There days we are being flooded with messages and comments related to the Columbia Station church in Ohio. Many of these messages seem to be confusing and contradictional. Putting them on the website just like that makes our website confusing too, which has already been brought to our attention. If the readers are keen on discussing the Columbia Station issues, then we would have to start from the beginning, i.e. we would first have to explain the following:

- How big is this congregation?
- What is the structure of this congregation (age, nationality, etc. of its members)?
- Is this congregation conservative or liberal?
- Who is their elder and who are the ministers?
- What is the history of problems and what are the current issues?
- Are there elements of spiritual and mental abuse? (which is this site's focus)
 
If somebody from Ohio, let’s say, is willing to provide the answers to these questions, as a starting point, then we would be able to post more comments and questions related to the Columbia Station church. Otherwise, there is no point of sending more and more comments that readers outside of Ohio and the USA cannot follow. Thank you.

COMMENT 1:
   
I'll start. How big? It had about 50-60 people I'd say before it fell apart. Currently 20 total if that. Age? Mostly older, 50s and 60s, but also plenty of younger couples. Nationality? Almost 100% Romanian. Their elder? Dave Nikolson from West Akron church. Conservative? In the outward sense, yes, pretty standard old Nazarene way. Ministers WERE (they were removed) Pavel Lotrean, Steve Mendrea and John Patrutz. CURRENT ministers are George Zula, Mike Petras, Peter Oldja, and Dimitri Popovic. Abuse? Umm... well in a sense, yes, but on the problems I will let someone else comment as I don't know them in DETAIL and don't want to give false information. Next! Let the fighting begin!

 
COMMENT 2:
 
Is there anything new that you can tell us on the Sydney court case that was on the 26th? I thought you guys would have at least something to say about that.
   
COMMENT 3:
   
In relation to the 'abuse' in Columbia Station I would like to say that abuse was never present.  Brother Dave NEVER tried to influence his ideas but always worked with the church, every step of the way.
 
Comment 1 mentioned that 3 ministers were removed. The reasons for the removal of these ministers should NOT be revealed to the public as it is between God, and the members of Columbia Station only. Brothers in Australia responsible for this website, PLEASE stop the discussions relating to Columbia Station as we currently have peace. Such unnecessary questioning / discussions could potentially create more hatred and divisions rather than encouragement!!!
 
Thanking you...

COMMENT 4:
   
Re. Columbia station topic. It is obvious that their elder is MUCH better than your elders in Australia, when:
 - He is working with the church
 - Has cleared the mess and problem makers
 - Appointed new ministers
 - Maintains peace the BIBLICAL way
 - Doesn’t take brother to court
ELDER DAVID... CONGRATULATIONS!!... KEEP IT UP!!

COMMENT 5:
   
Of course you have "peace." Everything went your way. Yet you swarmed around brothers like bees all the way to their cars. All the way until you forced them to leave. Yet now it's "peace."

COMMENT 6:
 
Comment 5 PLEASE TELL the whole story before it gets taken off this site. It is obvious that there was major fighting in the church and Dave took sides and did not do what was right. Please tell what happened.

COMMENT 7:
 
We need David Nicholson to come down to Melbourne to review all ministers and Paul Pentsa and obviously he will need to appoint a new elder and the whole place will be a healthier congregation. Could someone please post Dave's phone number, thank you.


COMMENT 8:
 
I think this topic should be removed unless someone explains what happened. Seems like some are for, some are against. Too confusing. Some support Dave, some are against. We dont know if he "abused" or not. So unless this is cleared up, there's no point of keeping the topic on the website. Just my 2 cents.

COMMENT 9:
 
If we can do the same here, get rid of the elder and his assistants. This will be a great result and majority would stay and a lot more would join. Melbourne church needs elder Dave.

COMMENT 10:
 
UPDATE ON DAVE AND MELBOURNE!! DAVE IS BANNED FROM THE OTHER ELDERS TO EVEN TOUCH AUSTRALIAN ISSUES!! ANYWAY HE WOULD JUST MAKE IT WORSE!!

COMMENT 11:
 
Banned from who? Corrupted person called Paul Pentsa; the one that's at court now helping to sue the brethren. Bypass Paul Pentsa, he has failed dramatically as an elder and bring in an elder that's not related that way. The results would be fair and not discriminated against selected members.

COMMENT 12:
 
How shameful to see Paul Pentsa at court, the so-called elder of Australian Nazarene. Time to step down. We do not need a hypocritical elder.

COMMENT 13:
 
Most members are against Paul Pentsa and Janko Tomek with the almost any work they do. We have had enough of their filthy works. Pentsa and Tomek should be cross-examined in the church. Bullies.

COMMENT 14:
 
To the people from Melbourne who keep commenting for Dave to come to Australia: You already have a Dave in Australia. His name is Paul Pentsa. Dave and Doug Savin are friends. That tells you enough.

COMMENT 15:
 
To the website upkeepers, I ask that you would post one more message from me on this issue.
 
To the Columbia Station people: please stop pretending you are from Australia and writing messages like "we need Dave." Ok? There are only a few of you left in that church and the majority is older and don't use computers, so it's not hard to deduct who you are.
 
There are 3 churches that like Dave. They are: 1. Geraldine Street church, 2. Brunswick Hills church, 3. Route 94 Doroslovac church. The reason they like him is because these churches are now fuller with members because of what Dave did in Columbia Station. Give me a break. I hear plenty from the Serbian church on Copley Rd. about Dave. He's the type you would call if you want your church to go from 60 members to 20.

COMMENT 16:
 
Didn't one of those new ministers in Columbia Station just get released not so long ago from discipline for beating his wife? It looks like Dave is just like your Paul.

