Transcript of the June 2022 Meetings at Chesapeake Church

The following is part 1 of the meeting, which took place on the evening of June 6, 2022. I transcribed the meeting from a recording that was posted anonymously on YouTube, and it was deleted before I had time to get to the second part.

According to those who attended, Robert Hahn admitted to drinking so heavily that he could barely stand. His son-in-law had to sneak him out of the church and drive him home. He also admitted that the luxury penthouse in which he resides while in Honduras (hours away from the actual home base of the Central American Training Foundation) was purchased with donor funds.

Part 1

(Elder Steve Bertolacinni speaking)

I’m going to ask the elders to come up. All right so there’s been a lot going on the last several months, and a lot of it’s good,

There’ve been over 30 baptisms, We had oil chang day, we’ve done firewood for families, the food pantry is in full operation, and as Robert mentioned to us yesterday, The End Hunger warehouse is coming up, and Nathan Fair is going to tell us what’s going in Honduras and the Mission House there. So there’s been a lot of good things happening but this is an open and informal discussion and Q&A for people who actually currently attend Chesapeake church. I’m going to repeat that this is an open informal discussion for people who actually currently attend Chesapeake church. This is not the same as a congregational meeting. It is more informal, it does not require a quorum, nothing gets voted on, and there’s no need for official minutes. 

Over the years we have done these types of meetings, whenever the church needs to get together and talk through these matters and changed to the church without having to have a formal meeting. For those who submitted questions in advance, thank you. That’s helpful, because it allows us the opportunity to do the research and provide answers to questions this evening rather than to provide a delayed response to research the facts. We also realize it is not, that information does not always get to you as fast as you would like. But please know that we never want to give you information that cannot be backed up by facts. Not just how someone might remember things but facts that show what actually happened. 

Because of the pending litigation, we are limited in what we can share. We will focus on why we are doing what we are doing, but we cannot share specific details and facts regarding the lawsuit. Our lawyers are here, and if it was up to them, we wouldn’t be doing this at all. So we hope that shows you our desire to provide whatever information we can. Some of these guys are pretty uncomfortable about us doing this.

There are a few ground rules here. This is for the Chesapeake Church community, those who worship here, serve here, those who give here, those who call Chesapeake Church their home. It’s not a press conference, it’s not an interrogation, it is not a town hall. The people here who do not currently attend the Chesapeake church are our guests, and we expect you to behave accordingly. This is the room in which we worship. We ask that you respect it. This is an opportunity for Chesapeake Church attenders to get informed. Our discussion should be peaceful and orderly. For our God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. If someone is being disruptive, they will be asked to leave. And if they refuse to leave, they will be removed, because this is private property.

We will not answer questions about individuals who met with a session. In fact we will neither confirm nor deny whether anyone met with the session. We follow the biblical principle practice of elders protecting people’s privacy. We have not been the ones to ever divulge confidential information to people outside the elders. They come to the session for guidance, for support and prayer, and if we betray that confidence, people will not want to come to get the help they need.

So a few words about elders. This is a Presbyterian-style church, which means we are led by governance. The elders are nominated by the members and approved and elected by the members. And while there are not term limits, because every elder has a lifetime calling, every three years elders re-examine themselves and their calling to be active on the session. We are not a congregational church where everything is voted on by the congregation. We elect the elders to do that. That’s why we emphasize that the most important thing you can do as a member is to elect elders. The congregation does vote on the elders and the senior pastor to purchase and sell property, obtain mortgages, etc. The elders provide oversight for everything that goes on in the church. One of the questions we received was, do the elders have to agree with the head pastor on church matters? Of course not. The senior pastor is one of seven elders and all have equal standing. We operate in a way that encourages healthy discussion, and we will not move forward on matters until we are of one accord. Believe it or not, there are many times Pastor Hahn has brought forth a decision from the elders that he did not personally agree with. But we always go out with a united front. We are often accused of being “yes men”. But when we discuss things, we come to a unified decision. It may look like that, but it’s not. We should be unified, having the mind of Christ, which requires being of one mind.

