Protestia Founder J.D. Hall Found Guilty of Embezzlement

Plea agreement includes $15,400 restitution to former church

Two years after losing his pulpit and popular polemics ministry due to “serious sin,” J.D. Hall has been found guilty of embezzling from his former church, Fellowship Baptist Church (FBC) in Sidney, Montana.

A deferred sentencing agreement filed Sept. 10 in Richland County District Court requires Hall to pay $15,454 to FBC to restore funds he misused while serving as its pastor.

Hall, who founded Protestia (formerly Pulpit&Pen), lost his pastorate and online/podcast ministry while fighting a Xanax addiction and facing allegations, including a DUI, a domestic violence incident and more than $100,000 in church funds embezzled for personal and political purposes. FBC later also rescinded his membership due to “a failure to demonstrate repentance for sins that he had committed against his family, his church, and his God.”

If Hall complies with all the requirements of the plea agreement over the next three years, the felony embezzlement verdict will be wiped from his record. Those requirements also include reporting to a probation officer, abstaining from drugs and alcohol, and honoring a ban on weapons ownership.

Hall admitted guilt in a court-ordered apology:

It’s with my deepest regret and full admission of my own personal failures, and to be clear, sins, that I have deeply hurt the church I loved and formerly served for so long a time. I pray that resolution of this issue might bring healing and wholeness with your body. As I move forward to a different, better, and more quiet life, with these things behind me, I pray that you are able to move forward with your very important mission as well.

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Hall denied, however, that his crime rose to the level alleged by prosecutors. Of 1,186 expenditures considered fraudulent, Hall claimed that all but 55 were either legitimate purchases or done without his knowledge. Those 55 amounted to the $15,454 he must now repay.

By contrast, court documents portrayed a habitual misuse of FBC money over a five-year period for things such as a gun safe, personal travel, family cell phones and Pulpit&Pen employee payments.

Testifying in court, former FBC treasurer Joyce Nesper said Hall used church funds for “political trips that should not have been paid for by the church,” and that she suspected his offer to pay her husband’s medical bills was a bribe so she “did not have the need to look at bank statements.”

Hall countered that his pastoral responsibility to preach the gospel and engage in “civic matters” legitimized his travel expenses, and that FBC knew his travel schedule, including a 2010 Tea Party event.

Protestia Without Hall

Protestia has removed him from leadership, wiped his writings from its website, ceased to be a ministry of FBC, and continued providing polemical news content from a conservative Reformed perspective.

The original Pulpit&Pen site, which had been abandoned, according to Protestia, “out of necessity to avoid strangulation and throttling by big tech giants,” was then resurrected to make its original articles, including those written by Hall, available. The site also posts some new content by longtime Puplit&Pen contributor, Seth Dunn. The restored site aims to achieve a less “inflammatory” tone and a shift away from politics and toward polemics, for which reason some content has been either edited or deleted.

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Why does MinistryWatch report on financial fraud in the church?  We report on them because one in three churches will be victimized, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity. We also report on them because these crimes have real victims and cost taxpayers and other stakeholders billions of dollars every year.  Even small crimes in small churches have huge consequences.  We also report on them to remind our readers that they do not have to be victims. There are steps you can take to prevent financial waste, fraud, and abuse in your church or ministry.  To find out more, click here.

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