, but that’s hardly a problem for Marty. His 3 other overseers are located in Michigan, Indiana and NM. Not one single Overseer is located anywhere in the actual state of Arkansas, let alone in Ft Smith. Basically, Marty doesn’t want any oversight and he ensured he wouldn’t get any with this group of overseers. The flock has no one to turn to when abuse runs rife.
Marty appears to have used Harvest Time as a family business. That is a Willie George trademark, btw. He hired his sister-in-law Michelle Sloan as the Principal for Harvest Time Academy. I’m not sure what her qualifications are, but Harvest Time Academy is listed as her only current/prior employer on LinkedIn. Also, in the big professional promotional video for the Academy, posted on the main page of the Academy’s website, they were unable to spell the word “kindergarten” correctly. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of skills.
Marty’s older brother Sean, (Michelle’s husband) continues to work at Harvest Time as the Director of Teaching and Education. One of Sean’s main duties appears to be charging INTERNS $1,500 per semester to work for FREE for Harvest Time. Marty appears to have helped his brother and sister-in-law move out to Ft Smith from the Phoenix area, so they could all work at Harvest Time together. What a great use of those tithes. This is the sort of red flag seen when Head Pastors use their churches as their personal ATMs. This is not a good sign for anyone in Naperville.
Most of Marty’s social media is dedicated to him showing off his gym-rat lifestyle. He shows off his work-out gear, his work-out form and his physique. Nothing says sanctified like a dorsal pic of your head pastor in work-out clothes flexing for all to admire his buns of steel. One has to wonder if Vanderbloeman listed this as a pro or con when they were evaluating Marty for their clients?
Marty’s house in Ft Smith has not yet sold. Vanderbloeman has a guarantee on their executive placements. It’s not too late for decent folks in Naperville to send Marty back to Arkansas. Right now, the last thing Chicagoland needs is another self-absorbed, financially abusive pastor who eschews any form of real oversight and has questionable judgment on day-to-day issues. If you wait until Marty moves more relatives out and loads the CC Naperville church payroll with family and cronies, it will be far more difficult to remove him. The best thing that come out of the Harvest Bible Chapel catastrophe is for people to learn from those mistakes. Mr. Macho Marty Sloan is behaving like a slightly younger James MacDonald 2.0. Let’s honor the HBC victims by not making the same mistakes.
Bible says to tithe 10% percent, not Marty….just sayin
Yes, in support of the Temple standing in Jerusalem….
No it doesn’t, not in the New Testament era. It was a 10 percent portion given to Levite priests in the Old Testament era because they had not been allocated an income-producing portion of land like the other tribes. There is no “tithe” today. We are to be cheerful givers, giving as the Lord leads, to a body of believers, to friends in need, to the poor, wherever we’re led, but that is not like the Old Testament tithe.
Ben, the Bible also says it’s ok to own slaves. Just sayin.
Amy Moore, Outstanding research and well documented. This was very enlightening. I appreciate your efforts.
Thank you Kurt. You haven’t seen the last of it on this topic. It turns out that Marty was responsible for other bad decisions during his 15 year tenure in Ft Smith. While it won’t change the minds of those who refuse to see the truth for what it is, it will hopefully help those who are open to truth and discernment. Marty is the new guy on the block. Frankly, I;m stunned to see CCN members blindly defending him with such rampant zeal when he is clearly in the wrong here. It is not too late for the church to fix this mistake, assuming that the church truly belongs to its members. It’s better to admit your mistakes and cut your losses when there is no desire for change. Again, Vanderbloeman offers a full satisfaction guarantee. Make them earn their huge fees.
The family business continues. His sister in law is now the Principal of CCS & his brother has been hired as Pastor of Assimilation.
Pastor Sloan will be fired immediately. (If not, there is no point to re-opening the church once the pandemic is over.) Once again I thank God for you, Ms. Roys. Due to your exposure of Sloan’s corruption, his termination will happen now rather than years from now, when the wickedness of his character would have brought about untold destruction in yet another Chicago-area megachurch. Spiritual corruption is worse than Covid-19, and must be isolated and quarantined at the earliest detection of it.
Who are you? Do you have authority to fire him? Or spreading false information?
NO ONE has EVER navigated a world wide pandemic. There is NO handbook on how to do it. Even the president and his team has to change day by day. You are really stretching to claim corruption. There is NO evidence of that here. What I see in most of the posts here is jumping on a band-wagon of unclear and unsubstantiated information. If the Escamilla family asked for privacy, they have that right.
Although I’m not at all surprised that a megachurch pastor would sacrifice the sheep to protect the bottom line, and I’m glad that one of the so called pastors reported this to Julie. One thing still needs to be addressed, just like Martyn Sloan, the whistle blower is covering his own bottom line…. “I wont warn the sheep myself I might get fired”… “I’ll just lay low and serve under this money grubbing Thief and collect my paycheck, even though I know he cares nothing for the sheep”…John 10:12-13….12) He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who cares nothing for the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them 13) He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep…. unfortunately this IS the pattern of the megachurch, keep your mouth shut collect your paycheck and always Remember the end justifies the means and BOSS is always right…..Remember James McDonalds famous alleged quote “I’d sacrifice a thousand sheep before I would reveal my salary”.
Unlike you I am not smart enough or all-knowing enough to be able to say just what the Lord should and should not do and what He could or could not use for our greater good. It must be wonderful to be so brilliant.
