It's interesting that ARBCA is no more. Yes, I know, I'm late to the party and this happened a while ago but still I couldn't help but take a quick look into the new organization.
You can take a look here:
Why the name change?
It's interesting to note that one key reason given for the name change was a simultaneous reorganization structurally. While I applaud at face value such statements as:
"...we recognized that our former structure allowed for the possibility of individual men or committees to have an oversized impact on the overall association, and potentially without the full knowledge or consent of the member churches. So we began what would become a two year process of creating an entirely new organizational structure, including new Bylaws and policies."
still, that alone doesn't necessarily prompt a name change-- does it?
My guess, and I don't want to be interpreted as maligning this new organization with whom I have no experience or dealing with, is that a big part of the decision was to distance themselves from ARBCA because of the corruption that was so rife within it.
Just do your own google search and see what a little sleuthing will uncover if you don't want to take my word for it, which you shouldn't).
Maybe start here: Michael Gaydosh: A Shady Character
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
A.R.B.C.A. the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America changes its name to C.B.A.
A Response to an Anonymous Coward's Comment
To those interested,
The coward who commented on April 15th 2020,
(here: https://rotolo-media.blogspot.com/2009/01/michael-gaydosh-removed-from-position.html?sc=1718752896577#c6390474202501787716)
who is too much of wimp to hurl his false accusations with his name attached, has misrepresented a couple of key things.
Firstly, I was NOT in fact "excommunicated" from the church. What did happen was that Gaydosh and his corrupt "yes men", namely John Herringer and Scott Syracuse, assembled the church together to perform what they called an excommunication. The problem is, I as the subject of this proceeding, a member-in-good-standing up until that point and NOT under any formal discipline-- was FORBIDDEN to be present to speak in my own defense. Additionally, besides myself, my ENTIRE adult family and extended family were named and included in this kangaroo court as subjects along with me for "excommunication". This included my wife, my father, a deacon in the church, my mother, my brother and his wife. Six souls were "deemed" fit to be "turned over to Satan" for the sake of our immortal souls! Ha!!!
These men forbade any of us from being present because in typical Gaydosh authoritarianism and ARBCA style corrupt bullying, they wanted to slander us, bring against us false charges to which we had no avenue to defend or address or test the veracity of, and to obtain their goal of manipulating the sheeple into raising enough hands to satisfy a "vote" on the matter. Those are facts! So anyone who has the mildest acquaintance with an actual proceeding of excommunication, you tell me-- does that sound like a biblical God-fearing procedure, the purpose and desire of which is to see the ultimate restoration of the excommunicated back into fellowship (after verifiable repentance)?
This commenter above is most likely one of the ignorant cowards that raised their hands that night to vote six people out of the church on the hearsay b.s. that Gaydosh and co. shoveled down their willing and open gullets.
The problem with sheeple like this guy (or gal) is that they're more interested in preserving the veneer of a false reality that their precious pastor in whom they have so much invested in emotionally and who they worship over the true will of God, (that His church be ordered righteously and that serious actions like a real excommunication be properly conducted),-- is in fact a godly and true servant-- which Gaydosh IS NOT. (Where there's smoke there's fire folks-- read this for an independent tidbit about Gaydosh: Gaydosh: A Sketchy Character )
So even in the face of abjectly improper proceedings like what Gaydosh, Herringer, and Syracuse conducted in "excommunicating" our entire famiy in absencia and without our ability to inform the congregation of these men's real malfeasance, this coward some 22 years later is still writing in defense of Gaydosh et al! How deluded can people be who haven't the Spirit to discern truth, heck they don't even have the intellectual integrity to take a book out of the library regarding how a properly conducted excommunication should look and compare that to what the tyrants at Grace Gospel Church of Merrick did. Ignorance is bliss. Don't confuse their simple minds with the truth.
And so I get to my second point with respect to this cowards comment: What exactly was my "wrong behavior" and how is it that I "NEVER" repented of it? Name it. Be specific. I'll anxiously await your comment (not).
For those interested, a member of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, that went on to do a thesis for a Masters in Divinity (if I remember correctly) actually wrote it on the subject of how a church can abuse its membership by using a corrupt proceeding of so-called "excommunication" to slander and vilify those members that have the audacity to bring to light the sin(s) of their Pastor(s). They use what they falsely call an excommunication as a cudgel to make examples of people. It is another tool for control of the congregation because that is their REAL purpose. Wolves and hirelings are not in ministry to actually shepherd the hearts and souls of their congregants but to PROSPER off their backs, financially, reputationally, etc. They make long their phylacteries.
Gaydosh is a proud and arrogant man who does not fear God, for how could he abuse people spiritually they way he did and without any articulated regret, let alone true repentance, which would include restoring to those he damaged what he defrauded them of, namely reputation in my case and a livelihood. The fact is Gaydosh did everything in his power to destroy me and by the grace of my protecting God-- failed miserably. The blowback for his malfesance I can only estimate to be damage to his own reputation. He meant it for evil but God meant it for good! God used this unrepentant worm to move me on to infinitely richer pastures and to transform my life into one of blessing, and unspeakable abundance.
So to conclude, I'll just end by saying that our family (at the time) moved on to a local Evangelical Free Church and when the Pastor there interviewed us he immediately called Gaydosh to ask about the details of the "excommunication" because had it been true he should not have received us into fellowship, at least not without dealing with whatever sin(s) would have been in view as the cause of the excommunication.
When he got back to us as a family after that conversation he practically laughed out loud regarding what an absurd joke the whole thing was and unhesitatingly welcomed us into fellowship. He had a Doctorate in Theology, which is only to say, he wasn't a street thug hack like Gaydosh that weaseled his way into the Pastorate for an easy gig but had actual and genuine knowledge of what a real excommunication entails, both what unrepented of sins would properly warrant such an extreme action and how solemn and judicial a proper excommunication should be conducted.
Well, as I've alluded to this all happened over 25 years ago, which is almost a lifetime ago but I still remember it like it was yesterday. As to being "bitter" as this coward has accused me, that emotion has long since departed as my life has been so richly blessed, and God showed me his blessings after this traumatic episode in my life. I often think what would my life have looked like had Gaydosh not tried to destroy it but had remained in his manipulative positon over me but then I remember that I would have been moved on anyway because of the fact that Gaydosh was discovered to be the groomer of young people wholly apart from anything to do with me when a young 16 (maybe 17 year old) Christian girl could no longer keep her silence and told her parents about Gaydosh's advances upon her, cheating on his "dear Suzy". THAT was my real vindication! Even better than the formal vindication I received earlier through an arbitration process that Gaydosh agreed to be bound by until the Arbitrator found in my favor and ordered a significant financial restitution which Gaydosh ignored and then went after the Arbitrator (a Reformed Pastor of a neighboring church) to slander him and assininate his character in order to undermine his judgment in the official Findings of Arbitration. Does anyone think this coward ever saw those findings? People like this don't want the truth. They just want to pretend that they stand for the truth! Such hypocrites.
BUT it is still important to remember accurately what happened and to answer cowards like this one when they shoot off their mouths about that which they know not of truly, and moreover do NOT want to know of, lest it shatter their fragile hero-worship. The church is Christ's and not that of the likes of wolves like Gaydosh and so I will always be ready to answer such fools according to their folly.
Blessings
Mike Rotolo
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Michael Gaydosh Contacts Me Again - One Year Later - Still No Repentance Demonstrated
Hello friends,
It's likely you've already read this report "Michael Gaydosh Removed from Position as Senior Pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Merrick, NY"
found here:
http://rotolo-media.blogspot.com/2009/01/michael-gaydosh-removed-from-position.html
but if you haven't, you should,-- it will bring you up to speed on some history you'll need to know to understand the rest of this post in context.