The elders are also trustees. This was approved by the congregation in June 11, 2003. Some have asked about a separate board of trustees. A separate board, from the elders behind me you’re going to see pictures of our team, is not required and would actually operate at the direction of the elders anyways. It would be seen as a subordinate in function. 

We have a certificate of good standing in the state of Maryland, and we have been in good standing in the state of Maryland for pretty much the last 30 years. Every time we have gotten a mortgage, or done any large transaction, it all gets checked by the banks.

Now I’d like to talk a little bit about our teaching pastor commission. Behind me you’re going to see pictures of our team. These are a diverse group of people, volunteers dedicated to finding our next teaching pastor. In the process of finding the next teaching pastor includes connecting with and searching for candidates using online resources as well as other church connections and contacts. We review the messages, will be conducting interviews, and we’re going to forward any high potential candidates to the elders.

The elders, the pastors, the leader ship are then going to review the commissions recommendations, conduct online interviews, and decide who goes forward with the site visiting. The site visit will include Attending a weekend service, having a person preach here so that The congregation can hear them, meeting with the pastors, the elders, and the other ministry leaders. Once a candidate is selected, the person will be presented to the congregation for approval. If approved by the congregation, we will move forward with the hiring process. The final decision belongs to the fully participating members of Chesapeake Church. The goal is to have someone identified by August and approved by the congregation in September. This will allow a sufficient amount of time To onboard the new teaching pastor.

Next I’d like to talk about the legal issues. So here are some updates on March 18: we filed a temporary restraining order against the blog to have it taken down in it’s entirety. In order to file the DRO, there has to be an underlying lawsuit. In this case, it’s for defamation. All costs of the lawsuit are privately funded. No one’s tithes or offerings are being used to find this lawsuit. All three defendants were served in April. One of the one of them asked for an extension to respond and we agreed to give it to them. They can reach out to our attorneys at any point to settle in the process.

Now some have also asked why not have an independent third-party? Investigation? The Book of Church Order states that the sessions elders are the first court of investigation. The elders have already seen the facts to refute so many of these accusations. There is no need for a third-party investigation. The Bible directs us as follows: do not listen to an accusation against an elder unless it is confirmed by two or three witnesses. We cannot and will not listen to allegations against any elder or any member in our church community which come without even one witness. Some of the worst things that have been claimed are triple hearsay with no names attached. This is not and never has been about a desire to find truth. This has been an effort by three people who do not attend here, do not serve here, to hurt this church. The church and our pastor have been  defamed; that much is clear to us. Our church and our pastor have a right to defend our reputation. We would do the same for anyone of our members. In the courts, what we will see is a public investigation with people under oath. When people testify under oath, they must speak the truth or risk a charge of perjury. Under oath, people have to prove their obligations with true evidence. We want to compel people to speak the truth and prove with evidence what we consider it to be defamatory remarks. 

So more than any other question, the one question that comes up the most: is this lawsuit biblical? Rather than rely on just our own opinion, the elders have sought an outside opinion on what the Bible says about lawsuits And churches and how it applies to our situation. T. Moore more has served over 50 years in the ministry of the word of God, as an evangelist, pastor, seminary President, and theological advisor to Chuck Olsen of prison fellowship ministries. He has published theological articles, essays, and reviews in many journals and the author of more than 50 books. Copies of his opinion are available in the back. Now TM does not know the details of the issue. He hasn’t read the blogs, or the social media posts, he’s just giving an unbiased opinion about the general issue at hand. So here’s a quick summary:

(Reads from TM Moore handout)

No I’d like to talk about the changes for the Book of Church Order. So there are three fundamental documents are that govern the doctrine, structure and operations of Chesapeake Church. First is the Bible, then we have doctrinal standards that are set forth in the Westminster confession of faith, which are all biblically-based, and then there’s the Book of Church Order.

The Book of Church Order comprises the form of government, The rules of discipline adopted by the church. Most of his content came from the PCA Book of Church Order. Our Book of Church Order was last updated in 2009. In December, we established a team of people , Under the leadership of Nate Fair, to review and update the book, and Nate is joining us from the Middle East.

