Montana pastor J.D. Hall, Pulpit&Pen founder, charged with DUI, carrying weapon

Booze resolves vitamin deficiency!

Apparently!

How was he charged with DUI, when the breath analyzer reported no alcohol in his system?

Good point!

DUI doesn’t mean just alcohol. He failed (miserably so) the field sobriety test, not to mention the officers observed him driving erratically. It takes time for alcohol to be absorbed into the blood. This creates legal issues (going both ways). You can fail the breathalyzer but no longer be actually impaired. Likewise, you can pass the breathalyzer and be impaired, depending on how soon after you finished drinking the test was administered (unlikely, but still possible). That, and the breathalyzer isn’t going to reveal if the impaired person is on something other than alcohol. Based on the information in the story, the arresting officers concluded that there was enough material evidence to cancel out, so to speak, the negative breathalyzer test. The blood work will be revealing.

Some are alleging a chronic Vitamin D deficiency but that doesn’t make sense to me either. You can get a good multivitamin in a local pharmacy and all sorts of specialized Vitamin D formulations online. If this is physical, why hasn’t he sought a prescription? Is he so unaware of his own condition that he doesn’t know to stay off the road and not carry his handgun inside his belt when he’s ill? I find it hard to believe that he operates at this level on a routine basis since he’s launched a few businesses plus running the church.

It will be interesting to see the results of the toxicology but for now color me skeptical. In any case, the last thing Hall should be doing is leading a church.

[Jay]

In any case, the last thing Hall should be doing is leading a church.

Yes, and that was true even before the DUI.

The deacons and elders met yesterday and rejected his resignation in consultation with three well-respected and Godly pastors of other churches, as it was unanimously determined that, as no alcohol was used and Pastor Hall’s coordination/health issues have been well known, this unfortunate incident was not ministerially disqualifying. The deacons, elders, and consulted pastors were apprised of Pastor Hall’s prescription medication, health issues, and spiritual, emotional, and physical state, and expressed great concern for his health and overworking.[emphasis mine]

Here’s a thought. How about their pastor stick to pastoring the church and shepherding the congregation and stop trying to run a social media discernment blogger empire?

I have never followed Hall, and I am not a Southern Baptist.

But to me, if this man has been a good pastor, if I were on the board, I would recommend he be evaluated to see how bad his drinking problem is. If he over-indulged on this or other rare occasions, but did not drink daily, I would get him some counseling and accountability and demand he become a total abstainer. If he over drank, waited a reasonable time before he drove (which is why alcohol did not show up in the breath test), he is guilty of over drinking and making a misjudgment. This could easily happen if he was not a frequent drinker. Whether a pastor should drink (for reasons of wisdom) is a different issue, but, according to God’s Word, drinking is not sin, drunkenness is. If he has, for the first time, learned where his limit is, that is different from an ongoing issue. He can simply quit. So if he is not a hardcore drinker, I would give him another chance, but make him aware that he is on probation with the church, perhaps take a leave of absence, and get some counseling (as well as apologizing to the congregation).