The last year of ministry for Burk Parsons has been turbulent. The pastor of Saint Andrews Chapel, the church of RC Sproul. For years, Saint Andrews Chapel had been an independent Presbyterian church, joining the PCA in 2023 at the behest of Burk Parsons. In 2025, Parsons would be suspended indefinitely by the Central Florida Presbytery for three counts of “harsh leadership, unkind treatment of others, and neglect of pastoral duties.”
In Presbyterian polity, ordination is at the presbytery level, not the local church. Typically, the pastor is not considered a “member” of the church, remaining independent from the operations while presiding over the theology of the local church. The LCMS operates on similar ground. The indefinite suspension affects the ordination status of Parsons. Ligonier backed Parsons upon the initial ruling, allowing the appeals process to play itself out.
Earlier this year, Saint Andrews Church subsequently became embroiled in a scandal surrounding Steve Nichols being excommunicated for slandering former SAC associate pastor Steven Adams, who was accused of molesting Nichols’s daughter. Nichols has since returned to Lancaster, and that situation remains unresolved.
This past April, the PCA’s Standing Judicial Commission heard the appeal of Parsons. After several months of deliberation, the decision was released on September 11th. The case summary is as follows:
After a lengthy trial, a Judicial Commission of Central Florida Presbytery (CFP) indefinitely suspended TE Burk Parsons from office, having found him guilty of three of the five charges: charge 1, being harsh; charge 2, being domineering; and charge 3, slandering “servants and churches of our Lord.” The Record of the Case revealed procedural errors by Presbytery’s Judicial Commission as well as sin by TE Parsons. While these errors were significant, the SJC did not judge them significant enough to warrant complete reversal of the guilty verdicts. But the SJC did determine that the Record does not support a guilty verdict for charge 5, nor does it support the Censure of Indefinite Suspension. Accordingly, the SJC renders the judgment that should have been rendered, the Censure of Admonition.
The punishment was downgraded from indefinite suspension to a Censure of Admonition. Parsons, who was represented by Steven Adams, the aforementioned associate pastor, filed 35 specifications of errors which were divided into seven categories:
1. Did Presbytery err in its institution of process? Yes, but not in a way that precluded Presbytery from prosecuting the Appellant
2. Did Presbytery err in its charges and specifications? Yes, but not for every charge or specification.
3. Did Presbytery err in its constitution of the court and officers? Yes, but not in a way changing the outcome.
4. Did Presbytery err in its trial proceedings? Yes, but not in a way deleterious to the Appellant.
5. Did Presbytery err in its evidence and witnesses? Yes, but the excluded testimony was unnecessary for the defense or the prosecution.
6. Did Presbytery err in its judgment and censure? Yes. While Presbytery did not err in its guilty judgments on charge 1 or charge 2, it did err on charge 5. Therefore, this court reverses the guilty verdict on charge 5. This court also finds that the Censure of Indefinite Suspension from Office was an error of discretion and judgment and therefore renders the decision that should have been rendered, by inflicting the Censure of Admonition.
7. Did Presbytery err in its consideration of the appeal? Yes, but not in a way changing the outcome.
The SJC found that there had been procedural errors in the local presbytery; they ultimately upheld the evidence. With regard to the institution of its process, Parsons argued that they slung as much mud at him as possible in hopes that enough would stick. The SJC appears to agree, but also sustains the guilt on the charges which stuck irrespective of the process. This was the same tactic used against Zachary Garris, where the Rio Grande Presbytery would not convict him of holding to Dabney’s theology, but convicted him instead of harsh tweets towards Anthony Bradley. Bradley’s online behavior is far more egregious, but because of his race, he can do whatever he wants in the PCA.
The Central Florida Presbytery went back to 2017 to substantiate its charges against Parsons. This was not for adultery or murder, but for allegedly being mean to a married couple. The absence of a proper statute of limitations for redressing charges in the PCA is itself an impropriety of justice that was weaponized against Rick Appleton. Charging someone in 2025 for an offense from 2017 is an absurd judiciary standard and a waste of church resources. Forty-five hours of testimony occurred for the initial trial and another three and a half hours for the appeal. Nearly fifty hours to deliberate over an offense from 2017.
The reason for the demotion from a suspension to a censure is as follows:
The Record demonstrates that the Appellant has taken significant steps on the path to remedying the behaviors listed in the charges. BCO 30-1 says, “The censures of indefinite suspension or excommunication shall be administered to an accused who, upon conviction, remains impenitent.” The Record offers ample evidence of repentance, even from prosecution witnesses, who testified that TE Parsons asked for forgiveness and received it. Defense witnesses likewise testified to TE Parsons inviting constructive criticism and apologizing.
Basically, the rules do not allow the suspension to be indefinite if there is evidence of repentance.
Conclusion
The Burk Parsons trial ultimately proves that the process is the punishment. It did not matter how many violations of judicial proceedings the prosecution engages in against Parsons, nor does it matter how long ago the alleged offenses were; the presbyteries have carte blanche to prosecute as they please. Even appealing their judgment takes over a year of which Parsons’s ministry was wrongly deprived. The PCA will strain at gnats to prosecute sins from 2017 while ignoring the ongoing sins of female deacons, functional female officers, Side B Theology, and anti-white racism. Church courts have and will continue to be weaponized while larger problems go ignored. Then the PCA will lament the shortage of pastors.
One Response
Boomer church infighting is completely irrelevant for the future of Christianity. Whenever institutions age out of the general population they end up in activism capture (that applies to both left and right), decline and then simply go extinct.
For the “progressive” PCUSA 35% of congregants are over the age of 71. 60 % are over 55 and 76 % are over 40. That won’t really look any younger for the PCA, conservatives tend to have an even older population.