I must admit I'm actually surprised by this, but it appears by the amount of unique visitors that I'm getting here that literally thousands of people have taken at least a passing interest in this story...so, here is the latest I have to report--
If you've read this post:
http://rotolo-media.blogspot.com/2015/01/update-michael-gaydosh-makes-first.html
then you're aware that Michael Gaydosh contacted me a year ago for the first time in almost sixteen years after victimizing me. His contact was not to extend an olive branch or to demonstrate any remorse, let alone real repentance; but instead to register his objection to my use of the word "pedophile" to describe the inappropriate relationship he had with a child on his daughter's high-school basketball team.
I was informed about that same time, by Pastor Jensen who contacted me on Gaydosh's behalf, that it was technically incorrect to use that term to describe his sin because the child he victimized was not a prepubescent child (as the term pedophile technically refers) but she had passed puberty, (if only by a couple of years).
In acknowledgment of his objection, I complied and immediately removed the term in any context using it to describe him. I acknowledged my error in using the term in the vernacular sense. Although I had done so with no intention to deceive people into thinking his victim was a prepubescent child, I could see the point that it did not accurately describe his victim who was in reality a few years beyond puberty and so I immediately removed the term in any context in my reporting that would or could be misconstrued as accusing Michael Gaydosh of being a pedophile. I have profusely explained this in various postings and while it is arguably accurate to have simply revised the occurrences of the word "pedophile" wherever they appeared to the term "sexual predator", I refrained from doing so. As some have asked-- whether or not he is a registered sex-offender I cannot comment on. What the laws were at the time of his offense, what they are in Alabama, and what the deal he struck with the child's parents was, I also cannot comment on. How he escaped prosecution I cannot comment on.
What I do stand firm in declaring is that Michael Gaydosh is a victimizer. A man that has used various positions of authority he's had abusively, whether as the pastor of a church, or as the coach of an all-girl high school basketball team. I personally was manipulated by the same kind of grooming tactics that at first are employed to flatter and cajole a person into being compliant to the manipulator's desires and then are used to maintain the status quo and to manipulate the person into remaining silent about the manipulation even as they find it more and more difficult to not reveal it to others or to reveal disturbing facts they become privy to with respect to the one in authority over them.
These tactics go hand-in-hand with the authoritarian personality. These types cannot merely persuade or suggest in an healthy, winsome manner but because they are seeking to accomplish something not particularly reasonable (with or through the instrumentality of the person they are manipulating), they must bring to bear whatever advantage their authority (real or perceived) can gain them. When met with any resistance that threatens their agenda, they must ratchet it up and employ more heavy-handed methods of persuasion, from guilt to threats. I was subject to all the above at the hands of Michael Gaydosh.
Now in response to the email I just received from Michael Gaydosh in which he is still accusing me of slander because the word "pedophile" is appearing embedded in the url of my posting I can only report that I have contacted google for help on this multiple times, as I promised I would, but they haven't responded.
What I have done, in addition to taking out any accusation of pedophilia of Michael Gaydosh within the text of my report, in order to do my utmost to address Gaydosh's complaint, is to make that page quickly (within mere seconds) redirect to a duplicate page in which the url has no mention of the word pedophile. It is very unlikely that those landing on the original page will notice its url before the redirect occurs. This is the best I can do at this point until Google works with me to alter the original url. I've now done whatever I can, even getting creative with the redirect, to honor Gaydosh's request-- so now what Mike? Can reconciliation begin? What will your first act of rapprochement and restitution be?
So this is the email I received from Mike Gaydosh on, Feb. 1st, 2016:
_____________________________________
I'd like to comment upon the above statement of Michael Gaydosh,-- "he simply said that he is not your pastor and has no authority over you because you are not a member of his church", by saying that I attend with my family an OPC Church in my area and I have for almost three years.
(Previous to that I attended an EFCA church for almost 15 years faithfully until they called a non-Reformed pastor to replace the pastor before him.)
We are not officially members of the OPC church where I now attend, so while I doubt that my pastor literally said the words: "I am not Michael's pastor", he most likely communicated to Michael Gaydosh that he has no official authority over me to request that I do or don't act in some manner prescribed by him. The subtleties of this truth may escape the authoritarian mindset of one such as Gaydosh who holds to a very different understanding of what a pastor's authority should be so I can understand how he may have interpreted a conversation with my pastor and how he may have been disappointed by the fact that my pastor's position was such that some top-down appeal to "authority" could not and would not be brought to bear upon the situation.
Mike-- I call you once again to repent of the actions that you took against me that were all found to be sinful and devoid of any pastoral character as would have been expected of a minister of grace. You are now a man of some sixty-plus years, your life almost fully spent-- what have you learned of Christ for all those years? How to print heaps of Christian literature but to not heed the words within them? To continue ignoring the sins you committed against me?
Will you continue to ignore all that?
I will always remain in a posture to hold you accountable for your sin against me and my family but I will also always remain open to any entreaty on your part that indicates remorse and repentance for what you have done. However, absent some significant effort on your part to remedy the damages against me both reputationally and financially and familially, all of which exist even to this present moment, I would ask that you refrain from requesting anything more of me personally. You have taken enough.
I leave you still to the righteous judgment of God. The consequences of your unrepented-of sins against me and my family will continue to follow you. Of that I am certain. God will not be mocked.
PS: Would you kindly provide me at this time the email address of your pastor. You considered that it was prudent to involve my pastor and I agreed. I believe it's equally important for accountability sake all-around that your pastor also be brought into the loop even at this late date.
As I've done previously, I want to keep all the correspondence public, that way it keeps us all honest.
It's likely you've already read this report "Michael Gaydosh Removed from Position as Senior Pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Merrick, NY"
found here:
http://rotolo-media.blogspot.com/2009/01/michael-gaydosh-removed-from-position.html
but if you haven't, you should,-- it will bring you up to speed on some history you'll need to know to understand the rest of this post in context.
I must admit I'm actually surprised by this, but it appears by the amount of unique visitors that I'm getting here that literally thousands of people have taken at least a passing interest in this story...so, here is the latest I have to report--
If you've read this post:
http://rotolo-media.blogspot.com/2015/01/update-michael-gaydosh-makes-first.html
then you're aware that Michael Gaydosh contacted me a year ago for the first time in almost sixteen years after victimizing me. His contact was not to extend an olive branch or to demonstrate any remorse, let alone real repentance; but instead to register his objection to my use of the word "pedophile" to describe the inappropriate relationship he had with a child on his daughter's high-school basketball team.
I was informed about that same time, by Pastor Jensen who contacted me on Gaydosh's behalf, that it was technically incorrect to use that term to describe his sin because the child he victimized was not a prepubescent child (as the term pedophile technically refers) but she had passed puberty, (if only by a couple of years).
In acknowledgment of his objection, I complied and immediately removed the term in any context using it to describe him. I acknowledged my error in using the term in the vernacular sense. Although I had done so with no intention to deceive people into thinking his victim was a prepubescent child, I could see the point that it did not accurately describe his victim who was in reality a few years beyond puberty and so I immediately removed the term in any context in my reporting that would or could be misconstrued as accusing Michael Gaydosh of being a pedophile. I have profusely explained this in various postings and while it is arguably accurate to have simply revised the occurrences of the word "pedophile" wherever they appeared to the term "sexual predator", I refrained from doing so. As some have asked-- whether or not he is a registered sex-offender I cannot comment on. What the laws were at the time of his offense, what they are in Alabama, and what the deal he struck with the child's parents was, I also cannot comment on. How he escaped prosecution I cannot comment on.
What I do stand firm in declaring is that Michael Gaydosh is a victimizer. A man that has used various positions of authority he's had abusively, whether as the pastor of a church, or as the coach of an all-girl high school basketball team. I personally was manipulated by the same kind of grooming tactics that at first are employed to flatter and cajole a person into being compliant to the manipulator's desires and then are used to maintain the status quo and to manipulate the person into remaining silent about the manipulation even as they find it more and more difficult to not reveal it to others or to reveal disturbing facts they become privy to with respect to the one in authority over them.
