Presbytery drops charges against ex-Hollywood pastor By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, April 4, 2006 David Manock, the former top associate minister at Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, has won his day in court. After what Manock described as more than a hour of heated confrontation between him and the three-person investigating committee of the Presbytery of the Pacific, members of the presbytery's Permanent Judicial Commission concluded that the accusations against Manock did not warrant a church trial. The stakes for Manock were great. The investigating committee had filed charges against him and Alan Meenan, Hollywood's former senior minister, accusing them of violating their ordination vows by not following the church's polity. Meenan avoided a trial by notifying the presbytery last week that he had renounced the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to begin an independent congregation in Los Angeles, the Church of the Nations. In Manock's case, if a church court had ruled that he violated his ordination vows, he could have lost his ordination as a minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Also, a trial and appeals could have taken two years and, even with acquittal, jeopardized further Manock's call as a Presbyterian minister. The pastor nominating committees of several evangelical churches had contacted Manock about a possible call, but they backed off after he told them that he could accept no call as long as charges were pending against him in church court. Manock, who plans to continue as a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), was summoned to a pre-trial hearing in Los Angeles on April 1. He said he and his wife Brenda, along with former Hollywood member Jon Thomasson, sat on one side of the table facing his three accusers on the investigating committee. Two members of the Presbytery's Permanent Judicial Commission sat at the end of the table and observed without comment – although they did call for calmness when the confrontation became heated as Manock and the investigating committee members debated the charges. After more than an hour of debate, the commission members called for a break. In about 20 minutes, Manock said, they returned and told the investigating committee that they were dismissing the charges. Manock said there were no rules for the interchange. "We were allowed to go back and forth," he said. While he argued his case, including producing papers he had written to the session at Hollywood that refuted some of the charges, Thomasson helped him find specific Book of Order references that supported him. For instance, one of the charges against Manock was that he told the Hollywood elders that their duty was limited to "spiritual leadership" and not business affairs, including the Hollywood deficit. That accusation was based on an e-mail dated June 27, 2004, in which Manock told the elders, "You are not asked to assume a managerial position, function or burden for a given area which must remain upon the shoulders of our staff people. We ask you to simply come alongside of the staff person to be their friend in ministry, advisor, resource person, and advocate on the session. The actual daily administration and management must always remain in the hands of the session." But Manock said the investigating committee never interviewed him before bringing its charges. Otherwise, he said, it would have learned that Manock had specifically told the session members in a written presentation that they were also responsible for the congregation's financial matters. Manock, who was accused of hiding the congregation's financial problems from the session, also produced a document that he had prepared for the session that projected the church's deficit for 2004 at about $750,000 – which was on target. Normally a soft-spoken, almost shy minister, Manock told The Layman Online, "I refused to back down. I hate unsubstantiated charges." Manock said his anger was raised because the investigating committee never asked him for his side of the story before filing its charges. Near the end of the hearing, he said he told the investigating committee, "You have nothing to lose. I have everything to lose." It was a costly, albeit successful, defense. Manock was notified only a few days before the hearing that it would be held. He did not have time to hire a lawyer and make any preparation. The travel costs were also high. Manock and his family have moved to Oregon since the presbytery forced him to resign from his post. He said the costs of an airline ticket, parking and a rental car were about $1,000 and that he wonders whether the presbytery will reimburse him for his expenses. Manock said he was told that there will be one stipulation in the written dismissal of the charges, which he expects to receive in a few days. It will recommend that he find a pastor who will mentor him on polity. He said he has no problem with that – but, unless the presbytery agrees to pay his expenses, he'll seek a mentor in the Presbytery of the Cascades in Oregon, where he plans to transfer his membership. In the meantime, he says he is now open to a call from a congregation that wants a Presbyterian minister who is focused on Christ and grounded in Scripture.

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