COMMENT 17:
 
Re. Columbia Station to comment 3; You have peace now. What peace?? Pretence peace. All the good members had to leave and the bad ones are in control. First one is Miso Petras then his son Mike and son-in-law Dimitri. Miso was in Australia making trouble. Where Miso goes trouble follows. Elder Dave has worked with the church but the sad thing is, he supported trouble makers just as P.Pentsa support trouble makers too. Elders are problem in Nazarene churches.
   
COMMENT 18:
 
Comment 10 writer:
If Pentsa elder was removed from eldership and still conducting baptisms, it's sin.
An elder visiting and conducting work in another country/church that seeks his help, is NOT sin. REGARDLESS how many elder bodies state 'no, don't go'!!
PLUS, the north American elder body DIDN'T ban any elder from going to Australia anyway!

COMMENT 19:
 
AMEN comment 17!!! It's about time there was a good comment on this issue!!! Also comment 18, I wish this were the case. They didn’t ban anyone any one from going to Australia, but they did ban them from getting involved in work over there. I bet Paul cleared up that issue nicely with his brother in Florida. Comment 16: You are spot-on. Any thoughts that Dave would "clear up" Australia is mostly rubbish.

COMMENT 20:
 
WOW excellent comments. I'm sick of the comments praising Dave. But it’s about morning time in Columbia Station, or soon will be, so expect the positive Dave comments to start rolling in!

COMMENT 21:
 
Don't worry about those troubled souls that have left elder Dave, we can only pray for them, and for the ones in Melbourne and Sydney Australia we will pray for your churches until there is a change in leadership that is urgently required.

COMMENT 22 (in Serbian):
 
Hocu da napisem nekoliko reci za Columbia Station sa Bozijom pomoci hocu da pisem da sta se desilo u Julu 14. kad su potvrdili 4 sluge. Nisu radili kao kad su se primile na probu, su bili glasani na papir i su primili tako i je bilo dobro i nisu rekli da treba sa ustajanjem a sada kad se podvrdili sluge radili kao u Evropi sa ustajanjem posto dve sluge se culo da ako nece da odlazu. Jel Gospod hoce takve sluge da propovedaju Boziju rec? Zalosno je za taj narod koji treba njih da slusa. Ako ocedu kao u Evropu, u Evropu se ne stavu sluge koji nije zenjen. To sta se govori za Columbia Station to je istina u tu skupstinu nikad nise radilo ni sa staresinama ni sa slugama, to je bila prevara. I nisu usli kako treba, nego su skocili preko ograde. Braco iz Colubia Station nijedna skupstina nema takve sluge kao vi sta vi imate. Sta se radilo u Columbia Station nece da se zaboravi dugo. Skinuli stare sluge i postavili nove sluge koji ne znaju da vode Bozji nazarenski narod. I ovo sta pisem ovo je istina i ja poznajem dobro ovu bracu i sestre koji su odlazili i koji su ostali molim ako neko moze da prevede na engleski jezik da svi razumeju.

COMMENT 23:
 
I'll translate the above comment. This person is commenting to the person who said Nazarenes never voted on paper and its a new tradition. The comment (I'll refer to comment 22 as a "he") says "be consistent". They were voted in on trial WITH BALLOTS, so that means they should be confirmed with ballots. He says 2 of the ministers threatened to leave if they weren't voted on by the "standing up" method. Does God want that kind of minister? If they want to do it like in Europe, then they shouldn't put up single brothers either because they don't do it like that in Europe. He is saying that they jumped over the fence and got in the ministry the wrong way. Brothers in Columbia Station: not one church has ministers like you have. What you did will take a long time to be forgotten. You put up ministers who don't know how to lead God's people. Everything I write here is the truth and I know these brothers very well, the ones who stayed and the ones who left. If someone could please translate this into English so all may understand.

COMMENT 24:
 
Comment 22, vrlo ste lepo napisali i slazem se da je istina. A da li mozete malo reci od cega je dosla ta svadja da su morali jako puno da pobegnu u razne skupstine. Znamo svi da je bilo jake svadje i znam tu i tamo sta se desilo a treba neko da napise bas sve sta se desilo. Bilo je jako puno suza i zalosti u Columbia Station.
 
English: Comment 22 is written very well and it's the truth, however, can you write in more detail what happened to lead to this divide that so many people had to leave the church. Lots of tears were shed and lots of heartaches in Columbia Station.

COMMENT 25:
 
I have read comments made about the Church at Columbia Station but it is still not clear to me what happened and importantly "why" it happened. Could someone with a neutral opinion please explain. Is it abuse or injustice or simple struggle for power?

COMMENT 26:
 
Do we really even need to know what is going on in Columbia Station church? What does this have to do with us in Australia? I know you said this website is about abuse, etc, but let the people in America have their own website to discuss this. We cannot get involved in their church problems, just like they cannot get involved in ours. I thought this was a website to target things here, not overseas. I don't mind hearing that other churches have problems, and there might be abuse over there as well, as there is no church without problems, but I think we should stay focused on things here. I remember something being said about this website, that you only put "facts" on here. So far, regarding the Columbia Station church, I have not heard any "facts". We still don't know what is going on, but we just have a lot of people saying they are either for or against the Elder. And the same for Mexico, or San Diego. So if people want to say something, at least give the facts that are true. And even if we DID know all the facts, we certainly cannot do anything about it. Sorry, but this is just my thought. I just feel there is a lot of talk on here about Columbia Station, and we could keep talking for ages, but nothing will solve it. If people in American have issues with their Elders and leaders, they should take it up with the members there.

- TOPIC CLOSED, THANK YOU -