Lessons Learned From Upheaval at Monclova Road Baptist Church

A pastor's resignation over alleged mishandling of church funds set off a year of upheaval — and a congregation still waiting for accountability.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on 6/2/2026 to reflect a message from the church leadership that an audit has been started.

A year after Pastor Jeremy Rands resigned from Monclova Road Baptist Church in Ohio amid allegations of mishandling church funds, the church has yet to complete — or possibly even begin — a financial audit.

The way church leadership handled Rands’ resignation, its lack of transparency with the congregation, and the policies that enabled such failures hold important lessons for other churches.

Underlying Allegations

Monclova Road Baptist Church is a large independent Baptist church with a Christian school and a congregation of several hundred in Monclova, a suburb of Toledo. Rands has written letters to the editor about political topics and delivered the opening prayer at a Trump rally near Toledo in 2020.

Mitchell Adkins had been hired to oversee the accounting and other financial matters at Monclova Road and its school. He was in the position for about a year and a half before he resigned in May 2025.

The issues arose when he discovered that Christmas bonuses supposedly paid in cash had not been delivered to the intended employees.

Adkins had a spreadsheet listing the church employees and how much they were to receive in cash bonuses. Adkins withdrew the cash from the bank in the exact denominations needed to pay the bonuses. He delivered the money to Rands, who was supposed to stuff the cash into the employees’ Christmas cards.

Adkins had told one employee what size bonus to expect. He grew concerned when that employee returned to him, reporting that he had received about 20% less than expected. So Adkins began asking other employees about their Christmas bonuses. He said he asked about 15 people what they received, and none reported the amount documented on the spreadsheet.

Adkins reported the alleged theft to the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office.

Law enforcement called Rands, Adkins said, and then the money “appeared” on his desk in April 2025.

According to the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, “The church did not pay promised employee bonuses. An accounting review determined funds were not properly allocated, and the money has since been returned to the appropriate bank account.” The office also confirmed that, based on the investigation, no charges were filed.

“[Rands] had every opportunity in the months that he was in office to notify me that he decided to short people’s bonuses, instead I heard that there was over $22k of cash sitting on my chair in my unlocked office from a detective in the middle of a felony theft investigation,” Adkins wrote in his resignation letter. “This is, at best, poor discretion in handling money that is not fit for a pastor, and at worst, an attempt to get away with stealing money from the church.”

Adkins said there were other questionable financial dealings, including the handling of COVID grant funds and the purchase of a car using school funds.

In his resignation letter to the advisory board of Monclova Road, Adkins pointed to policies that he felt jeopardized the church finances. They included the pastor’s “unilateral power to give himself and keep an MCA administrator salary, without the church’s or school’s approval;” “tens of thousands of church dollars spent by [Rands] on outlandish decorations for the office building, as well as gift cards that cannot be tracked;” and “[Rands] receiving full MRBC and [school] salary while also collecting short term disability, when he advised the deacons and advisors otherwise.”

Rands Resigned

Rands handed in his resignation in mid-May, but stayed for two additional weeks — following the requirements of church bylaws. He said he regretted his actions, that he should have communicated better with the deacons, and apologized for how this “affected lives” and for the “hurt this has caused.” He did not admit guilt for any financial misdealing.

MinistryWatch reached out to Rands for a statement, but did not receive a response before the time of publication.

Ben Hoipkemier, a deacon at the time the allegations were raised, told MinistryWatch that Rands did not receive any severance at the time of his resignation. He also disagreed with Rands staying an additional two weeks after his resignation.

He acknowledged that after Rands resigned, the deacon board and church advisory board did not do a “good job” of communicating with the congregation and keeping them informed. He said members of the congregation got “pretty upset” they were not hearing the “full story.”

The church advisory board sent an email to the congregation on May 21, 2025, declaring that “at no point was there any intent to withhold information from the church family out of secrecy or evasiveness.” But Hoipkemier noted that the deacons and advisory board held a meeting on May 20 to get advice about a “path forward.” Attendees were asked to sign a type of nondisclosure agreement.

