Many members in the Seventh-day Adventist church are aware of the Gaithersburg Spanish SDA church story, where they invited Pastor Stephen Bohr to speak on end time events and the Potomac Conference tried to cancel the meetings.
Pastor Bohr is an ordained Seventh-day Adventist pastor in good standing, and a popular speaker on biblical topics (he was the main speaker at the 2023 Michigan Conference Campmeeting).
Dozens—if not hundreds—of Seventh-day Adventists have contacted us asking what the status is of the Gaithersburg Hispanic / Potomac Conference. Here is a timeline and a current update on the Gaithersburg / Potomac situation.
Timeline
The Gaithersburg Hispanic Seventh-day Adventist Church in Maryland is a vibrant church group north of Washington DC. They are in the Potomac Conference. The Gaithersburg Hispanic SDA Church invited pastor Stephen Bohr to hold meetings in their church on August 16-19 of this year.
The Potomac Conference objected and worked to get the invitation canceled through the previous pastor (Jonas Baca) of Gaithersburg. The pastor even called Bohr and voiced his disapproval of the invitation.
The Gaithersburg church, including the church board and the elders, unanimously decided to keep their invitation to Pastor Bohr. They also considered the possibility of someday moving their church to another conference if Potomac was going to treat them in this manner, but the invitation to Bohr stood.
On July 29, the pastor called a business meeting to discuss the Potomac Conference’s (and his) disapproval of the Bohr meeting. According to multiple sources from Gaithersburg, they were told by the pastor that if they persisted in having Bohr come, the church would be dissolved and the members disfellowshipped. 99% of the church members walked out and left the pastor standing virtually alone in the sanctuary. The invitation to Bohr still stood.
The next Sabbath (August 5), the congregation met in a local park for worship and a potluck. While they were meeting (on sabbath), the custodian of the Gaithersburg rented church building (Church of the Brethren) called and told the Gaithersburg elders that the pastor was taking all the sound equipment from the church and stuffing it into his minivan. He was concerned, and said it almost looked like a looting. The elders went to the church and took pictures of him (Jonas Baca) doing this. They later issued a statement on the ‘looting’.
The week of August 6th, the Gaithersburg SDA church bank account of $180,000 was ‘frozen’ by the Potomac conference. The Gaithersburg congregation no longer had access to their funds.
After news of this ‘heist’ went out on the Baluarte website and the Gaithersburg Facebook page, the Potomac Conference issued a statement regarding the Gaithersburg Spanish church. They said in this statement that they were ‘managing’ the resources of the Gaithersburg Spanish church, mentioning both funds and (sound) equipment. They denied that the funds or equipment had been absorbed by the Conference treasury (whatever that means). It does mean that the 3 original signers on the account lost their access to the funds.
Some checks that were written to church members for reimbursement (one to the women’s ministry leader) were withdrawn back out of their accounts by the bank (capitol one, I believe). This sometimes happens in a Chapter 11 situation or bank fraud. Neither of those apply to this situation, of course.
On August 16, the Gaithersburg church sent an open letter to the Potomac Conference.
August 16-19 came and the Bohr meetings were extremely well attended, so much so that they had to rent a second church on Sabbath for overflow (both churches were packed). Some 800-900 people attended the meetings in person along with several thousand online.
On August
Update
Potomac Conference has not responded to requests for information from Fulcrum7, although they did speak to a liberal website in August. Recently, we spoke with two individuals who are connected with the Gaithersburg Spanish SDA church. Here is what we learned about this situation:
The Gaithersburg Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church is still meeting at 7412 Muncaster Mill Rd, Gaithersburg, MD, Maryland. This building is owned by the Church of the Brethren and rented by the Gaithersburg SDA congregation.
The Gaithersburg SDA congregation is technically still in the Potomac Conference, but they are not ‘recognized’ by the conference.
The Gaithersburg SDA church is operating under the name “Iglesia Adventista del Séptimo Día Gaithersburg Renacer” which is translated “Gaithersburg Reborn Seventh-day Adventist Church.”
What about the congregation’s $180,000? This money is still frozen away from the Gaithersburg congregation (the people who supplied these funds). The Potomac Conference or pastor was able to take control of this account, and lock out three people from the congregation who were named on the account.
In response to the Conference's official response, Gaithersburg church sent a letter to both the Potomac conference and the Columbia Union. They then followed up with Adventist Risk Management. They asked them to establish a claim since they lost access to the funds and the Conference had said that they didn't absorb the funds either. They have been waiting for a response from ARM since.
The conference also approached the Gaithersburg church building landlord (Church of the Brethren) and told them the congregation no longer has insurance. That’s dirty pool, in our opinion.
Gaithersburg had spoken to Allegheny East regional conference about the possibility of joining that conference. We are informed that Potomac called the Allegheny East Conference and told them not to accept the Gaithersburg congregation.
The Gaithersburg congregation has asked repeatedly to meet with the President and leaders of the Potomac Conference. They have declined to meet with them, instructing them instead to go through their Hispanic Ministries director, which they have done.
We are also informed that the Gaithersburg congregation had a conversation with Ruben Ramos from the Columbia Union and were told that in order to leave the Potomac Conference they would first have to apologize to Potomac. If they want to stay in Potomac and be recognized, they must also apologize. So whether they go or stay, they must apologize for…..inviting Stephen Bohr to speak at their church.
We don’t know what the former Gaithersburg pastor is doing, we are told he was fired.. We are trying to find out.
The Potomac Conference has rented a building within 5 miles from the original (and current) Gaithersburg church and placed a pastor there with the intention of drawing some of the original members back to the new conference church. We don’t know if the conference has given this alternative church some of the funds or equipment that were taken from Gaithersburg Hispanic SDA.
We are told the Gaithersbug congregation is spiritually strong. Most of these people are immigrants and left various hardships to come to America. They are used to hardship, but didn’t expect to be mistreated by their own Church. Many of them have limited English speaking skills and are at a disadvantage in a strange country with a strange language and a complicated conference policy regarding Adventist speakers/ministers. They tend to have a keen sense of right & wrong and believe that they were wronged and bullied in this situation. They certainly were.
Gaithersburg Hispanic Facebook Page.
Stephen Bohr and Secrets Unsealed have experienced a tremendous new wave of interest this year, due to this Conference’s attempts to cancel him. It reminds us of Paul in Philippians 1:12 “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.”
That’s what we have learned at this time. As more information become available, we will report on it.
Pray for the spiritual refugees of this Gaithersburg congregation. Their faith is strong although their enemies are many.
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“LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. Arise, O LORD; Save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly” (Psalm 3:1,2,7).