Life Church Pastor Nathan Peternel returns to public ministry after restoration

Appearing both humbled and grateful, Nathan Peternel, lead pastor of the multi-campus Life Church in Pendleton, Indiana, has returned to his pulpit following four months of restoration for violating the Assemblies of God bylaws after intimate photos and video of him and his wife were leaked.

Peternel's restoration began just over a week after his 24-year-old son, Jonathan Peternel, was sentenced to four years in prison and another two years of probation in February. Jonathan Peternel’s sentence came after he pleaded guilty to charges of child exploitation and possession of child sex abuse material.

“It is a joy to be with you this morning. I can't even tell you … I've been looking forward to this for a long time,” Pastor Peternel told his congregants at the Fishers campus in a recording of his return on July 7.  “I'll probably get emotional, but those of you who know me know I do that anyhow. I want to say for our family how much we've missed you and how much we love our church.”

In a statement issued ahead of his comeback sermon, Life Church leaders had previously announced his return. They urged congregants to continue praying for their pastor with love as he returned to the pulpit.

“After a season of rest and renewal, Pastor Nathan and Christina are preparing to return to ministry, and we're looking toward the first week of July as that time draws near,” the leaders said in their statement.

“We're grateful for this restorative season and for the ways the Lord has been strengthening them physically, spiritually, and emotionally. As they step back into the life of our church, we invite you to do two things: keep them in prayer during this time of transition and reach out with words of love and encouragement. A note, a card, or a kind word means more than you know.”

Peternel said he received many messages and “the gift of compassion” from his church.

“I can't thank you enough for all of the messages that you've sent, the cards that you've written, the text that you've sent, the little expressions of love. And the word that comes to me most is the word compassion because, you know, I like to say that the greatest spiritual gift is the one that's needed at the moment for us in this last season,” he said. “Our family has experienced really the hardest season we've ever gone through as [a] family.”

During the investigation of his son’s case, the Hamilton County Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force said they found more than 50 photos and videos on Jonathan Peternel's phone showing his parents nude or engaged in sex acts.

Nathan Peternel, who co-hosts the podcast "Jesus, Sex and Politics" with Indiana’s Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, apologized and told his congregation that the private, intimate videos and photos of him and his wife were hacked by his son.

A press statement from the Fishers Police Department last October said an investigation into Jonathan Peternel began after authorities received a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The CyberTip was submitted by the messaging app Snapchat and showed five files of suspected child sex abuse material involving prepubescent children.

A search warrant was subsequently issued for Jonathan Peternel's Snapchat account, where investigators said they found more child sex abuse material. They also found evidence suggesting that the younger Peternel was sharing the material with other users. Detectives reported finding more than 200 files of child sex abuse material during a search of the Peternel residence in Pendleton.

"Some of this included sadomasochistic child abuse, children that appeared to be drugged or intoxicated while being abused, violent child molestation, and photorealistic AI-generated photos of nude pregnant toddlers," investigators said.

Nathan Peternel said his family has benefited from both rest and counseling over the last four months and attributed the challenges his family has faced in recent months to a combination of spiritual warfare and life just happening.

“We feel like, … that the enemy has attacked us. We feel like, how many know that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities and rulers of the darkness of this world,” he said, referencing Ephesians 6:12 from the Bible.

“And yet at the same time, while we're wrestling not against brothers and sisters, we also know that the enemy can sometimes use the people that we love and their voices and the words and all of that. And it hurts,” he said.

“It's hard. And I know that if you live long enough, you'll go through stuff. I just want to say that we know that even when you get into tough times, the Bible says, ‘Having done all to stand, stand anyway,’” he told congregants whose prayers he said, “have majorly sustained my wife and I and our kids.”

“I think our dependence on the Lord during this time is going to help us to be better leaders and better pastors than before we went through this. I don't think you go through the fire unchanged,” he explained.

“Some say that leaders are born leaders, but I don't believe that. I believe that leaders are forged leaders. We don't know how we'll respond to whatever happens in our life until we go through it,” he added.

“We learn a lot from what happens in our life. And anybody who's lived any amount of years can tell you that life happens. And when it does, the question is, how are you going to respond to what happens? And I want a response to please the Lord.”