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It stated in part: “In order to protect the unity of our church, the privacy of individuals, and the integrity of this leadership body, we must be clear: everything said in this room is to remain in this room. No conversations are to be shared, recorded, or leaked in any form or fashion. This is not about secrecy, but about stewardship of information, of trust, and of the calling we share as men who help shepherd God’s people.”

Hoipkemier said he left the meeting and made a “stink” about the NDA. He pointed out that he had been elected by the congregation to serve as a deacon and represent them. He was concerned about withholding information from congregants. After the first meeting, no more NDAs were required at follow-up meetings, Hoipkemier said.

Ramifications

In the time since Rands’ resignation, Monclova Road has continued to experience upheaval.

Five pastors have resigned since July 2025. The church’s care pastor Rick Trumbo and his wife Anita, who served as the church secretary, submitted their resignation in April 2026.

“We are not in agreement with the method and direction of leadership here and have expressed this through both ministry and personal conversations,” they wrote. “We are not interested in any further discussion with the board or the staff concerning this matter.”

However, when church leaders communicated the Trumbos’ resignation to the congregation, they shared only the portion of the letter stating that the couple believed their “ministry here is complete.”

Hoipkemier himself left the church last summer. He said it had taken a toll on his family. When he was driving home one evening with his daughter, he suggested she invite her unbelieving friend to church. His daughter recoiled at the idea, telling her dad she was concerned about the witness the church would present in its state of upheaval and division.

A current church member who asked not to be named said he believes between 75 and 100 people have left Monclova Road Baptist Church.

Becky Ziviski, who the church asked in December 2025 to serve on a newly created finance committee to establish financial policies and procedures, resigned the committee in February 2026 and left the church.

Laura Pilat was also on the finance committee. She told MinistryWatch, “As we began reviewing and developing these policies, we became aware of certain issues; however, our role was limited to policy formation, and we were not involved in prior financial oversight or decision-making.”

Pilat resigned from the committee in February 2026 and asked to have her name removed from the church membership rolls. She said, “I did not feel that meaningful changes were going to take place.”

Additionally, in October 2025, church board chairman Tim Lohr told the congregation the Ohio Attorney General’s (AG) Charitable Law Division was conducting an investigation into possible telecommunications fraud at Monclova Road.

Lohr said the AG’s office had issued a subpoena July 15, 2025, seeking documents from the church.

The Ohio AG’s office did not respond to multiple inquiries by MinistryWatch about the investigation.

Some Changes Instituted, Still Waiting for Others

After a year, the congregation is still waiting for a full financial audit of the situation to take place.

In July 2025, the advisory board informed the congregation that “Ministry Books has now taken over bookkeeping for the church and school and has already provided ideas for new procedures that we will be reviewing.”

It also said an audit had started and was “progressing well.”

In October, Lohr told the church the audit was ongoing but making “slower than expected progress.”

At the church’s annual business meeting in February, when asked about the audit, church treasurer Jeff Beery said the audit had not started and could not start until the “books for the church, the school, and the preschool” had been closed for the fiscal year. The leadership said they could not confirm when an audit would begin.

A March 13 email from the advisory board reported updated policies and procedures, including a new credit card, document retention, conflict of interest, vehicle allowance, check signing policies, new responsibilities for the church treasurer to review payroll runs and bills paid, quotes for property and general liability insurance, and a “hope” that the audit would start by April 1.

There have been no updates since April 1 about the audit starting.

Hoipkemier told MinistryWatch he has grown “cold” on the model of a pastor-led church where the pastor makes all the decisions. “That seems like what got us burned,” he noted.

Ed Mohr, who was hired as the church’s interim pastor in March 2026, declined to answer any questions about the situation, audit, transparency, and policy changes. He told MinistryWatch he had not been in the position long enough to effectively answer the questions posed.

“This is a situation that the church is still dealing with, so I do not feel that this is the appropriate time to discuss this situation with the public. When we have a senior pastor in place, he may be willing to revisit this discussion,” Mohr wrote.

MinistryWatch offered Mohr another opportunity to respond after checking with the church’s leadership board, but received no reply.

The church has a senior pastor search committee in place, but has yet to hire a new senior pastor.

Update: According to an email to the congregation on June 1 obtained by MinistryWatch, the church finance committee informed the congregation that an audit “resumed” several weeks ago and should be completed in July.

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