These tactics go hand-in-hand with the authoritarian personality. These types cannot merely persuade or suggest in an healthy, winsome manner but because they are seeking to accomplish something not particularly reasonable (with or through the instrumentality of the person they are manipulating), they must bring to bear whatever advantage their authority (real or perceived) can gain them. When met with any resistance that threatens their agenda, they must ratchet it up and employ more heavy-handed methods of persuasion, from guilt to threats. I was subject to all the above at the hands of Michael Gaydosh.
Now in response to the email I just received from Michael Gaydosh in which he is still accusing me of slander because the word "pedophile" is appearing embedded in the url of my posting I can only report that I have contacted google for help on this multiple times, as I promised I would, but they haven't responded.
What I have done, in addition to taking out any accusation of pedophilia of Michael Gaydosh within the text of my report, in order to do my utmost to address Gaydosh's complaint, is to make that page quickly (within mere seconds) redirect to a duplicate page in which the url has no mention of the word pedophile. It is very unlikely that those landing on the original page will notice its url before the redirect occurs. This is the best I can do at this point until Google works with me to alter the original url. I've now done whatever I can, even getting creative with the redirect, to honor Gaydosh's request-- so now what Mike? Can reconciliation begin? What will your first act of rapprochement and restitution be?
So this is the email I received from Mike Gaydosh on, Feb. 1st, 2016:
_____________________________________
Michael,
It has been over a year since our last email. You urged me to go to your Pastor. I did on more than one occasion and he simply said that he is not your pastor and has no authority over you because you are not a member of his church. I believe he has spoken with you about the matter but that is all I know.
You promised you would work to remove the words in the url that are not accurate and they still remain a year later. Knowing your abilities on the computer it is very difficult for me to believe you have really made the effort to do so.
Please remove them.
Thank you.
Mike
_____________________________________
(Previous to that I attended an EFCA church for almost 15 years faithfully until they called a non-Reformed pastor to replace the pastor before him.)
We are not officially members of the OPC church where I now attend, so while I doubt that my pastor literally said the words: "I am not Michael's pastor", he most likely communicated to Michael Gaydosh that he has no official authority over me to request that I do or don't act in some manner prescribed by him. The subtleties of this truth may escape the authoritarian mindset of one such as Gaydosh who holds to a very different understanding of what a pastor's authority should be so I can understand how he may have interpreted a conversation with my pastor and how he may have been disappointed by the fact that my pastor's position was such that some top-down appeal to "authority" could not and would not be brought to bear upon the situation.
No doubt Michael Gaydosh was frustrated by his unfulfilled desire to have me made to act in compliance to his request by the means of bringing my pastor into the equation and having him act by proxy as an arm-twister on behalf of Gaydosh.
This was exactly the mindset of Gaydosh during the eight-month long independent arbitration that was conducted by a third-party impartial pastor, that neither one of us had any appreciable acquaintance with, to arbitrate the dispute I had with Gaydosh and my charges of having been wrongfully terminated from my position as Executive Director of Calvary Press without due process and without cause.
He thought that Lawrence Carrino would find in favor of him and the elders at Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Merrick in the matter of my termination but instead Carrino, after an eight month-long process of deposing both sides, found that Michael Gaydosh and his elder board consisting of John Herringer and Scott Syracuse had in fact terminated my employment wrongfully (the legal description) but more importantly-- sinfully.
The established fact of which Michael Gaydosh has never repented of. Neither was I given the generous financial restitution as prescribed appropriate as remediation by the Findings of Arbitration published by Carrino and as part of his prescription for reconciliation.
The truth is, after Carrino published his independent Findings of Arbitration, Gaydosh began a concerted effort to discredit him by slandering him far and wide to anyone that would listen. Stooping so low as to grasp at such straws as citing the fact that at Grace Gospel Church of Patchogue the worship music was about 50% contemporary music and not mostly hymns--- as if THAT was evidence of so corrupt a mind that Carrino's judgment in regard to the arbitration could be ignored!
If this stuff wasn't true then I should win a Hugo for Best Fantasy story of the year.
And, that's why this appeal of his to have me labor to remedy his reputation is laughable considering slander is Gaydosh's preferred modus operandi.
If this stuff wasn't true then I should win a Hugo for Best Fantasy story of the year.
And, that's why this appeal of his to have me labor to remedy his reputation is laughable considering slander is Gaydosh's preferred modus operandi.
Gaydosh has never been interested in reconciliation and has never expressed an iota of remorse, regret, or biblical repentance. That is why this matter stands to this day. His contacting me is clearly only a pretense to reconciliation but he is only seeking his own interest in having me remove the language I used which labeled him a pedophile. Note the following statement from the email of January 2015: "The main burden of this initial contact is the removal of the statement about my being exposed as a pedophile. Until that is removed we cannot begin."
"Until that is removed we cannot begin" he wrote, well I removed the accusation that he's a pedophile, so why no "beginning" to a process of reconciliation? Well, now the excuse is that the url still retains the word pedophile. What this man apparently does not know, despite his much learning, is that when true reconciliation is sought, one does not begin by making demands as a prerequisite.
His complaint at this point in time against me is that the url of a blog post still has the word pedophile in it while totally ignoring his damages to me by having:
1.) defrauded me of my livelihood by a wrongful termination, 2.) slandering me so that it was impossible to become gainfully employed in the Christian publishing community, 3.) leaving me in such debt that I nearly lost my home, and only kept it by an expensive refinancing that cost me all the equity I had in my home, 4.) defrauded me of a six-figure financial restitution due me for the wrongful termination, 5.) never having properly paid me, salary-wise, as promised, during my years of service at Calvary Press, among other things.
Amazing the size of the log in the eye's of the self-righteous.
So, the very public manner in which Gaydosh offended me, slandered me, defrauded me, all in retaliation for what we would today call my "whistle-blowing" efforts to expose his sinfulness in ministry warrants that this matter remain public. (And bear in mind that not even half the story of Gaydosh's malfeasance in ministry has been told.) For those that disagree with my choice to keep this matter in the public eye-- I would simply respectfully say read another blog.
You must understand, rather than taking my case to the gentiles by suing the corporation of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Merrick for wrongful termination, which by consultations I had exploring that possibility would likely have yielded me a win and award of some $500,000, in 1999 dollars, had I taken them to court; instead I sought an ecclesiastical venue.
"Until that is removed we cannot begin" he wrote, well I removed the accusation that he's a pedophile, so why no "beginning" to a process of reconciliation? Well, now the excuse is that the url still retains the word pedophile. What this man apparently does not know, despite his much learning, is that when true reconciliation is sought, one does not begin by making demands as a prerequisite.
His complaint at this point in time against me is that the url of a blog post still has the word pedophile in it while totally ignoring his damages to me by having:
1.) defrauded me of my livelihood by a wrongful termination, 2.) slandering me so that it was impossible to become gainfully employed in the Christian publishing community, 3.) leaving me in such debt that I nearly lost my home, and only kept it by an expensive refinancing that cost me all the equity I had in my home, 4.) defrauded me of a six-figure financial restitution due me for the wrongful termination, 5.) never having properly paid me, salary-wise, as promised, during my years of service at Calvary Press, among other things.
Amazing the size of the log in the eye's of the self-righteous.
So, the very public manner in which Gaydosh offended me, slandered me, defrauded me, all in retaliation for what we would today call my "whistle-blowing" efforts to expose his sinfulness in ministry warrants that this matter remain public. (And bear in mind that not even half the story of Gaydosh's malfeasance in ministry has been told.) For those that disagree with my choice to keep this matter in the public eye-- I would simply respectfully say read another blog.
You must understand, rather than taking my case to the gentiles by suing the corporation of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Merrick for wrongful termination, which by consultations I had exploring that possibility would likely have yielded me a win and award of some $500,000, in 1999 dollars, had I taken them to court; instead I sought an ecclesiastical venue.
