Pastors John, Joshua, and Emily Bechtel Pastor John Bechtel put me out of the church after his son and daughter in law discriminated against me. Springfield New Jersey

This past July 26, 2013 I was excited about finding a holiness church at which to fellowship.  I considered Calvary Assembly of God.  I looked the church up online and learned that on Friday evenings there is what was called, College and Career Night.  This is for singles and starts at 7:30 p.m.  There is a youthservice that starts just one hour earlier at 6:30 pm.

I was excited about getting out to the church and wanted to be on time, but ended up arriving just before the start of the youth service an hour early.  I made myself known to a couple of the youth ministers and asked them whether it was O.K. for me to go sit in another room until 7:30.  I had my Bible and wanted to occupy my time reading it somewhere else while the youth service was going on in the sanctuary.  They gave me their O.K., understanding that I was a first time vistor.

After 5 to 7 minutes I came back to the sanctuary to ask if I could sit somewhere in the back with my Bible, during the youth service.  This time I was talking to Emily Bechtel who had just arrived.  She told me that they have things going on.  I then asked her the same thing that I had asked the previous ministers, concerning the other room that I was sitting in.  I asked if I could be there until 7:30 and Pastor Emily too gave me her O.K.  

In like manner did I also introduce myself to her as I previously did to the youth ministers, but she was not too friendly.  She did not tell me who she was.  I would learn later that she was scared.  I was nothing more than a big clean cut, clean shaven, casually dressed Black American male with a big Bible in my hand.  

Emily is a Peruvian latino, married to a white Joshua Bechtel.  Emily called her husband, the associate pastor.  She told him that she never saw me before and that she was nervous.  She was wondering what to do.  He told her to not give a lengthy explanation but to just ask me to come back later.  

Emily was so afraid of me that she staggered at carrying out her husband's orders.  She was afraid to stand on her authority and approach me by herself as one of the associate pastors.  So she went and got the two other youth ministers, both male and one of whom was also latino, and brought them with her into the room where I was in her effort to now get me out of the building after I was given permission twice to stay until 7:30.

Emily started evrything off with a lie.  Realizing that I wanted to be there until the 7:30 function, she actually told me, in front of the two gentleman that, on Fridays there is nothing else that goes on but the youth service.  Obviously she wanted to get rid of me until the following Sunday.  She invited me to come back on Sunday and not at 7:30.  In all this she still never introduced herself to me.  I had to learn her name from the church website.

I then asked her about the singles meeting at 7:30.  She said in an exclamatory tone, "Oh! You mean College and Career!  I said, "Yes".  Emily replied that that was at 7:30 and that they do not have people in the building while other things are going on.  When I got up to leave without incident, Mark, the latino youth minister said, "Thank you".  In the least, my feelings were hurt.

As I was walking down the street away from the church I saw a police car pass in the opposite direction toward the church.  I couldn't help but to wonder if the cops were called because of me, but just decided to not stoip me.

I decided to handle everything decently and in order and confront Pastor Joshua about how his wife hurt my feelings.  I arranged to see him as he and his wife were hypocritically smiling at me after the Sunday service, telling me "God bless you brother", as if nothing negative ever went down the previous Friday.  Emily was shocked when she saw me on that Sunday.  With a big smile she said, "You came back".

I met with Joshua the following Tuesday, July 30th.  I explained to him everything that happened on Friday that concerned.  I then stated a threefold objective.  First I wanted to know would he have dealt with me the same way.  If not, then I felt I was owed an apology.  And if an apology was not going to be forthcoming, i wanted to know why not.

Brotherly love went out the window.  He told me, "No apology needed."  He explained that he told Emily to do what she did.  This was because of an unorthodox policy of Joshua's that is church-wide.  It states that no other adults are to be in the building during youth services, other than the youth ministers.

Emily failed to tell me this.  Even after she gave me permission to stay until 7:30, she could have came by herself and just told me this policy and I would have acquiesed and had the utmost respect for her until this day.  But even when she got me to leave, she mentioned nothing about this policy.

Also, her degree of fear was relayed to me by Joshua.  He was not not spiritual during our visit.  He behaved toward me  like the world's unregenerate for the sake of his wife.

I then wrote Joshua's father, Pastor John Bechtel, a long e-mail in which i expressed my opinion of his son and daughter in law, all based on scripture.  I guess I hurt Pastor John's feelings by telling him the truth about his family, including the fact that I think that both Joshua and Emily are prejudiced against Black people.  Just last night I sent John another e-mail asking him bringing about resolve.  

In short, he replied that he read my e-mail, he prayed (I wonder to who, unawares, or whether he prayed at all?) and that the Holy Spirit told him that there was no more to be said.  He ended the e-mail with, "i hope you find another church that can meet your needs."  Obviously, Pastor John loves his family more than the people and the inheritance of God in Christ Jesus.