“Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst.”
—C. S. LewisNo one does more harm in the Church than he who has the title or rank of holiness and acts perversely.
—Gregory the Great
Former ELCA Pastor Nate Luong was arrested on December 9, 2022. He is charged with three felonies for having criminal sexual contact with a 17 year-old-girl who had gone to “Pastor Nate” seeking spiritual guidance.
I have been attempting to follow this case since I first heard of it in mid-December 2022. I have been searching for documentation every few weeks but up until last week I kept coming up empty. Last week I was able to access all the court documents in the case.
Luong has a pre-trial court hearing on August 28, 2023. My guess is that his trial will take place in September or October but I should know more after the hearing.
Below is the Statement of Probable Cause. You will notice that Pastor Nate “confided” in Witness 2. In my opinion, it appears Pastor Nate had, for reasons unknown to me, an overriding desire to share his “sexual exploits” with Witness 2. For example, Pastor Nate told Witness 2 not to sit on the couch in the youth room. When Witness 2 asked why, Pastor Nate told her because that’s where he and the Victim had sex. As I read the document I thought one doesn’t need to be a psychiatrist to realize Pastor Nate is a sick man.
Also, take note of the reference to basketball. I will come back to that.
You will see that Pastor Nate’s story is confusing because of the several churches he was employed at in a relatively short time period. Adding to the confusion is the fact that Pastor Nate worked for two “Trinity Lutheran” Churches. I constructed a timeline in an attempt to help the reader better understand the sequence of events. I can’t guarantee the dates are exact, but they are pieced together as best I could based on the information I have.
Note that Pastor Nate was a “B squad Girls’ Basketball Coach/Varsity Assistant Coach” for ten-plus years. (This information was taken from Nate Luong’s LinkedIn account.)
In the article below note that Nate is credited with 11 years of coaching Girls’ Basketball at a public High School in St. Paul, MN. Based on the Statement of Probable Cause where Pastor Nate reportedly said that the “scuffs on the Victim’s knees were not from basketball,” it is my opinion that the 17-year-old girl that Pastor Nate was allegedly having criminal sexual contact was also a basketball player. I think it would be wise for Law Enforcement to look into this matter. As a minimum, I believe North High School should contact every girl that was coached by Pastor Nate, advising them of his arrest and urging them to speak up if Pastor Nate ever attempted anything similar with them.
“Luong also has diverse community interests, having coached ten years of girls basketball at North High in North St. Paul. He enjoys working with youth, but also loves the intergenerational nature of the church community.
“I love people. My great hope in the world is just to build bridges. I love building relationships,” Luong said.”
St. Peter Herald, “New Trinity Lutheran Church minister enjoys St. Peter Call,” 9/24/2014.
Below is the description of the alleged felonies Nate Luong has been charged with.
I do feel sorry for Nate Luong’s wife, Andrea. It appears that Nate must have told her that he is an innocent man and these charges are false charges made up by the victim. Andrea Luong would of course believe her husband, at least until the charges were irrefutable. She and Nate have three children and she is now faced with the real possibility that she will be raising them by herself. I pray for her and the victim.
Below is the last post Andrea Luong has written on Facebook. At the time she wrote this the DNA evidence had not been analyzed, so I totally understand her point of view.
I wonder what her thoughts are now, based on the announcement by the Bishops of the Southwestern and Southeastern Minnesota Synod that “Nate Luong had resigned from the Roster of the ELCA because he admitted to an inappropriate relationship.” This announcement was made on June 15, 2022. I do find it a bit hard to believe that one day earlier Andrea stated that “everyone in our household has a clear conscience.”
Below are a few comments penned in response to Andrea Luong’s FB post. I have redacted the names of the commenters. My only point in featuring some of these comments is to show how the deck is stacked against the victim of abuse in a church. There seems to be blind, unquestioning loyalty to the pastor. This is not unique to Nate Luong’s situation. If you read the Wartburg Watch regularly you will have seen plenty of examples of abusive pastors receiving standing ovations while victims are kicked to the curb.
Finally, I wanted to share a short bio of the Judge in this case. I wonder if Judge Docherty will be able to retain an impartial view on this case? I believe he will because he must, but it is an interesting talking point – whether a Deacon in another ELCA church should recuse himself.
In my humble opinion, the judge should recuse himself.
Too close of a connection.