First within my own church, an effort quickly derailed and thwarted by the sinful machinations of Gaydosh (mentioned in my response email below) wherein he railroaded me out of the church by a kangaroo-court trial and "excommunication" proceeding, along with my wife and entire family, my brother and his wife included, and mother and father, all of us members-in-good-standing and not under any church discipline and in fact my father was a deacon in the church. But this was his tactic to silence us. The Sunday after the so-called excommunication, when I showed up for the worship service I was told that I was to leave the premises immediately or he would have the police called to escort me off the "private-property" of the church building and grounds.
This is the kind of Gestapo tactics that characterize Michael Gaydosh.
This is the kind of Gestapo tactics that characterize Michael Gaydosh.
When that door was apparently shut by Gaydosh then I sought the intervention of a like-minded Gospel church, and that is when Lawrence Carrino was introduced to me through the instrumentality of Chris Arnzen who knew him and spoke extremely highly of him. I am forever thankful to Pastor Carrino for making such a selfless effort to put in hundreds of hours to deliberate the dispute between me and Gaydosh (GRBC). It is rare to find a man that so seeks the broader peace between brethren that he would willingly accept so demanding a role of being a Solomon in so thorny a circumstance.
Ministers I've met before and since have simply taken the stance that "I have no dog in the fight" -- "so why should I get involved?" An attitude I personally find reprehensible, and unjustifiable when people come passionately appealing for help. So thank you Larry Carrino, for your impartial examination of Gaydosh et al, and myself, and your published conclusion that I did nothing to warrant my termination and that Gaydosh had acted in sinful neglect of pastoral duties and obligations to his congregants, (me and my family), in addition to being civilly liable for his financial damages to me. Thank you for your hard work in seeking the truth, the truth that vindicated me. That vindicated all the slander that Gaydosh had made to discredit me as a person of veracity and as a man of faith, and for the vindication that came to the charges I had made against Gaydosh for all the sin he had committed in dealing with me, and other sins he had committed that I was privy to but were not aimed directly at me.
So, since Michael Gaydosh ignored every prescription for reconciliation and restitution described by Larry Carrino in his Findings of Arbitration and continued to publicly slander me and then Carrino himself for finding against Gaydosh,-- I have little recourse but to keep this matter alive in the public eye and to continue to warn people of the person that Michael Gaydosh is-- a victimizer at heart, a bully that never grew up in that regard, and a poser in the ministry that is at heart not a peace-maker but a brawler. He will always choose his arm-of-the-flesh rather than the righteous prescription of God for bringing a peaceful resolution of this matter of so great an offense he caused almost 20 years ago to me and my extended family of five other people innocent of the particulars of my wrongful termination but guilty in his eyes of standing in solidarity with me in seeking firstly that proper charges of pastoral malfeasance be brought to the hearing of the congregation after Gaydosh was personally confronted and ignored us, and then after he was confronted in the presence of his elder board which also ignored the charges and rubber-stamped every poor decision Gaydosh made to squelch us. Secondly, they were falsely "excommunicated" and run out of the church to silence them for no other reason than that they stood with me to seek an ecclesiastical venue in which to adjudicate my complaint of wrongful termination.
Other entire families (unrelated to the Rotolo's) that inquired in any manner that made Gaydosh et al uncomfortable or suggested any degree of accountability for myriad sinful decisions he had made that led up to my termination of employment and/or those decisions to silence us and ignore our charges after my termination were so alienated that they just left the church.
In fact I've had several men approach me, years after my termination, and after they gained clarity by getting out from under the authority of Gaydosh and into a ministry in which real grace was taught and lived by its ministers, that they were approaching me in order to seek my forgiveness. One felt that as a deacon at the time of my termination that he was in some way responsible for at least rubber-stamping some of Gaydosh's sinful decision-making as it directly respected me and the way I was treated; and for not speaking up and opposing Gaydosh. He confessed that it was cowardly on his part. Another sought forgiveness for turning a blind-eye to all the upset that characterized the church at that time, seeking his own peace-of-mind rather than asking hard questions of Gaydosh and holding him accountable. Another saw in hindsight that the nature of the charges we were seeking to bring against Gaydosh which were at that time so difficult for him to believe, were in fact then, at the time he was approaching me, not only believable but likely in his mind given the fact that Gaydosh had now been exposed as being unfaithful to his wife and that with a minor! What they all had in common was an acknowledgment that Gaydosh used his self-appropriated "authority" as pastor to manipulate, control, even bully people into complying with him or taking the route of least resistance of ignoring it.
Ministers I've met before and since have simply taken the stance that "I have no dog in the fight" -- "so why should I get involved?" An attitude I personally find reprehensible, and unjustifiable when people come passionately appealing for help. So thank you Larry Carrino, for your impartial examination of Gaydosh et al, and myself, and your published conclusion that I did nothing to warrant my termination and that Gaydosh had acted in sinful neglect of pastoral duties and obligations to his congregants, (me and my family), in addition to being civilly liable for his financial damages to me. Thank you for your hard work in seeking the truth, the truth that vindicated me. That vindicated all the slander that Gaydosh had made to discredit me as a person of veracity and as a man of faith, and for the vindication that came to the charges I had made against Gaydosh for all the sin he had committed in dealing with me, and other sins he had committed that I was privy to but were not aimed directly at me.
So, since Michael Gaydosh ignored every prescription for reconciliation and restitution described by Larry Carrino in his Findings of Arbitration and continued to publicly slander me and then Carrino himself for finding against Gaydosh,-- I have little recourse but to keep this matter alive in the public eye and to continue to warn people of the person that Michael Gaydosh is-- a victimizer at heart, a bully that never grew up in that regard, and a poser in the ministry that is at heart not a peace-maker but a brawler. He will always choose his arm-of-the-flesh rather than the righteous prescription of God for bringing a peaceful resolution of this matter of so great an offense he caused almost 20 years ago to me and my extended family of five other people innocent of the particulars of my wrongful termination but guilty in his eyes of standing in solidarity with me in seeking firstly that proper charges of pastoral malfeasance be brought to the hearing of the congregation after Gaydosh was personally confronted and ignored us, and then after he was confronted in the presence of his elder board which also ignored the charges and rubber-stamped every poor decision Gaydosh made to squelch us. Secondly, they were falsely "excommunicated" and run out of the church to silence them for no other reason than that they stood with me to seek an ecclesiastical venue in which to adjudicate my complaint of wrongful termination.
Other entire families (unrelated to the Rotolo's) that inquired in any manner that made Gaydosh et al uncomfortable or suggested any degree of accountability for myriad sinful decisions he had made that led up to my termination of employment and/or those decisions to silence us and ignore our charges after my termination were so alienated that they just left the church.
In fact I've had several men approach me, years after my termination, and after they gained clarity by getting out from under the authority of Gaydosh and into a ministry in which real grace was taught and lived by its ministers, that they were approaching me in order to seek my forgiveness. One felt that as a deacon at the time of my termination that he was in some way responsible for at least rubber-stamping some of Gaydosh's sinful decision-making as it directly respected me and the way I was treated; and for not speaking up and opposing Gaydosh. He confessed that it was cowardly on his part. Another sought forgiveness for turning a blind-eye to all the upset that characterized the church at that time, seeking his own peace-of-mind rather than asking hard questions of Gaydosh and holding him accountable. Another saw in hindsight that the nature of the charges we were seeking to bring against Gaydosh which were at that time so difficult for him to believe, were in fact then, at the time he was approaching me, not only believable but likely in his mind given the fact that Gaydosh had now been exposed as being unfaithful to his wife and that with a minor! What they all had in common was an acknowledgment that Gaydosh used his self-appropriated "authority" as pastor to manipulate, control, even bully people into complying with him or taking the route of least resistance of ignoring it.
Thankfully, with respect to Gaydosh's contacting of my pastor, my pastor saw his role differently, we spoke about the matter and I acted appropriately without any coercion required.
And so this is my reply to the email that Michael Gaydosh sent me, which I sent in response on the following day Feb. 2, 2016:_____________________________________
Mike,
I am pleased to receive your correspondence, and your reaching out to me. I take it as a providence of God demonstrating that He has not forgotten the unresolved matters that still exist between us.
