Dispute places expansion of Resurrection school on hold

LOVELAND — A planned expansion of Resurrection Christian School in Loveland, the largest Christian school in the region, is on hold due to disagreements between the school and Rez.Church, the church that plays host to the school.

The school at 6502 E. Crossroads Blvd., created in 1998 by what was then known as Resurrection Fellowship, now Rez.Church, operates with its own board of directors and enrolls about 1,400 students in 110,000 square feet of school space. It leases that space from Rez for $1 a year. The school also uses offices, auditorium and common areas in the adjacent church building. The full campus is about 38 acres, according to Larimer County Assessor records.

RCS has outgrown its facility and has been working through the city of Loveland planning department to expand on the Rez campus with new sports facilities and — potentially in the future — a new high school. 

That is, until recently.

In a 47-minute video made available to church members April 10, Jonathan Wiggins, senior pastor at the Rez, drew a line in the sand, saying that church leadership would not approve expansion of the school on church property until the school came into compliance with its bylaws and appropriate leases were signed for buildings in the expansion.

Of particular interest to Wiggins was church membership of school Superintendent Jerry Eshleman and an imbalance on the school governing board, which the bylaws say needs to be composed of a majority of Rez members.

“Our official position is that the RCS superintendent is out of compliance [because Eshleman may have abandoned his membership at Rez] and is not the legal and legitimate superintendent of RCS, and the RCS board is out of compliance with its bylaws and does not have the authority legally to amend the bylaws until it comes into compliance,” he said in the video.

“RCS is raising money to expand on Rez land without a written agreement to do so,” he said. “We will hold leadership accountable to its own signed commitments,” he said.

The remainder of the video outlined a point-by-point litany of promises made, not kept, and apologies made. 

Eshleman responded in an email, also dated April 10, in which he expressed his “bewilderment over the glaring inaccuracies, cherry-picked context and sound bites” of Wiggins’ video. He bemoaned the “overt and personal attacks on my character and reputation” while saying he would not “respond in kind and will not contribute to such silliness and folly.”

He said school and church leadership would be working to resolve differences.

A call to Wiggins was not returned. Calls to Eshleman and two school board officers were not returned.

For its part, the city of Loveland current planning office said that preliminary site plan drawings were submitted late last year and received comments from city staff. School officials met with city planners early this year, but nothing has transpired since then. Current planning manager Bob Paulsen said the sketch drawings so far show a lighted football stadium, lighted soccer practice field, lighted softball field, two lighted baseball fields and a field house/ice arena. A future high school is “identified but unplanned,” he said. 

Unrelated to this dispute, Pastor Wiggins is the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against six former church members, staff members or relatives of staff members claiming defamation and libel. Originally filed against one individual, the other five were added later. The case, in Larimer County District Court, is Jonathan Wiggins v. Christine Connor, Amanda Vasquez, Micah Stover, Kaitlyn Scott, Donna Blanchard and Judi Thomas, 2021cv30927.

Also, Resurrection Christian School through its board of directors has filed a lawsuit against Tom Gonzales, executive director of the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment, the county board of health, and Jill Hunsaker Ryan, director of the Colorado Department of Health. The lawsuit challenges the authority of Gonzales, Ryan and the health agencies to impose health mandates on religious organizations during the course of the COVID pandemic. The case, also in Larimer County District Court, is Resurrection Christian School through its board of directors v. Tom Gonzales, Larimer County Department of Health and Environment, Larimer County Board of Health, and Jill Hunsaker Ryan, 2022cv30091.

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