M. Wiggins sarcasm is never a winning argument. Roys researched and tried to get a response from the Pastor and he delayed far too long. It may have negatively effected the lives of others at this church and all you can do is be sarcastic?
Pastor Marty is a Man of God. It’s heartbreaking to read all these comments of judgement based on a journalist gossip column.
It is very difficult to mitigate through this epidemic. I have not read of one leader; whether is from county level, state level, or nation level, make perfect decisions.
I have two points to make.
1. The staff member that has brought this information has not followed proper protocol. Has this person called the elders or receive godly counsel from the Assemblies of God? If not, why would you go to a columnist to create a venue for slandering
someone’s name?
2. Becky Escamilla sent out an email on March 24 to Calvary Staff stating, “for our privacy and for the peace of our Church family, we and the leadership team ask that this news be kept in confidence within our staff. We will keep you updated as needed. Thank you for your continued prayers. Love the Escamilla family.” It seems to me that Pastor Marty was honoring the family’s request for privacy.
This nonsense needs to stop and We should be more concerned about Pastor Angel Escamilla.
Monica,
I’m glad you named your objections, so I could respond to them, though I find your use of “gossip” troubling. That has to be the most abused word among those who seek to silence whistleblowers and cover up sin. What I published was documented information regarding an issue of public health. That’s hardly gossip. But to your points…
1. The Assemblies of God has shown itself woefully inadequate at policing local churches. It was an Assemblies of God pastor who’s now the denomination’s general treasurer, Pastor Choco DeJesus, who invited unrepentant and disqualified pastor, James MacDonald, into fellowship. https://julieroys.com/chicago-based-megachurch-welcomes-james-macdonald-into-fellowship/
2. You omitted a very important detail in Becky Escamilla’s email. The email said, ““For our privacy and for the peace of mind of our church family, WE AND THE LEADERSHIP TEAM ask that this news be kept in confidence within our staff.” (All caps added) I wonder how much of the decision to keep the information confidential came from the Escamillas and how much came from Pastor Sloan?
It’s notable, too, that the privacy considerations went out the window as soon as I informed Pastor Sloan that I had the leaked emails. Why do you think that is?
I absolutely agree, Julie. The timing of Pastor Sloan’s emails indicate a sudden realization that the revelation of the horrid decisions was OUT, forcing him into action to do something and cover his butt. Had you not contacted him and exposed the knowledge about the letters, everything there would STILL be being kept hush-hush and more people would be falling ill. This is not a shepherd concerned about his flock – which INCLUDE the members of the worship band and the videographers. His letters are full of scripture to make him sound super-spiritual; but his actions betray his self-centeredness, his desire to build his own spiritual empire at the expense of whomever might be helping him to build it, and his “smooth operator” approach to getting his flock to do his will. This man desperately needs to repent and he also is not to be trusted with the flock; he needs to be removed, and YESTERDAY. His flock will never be able to trust him again. What if one of them dies from the virus he caused them to catch by strong-arming them?
In the words of Ronald Reagan, “there you go again.” You claim that you base things in fact and that means they are not gossip.
However you just made two speculative judgements. If you are so accurate then please either take over my stock portfolio or repent of the sin of divination.
You can’t have it both ways.
The sad part of your personal apologetic is that a portion of the time the people or situations you write about are actually tragic things that need to be fixed or wrongs that need to be addressed, but your own self righteousness gets in the way of the actual story.
Get help.
I posed questions. That’s what reporters do.
Libel problems can be avoided by making sure that your story are both accurate and fair. As I said before, it creates a venue for slandering someone’s name – defamation of someone’s reputation as well as the reputation of an amazing godly church.
Monica, Remove the plank from your own eye. You falsely quoted documentation here with your obvious & selective editing. Yet you’re lecturing Julie, telling her to make sure reporting is “accurate and fair”, which when applied to yourself is apparently optional. You lecture her?! You are the one making false accusations and defaming, calling Julie a gossip & slanderer. You’re the one casting unmerited aspersions on her reputation. Clearly you subscribe to ‘Good for me but not for thee’. Facts are not biased. Reporting facts does is not gossip nor “slander”, which you are so determined to accuse. Slander is “A FALSE tale or report. Objective facts don’t disappear just because your subjective feelings wish they would. Ms Roys’ reporting of objective facts are not slander…. but your subjective editing and false accusations, we all can read, along with all the other hypocrites covering for Pastor Sloan’s deception character flaw & failing. And to be clear, Calvary has had many great pastors, good honorable men of God, especially Pastor Ross who must be heart broken over this, only months after his retirement. Sloan’s decision to deceive brought this about. Period.
Brad, look at in the mirror at yourself. Your ad hominem attack just points the finger right back at you. What is the problem here? A reporter getting a tip and reporting a great evil being done that could kill Christians, or your judgment of someone else’s righteousness? Your attack is as weak and pitiful as it gets…
God bless you, Julie, for your coherent, rational, and very patient articulation. You have great patience, more than many. So much deception, hypocrisy and pride. Even Monica, posting a false quotation by deliberately removing part of the quote, while telling everyone, “This nonsense needs to stop…” 1 Timothy 4 addresses this, that in the end of days people will depart from the faith and go after deceiving spirits and speak lies. It’s rampant. Christians deceiving openly with seared hearts, denying their deception is a lie. Lord help us.Things are falling apart as God’s promises are falling into place. The Lord is coming soon. Get ready. Prepare for the bridegroom returns.