So thank you Nate for your service. I think it’s about 2:30 in the morning there so he’s had a lot of coffee. So most of the changes Will be streamlining the document, updating some of the language and aligning the language between the BOCO and The articles of incorporation And Maryland law. Once the updates are complete, and have been reviewed by the elders, they will come before the congregation for a vote. So before I turn it over to Robert, I want to read some comments and questions we received from Gordy Martin, who wrote directly to our leadership.

He says, I’ve known Robert Hahn’s since he and Jean began attending Chesapeake in the late 1980s. He and I worked side-by-side in the first ministry Robert was involved with a Chesapeake, the youth ministry called Bay City. I know the elders, Paul Miller , Michael Lee, and the staff at the time, and they know me. I left with Robert, argued with Robert, and saw him up close and personal for three decades in the best and worst of times, and he has no prior knowledge of my questions. Since I left Chesapeake in the early 1980s, or 1990s, for another ministry, I travel to and led worship and interacted with hundreds of churches including some of the largest mega-churches of our day. 

Three days ago, I became aware of what has been written about Robert and about this meeting tonight. I have questions about how this will be addressed by the church leadership, now and in the future. The culture of our day assumes that the integrity of a pastor is in question, And looks for dictatorial and abusive tendencies by means of sophisticated social media, every kind of unsubstantiated allegation can be made against anyone in Christian circles and receive massive exposure and be counted is true. The allegations made against Robert Hahn are the kind a ruin lives in Ministries and put them at risk ones entire life‘s work. Potential future leadership candidates are watching this. They want to know, how is the church leadership protecting Robert Hahn and his family, who after 30 years of ministry have been deeply wounded in the service of this church? How are you protecting your staff now and in the years to come as those public critics intimate that they are merely carrying on a culture of intimidation and fear? Will you compel future staff to work with Chesapeake Church if you do not demonstrate your loyalty to those who serve now? Signed Gordy Martin.

So there are some wise words in there for those of us who are leaders and those of us who are members of our church. We need to take those words, those questions, to heart. Right now the teaching commission is scheduling interviews. We will be interviewing potential teaching pastors this week. And I’m sure that they’re going to be asking about this. I’m sure they’re going to be watching To see how we care for our pastors. I think this is important as we go forward. What a great reminder. So now I’d like to invite Robert to come up and speak.

(Robert speaking)

So I want to bring up the most nervous guy in the room, And that’s one of our attorneys. Come on up here. Tucker is going to say a few words to help you understand why some of the things you would probably like to talk about we are just not able to talk about.

(Tucker speaking)

How is everyone doing tonight? Not that I’m nervous, but about 10 minutes ago Robert told me that I’d be speaking to you. So I don’t have any prepared remarks which sometimes is a good thing. Like Robert said there are a lot of things we can’t get into specifically about the case, although I’m sure the church and Robert would like to do so. But I’m here just to say that as Robert’s attorney and the case, it’s my job to investigate and to look at the facts and we don’t file things in a court unless we have taken a good faith review of the facts and evidence. And so, what I mean by that is, when we filed a case in the court and we sign our name to that pleading, my firm is saying that we have undertaken a investigation to look at the evidence for the church and with Robert. And we wouldn’t sign our name to a case or file a case unless we didn’t have a good faith basis to do so. So well a lot of the specifics of the case are leaking through the court system, I just wanted everyone to know that we are taking this case very seriously, we understand how much it has affected this community, Robert and the church, but I wouldn’t be standing up here if we were to fully behind Robert and the church in this case. And so I also just wanted to say thank you. I’ve only known Robert and the church since March I think? And everyone here has been just really welcoming and I really appreciate everyone here and everyone coming out to show their support because I think it’s really helpful and it’s needed. I’m going to be around for the rest of the night, so if anyone has any questions I’ll do my best to answer them, but I might have to use the lawyer line if you can’t get into specifics. But I really appreciate your time and I’ll hand it back over to Robert. Thank you.