As you must credit me, I made every effort in my power to quickly respond to and diligently honor your request to remove what you described as "slander" from my website. I also went beyond merely removing it but publicly admitted my error in using the word inaccurately (but with no intention to deceive), as it rightly describes a prepubescent child while the child you had an inappropriate relationship with was 16 or 17 years old.
While the word "pedophile" regrettably is still embedded in the url, it cannot be found in the body of any of my writings that currently exist online. Please understand that I have contacted google on several occasions to seek their assistance in changing the url-- it apparently is not high on their priority list.
But more importantly, what show of good-faith and what efforts have YOU made toward the reconciliation you stated you were desirous of, and how have you remediated the slander that you and Joe Bianci perpetrated against me after you fired me without proper due process or cause?
After the Findings of Arbitration were published and I was fully exonerated why did you not contact all those that you had slandered me to and set them straight?
After the Findings of Arbitration were published and I was fully exonerated why did you not contact all those that you had slandered me to and set them straight?
The independent-press Christian publishing community with which we had to do is/was small and it became abundantly evident to me when contacting those other ministries seeking employment after my wrongful termination from Calvary Press that you and Bianci had actively sought to destroy my reputation and succeeded in making me a pariah to any potential employer. To correct that would have been the righteous action commensurate with repentance from your sin-- to correct it as far and wide as the damage you had done. Do you remember your sermon on slander-- how it's like rupturing a feather-pillow and those feathers fly everywhere but you can never fully put them back in the pillow-case because no matter how hard you try-- some feathers will remain out there? Because, I remember and so does my family, we've lived it-- and you knew what you were doing when you did it. So what exactly have you done to remediate your slander against me and my family? Remind me.
Also, why did you choose to not honor your word to be bound by the Findings of Arbitration and ignore the generous financial restitution that was deemed appropriate due the damages you caused me? While Larry Carrino refrained from specifying an exact amount any solicitation of what he had in mind (as I did) would have revealed that he envisioned a six-figure settlement minimally. Any genuine effort on your part to honor your pledge to be bound by the arbitration would have necessitated your seeking Carrino's intention behind his prescription for restitution and you would have acted accordingly. I know the ministry had the funds to respond appropriately.
Also, why did you choose to not honor your word to be bound by the Findings of Arbitration and ignore the generous financial restitution that was deemed appropriate due the damages you caused me? While Larry Carrino refrained from specifying an exact amount any solicitation of what he had in mind (as I did) would have revealed that he envisioned a six-figure settlement minimally. Any genuine effort on your part to honor your pledge to be bound by the arbitration would have necessitated your seeking Carrino's intention behind his prescription for restitution and you would have acted accordingly. I know the ministry had the funds to respond appropriately.
Please do not add further insult to injury by suggesting that the check for some $7,000, (which had been cut before the arbitration process was even initiated as a paltry and sub-standard severance) was indeed a fulfillment of the prescription to restitute me financially as deemed necessary after the full extent of the injury was fully apprehended by the arbitration process,-- as you insulted me at the time.
Mike-- I call you once again to repent of the actions that you took against me that were all found to be sinful and devoid of any pastoral character as would have been expected of a minister of grace. You are now a man of some sixty-plus years, your life almost fully spent-- what have you learned of Christ for all those years? How to print heaps of Christian literature but to not heed the words within them? To continue ignoring the sins you committed against me?
Do you think you can really get away with pretending that eight months of examination by an impartial third-party Christian pastor through the arbitration process did not actually happen? That you were not found to have acted with hard-hearted disregard in numerous ways and by numerous actions purposed to cause me damage and hurt? That the elder board of Grace Gospel Church of Patchogue did not have to officially rebuke you and your elder board by letter and to disfellowship themselves from you and Grace Reformed Baptist Church in any Christian fellowship/association because of your lack of repentance for what you did towards me, your lack of honoring your pledge to be bound by the findings of the arbitrator and his prescriptions for reconciliation and then for your acts of slander to discredit Pastor Carrino after he found in favor of me and not you?
You know what you did to politick with the decision-makers of A.R.B.C.A. to persuade them to abruptly terminate, mid-process, their pledged and initiated investigation into my complaints and those of my extended family-- all members in good-standing and not under any discipline, my father a deacon at G.R.B.C. They are complicit, the likes of Earl Blackburn, and their guilt remains.
You know that you conducted a kangaroo-court of a so-called "excommunication" proceeding in which no due process, as usual, was afforded all those subject to it; namely myself and every member of my extended family. It was conducted with no opportunity for us to be examined before the congregation and without affording us, all church-members, the right to be present and to voice our side of the story. In fact all efforts at entreaty by our family prior to that evening through the deacon and/or elder board were ignored or rebuffed. No previous actions of discipline had been conducted prior to that night. It was not the regrettable consummation of some lengthy, prayerful and long-suffering process of escalating discipline. Furthermore, the grounds for this ostensible "excommunication" were without any biblical merit. It was a naked effort at the wholesale slander of an entire family; to marginalize and discredit six individuals in one fell-swoop; and to thereby negate our very real charges of malfeasance against you and any means to bring them within the church. Do you remember, Mike? Because we all do, like it was yesterday. Have you repented of what such an action caused our reputations? The slander upon our characters, the declaring us as unbelievers, each of us? You remember, but you remain unrepentant of your authoritarian abuse of power. Praise God that it was in fact only a power you thought you had, as the keys to the kingdom are only wielded by righteous men acting righteously.
You know what you did to politick with the decision-makers of A.R.B.C.A. to persuade them to abruptly terminate, mid-process, their pledged and initiated investigation into my complaints and those of my extended family-- all members in good-standing and not under any discipline, my father a deacon at G.R.B.C. They are complicit, the likes of Earl Blackburn, and their guilt remains.
You know that you conducted a kangaroo-court of a so-called "excommunication" proceeding in which no due process, as usual, was afforded all those subject to it; namely myself and every member of my extended family. It was conducted with no opportunity for us to be examined before the congregation and without affording us, all church-members, the right to be present and to voice our side of the story. In fact all efforts at entreaty by our family prior to that evening through the deacon and/or elder board were ignored or rebuffed. No previous actions of discipline had been conducted prior to that night. It was not the regrettable consummation of some lengthy, prayerful and long-suffering process of escalating discipline. Furthermore, the grounds for this ostensible "excommunication" were without any biblical merit. It was a naked effort at the wholesale slander of an entire family; to marginalize and discredit six individuals in one fell-swoop; and to thereby negate our very real charges of malfeasance against you and any means to bring them within the church. Do you remember, Mike? Because we all do, like it was yesterday. Have you repented of what such an action caused our reputations? The slander upon our characters, the declaring us as unbelievers, each of us? You remember, but you remain unrepentant of your authoritarian abuse of power. Praise God that it was in fact only a power you thought you had, as the keys to the kingdom are only wielded by righteous men acting righteously.
Have you repented of your greed for filthy lucre,-- evidenced by so many of your questionable actions and decisions at Calvary Press, was the basis for some of our charges against you, what was ultimately behind my wrongful termination, and what in hindsight was no doubt responsible for God's removing his hand of blessing upon that previously thriving ministry? I ask because only recently I've been apprised, some twenty years later, and without soliciting any interest in your business, by an honorable Christian Pastor in a position to know, that there are some serious, let's call them troubling-- "irregularities" with respect to financial management and the way you do business at Solid Ground Books. That's your reputation in the marketplace.
Will you continue to ignore all that?
Grace Reformed Baptist Church is a by-word in these parts thanks to you and I firmly believe the cloud of judgment that abides upon them, all their serious problems over the years and their evident lack of prospering in the work of gospel ministry is directly a result of your recalcitrance and failed leadership. You may have enjoyed the illusion of having "escaped" your various sins against all those you've victimized here on Long Island by high-tailing it to Alabama but you have in fact not escaped them.
I will always remain in a posture to hold you accountable for your sin against me and my family but I will also always remain open to any entreaty on your part that indicates remorse and repentance for what you have done. However, absent some significant effort on your part to remedy the damages against me both reputationally and financially and familially, all of which exist even to this present moment, I would ask that you refrain from requesting anything more of me personally. You have taken enough.