Tom Rubino,
I agree. You can bet the Defense will raise the question should there be a conviction.
If Judge Docherty does not recuse himself, it will be a free pass to for Luong to receive a lighter sentence or the case be overthrown on appeal. Judging on past stories on the Wartburg Watch, I hold little hope that the victim will receive support from the church or school. My heart breaks for her.
Agreed. Not a good look.
i.e. The Fix is In.
Remember Boz T? In all his years as a prosecutor specializing in pedo cases, he NEVER saw a church take the side of the victim. Always “RALLY ROUND PASTOR PEDO, BOYZ! GAWD SAITH!”
from “Sleepy Eye”
Note the bio of a Typical Jekyll and Hyde pedo pastor:
Lutheran this & that: ELCA pastor, Luther Seminary, Augsburg College, Lutheran Social Services
Married to a wonderful lovely wife with three fabulous young-uns
Xian employers: MN Wild (Xian Naegele’s team) & Hubbard Broadcasting (Xian Hubbard)
Mission trips to Tanzania x 4 – loves diversity & do-goodism, white savior
North High girls basketball coach – works cross-generationally, helps out kids
What a peach of a Jekyll Hyde do-gooder by day, pedo pastor in the dark.
All these wonderful people projects are not enough: Spends his spare time on the couch in the Church Youth Room, screwing a church youth girl. Yikes and Yuck. Lives his real life, his real self, between his legs.
I love how Pastor Tim ends his notice with “See you in church”.
No, Pastor Tim. You won’t.
“Your complainant is a licensed peace office from the Sleepy Eye Police Department.”
No wai … you made this up.
Todd
You are talented in writing up posts surrounding police reports and arrests. This is a great example.
I, too, am concerned about his wife. She is referring to feeling suicidal. I truly hope she is under careful psychiatric care.
As for the perp, my guess is he has done this before. This quote from him made me shake my head. “I love people. My great hope in the world is just to build bridges. I love building relationships,” Luong said.” He doesn’t love people. He uses people for his enjoyment, and he is dangerous.
The comments from his acquaintances were ridiculous. None of these people know their pastor. They only know how he performs to meet their expectations. They don’t watch him 24/7.
Great post!
“I love people. My great hope in the world is just to build bridges. I love building relationships,”
dee,
Relationships……..
If some of these guys used an adjective or two to better define what really they mean by “relationships”, they’d get booted out of the churches….. I hope.
Admittedly in Minnesota avoiding Lutherans would be a bit tricky (ELCA has 6 synods in Minnesota out of the 65 total in the denomination, the accused has apparently served in two). I did look up what I think is the judge’s church (Our Savior’s can join Trinity as a popular Lutheran church name in that area). Deacons there seem to be a combo altar guild plus communion servers and serve 2 year terms not the more powerful people that term is used for elsewhere. Note the ELCA also uses ‘deacon’ for other purposes (see an ELCA paper on the variety of deacons https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Deacon_Descriptions.pdf), and, I could be looking at the wrong church.
I think the timeline is
September 2018 – Luong starts as pastor of Trinity Lutheran in Sleepy Eye (Southwestern Minnesota ELCA synod)
October 2019-February 2020 – the offense took place
February 2021 – Luong moves to a new church in Southeastern Minnesota ELCA Synod.
Summer 2021 – Trinity Lutheran gets a new pastor
on or before May 3, 2022 – mandated reporter, Witness 1, reports hearing about the pastor’s activities and a police investigation starts May 3. One wonders whether Witness 1 was the new pastor of the church given he/she had the authority to voluntarily surrender the evidence and was a mandated reporter
June 14, 2022 – Two ELCA synod bishops announce Luong’s resignation and removal from the roster (as the police investigation was ongoing it is not surprising they didn’t say much beyond ‘inappropriate relationship’)
December 9, 2022 – he is arrested
Sleepy Eye btw is named for Chief Sleepy Eye (Ištáȟba in his own language) who signed several treaties with the US and was considered quite friendly with the Americans.
Yikes!
I attend an ELCA (Lutheran) Parish.
Mayhap the Pastor is also a pedo-perp?
Should I switch over to LCMS just to be sure?
I did appreciate that Pastor Tim seems to realize the severity of the sin and that states “the number of people suffering from sexual abuse in our country is staggering.” He also provides links to resources for people who are victims of sexual crimes.