(Robert speaking)

Thank you Tucker. Tucker went through all my notes and scribbled out so many things, like you can’t say that and you can’t say that. So just know I was willing to say it. Well I’m going to say this. I’ve got some scripture passages that we could put up there please first? First Timothy 5:19? So look, I’m no not going to try to talk very much but I’m going to cover A lot of stuff, I think I can answer a lot of questions before you get to them so it stops people from having to come up to the microphone. They might get nervous. But let me tell you this, the day before the blog began everything here was fine. The day before that blocked again, everything here was fine. Not one truth has changed since then. Everything that was true that is still true today. Remember that. That the day before all of this began everything here was fine. We have been disturbed by people who do not attend here, Do not serve here, and do not support this ministry. The Book of Church Order, the elders are the first court of review, as Steve said, and I have shown these men everything. I’ve heard nothing back. In terms of the church’s lawsuits, I want to remind you that over 10 years ago, we filed a lawsuit against Calvert County and the commissioners individually to keep our food pantry open. That lawsuit cost over $75,000, and that was in 2012 money. And every time a car drives down that driveway to get food out of that food pantry or or someone drives in there to get care out of that care center, you know what I tell myself? Well worth it. Well worth it every time.

I’m going to repeat what Steve said. Steve said not one penny of your offering or your ties is going to pay legal bills for anybody, and I’ll tell you this, and my wife might not know this, Jean and I, we have already spent $11,000 of our own money on this because that’s how deeply I believe in this. So if you wanna talk about being all and I am all in. I don’t know if you knew that number honey. You know now. Surprise. I also want to remind you that we filed a lawsuit against someone who is trying to use us from using the soccer fields the road there, and that cost was over $5000, just to get a CU soccer fields that we already had a contract to use. It was well worth it every time those kids went out there.

I’m going to say this on behalf of the elders. We should have gotten this to you sooner - that was our mistake. Absolutely. I will tell you what happened, when the temporary restraining order was put out, it went to all the staff, they knew. A bunch of them came down to the courthouse, we weren’t hiding it, Steve and I honestly didn’t realize that it was a part of a bigger -that you had to file the whole thing - and we didn’t know that. We found that out that day. And at that time, if you go back to the date, we were getting into baptisms, we were getting into Easter, it was just like one thing cascading after another, so we were like, are we really just gonna start talking about that? But you know what, we should have gotten it to you sooner, and for that I apologize on behalf of all of us. I think we all are imperfect. And it’s a redemptive community and I take great pride in the fact that this is a redemptive community and when we know we haven’t done something right, we don’t have a problem saying it. I think that’s kind of what we all come here for.

So I think we all forget this all started, you know this is all started, because if you remember, I want you to think about all that’s being fought about. And this all started because someone told said that I was shielding a domestic abuser. Does anyone remember that point? Right? Yeah, that I was, that the church and the leadership was shielding a domestic abuser. That I asked someone to lie on the witness stand. Which would be a crime. That would be perjury. That’s how all this started. They said Chesapeake was set up so that I would have all of the control – that’s how this was started. And now it’s all about nonprofits and what happens in Honduras and and all of that kind of stuff. Maybe people are starting to realize that the other points are not true. And they’re just going down the rabbit trail. Well I believe I have been defamed. And I believe our church and our leadership have been defamed. And we are not negotiating publicly with people who don’t attend here, do not serve here, and do not support this ministry. After when this case is over, and the people who actually attend here still feel there are unanswered questions, then we can talk. Then we can look at the outside stuff if you want to right now we’re going to protect the reputation – my reputation and the churches reputation. And so because of active litigation we are going to do our talking through those issues through the courts.

So people have been asking about salaries. I’m going to go through a bunch of things here on salaries, OK? The policy of the church before I ever got here was that we did not reveal people’s salaries. They’re not made public. And that’s standard and almost every Presbyterian Church and everywhere you work - you just don’t put people’s salaries out there. I’ll tell you this, no one on staff makes over $100,000. Nobody. Now that’s like the average household income in Calvert county, so that’s – these guys on staff are earning way below. There’s a book it’s up in Larry’s office, I meant to get it and bring it down here, that’s called the guy to church staff salaries, and every year we go and look at it and we review mine and I’m always so far below what I should be paid for working in a church this size. You just don’t show it to me anymore. I am paid below the standard of what someone who leads a church this size should be paid. And I don’t have other jobs. A lot of the stuff people do, side hustles or whatever they call it. In the 70s I hustled.

