Lorain Schools superintendent addresses concerns on safety director's church sermon

LORAIN — A portion of a video of a mid-January church service led by a Lorain Schools employee and local pastor caused scrutiny by the district after it appeared to equate homosexuality to demons, wickedness and cancer. The service, led by Reuben Figueroa, a pastor at Tower Refuge Ministries and director of safety and security for Lorain Schools, was a "liberation service," delivered in English and Spanish and posted to the church's Facebook page on Jan. 21. The portion that caused some concern was a clip within the first few minutes of the more than half-hour sermon, in which Figueroa, speaking loudly in Spanish with his wife, Amarily Figueroa translating to English, lists "mountains" to be removed from parishioners' lives. "That mountain in your life today is going to tremble, today will be removed," he said. "I speak to the darkness, I speak to homosexuality, to the spirit of wickedness, to the spirit of anger, to the spirit of cancer, remove yourself in the name of Jesus." Figueroa continued, praying to cast out the spirits of depression and suicide. On Friday, Lorain Schools Superintendent Jeff Graham addressed concerns about Figueroa's sermon that were brought to his attention. In a statement sent to The Chronicle-Telegram, Graham said after speaking to Figueroa, "It is clear to me that there was no judgment intended within this sermon. Rather the brief clip that was shared with me was a very selective portion of one day's sermon taken out of context." As a school district of more than 1,000 employees, Graham understands staff members have a variety of beliefs, but all chose to be employees of a public school and must defend every student. "I have witnessed (Figueroa) unconditionally love all of our students too many times for a snippet of sermon to convince me that he is not who I know him to be," Graham said. "I've seen what's in his heart because he constantly shows it. I believe that he sincerely loves everyone." Graham said throughout his career people have come to his office with personal beliefs and biases about children of different socioeconomic status, learning ability, race, ethnicity, language and sexual orientation — and many times he has kicked those people out of his office or laughed while walking away from the conversation. "We will accept all who are in our care for who they are, and we will treat one another with love and respect. … I will vehemently defend our students, our families, and our staff for who they are and all that makes them unique and special and worthy of such respect. In the Lorain Schools, we lead with love," Graham said. "This is who I know (Figueroa) to be." On Friday, Figueroa clarified the context around the video, stating it was a prayer service and parishioners had submitted struggles they were going through anonymously and asked the pastors to pray for that situation. He said the sermon, like others, was a passionate one — but his passion was not geared toward a specific moment or reason for prayer. "Every single person is welcome in my church, I don't care what they're going through," he said. As the head of safety and security for the district, he said his faith is part of why the students at Lorain Schools know his love and protection, noting it would be against his core values to treat any student differently because of their race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. "I keep everybody, staff, students, everyone in our buildings, my love is equitable and it is the same," he said. "It is passionate. … The mindset that Lorain Schools has of equity and acceptance is the same mindset I have in my church as a pastor of equity and acceptance." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.