He states that many will feel a ‘huge wound in their hearts’ and that there will be no ‘moving on’ until there is ‘healing and/or Justice’.
He also mentions “LSS’ which is Lutheran Social Services, which can provide a whole range of counseling services and information to the congregation.
It remains to be seen, of course, if this actually happens in this congregation, but much of this response seems hopeful in my opinion.
As a former church secretary, I suspect that the “see you in church” part at the bottom is part of the standard frame in the church newsletter template. The text is just changed weekly and the rest stays in place. This was obviously input by someone in a very stressful situation. I doubt that it was Pastor Tim who actually keyboarded this message.
Sometimes it’s good to think the best initially, although in these situations it’s very seldom warranted.
Headless Unicorn Guy, your comment that Boz T. NEVER saw a church take the side of the victim is beyond scary into terrifying. Then again, recalling the woman taken in adultery (even if not considered part of the earliest texts), they only brought the woman, not the man, although OT Scriptures indicate both should have been put to death. You wonder which of the “good ol” boys” set up that scenario. The more things change, the more they remain the same. Judgment starts with the house of God. Eventually these pedo-clergy will face God, yet that is small comfort to those suffering now.
Although I love my LCMS church, I am sure their are hidden perps there as well. They are everywhere and they are sneaky. I featured the LCMS church/school which appeared to mishandle sex abuse of a teen by an employee.
https://thewartburgwatch.com/2023/04/05/st-johns-school-and-church-likely-face-a-significant-lawsuit-for-mishandling-the-sex-abuse-of-a-13-year-old-teen/
Nancy2(aka Kevlar),
🙂
After seeing the latest on the SBC leadership . . . is none among them liers, cheats, and abusers?
If there’s anything we’ve learned from our time on TWW, it’s that the perps are hiding everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Some dude centuries ago said something like, “be wise as serpents and guileless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) I think that’s pretty good advice.
Erp,
Thanks for all the information, Erp.
It is also alleged that Luong may have taken the victim with him to his new church (step down in position to an associate pastor but a far bigger church) in Rochester in March 2021 before his April 2022 move to sole pastor (which lasted less than 2 months before he was probably forced to resign). One wonders if the announcement of the move in April 2022 caused conversations in his first church one of which led to a mandated reporter at that church learning about the misconduct.
I note in this case it isn’t clear that the victim considered herself a victim at the time the investigation was going on; a search warrant was required to get her DNA sample (I would think a cooperating victim could just be asked). I note that the age of consent is 16 in Minnesota (18 if the other person is in a position of authority over you which he was as she was an intern and a congregant in his church). This could be a messy trial.
From the official ELCA point of view even if she were a full adult it is major misconduct because he was in a pastoral position over her. To quote one church document:
“Sexual contact with parishioners or others whom they are called to serve is never within the scope of this purpose [pastoring]. Sexual contact within the pastoral relationship is a betrayal of the very purpose of that relationship. It distorts, misdirects, and rips apart the pastoral relationship and, usually, the life of the lay person involved.” https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Healing_In_Congregations_After_Clergy_Sexual_Abuse.pdf
The document then goes on to draw a clear distinction between forgiveness and discipline [aka removal from office]:
“Discipline is not a comment on the pastor’s eternal value and worth. It is not a commentary on their, often, very fine preaching and other skills. It is a careful determination, by those individuals responsible for the integrity of the ministry of Word and Sacrament, that this person cannot be trusted to refrain from hurting others by violating this critical boundary.
Discipline is distinct from the matter of forgiveness. The offender may be truly sorry, but still not free from the impulses or whatever it may be that has prompted the harmful behavior. We can forgive the offender and still not sanction their free and unfettered access to the considerable power and resources of the pastoral office.”
Yes.
Makes sense.
I agree. It sounds like Witness 1 is the new pastor.
It sounds like Witness 2 was another teenaged girl. 1) She sought the youth pastor (as opposed to the senior pastor) for “faith counseling.” 2) They were meeting in the youth room, which is a likely place for youth to meet for counseling but not for an adult to meet.
Luong may have told her as a way of testing and grooming her to see if he could draw her in as well or possibly his conscience was burdened but didn’t think a teenaged girl would tell or be believed if she did tell.
