The chief fundraiser at a confessional Reformed seminary is facing federal charges of distributing “child pornography,” court documents confirm.

Mid-America Reformed Seminary Vice President for Advancement Michael Deckinga, 41, is being held at the Hammond, Indiana, city jail. He is awaiting an August 27 hearing before Magistrate Judge John E. Martin, according to a motion filed by public defender Peter L. Boyles.

If convicted, Deckinga could face between five and 20 years federal imprisonment along with a fine. But those penalties could increase if there are aggravated circumstances surrounding the images distributed, such as the sexual abuse of a minor, according to the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell University Law School.

An indictment believed to detail Deckinga’s alleged crimes is under seal. An arrest warrant states Deckinga “committed violations of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2), distribution of child pornography,” between November 2024 and May 2025. No further details were disclosed.

In an email, Attorney Boyles told The Roys Report (TRR), “We have no comment” on the charges. The Department of Homeland Security, whose officers arrested Deckinga, did not immediately respond to a request for information and comment.

The seminary, founded in 1981 and connected to the Reformed movement but not to a specific denomination, is reeling from the arrest.

“Mid America Reformed Seminary can confirm that on the morning of August 13, 2025, agents of the Department of Homeland Security executed search warrants on the seminary premise, in conjunction with their investigation and the arrest of one of the seminary administrative employees,” said Dan Fletcher, the Seminary’s operations vice president, in a statement he read to TRR during a telephone conversation.

“We’re currently gathering information regarding the circumstances surrounding this event, and the seminary will cooperate with law enforcement as we have been and will provide support to our employees and community,” the school official said.

Fletcher twice declined to say whether Michael Deckinga was still employed at the school. However, while Deckinga’s LinkedIn profile at time of publication shows he’s employed at the seminary, his name has apparently been scrubbed from the school’s administration web page.

But Deckinga’s name and job title appear in the school’s 2023-2025 Academic Catalog and he was listed on the masthead of school publication “The Messenger” as editor in June 2025.

Michael Deckinga is a former “professional coatings representative” for Sherwin-Williams Paints, where he worked with professional painting contractors. The then-sales representative said he was hired in 2016 by Cornelis Venema, the school’s president at the time, who took “a chance on a paint salesman.”

Deckinga was not a Mid-America graduate but earned a B.S. in history with minors in theology and business from Trinity Christian College, a Reformed school in Chicago. At the time of his hiring, Deckinga and his wife, Kim, resided in Beecher, Illinois with four children, whose ages in 2016 ranged from ten months to five years.

He was also said to be “chairman of the deacons” at Lynwood United Reformed Church in Lynwood, Illinois. The Rev. Nick Alons, Lynwood’s pastor, did not immediately respond to a phone message or email requesting comment.

Venema told the Christian Renewal publication in 2016, “Mike’s strengths are his familiarity with and enthusiastic commitment to Mid-America’s statement of its purpose as well as his understanding of how students who aspire to the gospel ministry need to be prepared academically and vocationally for this calling.”

Reached by phone at his home, Dirk Deckinga, Michael’s father, expressed astonishment at his son’s arrest.

“I really don’t think he did (it),” the elder Deckinga said. “But I don’t really know anything else about this. I’m just for a loss for words, and my wife and I . . . we just can’t believe it that this happened. We’re just waiting patiently for any information that we get from the lawyer.”

Mark A. Kellner is a reporter based in Mesquite, Nevada. He most recently covered statewide elections for the New York Post and was for three years the Faith & Family Reporter for The Washington Times. Mark is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands and also attended Boston University’s College of Communication.