The Church That Investigated Itself: An Open Letter Demanding Independent Accountability at Blessed Hope Chapel
A letter written by members of Blessed Hope Chapel — addressed to Joe Schimmel and the elder board, widely circulated within the congregation, and never answered — has come to our attention. We have verified it. We have questions. And we are only beginning to understand what it means.
A letter has come to our attention. It was written by members of Blessed Hope Chapel in Simi Valley, California — a church affiliated with the apologetics ministry Good Fight Ministries, led by Senior Pastor Joe Schimmel — and it was addressed directly to the elder board. We are told it was widely circulated among the congregation. And we are told that leadership never responded.
We have obtained the original document. We have verified its authenticity. And we have significant questions — about what prompted it, about who received it, about why it was never answered, and about what has happened to the people who signed it. Those questions are what brought us here. This publication does not pretend to have the full picture yet. But we have enough to begin, and what we have already raises serious concerns about the leadership of this church.
We are publishing the letter here in full — with certain names and identifying details redacted — because the public has a right to see it. The congregation that wrote it deserves to be heard. And if the answers to our questions are as troubling as the early evidence suggests, this is a story that is far from over.
Ongoing Investigation
What We're Still Investigating
Publishing this letter is the beginning, not the conclusion. The following questions remain open. We are actively pursuing each of them.
Has Joe Schimmel or any member of the BHC elder board ever formally responded to the charges in this letter — privately or publicly?
What happened to the proceeds of the Blessed Hope Chapel land sale? Where did the funds go, and who authorized the decisions that followed?
Were any formal disciplinary proceedings ever initiated regarding Holly Davidson — and if so, what was the outcome and who oversaw them?
What role, if any, did Lisa Schimmel and Josiah play in how information about Holly's conduct was communicated — or withheld — within the family and elder structure?
How many families have left Blessed Hope Chapel since September 2025, and what have they been told — officially — about the reasons for the departures?
Is the financial picture at Good Fight Ministries — including $237,823 in undisclosed salaries and an 85% asset drop — connected to the leadership crisis now documented within the church?
If you have direct knowledge of any of these questions — including documents, communications, or firsthand accounts — we want to hear from you. All tips are confidential.
Submit a TipFive Formal Charges — Presented to the Elder Board
- 1
Selective discipline — one elder punished, another protected
- 2
Holly Davidson (Pastor Chad's wife; Pastor Joe's daughter) permitted conduct that removed others from the church
- 3
Lisa Schimmel (Pastor Joe's wife) & Josiah Schimmel (Pastor Joe's son) concealed Holly's conduct from Chad
- 4
Joe endorsed public deception from the pulpit
- 5
Congregants misled about proceeds of a church land sale
Reader's Guide
People Named in This Letter
The letter refers to several individuals by first name only. The following identifications are based on documentation held by The Berean Examiner.
Pastor Joe Schimmel
Senior Pastor, Blessed Hope Chapel; founder and director of Good Fight Ministries
Lisa Schimmel
Wife of Pastor Joe Schimmel. Referenced in the letter regarding her role in how information about Holly's conduct was communicated — or withheld — within the family.
Josiah Schimmel
Son of Pastor Joe Schimmel. The letter raises questions about whether he, along with Lisa, withheld knowledge of Holly's conduct from her husband Chad.
Holly Davidson
Daughter of Pastor Joe Schimmel; wife of Pastor Chad Davidson. According to the letter and additional documents on file with this publication, she allegedly had an inappropriate relationship with a young male congregant. The elder board is alleged to have taken no action.
Pastor Chad Davidson
Elder, Blessed Hope Chapel; husband of Holly Davidson. The letter documents the congregation's concern that he was kept uninformed about his wife's conduct by her own family.
An Open Letter Demanding Independent Accountability
In September 2025, a group of longtime Blessed Hope Chapel members put their concerns in writing and formally delivered them to the elders. The letter was widely circulated among the congregation. Many who were aware of its contents did not sign. Those who did were precise, measured, and direct. They asked for a closed-door meeting with the elder board to formally address what they had documented.
A redacted version of the original document — preserved here as a primary source exhibit — captures not only what the congregation knew, but what they formally told leadership they knew. These are their own words, their own voice, and their own prediction. It was ignored.
Primary Source — Documentary Exhibit: September 2025 Open Letter (Redacted)
Original document on file with The Berean Examiner. Certain names and identifying details have been redacted. Authenticity verified independently. Click either exhibit to view full size.
Five Explosive Elements — Annotated
Selective Discipline: One Elder Punished, Another Protected
Governance Failure“The seeming hypocrisy of disciplining one elder but not another for unscriptural choices and actions, John Heeber but not Chad Davidson: John Heeber for going over the heads of Pastor Joe and the other elders in installing [redacted] pastor of the Blessed Hope Chapel satellite church of Texas without their knowledge. Chad Davidson for not confronting and dealing with blatant ongoing sin under his own roof — emotional adultery which was observed and grieved over by many of the undersigned over a long period of time.”
— September 2025 Open Letter to BHC Elders
Editorial note: This is not a private complaint — it is a formal written charge, made by the congregation to the elders, naming a specific double standard: a procedural violation earned swift discipline; a sustained moral failure under an elder's own roof earned none. Chad Davidson is Joe Schimmel's son-in-law; Holly Davidson is Joe Schimmel's own daughter — and Chad's wife. The fact that conduct described as ‘blatant ongoing sin’ was observed ‘over a long period of time’ by multiple witnesses, and still went unaddressed, goes directly to Joe Schimmel's fitness for pastoral oversight. He was either unaware of what was happening in his own daughter's household — or he was aware and chose to protect her.