Witness 3 is a woman who had received past reports (plural) from members (plural) of the church. I’m guessing that “members” is used loosely and could indicate other teenagers reporting to an adult female whom they know. If it is teenaged girls doing the reporting, it makes sense that they would be most comfortable telling a woman in a position of authority rather than a man. Witness 3 suspected possible “grooming” but what did she do with that information? Did she report it? (Of course if she was a youth “leader” she could well have been a college student and not really been aware of what to do. But did she tell the previous pastor?)
To me, it’s noteworthy that Witness 2 went to the new pastor. Had she and others tried to report previously but hit a brick wall? And good for her for speaking up!
Finally, pastor and victim reportedly crossed state lines and had sex during a youth trip in Montana, which could mean he could also be charged there and/ or possibly for a federal case since the sexual activity crossed state lines.
Luong was the previous pastor. This Lutheran church in Sleepy Eye seems to have only one pastor (and one secretary) though they do seem to have 700 people on the books and a lot of active lay people so it might be understaffed (there is a shortage of ELCA ministers). His job prior has been as an associate pastor dealing with children, youth, and families and his job after was also as an associate pastor, generational ministries.
The church also has a several page “Child and Youth Abuse Prevention Program” online last updated July 2022 with several sections about reporting a pastor highlighted in yellow. I don’t think it covers everything (for instance pastor with adult congregational members other than the spouse which wouldn’t be illegal under Minnesota law but definitely misconduct under ELCA rules). The synod also has a policy https://swmnelca.org/policy-regarding-sexual-misconduct-by-members-of-the-clergy-and-rostered-laypersons/
In the News
Top SBC bureaucrat resigns over fraudulent resume.
Willie McLaurin, who has served for the past year and a half as interim Executive Committee president and treasurer of the Southern Baptist Convention, resigned this week after someone finally checked his claimed university, divinity school, and seminary degrees, and found he’d falsified them all:
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/mclaurin-resigns-as-interim-ec-president-and-ceo-removed-from-search-consideration/
McLaurin will be replaced by a temporary Executive Committee president and SBC treasurer (another of RonnieFloyd’s vice president holdovers, Jonathan Howe), until the Executive Committee names another interim president/treasurer next month:
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/howe-to-serve-as-interim-sbc-ec-president-and-ceo/
[RonnieFloyd resigned as SBC Executive Committee president and treasurer of the SBC, in 2021]
Montana’s age of consent is 16. Unlike Minnesota there seems to be no criminalization of a person of authority having sex with someone 16 or older under their authority barring rape/incest or if the person is deemed mentally incapable of giving consent (presumed if living in a mental health facility or similar). In other words what he did in Montana was wrong but perfectly legal.
I note the victim seems to have been working for the pastor as an intern from 8am to 3pm which seems strange if she were still in high school and it wasn’t summer months. Did she graduate early? If so, no one except possibly the pastor, who arranged the job, might have known she was under 18 (ignorance of her age is no defense in Minnesota law). Witness 1 may have initially thought this was an internal ELCA matter until checking the records for her employment and realized it was a criminal matter.
She may have been homeschooled and worked her schooling around the internship. Or graduated early (I know a handful of people who did this, including myself).
Muslin, fka Dee Holmes,
My previous comment was pure snark.
Yes, I’m totally aware that men of the cloth are no different than other men.
They just have the bar set way higher.
Jerome,
I have a theory about this situation which I will share tomorrow. Essentially, I suspect they already knew about his issues and hoped it never came to this point.
Several years ago, a local law firm was disbarred en masse for running an OSHA-violation extortion racket targeting immigrant (Mexican/Central Americah) blue-collar small businesses. (i.e. Mexicans who couldn’t afford a lawyer.)
Their defense?
“EVERYTHING WE DID WAS LEGAL!”
So what else is new?
CHRISTIAN bigwigs could give Psalmanazar the Formosan Cannibal (London c.1700) a run for his money when it comes to resume inflation. Like it’s a Spiritual Gift or something.
The Mann Act.
“Transporting a minor across state lines for ‘immoral purposes’.”
That Dake guy who wrote the Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible (the only TRUE Bible in my mid-seventies experience in-county) got nailed by the Mann Act many-many years ago.
Apparently going after Underage Nookie has also been A Spiritual Gift for a LONG time.