I leave you still to the righteous judgment of God. The consequences of your unrepented-of sins against me and my family will continue to follow you. Of that I am certain. God will not be mocked.
-Michael Rotolo
PS: Would you kindly provide me at this time the email address of your pastor. You considered that it was prudent to involve my pastor and I agreed. I believe it's equally important for accountability sake all-around that your pastor also be brought into the loop even at this late date.
Also, I am currently fielding calls from people asking me details regarding what I have reported online with respect to Calvary Press as apparently Joe Bianci is making efforts to sell it. Firstly, Calvary Press and whatever assets remain should rightly be transferred to me as part of the restitution still due me. Secondly, I am still curious how a 501C3 corporation was transferred out of 501C3 status and into the hands of private ownership as it was when it was acquired by Bianci. As far as I know that is not legal. Can you explain that to me or correct me if I'm mistaken? Thanks.
_____________________________________
As I've done previously, I want to keep all the correspondence public, that way it keeps us all honest.
tags: Michael Gaydosh, Mike Gaydosh, Calvary Press, Solid Ground Books, Joseph Bianci, Joe Bianci, Joseph M. Bianci, GRBC, Grace Reformed Baptist Church, wrongful termination, firing, without cause, no due process, corruption at Calvary Press, solid-ground-books.com, Welcome to Solid Ground Christian Books. Our mission is to bring back the treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and future, as well as to publish new titles that will address burning issues in the church and the world. Since its beginning in the Spring of 2001, Solid Ground has been committed to publish God-centered, Christ-exalting books for all ages, God-centered, Christ-exalting, Scripture-saturated Reformed and Calvinistic Books from Reformers, Puritans and Evangelical writers for men, women and children of all ages.
Call Solid Ground Christian Books at (205)443-0311
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
UPDATE: Michael Gaydosh Makes First Contact in Nearly Sixteen Years of Dodging Accountability for His Sins
For those who have any interest in the charges that I have made (along with my extended family) against Michael Gaydosh, the former pastor at Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Merrick-- I hope the following will serve to provide you with the latest development.
[Some background can be found here: http://rotolo-media.blogspot.com/2009/01/michael-gaydosh-removed-from-position.html ... and here: ... http://rotolo-media.blogspot.com/2003/09/corruption-rife-at-calvary-press.html]
After nearly sixteen years of silence from Michael Gaydosh who victimized me so heinously he has contacted me by email.
Although, he has couched his email in language that insinuates a future process by which there can be a reconciliation sought to mend the rift that exists between us-- it comes in the form of a demand.
Now anyone that understands biblical reconciliation also understands that sincere and humble efforts to reconcile with an offended/offending brother does not begin nor is it helped by demanding something of the brother as a prerequisite to such a desire to be reconciled if it is true indeed.
Michael Gaydosh, however has made in his email entitled "INITIAL CONTACT" just that. I believe that for the sake of transparency and accountability that it best that I include that email for all to read and evaluate personally rather than my speaking to it without your knowledge of its content-- that being said I reproduce it faithfully, word for word, here:
________________________email begins_____________________________
Sep 28, 2008 - Michael Gaydosh, John Herringer and Scott Syracuse all members of the Board of Directors of Calvary Press and Elders of Grace Reformed ...
I'd like to explain a few things with respect to his allegation of slander:
When I found out about Michael Gaydosh's illicit relationship with a young woman of high school age I mistakenly described it as one of "pedophilia". My purpose in posting regarding this incident was frankly to warn people about Michael Gaydosh as I painfully related to this young victim. As I had been manipulated in many respects and bullied in others I both empathized with the young girl and recognized the same personality at work in her case as in mine.
Yes, my victimization was categorically different than hers, and I don't seek to directly compare them but nonetheless the betrayal, victimization, slander, and more that I received directly from the hands of Michael Gaydosh were just as real and just as effectively plunged me into almost a decade of depression.
[Some background can be found here: http://rotolo-media.blogspot.com/2009/01/michael-gaydosh-removed-from-position.html ... and here: ... http://rotolo-media.blogspot.com/2003/09/corruption-rife-at-calvary-press.html]
After nearly sixteen years of silence from Michael Gaydosh who victimized me so heinously he has contacted me by email.
Although, he has couched his email in language that insinuates a future process by which there can be a reconciliation sought to mend the rift that exists between us-- it comes in the form of a demand.
Now anyone that understands biblical reconciliation also understands that sincere and humble efforts to reconcile with an offended/offending brother does not begin nor is it helped by demanding something of the brother as a prerequisite to such a desire to be reconciled if it is true indeed.
Michael Gaydosh, however has made in his email entitled "INITIAL CONTACT" just that. I believe that for the sake of transparency and accountability that it best that I include that email for all to read and evaluate personally rather than my speaking to it without your knowledge of its content-- that being said I reproduce it faithfully, word for word, here:
________________________email begins_____________________________
|
Jan 12 (2 days ago)
 | | ||
Michael,
Rich Jensen has been reaching out to you over the past several months on my behalf. While I have appreciated the effort you initially made to remove the major piece of slander that was placed on your web site, there is still the following that is visible -
Rotolo Media: Michael Gaydosh Loses Position as Senior ...
------------------------------
Before we can step the first step towards biblical reconciliation this needs to be removed immediately.
There is no telling how many people have been misled by this posting over the past several years. Until the past several months I chose to ignore the postings but I cannot do so any longer.
Your personal opinion about how the church handled your discipline and your employment is a completely separate matter. This posting is simply false. Pastor Rich Jensen was involved with counseling me from the very beginning, nearly 15 years ago, and he has already informed you that this is not true.
Please remove this phrase "exposed as pedophile" so that we can begin to begin repairing the breach between us.
FYI from the day I first came to Alabama I have been under the pastoral ministry of men who have been fully aware of my past moral failures. In fact, when I first moved here Pastor Rich Jensen as well as John Herringer spoke at length with my new pastor explaining in detail what I had done and how they had handled me. As soon as we came to the church here my wife and I met several times with the pastor and I was accountable to him during the first couple years of transition. He was a faithful man to my soul and remained such until after four years he was called to another church.
The church of which we are now members (for the past 10 1/2 years) are all fully aware of my past. That includes not only the two elders and four deacons but the members of the church as well. There has been no hiding of the moral failure that caused me to be removed from the ministry in New York.
I recall reading in one of your updated posts that you described me as "an unrepentant man" and urged people to contact you for proof. It is remarkable that you can claim to know me when you have had no contact with me for 15+ years. My wife, my pastors, my deacons, my friends have known me, prayed with me and for me and encourage me each day in my walk with the Lord. It is patently obvious that they can better speak to my current condition than you can.
I have written more than I planned. The main burden of this initial contact is the removal of the statement about my being exposed as a pedophile. Until that is removed we cannot begin.
Awaiting your response,
Mike Gaydosh
___________________email ends _____________________
I'd like to explain a few things with respect to his allegation of slander:
When I found out about Michael Gaydosh's illicit relationship with a young woman of high school age I mistakenly described it as one of "pedophilia". My purpose in posting regarding this incident was frankly to warn people about Michael Gaydosh as I painfully related to this young victim. As I had been manipulated in many respects and bullied in others I both empathized with the young girl and recognized the same personality at work in her case as in mine.
Yes, my victimization was categorically different than hers, and I don't seek to directly compare them but nonetheless the betrayal, victimization, slander, and more that I received directly from the hands of Michael Gaydosh were just as real and just as effectively plunged me into almost a decade of depression.
Now after some sixteen years of silence Michael Gaydosh makes his "initial contact" and begins with his first word to set his conditions for any "biblical reconciliation" by ironically approaching the matter from an unbiblical position of seeking his own reputation to be protected as a prerequisite. Unfortunately I am not surprised.