I will tell you what though, I will make this offer to you: I will show you my W-2 because I don’t have – are they 1090‘s or 1099‘s? See I don’t even know what the numbers are. I will show you my W-2 and my giving record to and hunger, Honduras, and this church if you show me your W-2 and any 1090’s 1099’s and you’re giving records. See that’s transparency. Transparency is not just that you look through me transparency is that I look through you. Transparency is we look through each other, so I will show you my W-2 – I got, not audited but red flags by the IRS one year when we didn’t, I think it was this building, they said there’s no way you gave that much to your church. That’s what they said! I had to go back and get every check that we had written and have it copied. Well I said I can give you – I actually became friends with the tax attorney investigator. I did. But I had to go and get checks of every, copies of every check that I had written for that tax year to prove. So if you wanna know what I make, then you have to what I return back, and then I want to know what you make and see what you returned back that is the offer that I have been offering to the church for 30 years, and no one has ever taken me up on it. So if you want to do that. That’s transparency. The hardest problem we have in hiring staff is that our salaries are too low. That is the hardest part. There are people in the ministry who is interviewed and who want to work here and say I can’t do it people know that we’ve had to make changes to hard things, to bring people on staff. The staff does not work here for the money. They work here from their passion, and that passion is what’s being attacked, and some people on staff right now wonder – we have staff people wondering– is this worth it? People came here thinking, I came here to advanced the cost of Christ, I take away lower pay than I would elsewhere, and this is what happens. Yeah I don’t think so. Just understand what’s happening here. This is not I’ll just fun and games on the Internet. There are real people.

You know, that nepotism. So you know the essence of Christianity is about a father and a son who worked together? Do you know that? I probably butt heads with nobody as much as I do with Nathan Fair and I love that man – I love Nathan Fair. In Christ we are technically all one family. One could say that every job at church is nepotism and if he really believe what the Bible says it is extremely typical that a person, or when a parent, works in ministries, extremely typical, that their children who grow up loving that church, believing in the redemptive work of that church, they want to follow in their parents footsteps and dedicate their life to the church. That is very common in the churches. Having family members from multiple families and multiple generations working together in ministry – that is a thing of beauty! That is a thing of beauty to have multiple generations of families working together. And it’s really common. Does anyone who attends this church think that if you were a pastor at a church, wouldn’t you not want to have your own child to come and serve and work at the church? So once again, we have some thing that is beautiful turned into something ugly. I’ve only hired one family member directly. That was my daughter Jacqueline Miller, who has been leading End Hunger. She’s not on our church staff, she’s actually on End Hunger staff.

Jacqueline she has a masters degree from Georgetown university, which she earned on her own, with a specialty in public communications, and she could have spent the last 13 years working anywhere she wanted. But she chose to work on a cause that she is passionate about for way less money, which she grew to love because of me. To work with her dad. And it has been one of the great choice of my life, to work with my daughter. I’m sorry, no one tonight is going to throw dirt at that. Not in this room - to take a beautiful thing that my daughter and I have, feeding 25,000 a year - feeding (unintelligible) During the pandemic, under Jackie’s leadership and hunger delivered over 600,000 meals to kids in Calvert County. During the pandemic. 600,000 meals. And they somehow make it look suspicious. Shame on those to do that. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

I’m indignant. I’m not angry, but I am indignant. Chris Miller our worship pastor is married to my daughter Jackie. Chris and Jackie were not even dating when they each came on staff. Caroline and her husband were not dating when he was hired. That is how the majority of couples on staff started. Young people come here to work for the love of Christ and they made another young person who is here for that same reason. They fall in love and they marry. I cannot even count the number of couples who have met in this church kind of fallen in love in this church, And gotten married in church, and some of them worked for the church and End Hunger before they even met Their spouse, and somehow that’s a bad thing. Please. Think like believers. What better place would you want your child to meet their future spouse than at a church? To have one or both of them dedicate their lives to ministry, somehow that is suspicious. Is that how Christians think?