The Bible (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes) is the only holy book on the planet that exposes those pieces of sh… oops! … dung for what they are.
The Almighty does not take kindly to the powerful who abuse the poor and needy.
“Thou shalt not lie!” lost on leadership?
“Power is at the top.
Knowledge is at the bottom.
When they don’t communicate, the ship sinks.” – Naval Commander David Marquet
Thus, lots of sinking ships.
Note: These self-proclaimed, donations-collecting “pastors” running things – if they are NOT listening to and using wisely the intel from the other 17 Spiritual Gifts*, they are running a sinking ship from the get-go. Doomed.
Thus, many sinking ships.
*18 spiritual gifts GIVEN never SOLD by the Holy Spirit to the Church:
1 Cor 12, Rom 12, Eph 4.
Seems to be the biblical term.
Not a lawyer, but apparently the ‘immoral purposes’ has since been more narrowly defined as having to be illegal. Now if he were a Montana pastor who took her to Minnesota then he might have violated the Mann act.
Jack Schaap (former pastor of First Baptist Church, Hammond, IN) did federal time for a violation of the Mann Act. I believe he took a teenager from Indiana to Michigan. He’s now out of prison. I believe his wife, Cindy Schaap (daughter of Jack Hyles) divorced him while he was in prison. So yeah, this is a thing.
Though both states have an age of consent of 16, Michigan raises it to 18 if the other party is in a position of authority; Indiana does not. He probably knew he could get away with it with a 16 year old in his home state of Indiana. He got in legal trouble when he went to Illinois where the age of consent is 17 and to his Michigan cabin where, given that he was her pastor, she would have to be 18. The Mann act was the obvious choice for prosecutors since otherwise he would have had to be separately tried in Michigan and Illinois.
This does show that some laws need to be tightened up.
Polish-my-Shaft Schaap.
Who inherited his pulpit by marriage (just like House Bolton inherited the North).
Need I Say More?
“Truth. Is. Out Of Style.”
— MC 900 ft Jesus
He had a mattress in his office? Then he had “counseling” sessions with girl(s) behind closed doors? I mean, how big of a red flag do you need waved in front of you? No elder, deacon, or anyone working at the church asked about this?! Wonder what his wife’s feelings were on him giving the girl a heart necklace and the 2 saying vows to each other. Just so much yuck.
“TOUCH NOT MINE ANOINTED!”
Three possibilities off the top of my head:
1) She didn’t know.
2) Widdle Christian WIfey (“How might i better Submit, My Lord Husband?”).
3) Serena Joy outranks a mere Handmaid.
Please forgive any sarcastic snarkiness in my previous comment.
About fifteen years ago, I attended an LCMS parish here in my town along with a dear friend.
Friend’s daughter wanted badly to become a Pastor, but could not do so in the LCMS brand, based solely on plumbing received at birth.
Friend and daughter switched over to the ELCA brand and her daughter went to Seminary and became a Pastor. To make a long story short, I switched over to ELCA in solidarity with them.
We’ve all heard the old saw about how a shepherd breaks the leg of a sheep for its ‘own good’? Daughter demolished that cruel fiction with aplomb in a guest Homily one Sunday.
Her heart is true, and she’s the genuine article as a shepherdess:
“Rules build up fortifications behind which small minds create satrapies.
A perilous state of affairs in the best of times, disastrous during crises.”
— Frank Herbert 1985 —
An awesome tune from my university days. This is a Canadian indie rap group circa 1991.
Full of classic lines
“Please let me introduce you to a brand new idea, it ain’t like your stupid car, ’cause it don’t come from Korea…”
And my all time favorite lyrics in any song…
“…and the aliens beamed me back into this bar but I could not go to work because… Bigfoot stole my car…”
Sorry, I have it on Nettwerk promo cd so assumed they were Canadian. Based in Texas, last I checked, not part of Canada.
Apologies for the cultural appropriation.
Still an great tune…
Jack,
Now all we need is a filk of it about Christians instead of Those Heathens Over There.
Same with Randy Stonehill’s “Great Big Stupid World”.
The pagan temple screamers of NAR or the Grave Soakers of Bethel Redding would be a good place to start. Or maybe the PapaChuckBots of Calvary Chapel.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
Lol, we really know how to end the comments page.
That was fashionable for my senior elder and several pastors to say. Relationships of pew goers are far more important however.