Ron Hunt to be Excommunicated on Sunday, July 23, 2000
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

If you want to respond or give Ron Hunt your advice, Reclaim News will forward your e-mail to him.

A "Little" History

Reclaim News Readers recently received a release announcing that Mr. Ron Hunt's conviction for criminal trespass on his own church property, Holy Cross Lutheran Church of Dallas, Texas, was overturned by the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas this past May.

The Appeals Judges ruled that Hunt was a member of the LCMS congregation and therefore as an owner, could not be guilty of criminal trespass on his own church property. The Officers of Holy Cross had him arrested for trespass at a Sunday Morning Worship service in August of 1998. At his first trial they only testified that he was trespassing and offered no other reason for wanting him arrested.

The Pastor and officers of the congregation are seeking a fast track excommunication now that the court gave Hunt permission to return to his congregation as of July 2000.

Pastor Little skipped Hunt at the communion rail on Sunday, July 16th.

He received the following letter and notice of impending Excommunication dated July 19, 2000 announcing the special meeting for his excommunication on July 23rd.

Letter To Ron Hunt

July 19, 2000

Dear Ron Hunt:

This is an official notification of a special Voters' Assembly meeting on July 23, 2000 commencing at 6:30 pm.

Because of your continued refusal to address the issues as prescribed in our previous three correspondences and because of your resolute defiance of the admonition administered by the Board of Elders and Church Council of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, phase three of Matthew 18 will be administered.

The purpose of this action is to seek to save your errant soul.

Standing rules for this special Voters' Assembly meeting:

  1. The Chair shall see that the agenda is followed as closely as possible.
  2. Each member of the congregation when recognized by the chair shall state his or her name.
  3. Only members of Holy Cross Lutheran Church will be allowed in the meeting, with the following exceptions:
    1. The Rev. Dr. John Hirsch, Director of Congregational and Worker Care, Texas District, LCMS will be allowed for advisory purposes at the invitation of the Pastor and Church Council of Holy Cross Lutheran Church.
    2. Police Security will be allowed.
  4. Responses to questions will be limited to 2 minutes. If necessary, the special issues committee will be granted additional time for responses to questions, additional information, etc.
  5. There shall be designated to Ron Hunt up to 20 minutes of speaking time with a contingency of expanding the time if needed by approval of the Voters Assembly/Chair.
  6. Unless covered by these standing rules, parliamentary procedure shall be governed by Robert's Rules of Order, unless in conflict with the Bylaws of Holy Cross Lutheran Church.
  7. The Single topic for this meeting is the disciplinary issues as they pertain to Ron Hunt, member.

The agenda for this meeting will be as follows:

  1. Prayer and Devotion
  2. Disciplinary Charges (see Resolution below)
  3. Bible Study led by Pastor Little
  4. Response by Mr. Ron Hunt
  5. Presentation of Particulars
  6. Discussion
  7. Prayer
  8. Dismissal of Mr. Hunt from the meeting
  9. Vote
  10. Closing Devotion

Except with prior approval of the Church Council of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, these Standing Rules and this Agenda will not be modified.

Resolution:

Resolved, that the Church Council, based upon the unanimous recommendation of the Board of Elders, unanimously recommends to the Voters Assembly that Ron Hunt's membership in Holy Cross Lutheran Church be terminated by excommunication for erring in respect to the requirements for membership by not leading a Christian life and abstaining from the manifest works of the flesh and refusing Christian admonition administered according to Matthew 18: 15-20.

Prayerfully,

Greg Johnson, President of the Church
Jerry Huse, VP of the Church

Particulars

As of this time, Hunt has never had the opportunity to meet with the full Board of Elders on the issue of his excommunication.

While Hunt was still under a court order not to return to his congregation, the Board had told him he must meet with a three lay member panel in order to maintain his membership in the congregation.

The Holy Cross Constitution has no provisions for a three member disciplinary panel.

Holy Cross assumes that Hunt's failure to meet with the panel is an open violation of Matthew 18 and therefore grounds for excommunication.

Hunt has not been notified in writing about any other sin against the Ten Commandments other than not meeting with panel nor does the Court Record show any offence against the congregation.

Hunt claims the problem with the congregation resulted when he accused Pastor Don Little of mishandling marriage counseling for he and Mrs. Hunt. Little accepted her as a member in good standing, while she sued Hunt for divorce. Since that time, Mrs. Hunt has remarried and divorced her next husband.

The congregation continues to portray Hunt as a threat to the membership, though Hunt has neither harmed nor threatened any harm against anyone.

The new procedures for the excommunication of Ron Hunt, under the auspices of the Texas District, may set a new precedent for removing dissident lay people from congregations in other Districts of the Synod for corporate rather than Biblical grounds.

A "Little" Advice

We offer the following advice to Mr. Ron Hunt, as he will be allowed 20 minutes address the Voters' Assembly in his own defense, in his one and only meeting with the congregation since his arrest in August of 1998.

  1. Since you will not be allowed to take a witness or any counsel with you into the meeting, you should take a tape recorder and tape the meeting.
  2. Write down your statement in advance and give a copy to the voters and then read the statement of your own defense out loud.
  3. Get a list of the Voters names. You have no way of knowing on such short notice if the entire congregation was notified or if this assembly is a hand picked gathering.
  4. Before a man can be excommunicated, he must be guilty of unrepentant sin. You have not been accused of any sin except violating their extra-constitutional regulations that have nothing to do with the Ten Commandments. It is called "teaching for doctrine the commandments of men."
  5. They have concluded that your soul is dammed because you haven't followed their procedures, yet they had you put in jail before they told you what your sin was. Why didn't they excommunicate you first and then put you in jail? It is only the civil court that has allowed you to return to your congregation and declared you an innocent man. The congregation is so deeply involved in Church Growth/Leadership Training procedures it sound's like you are being removed from a cooperate stockholders meeting, instead of a church.
  6. You must go to the meeting otherwise, you will be excommunicated for self-exclusion.
  7. I would only ask the Voters, "If you really believe that I am damned to hell according to God's Word could you show me my sin and the Bible verse that supports your judgment."
  8. Should they excommunicate you, you will no longer be their "brother" according to 1Cor. 6 and you will be at liberty to take the Congregation, its officers, its pastor, and the Texas District Advisor to court for your previous false arrest and imprisonment.
  9. It is very difficult to offer any Biblical advice at this time, because there is nothing pertaining to the Bible in their accusations against you.

Rev. Jack Cascione is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS - MI) in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He has written numerous articles for Christian News and is the author of Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS: How to Keep Your Congregation Lutheran. He has also written a study on the Book of Revelation called In Search of the Biblical Order.
He can be reached by email at pastorcascione@juno.com.

July 21, 2000