I want to do comments – ah, well Tucker. Do we have the other Timothy? The elders are worthy of double honor who leads this church well, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. I don’t think anyone’s going to know that I work hard at my preaching and teaching, but I would settle for half the honor not double the honor. This is what John Calvin, probably the greatest theologian ever, wrote. And you know he’s great because he’s been dead for over 200 years. He said as soon as any charge is made against ministers of the word, it is believed as Shirley and firmly as it has already been proved. This happens not only because of higher standard of integrity is required from them, but because Satan makes everyone over-willing to believe it even without investigation, people equally condemn their pastors whose good name they ought to be defending, that is John Calvin.

So, Robert and all of his nonprofits. Because that’s how a man gets rich. We put the no in nonprofit around here. Since 1984, the first time I was involved in a nonprofit, I was the chairman of a nonprofit in 1984. It was called Solidiary the Childress Fund. Reset medicine and milk and blankets to orphanages in Poland While it was still under the communist rule. That’s what we did in 1984. Why did I do that? My grandmother was Polish and my wife had actually been placed in an orphanage as a child until it (drew?) my heart to help those children. And we did and that’s what I was doing for children back in 1984. In 1987 I found it one of the few federal government side child care sent centers in Washington DC for the EPA, and it was a nonprofit, early environment childcare center, and I help set that up. And hunger. I was on the Statue of Liberty commission for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. I was involved in that nonprofit – that just came into my head right now. That’s been my life, operating in the nonprofit world. That’s what I do for a living. This is like someone who’s a musician having to list all of the clubs that they played at or all the different record say recorded. This is what my life is. And hunger is another separate nonprofit. Why? So that we can receive grants that would not go to a church, and so that many more people, people from other churches will get involved because I don’t wanna get involved with the churches food drive, and hunger is a separate nonprofit. So many more food pantries that are owned, 73 feeding partners in Southern Maryland. We are now officially designated, I hope I have the words right, a regional distribution outlet is that what the word is Kathy? Operation. We are now an official designated regional district operation of the Maryland food bank. Do you know the kind of rigorous documentation it takes to get that designation? Try it sometime. It took us years to get it. We have better business bureau wise charitable giving - 20 Financial and organizational standards. We need them all. The Better Business Bureau has determined that 94 Sense out of every dollar goes to helping the needy. I don’t receive a salary from End Hunger or its latest culinary program, for special needs adults, that’s what that nonprofit is doing. Honduras compassion partners. That’s missions nonprofit. Forms so that we can get grants that don’t go to churches, and so we can expand our reach me on Chesapeake and reach other churches and other missions groups. One of our last teams sent 22 of a team from a Rotary club in Florida. They’ve never even been to Chesapeake, but they’re going to our mission trips in Honduras. And we reach them with the gospel. Our latest team is our women’s empowerment initiative, and they just came back. They’re seeking to bring living wage opportunities to women in Honduras. The Better Business Bureau wise giving designation – Honduras compassion Partners has it as well. 20 organizational and financial standards – we meet them all. They say that $.92 out of every dollar goes to help the needy in Honduras. We have accountants in this building all the time, almost every other week, going over the church documents, going over End Hunger’s documents. I do not sign checks in this church. Never have, never will. I have no check signing authority. On any of them. I can’t believe I have to explain this. Go check how many of your well-known favorite charities perform as well as End Hunger and Honduras Compassion Partners. Go check and see how many of your charities are actually certified by the Better Business Bureau, Wiese charitable giving meeting those 20 standards.