Gaydosh had no issues managing Calvary Press after he railroaded me out unlawfully in such a way as to purposefully destroy my reputation with any and all the many other publishers and book-buying outlets with which we had to do. While it is only proper (and legally advisable) to tell those inquiring after an employee that has "moved on" that "they are no longer with us"-- Gaydosh and Joseph Bianchi chose to maliciously malign me by lying to many in the small industry of Christian publishing.
Gaydosh had no issues managing Calvary Press after he railroaded me out unlawfully in such a way as to purposefully destroy my reputation with any and all the many other publishers and book-buying outlets with which we had to do. While it is only proper (and legally advisable) to tell those inquiring after an employee that has "moved on" that "they are no longer with us"-- Gaydosh and Joseph Bianchi chose to maliciously malign me by lying to many in the small industry of Christian publishing.
As I sought work from firms with which I had done business with for years while running Calvary Press-- I was met with cold shoulders. When I asked why the reluctance to consider me I was told that Michael Gaydosh and/or Joseph Bianchi had already gotten to them with their "story". Keep in mind that this was before a third-party arbitrator had arbitrated the dispute between myself (and my extended family to some extent as well) against Michael Gaydosh and his elder board (which consisted of Scott Syracuse and John Herringer) and had FOUND IN MY(OUR) FAVOR.
As for my incorrect use of the word "pedophile" I sincerely repent. I used it in a vernacular sense and not a technical sense (technically pedophilia refers to intimate relations with prepubescent children). When Pastor Rich Jensen contacted me to bring my attention to this and to ask on Michael Gaydosh's behalf to remove it I did so within a day or two. I revised my article and removed any mention of pedophilia. What I was unaware of was that the blogging platform retained the url (web address) that was automatically formed when I first posted the article (that blogging software automatically extracted from the article the words "exposed-as-a-pedophile").
This is what Michael Gaydosh is referring to in his email of Jan. 12th, 2015. I am in contact with Google (the blogging platform I use) to see how this can also be changed. And I am determined to honor Gaydosh's request. Apparently, one day and a half is not fast enough for Gaydosh as today (Jan 14th) I have received this email:
________________________email begins_____________________________
This is what Michael Gaydosh is referring to in his email of Jan. 12th, 2015. I am in contact with Google (the blogging platform I use) to see how this can also be changed. And I am determined to honor Gaydosh's request. Apparently, one day and a half is not fast enough for Gaydosh as today (Jan 14th) I have received this email:
________________________email begins_____________________________
|
8:35 AM (3 hours ago)
| | ||
Michael,
The slander still remains. If it is not removed today I will be forced to take the matter to your pastor.
Mike Gaydosh
________________________email ends_____________________________
What is most ironic is that Michael Gaydosh showed no proper biblical respect for the prescriptions of Scripture (namely Matt. 18) when he was in a position to respond pastorally to a family (mine) that approached him formally after making every effort to pursue a Matthew 18 course. Then, after some eight months of an extended arbitration with an impartial third-party pastor of a church which had hitherto had no relationship with me or Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Michael Gaydosh IGNORED THE FINDINGS OF ARBITRATION which found that he (and the other elders of GRBC) had terminated my employment without proper grounds and without proper procedure-- and which prescribed a restitution to me which Gaydosh et al refused to obey despite both parties pledge to honor the Findings as a binding decision upon them.
Finally, I would like to respond and clarify Michael Gaydosh's objection to the characterization of his being "an unrepentant man". What Gaydosh is mistaking ( and I will clear up for all here) is that my characterization of him as unrepentant is and was made with respect to HIS SINS AGAINST ME and my family and not with respect to his sins against the young high-schooler.
He surprisingly felt the need to cite his pedigree-of-repentance as such in his first email to me as a way of persuading me that the charge of "unrepentance" is unfounded. Sadly, dare I say--pathetically, he contacts me whom he so abused pastorally with no expression of repentance, regret, remorse, etc. with respect to the horrendous professional, emotional, spiritual, damage he perpetrated upon me. That IS the very definition of "unrepentant".
In fact Gaydosh has the audacity to describe the kangaroo-court procedure of "excommunication" that he exercised against my entire family (even so far as my sister-in-law who stood in solidarity with her husband my brother)-- as "discipline". The FACTS are this: Gaydosh (and his elder board) convened a meeting to "excommunicate" our family without giving us any prior notice of any charges against us and most disturbingly-- without ANY opportunity to address the church AT ANY TIME prior to or on that evening. We were not given ANY opportunity to hear charges against us, rebut or explain them or to give a defense of any kind in the presence of our accusers and before the brethren. The charges against us were presented unilaterally by Gaydosh, Syracuse and Herringer and were baseless and purely retaliatory for my family's efforts to hold him accountable for his many sins (which he has to this day remained unanswerable for and unaccountable) and to ban us from continuing to attend GRBC. I was even threatened by Scott Syracuse that if any of us were to attend after the "excommunication" it would constitute trespassing and the police would be called.
Our family pursued contact with Earl M. Blackburn (well before any "excommunication" and while members in good standing of GRBC) who presided over the newly formed ARBCA Association, (currently Senior Pastor at Heritage Baptist Church in Shreveport, LA) in order to plead for ARBCA's impartial help with the matters at GRBC and our charges against Michael Gaydosh which charges Gaydosh was ignoring and making efforts to hide, evade, and squash.
Earl M. Blackburn gave me his assurance that ARBCA would in fact begin an investigation and they did. Shortly after contacting Earl M. Blackburn, ARBCA directed the pastor of one of its other member churches in our area Pastor Rich Jensen (a former police detective) of Hope Reformed Baptist Church to begin investigating our claims. When Michael Gaydosh heard that the matter would be taken up by ARBCA he quickly made his way to meet personally with ARBCA officers and persuaded them to abandon their investigation. All further correspondence of appeal to Earl M. Blackburn after this were ignored. This was in all likehood the newly formed ARBCA's first official decision and they inaugurated their association not by wisdom and fidelity to Christ and His Word but by corruption.
Only recently (within a few months ago) some sixteen years later Pastor Rich Jensen reiterated to me again (as he did back then) that he is of the opinion that ARBCA WAS WRONG to abandon their investigation and that he only did so after expressing to them that they were making a mistake by doing so and refusing to hear my family's charges against Michael Gaydosh.
So, my characterization of Michael Gaydosh as being "an unrepentant man" is with respect to the myriad sins with which he was charged formally by myself and my entire extended family and for which many which were addressed by an almost eight-months long arbitration proceeding were corroborated by the third-party Arbitrator who found that Gaydosh was in fact culpable. I remind you that Michael Gaydosh's response to the Findings of Arbitration was to COMPLETELY IGNORE ALL PRESCRIPTIONS for repentance, reconciliation and restitution. For this reason he is rightly described as "unrepentant". He has the unmitigated nerve to also describe the body of gross and unrepented of sin that lies at the heart of our charges against him as "Your personal opinion..."
NO!-- Mike Gaydosh, we are WELL BEYOND any attempts on your part to describe your malfeasance as my "personal opinion". Your sins were charged to you not by myself alone but by six church members-- all in good-standing-- AND THEN corroborated by an eight-month long process of deposition and examination by an impartial third-party Arbitrator who was also an ordained minister of a Reformed church with 15 years in the pastorate. You were officially called to repentance and to make restitution for the financial, career and reputational losses I suffered at your hands-- but you instead IGNORED the ARBITRATOR and his Findings and instead began to discredit him.
Furthermore, after several months of entreaty by the church (Grace Gospel Church of Patchogue) that performed the Arbitration pleading with Gaydosh to honor the Findings of Arbitration and to make restitution to me, restore my reputation to whatever extent they damaged it, and to reverse the unbiblical declaration that my family members (and I) were "excommunicated", and to cease and desist from slanderous remarks being made about GGC and its pastor(s) (after Gaydosh was displeased with the Findings of Arbitration)-- the elder board of GGC sent a stern letter deeming that absent the repentance of Gaydosh and his fellow elders on all the above counts that GGC had no course of action but to disfellowship with GRBC in all kingdom matters pertaining to ministry on Long Island and any interaction between the two churches.
