In the Aug. 13 edition of the Wrangell Sentinel, the newspaper reported on a story involving Hope Community Church of God, and the potential hiring of William Vorrasi as a new pastor. The church announced that it would not be hiring Vorrasi in an Aug. 2 Facebook post, after community backlash when people learned Vorrasi was on the sex offender registry. However, according to two church board members, this announcement was premature.
Jacquie Dozier and Bonnie Stutz said that they are board members of Hope Community Church of God. They stopped by the Sentinel office on Aug. 17 to say they did not know who made the Aug. 2 Facebook post, and that any decisions regarding the hiring of a new pastor would have to be made by the church board. At that time, they said, the board had not met to discuss hiring or not hiring Vorrasi. Later on, Dozier said that she learned the person who made the Aug. 2 announcement was Board Member Doug Schwartz.
The Sentinel reached out to Hope Community Church of God for further information, but was told that Schwartz would be the person to speak to. The Sentinel was able to contact Schwartz on Aug. 24. Schwartz said that there was some miscommunication. The decision was made to not hire Vorrasi, he said, but Dozier and Stutz had not been brought up to speed on that at the time. Beyond that, he said he did not wish to comment.
It was also suggested by a community member to reach out to J.R. Stepp, lead pastor of Palmer Church of God and overseeing pastor for the Wrangell church. He also declined to comment.
Reader Comments(0)