Duluth Vineyard Affirms Integrity of Interim Pastor John Kliewer After Investigation

Kliewer’s wife is unsatisfied with church’s public statement, says he had to sign NDA as part of settlement agreement.

The Duluth Vineyard Church posted a public statement on October 30 to Pastor John Kliewer, acknowledging that allegations against him were unfounded. The church went on to “affirm [his] integrity, [his] leadership, and [his] faithful service to the Duluth Vineyard community.”

Duluth Vineyard Interim Pastor John Kliewer / Video screenshot

However, a social media post by Kliewer’s wife, Lauralyn, indicated she was not satisfied with the Duluth statement or the settlement Kliewer received from the church.

“My husband exposed how Vineyard USA responds to sexual abuse and called for reform, so they retaliated by defaming him. Rather than standing up for him, the Duluth Vineyard leadership shunned him out of fear that Vineyard USA would throw the church out of the Vineyard movement,” Lauralyn Kliewer wrote.

She also indicated that her husband had been required to sign a nondisclosure agreement as part of the settlement.

The settlement and public statement are related to the discovery that Jackson Gatlin, son of Duluth pastors Michael and Brenda Gatlin and a former pastoral assistant at the church, had sexually abused several teenage girls in the congregation.

In November 2024, Jackson Gatlin entered into a plea agreement for the charges under which he will serve 13 years in prison, the Duluth News Tribune reported.

Kliewer took the reins as interim pastor and publicly criticized Vineyard USA for its handling of accusations against the Gatlins, who resigned in 2023 amidst accusations that they had known about the alleged sexual abuse and leadership misconduct by their son, but chose not to act.

Michael and Brenda Gatlin / Vineyard USA

The interim pastor also created a list of 20 actions he believed Vineyard USA must take to address abuse, including public and private apologies, establishing clear consequences for covering up abuse, and structural reforms to the Vineyard USA governance.

After his public criticism of Vineyard USA, the national managing director Robb Morgan sent a letter to the Duluth church leaders criticizing Kliewer’s leadership and urging the church to investigate him. The letter claims that “victims” had called Kliewer’s actions “overly harsh” and “retaliatory and threatening.” The letter did not include names of people who had complained.

Then an April 10 letter from Vineyard USA threatened Duluth leaders that the church would be disaffiliated from the denomination. The disassociation threat letter was not shared with the congregation.

The church leaders who had been working with Kliewer in handling the Gatlin allegations then began investigating him.

Kliewer took a leave of absence during the Duluth investigation into his actions. He was cleared of any misconduct, but the “unsubstantiated allegations” took a toll on Kliewer and his family.

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“John’s therapist diagnosed him with PTSD and nearly hospitalized him for clinical depression. His doctor wrote about John, ‘[H]he has been exhibiting symptoms of trauma, which are directly related to his treatment by the church board,’” Lauralyn Kliewer wrote of her husband’s suffering.

Pauli Rancourt was a congregant of Duluth Vineyard and witnessed the way Kliewer was treated. She praised the way he handled the Gatlin allegations in a victim-centric, trauma-informed way.

Rancourt described Kliewer as a humble, well-prepared preacher and teacher with a wonderful heart.

After growing increasingly concerned with the change in the demeanor by the Duluth Vineyard leadership and how they were treating Kliewer, Rancourt wrote an email to the church council.

She accused them of “throw[ing] John Kliewer under the bus” instead of supporting him.

“One of your own, possibly the one who has fought the hardest and paid the greatest price to stand up for the victims and refuse to be intimidated or bullied into compliance to handle matters according to how [Vineyard USA] wanted, he is the one now being victimized. You have paid [a little] lip service to ‘supporting’ John, but you have not truly stood up for him, the victim of obvious retaliatory reaction by [Vineyard USA],” Rancourt wrote.

She was also disappointed by the lack of support shown for Kliewer when the church announced he had been cleared of all charges.

About the April Vineyard USA letter, Rancourt wrote to the Duluth church council, “[Y]ou took the letter from [Vineyard USA] laden with threats and intimidation, you hid it, covered it up, and you pretended all was well — while your brother in Christ John Kliewer was emotionally devastated after two years of pouring himself out emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and physically in a position that should have been highly esteemed and rewarded.”

Rancourt and her husband met with church council member Gerry Niergarten via Zoom after she sent the email, but were unsatisfied with the conversation. “It felt like we were talking to a politician and there would be no accountability,” she told MinistryWatch.

Rancourt and her husband haven’t been back to Duluth Vineyard since their meeting with Niergarten, and they don’t plan to return. “We won’t support a church with dishonest leadership,” she said.

“John was willing to serve and it was so shameful the way he was treated,” she added.

The Kliewers also have disassociated with Vineyard. “I am glad to say my family is no longer associated with Vineyard churches in any way,” Lauralyn Kliewer wrote on social media.

The Vineyard Duluth congregation, located in Duluth, Minnesota, did not respond to a request for comment before the time of publication.

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