A former youth minister is suing the Church of the Nazarene, alleging it retaliated against him after he complained that his pastor had groped him.
A former youth minister is suing the Church of the Nazarene, alleging it retaliated against him after he complained that his pastor had groped him.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in Kanawha Circuit Court, Craig Gobel of Hurricane alleges he was denied ordination after he reported sexual misconduct by Charles V. Williams, pastor of the Teays Valley Church of the Nazarene.
Dr. Mervin C. Smith, district superintendent of the West Virginia South District Church of the Nazarene, said Tuesday that Gobel's version of events was not true, and that Gobel responded to the church's investigation badly.
"His case was handled through the proper channels within the church," Smith said.
Williams and Smith are named in the suit, as are Teays Valley Church of the Nazarene and the church's regional, national and international divisions.
In the suit, Gobel maintains he was youth minister and associate pastor at the Teays Valley church when he met with Williams in July 2003 to discuss changing his role in the ministry.
At the end of the meeting, when the two men went to exchange their customary "light 'brotherly' hug," Williams put his leg between Gobel's legs and pressed against his genital area, the suit contends.
At the same time, Williams "brushed his lips along [Gobel's] ear" and whispered, "I need you," according to the suit.
When Gobel resisted and tried to push Williams away, Williams rubbed his crotch against Gobel's hip and held him tightly, the suit alleges. After forcibly pushing Williams away and leaving the church building, Gobel threw up several times on the way to his car, according to the suit.
Gobel and two other former members of the Teays Valley church sent a letter to Smith in October 2004 requesting a formal investigation, the suit maintains. In response, Smith sent them a letter saying no formal investigation would take place because the charges against Williams had not been made by a member of his church in good standing, according to the suit.
Gobel and the others took their complaint up the church hierarchy, and were eventually informed by the general secretary of Nazarene International that the matter should be handled at the district level, the suit maintains.
Gobel agreed to meet with Smith to discuss the allegations, bringing his pastor at his new Nazarene church with him, the suit contends.
"At some point during the meeting ... Mervin Smith leaned over his desk and said to [Gobel], 'Sonny [Charles V. Williams] told me that you must have enjoyed it,'" the suit reads.
A former youth minister is suing the Church of the Nazarene, alleging it retaliated against him after he complained that his pastor had groped him.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in Kanawha Circuit Court, Craig Gobel of Hurricane alleges he was denied ordination after he reported sexual misconduct by Charles V. Williams, pastor of the Teays Valley Church of the Nazarene.
Dr. Mervin C. Smith, district superintendent of the West Virginia South District Church of the Nazarene, said Tuesday that Gobel's version of events was not true, and that Gobel responded to the church's investigation badly.
"His case was handled through the proper channels within the church," Smith said.
Williams and Smith are named in the suit, as are Teays Valley Church of the Nazarene and the church's regional, national and international divisions.
In the suit, Gobel maintains he was youth minister and associate pastor at the Teays Valley church when he met with Williams in July 2003 to discuss changing his role in the ministry.
At the end of the meeting, when the two men went to exchange their customary "light 'brotherly' hug," Williams put his leg between Gobel's legs and pressed against his genital area, the suit contends.
At the same time, Williams "brushed his lips along [Gobel's] ear" and whispered, "I need you," according to the suit.
When Gobel resisted and tried to push Williams away, Williams rubbed his crotch against Gobel's hip and held him tightly, the suit alleges. After forcibly pushing Williams away and leaving the church building, Gobel threw up several times on the way to his car, according to the suit.
Gobel and two other former members of the Teays Valley church sent a letter to Smith in October 2004 requesting a formal investigation, the suit maintains. In response, Smith sent them a letter saying no formal investigation would take place because the charges against Williams had not been made by a member of his church in good standing, according to the suit.
Gobel and the others took their complaint up the church hierarchy, and were eventually informed by the general secretary of Nazarene International that the matter should be handled at the district level, the suit maintains.
Gobel agreed to meet with Smith to discuss the allegations, bringing his pastor at his new Nazarene church with him, the suit contends.
"At some point during the meeting ... Mervin Smith leaned over his desk and said to [Gobel], 'Sonny [Charles V. Williams] told me that you must have enjoyed it,'" the suit reads.
Gobel continued to be a member of a different Nazarene church, unnamed in the suit. In June 2006, he submitted paperwork to renew his minister's license and to apply to be ordained as an elder within the church.
His application included a reference to his accusations against Williams, which caused the district advisory board to deny his application because he was "guilty of conduct unbecoming of a minister," the lawsuit contends.
The advisory board told Gobel to write a letter of apology and resubmit his paperwork, leaving out any reference to the allegations against Williams, the suit maintains.
Even after he did so, the board denied his application for ordination, the suit claims. After a one-year evaluation period, the board asked Gobel to "close the file" on Williams and issue a written apology admitting his allegations were false.
When he refused to do so, his ordination application was again denied and his minister's license was revoked, the suit contends.
"His allegations were full of falsehoods and misstatements," Smith said Tuesday. "And that in itself is enough not to pursue any kind of allegation when it is saturated with lies and misstatements."
No factual evidence regarding Williams' alleged sexual misconduct was ever produced, Smith said.
Gobel's whistleblowing efforts did not cause the revocation of his minister's license, Smith insisted.
"This did not have a direct bearing. But his conduct and his reaction and response to the fact-finding information resulted in him not being renewed in his license," Smith said. "His response was anything but Christian.
"The outburst of anger and rage and fits that he expressed in the meeting had more to do with his not being relicensed. In our estimation, that is not a way that a minister should conduct himself."
Gobel's suit, filed by Madison lawyer Brian Ooten, seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com">acleven...@wvgazette.com or 348-1723.