The Santa Barbara Parallel: 'Why Did Holly Get a Pass?'
Double Standard“[Redacted] was caught in Santa Barbara with what was observed to be emotional adultery — holding the hand of a woman who was not his wife — and left the church or was asked to leave. Why did Holly get a pass and not [redacted]?”
— September 2025 Open Letter to BHC Elders
Editorial note: The congregation itself drew this parallel — in writing, formally, and delivered it to leadership. Someone was removed from the church for holding a woman's hand who was not his wife. Holly Davidson — Pastor Joe Schimmel's daughter and Pastor Chad Davidson's wife — was not removed, and is documented in this investigation to have engaged in conduct described (in a document not previously made public) by Pastor Jonathan Ball himself as ‘boundary failures’ toward a younger male congregant under her care. According to documents on file with this publication, that relationship was allegedly inappropriate in nature. The congregants are not merely venting frustration. They are presenting leadership with a direct logical contradiction and demanding an answer.
Lisa and Josiah Concealed Information From Chad — New Cover-Up Layer
Cover-Up Allegation“Joe seems to be in complete denial regarding his daughter's sin. Many wonder why Lisa and Josiah kept knowledge of it from Chad!”
— September 2025 Open Letter to BHC Elders
Editorial note: This is the most significant new revelation in the entire letter. Until now, the investigation documented Joe Schimmel's role in managing and shaping the narrative — but this sentence introduces a separate layer: the congregation's belief that Lisa Schimmel (Joe's wife and Holly's mother) and Josiah Schimmel (Joe's son and Holly's brother) had knowledge of Holly's conduct and actively kept it from Holly's own husband, Chad Davidson. If true, the cover-up is not just institutional — it is familial and deliberate. A husband was allegedly kept in the dark about his wife's conduct by her own parents and sibling. The congregation noticed and documented this.
Joe Endorses 'Exaltation' of a Man Who Deceived Hospital Staff
Pastoral Endorsement of Deception“It has been disclosed by one of our female evangelists who accompanied Larry Legend to his hospital ministry that he coerced her into sitting in a wheelchair in order for them to have access to the patients, knowingly deceiving hospital staff and breaking hospital rules. Joe heartily endorses Larry Legend's behavior from the pulpit. 'Exalt' is a strong endorsement. Joe's apparent only rationale is his seeming unwillingness to dampen Larry Legend's zeal.”
— September 2025 Open Letter to BHC Elders
Editorial note: This thread is entirely absent from any prior coverage of BHC. It reveals a pattern that runs throughout this investigation: Joe Schimmel's tendency to protect and promote people demonstrating zeal, regardless of their conduct. A man named Larry Legend — who coerced a woman into a wheelchair to deceive medical staff — was given not quiet tolerance but public exaltation from the pulpit. The congregation named this explicitly. ‘Exalt’ is their word, not ours — they are quoting Joe's own endorsement back to him as evidence of failed discernment.
The Financial Opacity: Land Sold, Promises Unkept, No Accountability
Financial Transparency“We understood that we would diligently seek out a much smaller property with a church building in place, buy it and bank the rest of the cash. That search however was short-lived. We completely trusted Joe and Lisa which was not healthy for them nor us, them having and having had no accountability.”
— September 2025 Open Letter to BHC Elders
Editorial note: The congregation is not raising a general transparency complaint — they are describing a specific commitment made to them about the proceeds of a land sale, and documenting that it was not honored. The search for a replacement property was ‘short-lived.’ The funds' ultimate destination is unaddressed. And the congregation assigns direct responsibility: ‘We completely trusted Joe and Lisa.’ This letter, combined with this investigation's prior findings on Good Fight Ministries' 85% asset drop and the rent-free facility arrangement, establishes that financial opacity was not a perception problem. It was a congregation-documented pattern, formally put in writing.
Editorial Analysis
The Warning Was Given. In Writing. It Was Ignored.
What this letter establishes is not merely what the congregation was feeling — it is what they formally communicated, in measured and theologically careful language, to the men responsible for the church. Read the tone again: “This appeal comes without a hint of malice.” “We dearly love Joe and Lisa.” “We, the undersigned, are in no way holier than thou.” This is not a revolt. This is a last appeal. These are longtime members — people who had sat under this teaching for years, who believed in the ministry, who were trying to save it.
They predicted the outcome precisely. “We fear the result to be a split in the church, or worse, the complete dissolution of the Simi Valley church fellowship.” They demanded a closed-door meeting with the elders to address the allegations. They stated that without it, they would be forced to witness the demise of Blessed Hope Chapel and its “formerly sterling reputation.”
What the congregation put in writing — formally, carefully, and at personal risk — has never, to our knowledge, been publicly addressed by leadership. The charges stand in the record. The silence that answered them is part of the record too. We are continuing to investigate what happened next.
Written Prediction — September 2025
From the letter
“We fear the result to be a split in the church, or worse, the complete dissolution of the Simi Valley church fellowship.”
The congregation saw it coming and wrote it down — many too fearful to even sign their own names to it. According to our sources, the elders reviewed the letter. They did not act. The record is unambiguous.
Related Investigations
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If you have additional information or documentation related to Blessed Hope Chapel or Good Fight Ministries, we want to hear from you. All tips are handled confidentially.
Submit a TipAbout This Document
Letter Date
September 2025
Authors
Multiple longtime BHC members
Addressed To
Joe Schimmel, Steve Aguilar, Chad Davidson, John Heeber
Church
Blessed Hope Chapel, Simi Valley, CA
Document Status
Original on file with The Berean Examiner
Leadership Response
None documented
Written in September 2025
“We fear the result to be a split in the church, or worse, the complete dissolution of the Simi Valley church fellowship.”