Pastor prays for woman, faces invasion of privacy charges

[Jerome]

Pastor Accused As Peeping Tom

police say he returned to the residence the next night and was confronted outside by the woman's partner.

Police responded to the scene.

He allegedly told police that he was there to pray for the woman, Kent County prosecutors said.

Grinnell declined comment today and his attorney, David Dodge Sr., also declined comment.

Mark Pietscher, lead pastor at Bella Vista Church, said Grinnell had been a teaching pastor at the church since May 2012.

 

[Judith]

Maybe he should have used his closet to pray.

 

[Archie the Preacher]

I read the account; things do not look good for the pastor.

At the very least, this is one of those occasions wherein the pastor should have remembered the admonition in 1st Thessalonians 5:22: "Abstain from all appearance of evil."

Sounds like he needs prayer, perhaps in more than one area. (So do I, but I haven't been on any ladders in such fashion.)

Judith, you got in just under me. You are of course right.

 

[ktn4eg]

Not that it really matters, but didn't what's now called Cornerstone University used to be Grand Rapids Baptist College/University?

 

[annsni]

Why does one need to secretly climb a ladder and look into a window to pray for someone????

 

[padredurand]

Why does one need to secretly climb a ladder and look into a window to pray for someone????

He was misquoted. He climbed the ladder to prey on the woman. He needs a time out.

 

[Aaron]

Jerome is a tabloid.

 

[Thousand Hills]

Jerome is a tabloid.

Thread title is misleading, makes it sound like the guy is being persecuted.

My guess is:

he is moonlighting as a PI

or

he became infatuated with her through the school or church, and just got jealous that he had been spurned

 

[Jerome]

Peeping was done out of pastoral concern, Grinnell tells judge at sentencing

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/06/peeping_pastor_hears_from_vict.html

Jeremy Grinnell said he had gone to the Cannon Township home of his former assistant at Bella Vista Church in Rockford to do a “prayer walk” and then realized the woman was there with her boyfriend, now fiancé.

“I was not being told the whole truth about their relationship,” Grinnell told Kent County Circuit Court Judge Dennis Leiber at a sentencing hearing on Thursday, June 26.

At the time of his arrest, Grinnell was an assistant professor of systematic theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary,a division of Cornerstone University. He no longer holds that position or his job at Bella Vista Church.

Grinnell had been a teaching pastor at the church since May 2012 and began teaching at the seminary as an adjunct professor in 1999 before moving to his last position. He earned a degree from the seminary in 2000 and a Ph.D. from Calvin Theological Seminary in 2011.

 

[HAMel]

This boy considers hisself smarter than Lassie but as dumb as a box of rocks. Anyone who is above board would simply ring the doorbell. Dimwit...

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Five years' probation??

Oh well ... he'll violate it and get the prison time he deserves.