To this day, Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Merrick has refused to respond in any constructive and godly manner to this letter pleading for their repentance (as a corporate entity) and any efforts to meet even with newer pastors who had "no dog in the fight" (namely Mark Grimaldi) have been refused. Most recently, contact with Mark Grimaldi resulted in his inaccurate assertion that my family had never been the subjects of a sinful kangaroo-court-style "excommunication" proceeding in which we were all deemed "excommunicated" per GRBC. I say "inaccurate assertion" as the most charitable way of characterizing such a blatant denial of the truth. In fact, a former member of GRBC that was a member at the time of this event and who went on sometime later to pursue a higher education at seminary used this event as the basis for a thesis (or thesis-like) paper detailing ecclesiastical abuse and the impropriety of such unbiblical tactics as this baseless "excommunication" examples.
In conclusion, my prayer is that God may be gracious to provide a forum, procedure or means by which both parties can be held accountable. That the Findings of Arbitration will be finally acknowledged as imputing Michael Gaydosh with certain extremely horrendous pastoral and professional failures and that Gaydosh himself will honor those Findings and its prescriptions.
As I have sought always to avoid courts and to pursue these matters in good-faith and always by godly and ecclesiastical means and have been waiting on the Lord these some odd sixteen years for final vindication, restoration and recompense-- I remain available to anyone that has an interest in this matter.
Since of late I have been contacted by people that have expressed reticence and concern with respect to Gaydosh resuming any official capacity in Christ's church where he currently resides-- I believe these still open matters are of significant issue and sadly still speak to his unfitness for office.
How can a man seek to administer the Lord's Table when he steadfastly refuses to obey Christ's commands?
"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Matthew 5:23-24
He surprisingly felt the need to cite his pedigree-of-repentance as such in his first email to me as a way of persuading me that the charge of "unrepentance" is unfounded. Sadly, dare I say--pathetically, he contacts me whom he so abused pastorally with no expression of repentance, regret, remorse, etc. with respect to the horrendous professional, emotional, spiritual, damage he perpetrated upon me. That IS the very definition of "unrepentant".
In fact Gaydosh has the audacity to describe the kangaroo-court procedure of "excommunication" that he exercised against my entire family (even so far as my sister-in-law who stood in solidarity with her husband my brother)-- as "discipline". The FACTS are this: Gaydosh (and his elder board) convened a meeting to "excommunicate" our family without giving us any prior notice of any charges against us and most disturbingly-- without ANY opportunity to address the church AT ANY TIME prior to or on that evening. We were not given ANY opportunity to hear charges against us, rebut or explain them or to give a defense of any kind in the presence of our accusers and before the brethren. The charges against us were presented unilaterally by Gaydosh, Syracuse and Herringer and were baseless and purely retaliatory for my family's efforts to hold him accountable for his many sins (which he has to this day remained unanswerable for and unaccountable) and to ban us from continuing to attend GRBC. I was even threatened by Scott Syracuse that if any of us were to attend after the "excommunication" it would constitute trespassing and the police would be called.
Our family pursued contact with Earl M. Blackburn (well before any "excommunication" and while members in good standing of GRBC) who presided over the newly formed ARBCA Association, (currently Senior Pastor at Heritage Baptist Church in Shreveport, LA) in order to plead for ARBCA's impartial help with the matters at GRBC and our charges against Michael Gaydosh which charges Gaydosh was ignoring and making efforts to hide, evade, and squash.
Earl M. Blackburn gave me his assurance that ARBCA would in fact begin an investigation and they did. Shortly after contacting Earl M. Blackburn, ARBCA directed the pastor of one of its other member churches in our area Pastor Rich Jensen (a former police detective) of Hope Reformed Baptist Church to begin investigating our claims. When Michael Gaydosh heard that the matter would be taken up by ARBCA he quickly made his way to meet personally with ARBCA officers and persuaded them to abandon their investigation. All further correspondence of appeal to Earl M. Blackburn after this were ignored. This was in all likehood the newly formed ARBCA's first official decision and they inaugurated their association not by wisdom and fidelity to Christ and His Word but by corruption.
Only recently (within a few months ago) some sixteen years later Pastor Rich Jensen reiterated to me again (as he did back then) that he is of the opinion that ARBCA WAS WRONG to abandon their investigation and that he only did so after expressing to them that they were making a mistake by doing so and refusing to hear my family's charges against Michael Gaydosh.
So, my characterization of Michael Gaydosh as being "an unrepentant man" is with respect to the myriad sins with which he was charged formally by myself and my entire extended family and for which many which were addressed by an almost eight-months long arbitration proceeding were corroborated by the third-party Arbitrator who found that Gaydosh was in fact culpable. I remind you that Michael Gaydosh's response to the Findings of Arbitration was to COMPLETELY IGNORE ALL PRESCRIPTIONS for repentance, reconciliation and restitution. For this reason he is rightly described as "unrepentant". He has the unmitigated nerve to also describe the body of gross and unrepented of sin that lies at the heart of our charges against him as "Your personal opinion..."
NO!-- Mike Gaydosh, we are WELL BEYOND any attempts on your part to describe your malfeasance as my "personal opinion". Your sins were charged to you not by myself alone but by six church members-- all in good-standing-- AND THEN corroborated by an eight-month long process of deposition and examination by an impartial third-party Arbitrator who was also an ordained minister of a Reformed church with 15 years in the pastorate. You were officially called to repentance and to make restitution for the financial, career and reputational losses I suffered at your hands-- but you instead IGNORED the ARBITRATOR and his Findings and instead began to discredit him.
Furthermore, after several months of entreaty by the church (Grace Gospel Church of Patchogue) that performed the Arbitration pleading with Gaydosh to honor the Findings of Arbitration and to make restitution to me, restore my reputation to whatever extent they damaged it, and to reverse the unbiblical declaration that my family members (and I) were "excommunicated", and to cease and desist from slanderous remarks being made about GGC and its pastor(s) (after Gaydosh was displeased with the Findings of Arbitration)-- the elder board of GGC sent a stern letter deeming that absent the repentance of Gaydosh and his fellow elders on all the above counts that GGC had no course of action but to disfellowship with GRBC in all kingdom matters pertaining to ministry on Long Island and any interaction between the two churches.
To this day, Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Merrick has refused to respond in any constructive and godly manner to this letter pleading for their repentance (as a corporate entity) and any efforts to meet even with newer pastors who had "no dog in the fight" (namely Mark Grimaldi) have been refused. Most recently, contact with Mark Grimaldi resulted in his inaccurate assertion that my family had never been the subjects of a sinful kangaroo-court-style "excommunication" proceeding in which we were all deemed "excommunicated" per GRBC. I say "inaccurate assertion" as the most charitable way of characterizing such a blatant denial of the truth. In fact, a former member of GRBC that was a member at the time of this event and who went on sometime later to pursue a higher education at seminary used this event as the basis for a thesis (or thesis-like) paper detailing ecclesiastical abuse and the impropriety of such unbiblical tactics as this baseless "excommunication" examples.
In conclusion, my prayer is that God may be gracious to provide a forum, procedure or means by which both parties can be held accountable. That the Findings of Arbitration will be finally acknowledged as imputing Michael Gaydosh with certain extremely horrendous pastoral and professional failures and that Gaydosh himself will honor those Findings and its prescriptions.
As I have sought always to avoid courts and to pursue these matters in good-faith and always by godly and ecclesiastical means and have been waiting on the Lord these some odd sixteen years for final vindication, restoration and recompense-- I remain available to anyone that has an interest in this matter.
Since of late I have been contacted by people that have expressed reticence and concern with respect to Gaydosh resuming any official capacity in Christ's church where he currently resides-- I believe these still open matters are of significant issue and sadly still speak to his unfitness for office.
How can a man seek to administer the Lord's Table when he steadfastly refuses to obey Christ's commands?
"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Matthew 5:23-24
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