OK. Let’s talk about me, and Honduras, and to the condo. Am I allowed to talk about anything or not? OK. First of all, Bob spends more time in Honduras than I do, understand that right from the beginning, without his wife. OK? Let’s deal with that truth, right out. Sorry Bob, I know you’re here. Julie is not. You know, I know you’ve got serious questions, but when you live in it, part of it is hard because it just gets absurd after a while. So I wrote a letter to the staff on May 4 about this, my living situation on Honduras, I got it something that’s innocent and it has been twisted for the sole purpose of hurting me, hurting my wife and me. Yeah, I actually did spend two full weeks in La Paz with Bob and Stephanie and Jonathan and they hated having me there, I tell you that. Why Roatan? Roatan is located at the border between Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. You see, the Central American Training Foundation does not focus on Central Honduras. It focuses on what’s called the northern triangle: three countries. Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala. Roatan is an island that is right there. This is the work we do. So I want to talk about it. I need access to those countries more than I need access to the property in La Paz. OK, the properties in La Paz, I’m not actually building anything there, me Dash I’m the last person you want doing that. I’m talking with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Roatan has an international airport which is faster and easier than even the La Paz airport. It serves the US and it also serves Guatemala and El Salvador. The tickets are the same. They’re not $2500, they are exactly the same. In Roatan, I don’t need a car. I’m able to walk to whatever store I need. The town that I am in in Roatan barely has paved streets. Chris has been there, Jonathan spends time there, people have been there. It’s a dirt road. OK? This is the third world. I am not in the resort area of Roatan. That’s around the Cape, that’s around the whole point of the thing. And you know what? Roatan is a nice place to live. Absolutely. I’m 64. I will live in a nice place if I can while I’m there, and I’m there 3 to 4 weeks at a time. I don’t think I’ve ever even been there for four weeks solid. Three weeks at the most. This is what we’ve been doing with Roatan. This is what the Central American Training Foundation has been doing in Roatan. It’s been bringing medical equipment in we’ve been fire equipment into Roatan. We now have signed agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to provide training between those three countries. I’m told it’s never been done before. The Central American Training Foundation is a small nonprofit. It has three – it owns the apartment, I don’t on the apartment. It bought the apartment - I didn’t buy the apartment, it was not gifted to the Hahns, it is not a major luxury condo. It doesn’t even have a bathtub. It has showers, if that matters to somebody. It runs out as an Airbnb, so it pays for itself. So it’s a smart move. We were paying rent on an apartment and her office that was just – money was going out the window - this pays for itself. Not one penny of Chesapeake church money has gone into the Central American Training Foundation. Not one penny from Chesapeake Church money from any source has gone into the Central American Training Foundation. That’s a fact folks. It funds itself. It doesn’t cost us anything, but we get a whole lot of benefits from it. Because it works with Honduras Compassion Partners to help develop the property in La Paz. We are now working on bringing hazmat teams and firefighters and EMS into Honduras through the CHEF because we’re going to train Guatemala and El Salvador and it bothers them that it’s called Honduras compassion partners if you’re from El Salvador. Like what does that have to do with my country? That’s how I got formed. And it’s our dream to, yes, put a training center up there. I’ve started already meeting with congressional offices and Federal agencies right here in Washington to figure out how to make that happen. See I’m not like a Sunday here.

When people in the southern American countries and even the congressional staff have asked me why I’m doing this? You know what I tell them? I told them at the love of Jesus Christ has directed me there. That’s what I tell them. I told that to a congressional staff for the other day. Why do this? I said because of the love of Jesus Christ has directed me to do this. He stared at me and said, gosh, no one has ever said that to me before. That is so refreshing. And my plan, which the elders no, the staff knows – I told the staff about this and I told them specifically Roatan in February 2021 - over a year ago, right? Right here in this room I told them, the staff what I was doing, the elders have known, this is not a secret, and it is my family knows this, I talked about it, I think I even mentioned it at the congregational meeting and 21 one or earlier cop. I did, right? It’s my transition from senior pastor to doing that mission work full-time. Not being a missionary, but doing that mission work. And what that does will allow the next generation of leader leadership here to come forward while I am still able to work with them to provide a smooth transition. So the staff knows, I’m still here. I’m in all the time. I’m not over there. That’s understandable, there are pastors and people who run multi-location places all the time. So that’s not even that strange, multi-campus churches. But I am here more than I am in Honduras, and if I don’t step out of that senior pastor position, that means we don’t create the opening for someone else to step in. Has anyone thought about that? We’ve been talking about transition for years here, leadership transition, now it’s happening. And we want to do a smoothly and let’s do it while we still can while I am‘s still in a place where I am on board the next level of leadership, the next generation. The other is I hope to, at the Central American Training Foundation, become solid enough to transfer my salary off the church salary, off the payroll, and after that. Because that’s who I want to be working for. But I’m going to raise that money myself, you know why? Than the church doesn’t have to worry about me, they can take the money from my salary and either increase the salary for the people who work here or continue to hire more staff. I am essentially working to provide my own pension so the church doesn’t have to both endorse Bashan partners and see ATF are registered and approved. They’re not only IRS approved, they are official approved Angeo, approved by the government of Honduras. Do you know how hard it is to get that approval? The level of scrutiny you go after to get approved as an NGO in a foreign country? Try it sometime. Let me know how it goes.

