(Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department)
KENOSHA, Wis. — A blistering statement from a Grace Lutheran Church insider is shedding light on the aftermath of “Pastor” Jonathan Barker’s resignation. The insider, who worked closely with the church’s food pantry and breakfast program, accused Barker of manipulating his departure into an act of martyrdom while ignoring the damage he left behind.
The statement, posted publicly under the headline “Community Truth Storytelling Time”, rejected Barker’s narrative that he resigned because denominational leaders prevented him from endorsing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez for president in 2028. Instead, the insider said Barker stepped down because he knew he was about to be fired for “his inability and complete failure to lead.”
According to the insider, Barker’s poor leadership directly contributed to the collapse of Grace Lutheran’s food pantry and breakfast program—both vital resources that served countless families in Kenosha’s Uptown neighborhood. “Jonathan Barker IS NOT the martyr he is now trying to make himself out to be. He is a fraud. He is directly responsible for the loss of a vital food pantry and breakfast program that served countless families in the Uptown community,” the post states.
The insider further alleged that Barker abandoned the community, choosing instead to cast himself as a victim for political gain. “The reality is that he abandoned this community, let down the very people who depended on these programs, and is now trying to rebrand himself as a victim,” the statement says.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Meanwhile, the liberal news media was quick to portray Barker as a martyr. The New York Times featured a sympathetic post about his plans from the pulpit—presenting his endorsement effort in thoughtful tones yet glossing over his controversial record. Local outlets like the Kenosha News and liberal-activist “reporter” Terry Flores followed suit, giving supportive coverage that notably omitted mention of his many arrests—for example, his 2021 sit-in at the Kenosha Public Safety Building, and the 2023 incident in Milwaukee where he super-glued his feet to the pavement at the RNC.
The post also pointed to dysfunction inside Grace Lutheran, claiming Barker allowed discrimination by church board members to fester and failed to defend staff who were targeted. “Jonathan Barker knew board members were acting in ways that went against the very values they claimed to stand for, but he chose to stay silent, complicit, and allowed the harm to continue,” the insider wrote.
The criticism also extended to Barker’s resignation letter, in which he blamed current President Donald Trump and denominational leaders for creating the conditions that forced him to step down. The insider condemned Barker for attempting to invoke national politics, particularly by linking himself to Ocasio-Cortez. “He is everything she stands against,” the statement argued.
Perhaps the sharpest language was reserved for Barker’s treatment of the Uptown community itself. The insider accused him of exploiting “white privilege” and attempting to use Uptown “as the backdrop for his AOC political aspirations,” despite no longer living in Kenosha. “Every time he is seen in this community he will be called out for who he is and what he’s done. You will not feel comfortable in the same place you ATTEMPTED to break—NOT ON MY WATCH!” the insider wrote.
The statement ends with a call for accountability, warning others not to fall for Barker’s performance: “The community deserves honesty, accountability, and leadership — not deception, complicity, and manipulation.”
This follow-up comes just days after Barker abruptly resigned from Grace Lutheran, claiming he was forced out because he could not endorse Ocasio-Cortez without jeopardizing the church’s nonprofit status. His tenure, however, was already marred by protest arrests, internal disputes, and the collapse of key community programs.
The New York Times didn’t respond with their reason for not including the arrest record of Barker.
18 Responses
The New York Times just had an article this week praising this guy like he’s some new Saint 🙄
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/church-endorsements-irs-kenosha.html
Would you expect anything else from such a stupid paper?
…exactly the same type as Fr. Flagler down in Chicago, a compulsive attention-seeker and troublemaker. Interested only in hoisting his own petard, “look at me! look at me! aren’t I edgy and fabulous?!!”
Good riddance.
Terry Flores sucks at her job and as a human being. She should try to get that big ass mole taken off her lip unless it’s herpes.
She looks like Cindy Crawford
Who is “the insider”?
He looks sketchy as fuck
I’ll cut Terry Flores some slack. She’s one of the last remaining Kenosha News staffers after Lee Enterprises gutted the paper.
I suspect that in his mind Barker thinks he is doing God’s work but it’s not the first and won’t be the last time a preacher has crossed the line. The people who need to know this knew it. The funny thing is that the story the New York Times wrote broke here first!
Frankly, in a way I’m slightly ticked by this story because Barker’s 15 minutes of fame expired long ago. The sooner he is a footnote in local history the better. Then again, a story about the damage he did to the congregation isn’t inappropriate. In any event, don’t let the door hit you, etc.
No slack given. She’s been with the “news” for years not because she is good at her job. She is still there because nobody in their right mind would hire someone who is as terrible at her job as she is. She is still there because, how do you spell it, oh yeah, DEI.
She be-clowned herself years ago, when she went on a personal, never professional, mission of refusing to use the LEGAL words of “illegal alien”. Her editors should have removed her “undocumented” garbage and used the correct and LEGAL words. But that’s liberalism for you.
Every newspaper has a style book and so even if she wrote illegal alien they may have changed it.
Now that I wrote that I wanted to check the AP stylebook to see what the current version says. AP Stylebook does not use the term “illegal alien”. Instead, the stylebook recommends describing the action of immigrating to or living in a country illegally, rather than labeling a person. So they might say so-and-so, a person who entered the country illegally, etc.
I don’t give any slack to someone who’s an activist calling themselves a reporter. She represents why the Kenosha news is still in the death spiral, and no doubt will end up moving to yet again smaller headquarters since all you need is a phone booth to put out the little pamphlet that now calls itself the Kenosha news. They went woke and damn near broke. You can’t even line a bird cage with the Kenosha news, not enough paper and besides that, the birds will probably get constipated from refusing to use it.
Just because the Mole is the last doesn’t mean she is good at her job.
I think she’d be better at it if she wasn’t spread so thin.
This guy is no more a pastor than I am an electrician! He is and always has been a fraud, a fake, and NOT a Christian. He has never set a good example for his congregation. He is twisted and deranged, and Terry Flores is just as bad. I used to work with this crazy lady, and I’m so glad I quit. In fact, the entire Kenosha News staff is a bunch of liberal losers.
Another corrupt leftist that’s friends with people like berg, Kennedy, and the other activists.
Barker is a cockroach
A collection of nut jobs ….
I see the NY Times still thinks of Kenosha as “an industrial city”.