Friends of ROA. This is a small nonprofit that I started with my daughter and with my son-in-law, because when I saw the conditions of the people in Roatan I was moved to help. It’s a simple. That’s one of them nonprofits so that I can raise money that is tax-deductible to do good work. And we have raise less than $10,000. OK? That’s all we’ve done and with that we are providing school supplies, for an entire elementary school. OK? We have brought clothing to an orphanage in Roatan and we help fund English classes for young adults so they can get jobs at restaurants and hotels on the island. I took that picture of that little girl myself. She’s an orphan. We brought clothes to her. We provided a laptop for a female student. She’s not going to college and listen to this. This is what we’re going to be doing. Our next project is to help the people who live at the garbage landfill in Roatan. They live in garbage. To help them move into real homes. Not one penny of Chesapeake church money has ever gone into Friends of Roa. Not one penny. This is what I do. This is like my hobby, is my passion. To have to stand here and defend it.

On my next trip, I’m taking this book. This book means we’re going to heaven. It’s in Spanish. I’m taking this to the first public library to ever open in Roatan. I’m taking about 10 copies of this book. It was Honduras Compassion Partners. We’re putting about 10 of these in the first public library to open up in Roatan. That’s what we’ve done in FRIENDS of ROA in less than one year. Yeah. That is what I am doing with my life. That is what I am doing with my life. And I am proud of it and if you think I’m lying about that? Or hiding something? Well I don’t know what to do about that. And I certainly do not have an answer, and I don’t have to answer to people who do not attend here, who did not serve here, and who are not a part of the biblical community here that my family and I are part of. And I receive no salaries for those organizations. I am only paid by Chesapeake church, like I said earlier, I received one W-2. And if that’s a problem, it’s not my problem. But I will tell you this. After 30 years here, with my family dedicating our life to this work, truly sacrificing for these ministries, now having to deal with this, my wife and I are ready to walk away. My wife and I will walk away. And we will walk away with a great, great sense of satisfaction, for we know what we have achieved here for the cause of Christ. And it has only been his approval that we have sought. But we will also walk away with a deep deep sadness and not a sadness for the way we’ve been hurt, especially by people we considered friends, we’ve learned that’s just a part of ministry life. But we will walk away sad for you, the people who actually attend here. Because the people who are trying to take away your church, the people who are trying to impugn the integrity of this ministry they’re not the people up here these people are not taking your church away from you. These are the people up here and here these are the people who show up tomorrow. These are the people who are here day after day, week after week, and year after year. These are not the people who are trying to take away your church. The people who are trying to take the church away, they are not the people who visit your family are you when you’re ill and dying. They will not help you bury your dad. They will not celebrate in your joys or share in your sadness. They will not assist you on life turned sideways. So we will be sad for you. Sad if you tolerate with both Jesus and the apostle Paul called wolves who attack the flock. And I’m not saying that is an ultimatum. I’m saying it because I actually care about you. Look at what else the apostle Paul says in Galatians: he said if you bite and devour each other, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other. Paul knew what he was talking about 2000 years ago. So I urge you this very night, Chesapeake church, the people who actually attend here, who actually serve here, we’re going to get to your questions, if you attend here you can ask a question. You can give your name and you can say that you actually attend here and confirm that. Not attended here years ago, but actually still attend here. Because that’s what we’re here for. The people who are a part of this church. And I urge you though, this very night, to shut it down. I urge you to tell those who are here, to those who are watching, because I’m sure somebody’s Facebook-ing us, tell them enough is enough is enough. People who actually attend here, you have a right and you have a holy calling to defend your church. You get to decide who the bullies are. You get to decide Chesapeake Church. So now if you have questions, we’re ready to hear them. Come up to the mic, say your name, because I’ve said my name, Robert Hahn, and I attend here currently and regularly. So if someone has a question, come on up.